Catching Up (Seminary)

Okay, so I am up to seminary. I was scheduled for an additional 4 semesters, but managed to get the college to agree to me finishing in 3 so I could graduate with my class. I really enjoyed the seminary classes (for the most part). I loved focusing on the Bible and learning more in each and every class. Another of the perks of being in the seminary was the ability to get really involved in ministry in a local church. I became a part of Burgess Road Baptist Church working under Youth Pastor (and classmate) Ryan Flanders. I had a small group of my own in the youth group and also had the opportunity to get involved in the music ministry at BRBC. I really enjoyed my time there and getting to rub shoulders and get to know others in the ministry there.

During my time in seminary, God used several circumstances to just be able to focus on the me-and-Him relationship. During this time I made a very good friend in a fellow seminarian and brother-in-Christ, F.G. Homsher. F.G., if you ever read this - know that God used you to play a big role in my life. We would spend many, many nights up late (or, early rather) sitting in the hall (as both of our roommates went to bed) and talk about life, girls, theology, Christian life, music, brothers, parents, missions, church planting, etc. Just generally sharing life and our hearts for ministry together. We spent several nights at the end of our hall sitting in a corner and pouring our hearts out in prayer - often over the noise of 7 floors of college guys above us pouring the trash down the shoot.

Along with F.G. and some special girls, we also were involved in a Bible Club for children in a poor neighborhood nearby. What special kids those were - I have many fond memories of my days in "the hood" as we affectionately called it. I often wonder what those boys and girls (now teenagers and young adults) are up to. (note to self: I need to be praying more for them)

The summer in the middle of my seminary years I stayed on campus and took summer classes. 12 credits in 6 weeks to be exact. Wow, what crazy times those were. Talk about intensive learning. Pretty much we lived, breathed, ate, and slept seminary those 6 weeks (not necessarily in that order). I was bummed that I was unable to spend that summer on staff at New Life Island (the first in since 1995 at that point). I spent the first Christmas of seminary with my good friend F.G. and his amazing family in "Little Fork", Colorado and got to experience my first skiing. What a great nearly-2 weeks those were. The next Christmas was spent with my girlfriend's family in South Florida. (quite a difference from snowy Colorado)

You may wonder why I did not go home - well, at this point my family (most of it) was in Capetown, South Africa, serving the Lord as missionaries. Maybe that will be a topic for another blog sometime, but not now. In fact, I am getting off-track, back to seminary.

I graduated from seminary in May of 2003. Two days before graduation, I proposed to my girlfriend who happily (I think) accepted. That story is also for another blog post. I them moved back "home" where I returned to New Life Island to spend one last summer of ministry with them. "Home" was rather an ambiguous term for me at this point. NLI was more my home than anything. Pretty much all I owned was with me there, aside from some storage items in my childhood home attic (the church parsonage). I spent weekends bouncing around between friend's houses, my brother's couch, and anywhere else I could crash without imposing too much.

At this point in my life, I wasn't really sure how it would work out, but I was confident that I absolutely had to be in full-time youth ministry. I began making contacts and phone calls, and even interviewed at a church near Trenton, NJ. The possibility seemed like such a long shot. Here I was with no "Pastoral Experience". Sure, I had a master's degree in Bible, but no "pastoral or ministerial" degree. I felt like such a "kid" seeking the impossible. I knew though that my God is a God of the impossible. And that He likes to use the weak things of the world to confound the wise.

I finished at camp in October 2003, and began working a temp job at a local bank. As my April 10, 2004 wedding date rapidly approached and no full-time jobs looking positive in the ministry, I accepted a full-time position at the bank I was working for and that began as soon as I got back from the honeymoon. My search for the perfect job, full-time youth ministry did NOT stop however.
My April 10, 2004 wedding date was quickly approaching, and with