Out of Left Field

One of the things that I wanted to be exposed to over the course of my practicum was for me to be able to see some of the more administrative sides of ministry. Unfortunately, it's taken 3/4 of the school year for me to finally get a chance to do that. I was fortunate enough to sit in on an elder board meeting tonight. I'll admit that I didn't really want to go because I started my church ministries foundation paper WAY too late. It's a ten page paper due on Thursday evening, and I've only finished two pages. Yep, I'm screwed.

Anyways, this post is not a post that will be filled with complaints and whining! So, I got to sit in on the meeting and it was pretty good. I got to listen to some of the things that the pastors and elders talk about, half of which I really don't care too much about because it isn't relevant to me in any way, but it was a nice experience.

After the meeting, I was expecting to thank them for letting me sit in before Ken told me to go to see him in his office. It was a bit strange because I don't work with Ken. So I get into his office and there he is with Ryan, who is the mandarin pastor, and Matt walking in behind me. After some awkwardness with the jokes about how I should sit down because I'm in trouble, etc., etc., they surprised me with something that came absolutely out of nowhere.

Inside my head, I was like "WHAT?! Seriously?!" But of course, I had to be a boss and stay composed and act like I wasn't phased by what they had just told me.

Because I'm a jerk, I just told you my reaction before I told you what went on in the office so I could leave you hanging (unless you're one of those that are trolling over from Tumblr because I told you to). But I was offered a job of being a youth pastor at their church.

My first questions were when they wanted to know by and all the immediate details, but they didn't really tell me much, just that they wanted me to start as soon as possible. Because they wanted me to start right away, it was really tough for me to really have any time to think deeply about it.

After many more minutes of discussion, I turned the job down. There was a bunch of side details that I don't really think need to be talked about; but I said that if they came back to me September, then I would have a much more serious consideration. But seeing as they wanted me to start right away, you can see why I turned it down.

During one of my many chats with my adviser, Bill, at Ambrose, he's told me about how many students who are interning or doing practicums get hired on the spot by churches, and I think I may have just had one of those opportunities fly right by me.

Man, look at me: a second year student that has next to no experience, turning job offers down...

LOL