Back in September when I resigned from my previous pastoral position, I was faced with a situation I have never encountered in 24 years of pastoral ministry - searching for a new ministry. I had never done that before and really didn't know where to start. Thankfully, we have today a powerful electronic tool called "The Internet!" I found many different sites on the web that listed churches looking for pastors and pastors looking for churches.
On these sites were literally hundreds and hundreds of pastorless churches. I decided to "cast my net wide" and let God do all of the "sorting out of things." As a result, I sent my resume to any church I found that was looking for a Senior Pastor that had an average attendance of 250 or more and which also had a doctrinal statement that I was in agreement with fully. This resulted in my sending out dozens and dozens of resumes.
Interestingly enough, the Gaylord E-Free Church (GEFC - where I will begin my new ministry at the end of March) was one of the first resumes I sent out. If I am understanding correctly, they received well over 200 resumes and mine was the first one they received. I bet it isn't often that a church ends up selecting the first resume that they receive.
To be honest, I almost didn't send information to GEFC seeing that they were located in "pristine northern Michigan." But I decided that I would not write off any potential church simply because of geographical location. In fact, I decided to have a little bit of fun in the process of searching for a new ministry (I had to have some fun or I think the process would have driven me crazy) and set a personal goal of sending a resume out to at least one church in all 50 states! I ended up topping the 40 mark but never made it to 50 (where were all those churches in Hawaii when I needed them?).
All in all I ended up having moderate to serious dialogues with 13 different churches (how's that for a lucky number?) representing several different denominations in 11 different states (Michigan, Ohio, New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nebraska and South Dakota just to name a few of them). So how did the Lord work to narrow it down to GEFC in Gaylord, Michigan? I'll answer that question as I continue the story in my posting tomorrow.
Be sure to also read my other blog entitled "Hope For Hurting Pastors" at www.hurtingpastor.blogspot.com. You can leave a comment at either blog or email me directly at skdistler@gmail.com
4 comments:
I'm sorry but i really dislike "To Be Continued!" ..... I'd really rather hear this story in person because I know it's going to be a GREAT one!
You and Todd come visit and I will tell you the whole story live and in person, Speaking of your husband - have him call me. I have a car question to ask him!
We are planning on coming to visit as soon as its convenient for you! Todd says he' will call you tomorrow (3/6/2011) :)
Kim - consider your first available opportunity as "convenient"! We can't wait to see you and Todd again. We have so missed you two (and eating liverwurst with Todd and then eating your chicken with macaroni and cheese)! Love ya both!
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