So this past two weeks has been a whirlwind. Fast Forward Version: Jamey celebrated his final day as youth minister at Trinity UMC (or any church for that matter) and we began our transition into a a new church start. Let me start by saying -- this was an 18 month process that at times resembled being secluded in the desert and eating locusts or something like that. It's hard to know where to even begin, since I obviously haven't done this in a while. (Perhaps you noticed the large gap in time with zero blogging.) So I'm going to give you a synopsis -- grab a drink (and possibly your next meal) and hang on for the ride.
Rewind to August 2007 -- we decided to start an "alternative" worship service at the church that paid us to be cool and work hard. This endeavor began with 9 people and a 12 week study on worship. From there we began to expand our little group and talk about what that worship offering might look like. How it might reach our "target demographic" and really make a difference from the typical "non-traditional" offering down the street. We continued to meet weekly and began to be intentional about prayer, and more specifically praying for each other as we all stepped outside our comfort zones and really tried hard to make a difference in the lives of those we met.
Can I just say, we fell in love. Not in a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of way -- but in a "holy crap there are a lot of people who need to see an outward and visible sign that God is indeed alive and well and working in the hearts of average joes/jills like ourselves" kinda way. And that, my friends is the start of what so far has taken on the role as roller coaster ride of a lifetime.
Fast Forward to this week -- (an excerpt from a family email that went out)
"While the official word has yet to be handed down from on high (aka the bishop and cabinet) we passed a major hurdle today. Jamey and I had to take part in an almost three hour interview with the Arkansas Conference Committee on New Church Starts (say that three times really fast...)
I will not bore you with the details of said meeting and just tell you that at 4:45 pm (we left at 3:45), Rose at the conference office sent us the "synopsis" of our meeting time, along with that committees recommendation. Basically the report tells our strengths in ministry, our obstacles/challenges and the committees recommendation to the cabinet (did I mention the cabinet is meeting tomorrow?) The very last line of the report read "This committee feels that Jamey Bentley is prepared to be appointed as a new church start pastor." One committee down, one to go. All this is to say, that the cabinet convenes at 9:30 am on Wednesday. We could feasibly have an answer by 5 pm. If we get that answer it clears up a lot of questions for us and for canvascommunity.
Basically, we have a building (which we started working on this weekend) -- we have a dedicated team of really hard workers, some money to work on said building (and several thousands more to raise), the support of the DS and the Conference New Church Start peeps, all we need is one phone call saying, "we'd like to appoint you to serve as the pastor of canvascommunity, a new church start in Little Rock.
So, if anyone wants to come to Arkansas (or Little Rock, if you're already here) and get dirty -- we'd LOVE to have you. I understand that if you can't make the trip, you're here in spirit and have been silently and not so silently cheering us on from your corners of the world. We are basically living there these days. I go to school, go to work, go clean for a couple of hours -- luckily there isn't much going on right now during the day so I am getting homework done. The girls have "icky" clothes in the car at all times, and Caity is a really good window washer (also good to know). Kenzie put on gloves, and hauled acoustic ceiling tile until the cows came home tonight -- she was so cute with her little green dolly.
Maybe patience is a virtue we possess afterall... Anyway, this obviously isn't public knowledge until such time as we get that phone call making it official, hence the reason Jamey's been talking in code for the better part of two weeks. BUT, he's worked really hard. He has grown a lot over our experiences with Trinity, and it's nice to finally have some validation and a payoff in sight."
Which brings me to today -- a glorious rainy afternoon in Little Rock. One full of possibility from the very beginning. I should probably add that Jamey got a call from the Bishop last night, but it wasn't an official call. Just once again validation that we were indeed doing something right. So today I am sitting in my healthcare provider CPR class (taught by one Michelle Bentley) when my phone buzzes in my purse next to me. I let it ring, and when we took a break called and checked the voicemail message. "Hey, it's me -- I have very good news. Call me when you get a minute." EUREKA -- we struck gold, I tell you. Well not exactly, but we did get that official appointment -- and an invitation to District Conference (it really isn't optional) this coming Sunday so our DS can announce the good news to the district. And we are finally official -- the ultimate in validation that you are indeed doing the right thing.
So it seems I was wrong in my presumption that "this news" would be the icing on the cake. It's the cake -- we're still trying to decide what flavor icing it is -- but I'm sure it will be tasty when it's all said and done... sheri
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