Catching Up... (second candidating)

Within that following year, I would candidate again, not just once, but twice. The next time came a few months later when I got a call from a Pastor at a church in Pittsburgh, PA. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of moving someplace where we knew absolutely no one, and I knew it would be extremely hard, but it was an open door laid before us, so we decided to walk through it. The following is something I wrote explaining my experience that weekend...

Okay, so many of you have inquired about my weekend. I will give a detailed version here, so if you want the details -- keep reading, if not stop reading and go do something else! :)

Okay, so we flew out of Philly friday evening -- about 1 hour 15 minutes delayed.... and with MUCH turbulence. We were glad to be able to make the flight though, because MANY had been cancelled.

So, we got to the airport, the Pastor picked us up and took us to our hotel, at which we arrived at midnight and crashed.

Saturday was lunch with the Pastor, and one of the couples that helps out with youth group also joined us. We ate at a restaurant called Max & Ermas (apparantly a Pittsburg favorite). Then we headed to the church for a meeting with the youth workers.

There are 4 couples that work with the teens. All of them are young couples with children, but very committed to the teens and very involved in that ministry. They have been the ones keeping things going these past 4 months while the church has been without a youth pastor. We enjoyed getting to know them, however, in them getting to "know" us, we sat through 3 HOURS of questions! :)

Then we had a short break (just over an hour or so) and headed back to the church for the deacon interview over a pizza dinner. This interview and questioning, also lasted 3 HOURS. :) If you are adding up, yes, that is 6 HOURS in ONE DAY! It was crazy! It didn't necessarily feel that long going through it, but boy were we exhausted that night when we finally got back to our hotel around 10:00 and crashed (again).

Sunday morning, first thing was to the church to teach the teen sunday school class. There were 15-20 teenagers there, and I tried to interact with them and involve them in the lesson as I like to do. There were a few vocal ones there, but mostly they were quiet -- but in their defense, they didn't know, so they were quiet. I spoke on "Passionate Living - vs - The Sin Problem"

Sunday morning service, Pastor had Becky and I briefly share our testimonies. They also served communion, and if you want a funny story read this, if not, skip to next paragraph. (okay, so their "bread" was more like little cubes of shortbread. I was very intrigued by them, but evidently I was holding my cube of bread a bit too tightly, and next thing I know it has crumbled into many pieces in my hand, on my black pants, on the seat, and on the floor. I was left with powder in my hands, and the only two manageable sized pieces left that I would be able to put in my mouth without shoving my whole hand to my mouth were sitting on the floor. So I discretely bent over and picked up those two pieces while trying to wipe my pants and grind the crumbs into the carpet with my shoe so they would not be too noticeable. After eating those two small pieces I picked off the floor, I then shoved the handful of powder and crumbs still in my hand, into my pants pocket -- planning on discretely emptying that outside later. So the moral of this story is, if the bread intrigues you, don't let the fascination get the better of you until AFTER communion).

Okay, so after the service, they had another meeting, this time a chance for the congregation to ask us questions. About 30-40 people remained, and the questioning lasted an additional 30-40 minutes. Then it was off to Olive Garden for lunch (where my bowl of soup decided that some of it wanted to jump out of the bowl onto my sleeve, my tie, and my black pants! Agh! this wasn't my day for dealing with food).

Then we went back to the church to hang out with the teens. They were practicing to perform a Skit and some songs for a teen program they were doing in the service. I preached in the evening service on "Having a Faith That Steps Out". It all seemed to go well, and I actually was not really all that nervous. I even kinda enjoyed it, and the people seemed very receptive.

After the service (we were actually dismissed first) we jetted right out, got changed, packed the car, and were taken to the airport by one of the deacons so we could catch our flights out. We made it in time, thanks to getting past the stadium before the Steelers game let out, and even had time to get massages from those chairs at the Brookstone store. (free massages are always good).

My brother picked us up, and we were home without any further event, by 10:15, shortly thereafter, we once again crashed in bed.

Well, that is what I wrote then, I really wasn't sure what to think after this weekend. It sounded like a good opportunity, but truthfully, I just did not think it was a fit. We were willing though - just not looking forward to having to make the decision if the church called us. Thankfully, God made the decision for us, and the deacon board had decided to look elsewhere. Praise God for opening and closing doors -- it makes my decision much easier when the choice is not up to me.