job hunt update...

well..this has been quite a week. i will try to nutshell-but this might turn out to be a novel. be forewarned... ; )

last week ry's interview with our denomination was so helpful. it really provided for him quite a list of questions he had never considered and likened the interview to being a deer caught in headlights...needless to say, we had a lot of conversations about the various questions. the biggest one being, 'am i to be a senior pastor'...that was thursday of last week...

friday-saturday-i left for my retreat (i teach a class at talbot where we take the class on a 24hr retreat up to hilltop, an evangelical retreat center...amazing...GO there NOW it's that amazing...google it and book it!) and my professor and her husband (they run the retreat center) were up there. she knows our story (she also taught ryan in his program as well) and knows who we are and what we want to do in ministry...so i told her the whole story of ryan's interview, our questions...etc...and she said, 'of course he didn't have the answers, he's not suppose to be a senior pastor-at least not yet...' i was struck by this. it's pretty split down the fence on 1/2 of our wise friends saying, 'you need to be a senior pastor' and the other 1/2 saying, 'you have a lot to offer and being a senior pastor may limit your giftedness and ability to do all you want to be about'...and judy added to our list on the other side of the fence. she also said, 'i'm going to be direct here...you need to not leave biola till you have something else to leave to. you have a family and you both to care for-this is your vocation-you ask your bosses if you can stay on till you find something else. it's not a lack of faith to stay-it's being a good steward of what the lord has given you and in faith watching him work. if you moved out now, you'd struggle to find three dead end jobs that would make your ends meet while living with your parents and trying to find time to interview or the emotional energy to look for a job...you would have no energy and be thrown into survival mode..."

wow...i was chewing on her words the rest of the weekend and dying to tell ryan when i got home.

monday-got home saturday, told ryan, had no class on monday (which was good, because i had to write a paper on the theology of family for the aforementioned professor!)

tuesday-had an early morning coffee with char (LOVE you girl!) and she added her little two cents to the whole discussion as well as a compassionate listening ear...i'm chewing on her words too...i have some ideas for ministry, but are outside of the church coming along side the church to offer assistance, and she helped for a bit more of that vision...

wednesday-the next big day for us-the interview with EV free man-Dennis Baker. okay, what everyone had told us was right on-he took such good care of us. he heard our story. our heart for ministry. he heard our story of church politics that was have experienced (which is, i'm sad to say, a lot and more than most experience in the 15+yrs we've both been in the church)...and he heard our struggle between senior and assoc pastor...and he said, 'let me paint you a scenario-you want to be an assoc. pastor who disciples young adults, who has the chance to preach 20+times a year, can play worship occassionally, and really develop leaders and mentor...and be mentored by your pastor to see if being a senior pastor is your next step...' um, yeah...dead on...

he said it was bleak out there for jobs...then mentioned three churches that we would be a good fit with...one in new mexico (jen-if you are reading this-it's in abq!!-i'll find the name and let you know what it is), one in goodyear az, and one in santa maria. the one in santa maria he said was a great fit and would be such a great place for us (okay, and happens to be on my dream list of geographical areas i'd love to live)

so...basically now we had two jobs-fix up our resume to give back to dennis for his discrestionary distribution, and to ask our bosses here at biola if we could stay on...

friday-march 6th-the day we and the lord knew we had to confirm and be confirmed if we are to stay or leave...and we (the lows) felt such a peace about staying on another year, especially in light of all the wise words we have received (thanks judy, stumps, daus, char...and many others...). ry spoke to his bosses and they totally agreed that he could stay on and continue to work here while seeking out positions...

to watch this all transpire in front of our eyes this month, let alone all that happened this week was amazing and so many little things i wont go into here that really intricately showed that the lord heard our specific prayers and even some we never uttered, and answered them. sigh...he is so good. so good. thank you lord for knowing us, our hearts, and hearing our prayers. only you could have orchestrated what you did this week-

so...let's see what happens next! till then...we continue to wait on the lord to show us where to go. we'll keep you posted.