In.Motion

I’ve lived in Wilmington for most of my life. Moved here when I was 5, and I’ve been in it to win it since then. I love this place. I love the people here. Ever since I started looking into my adult future, I’ve always had desires of growing my family here, getting my first house here, or any number of things you dream about. However, my story is going to be taking a turn for a season.

I’ve been in talks & processing with New Harvest Church in Clovis, Ca about an opportunity that might have been available for me out there to join their staff. From the conversations I’ve had with Him to my visit out there in early December, Pastor Mitch Ribera has done a lovely job of being thorough, detailed, & gracious in our exploration of this possibility. Through lots of prayer and feedback and questions, we’ve arrived at our conclusion.

Pastor Mitch has asked me to come out to California and join his team full time as the Creative Arts Director for the church. I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to serve and grow doing exactly what I love to do. Quite literally, this is my dream job. I’ll be responsible for the worship environments for the church & other media expressions of the church, as well as the technical aspects of the church. I’ll be responsible for quite a bit of work, but I can’t wait to get to it. I’m also comforted that I’m going to be well cared for and intentionally built up and poured into as a young leader and growing Christ-follower.

One thing I want to make clear is that this whole opportunity has had nothing to do with Port City Community Church or anyone there. I cherish my close relationship with several leaders and they have done nothing but ensure that New Harvest was a place that was going to take my walk seriously and continue to build into my life. I am so thankful for their constant prayer and how they have always valued my walk more than anything that I can do. I have always felt loved, and I’ve learned more than I could possibly write from my time at Port City, so I will miss this church family.

So, where does this leave me? Actually, leaving rather soon. I’ll be leaving either Sunday (1/10) or Monday (1/11), for the left coast, to arrive in Fresno next Friday (1/15). This means that as I sit here on Wed (1/6) morning, I only have 4 or 5 more days here in Wilmington. I’m going to be doing a lot of prepping and packing, but I want to see as many lovely faces as I can before I say “See You Later” for a while. If you have my number, give me a call because I’d love to see you, but if I don’t get to see you before I leave, know it was only a conflict of time that caused me to miss you.

Through this experience, I’ve seen that God is faithful and that He loves overwhelm you with grace. I’m excited to see where He takes my life, and I’ll continue to step in faith into whatever I feel He is leading me to. It’s hard to leave the home and family I’ve loved and known all my life, but I know that His plan is far better than any I could create. If you’re ever in Fresno, look me up, and I’ll buy you some real mexican food. I can’t wait, and I’m quickly on my way.

Wilmington, it’s been great.
California, here I come!

One.Love

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I was in Hebrews 5 today, and a line stuck out to me.

Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.

Two things stand out to me here:

1. Jesus was the son of God, but he still learned obedience. It wasn’t inherent. This makes me feel better about my inability to obey sometimes. The more I learn about Jesus, the more hope I see for myself, only because of Him. I do think that the word “learned” here should be read, like in the original language, as “to acquire the habit” or “be accustomed to”, rather than like a child learning to read.

2. Suffering yields obedience. I believe that the circumstances of your suffering will determine who/what you are obedient to. Jesus suffered for something He believed in and He finished His suffering, so He “learned” to be obedient to God. The kind of suffering that brings complete obedience includes complete endurance of the suffering. No quitting. No letting up. We have to finish.

This is definitely a time of year that lots of people begin programs or make promises that lead to sacrifices and ultimately some suffering. Diets, exercise plans, and Bible reading plans. You know what I’m talking about.

As we suffer through the hunger pangs or sore joints, remember that if we see it through, we will learn to be obedient to ourselves or maybe Someone greater than us. However, this all begs the question . . .

Suffering yields obedience, but are we willing to endure?

One.Love

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Well, a trip to California and a Graduation later, it looks like we’ve come to the end of this little mini series inside the DNA of an Effective Creative Ministry. Our final principle is Work On It. Work On It is all about the concept of self-evaluation. No matter how great of a musician you are or how great of a designer you are, you can always look to improve and hone your craft and skills. Even the great athletes and artists of our day have people who coach, mentor, & critique them. This is nothing new, but it is something that must be done intentionally.

Because we are human, and because humans are prone to settle into routines and possible ruts, we will never naturally evaluate ourselves and our processes. We need to place time in our schedules that we intentionally evaluate our programs and our systems to ensure that we are in line with our mission and values. Sometimes, unless things are pointed out to us, we don’t even realize the actuality of a situation. Here’s an illustration that might help:

A man walks in on Monday morning to find that his office is being painted. As he walks down the hall to his office, he begins to smell the fumes. You know, the fumes that burn your nose and make you feel a little light headed. The man decides to duck in, grab a few things and get out. As he enters, one of the painters initiates some small talk. After a few words, the man says to the painter, “So, don’t you mind the fumes?” To which the painter replied, “What fumes?”

Sometimes we don’t notice the funk around us because we’ve been knee deep in it for so long.

I think this relates to Creative ministry very well. However, I think it is fair to admit that most creative types don’t like critique. They don’t like to be told that the thing they poured their heart and soul into, whether it be a song or a painting or a program, could have been better. Therefore, when it comes to working with creative types, such as ourselves, it is good to know how to enter into this conversation of evaluation. The key factor here is trust. There must be the foundation of trust beneath the team and the assumption that we are all working toward glorifying God through our ministry, not towards our own personal agendas.

When we fail to Work On It, we fail to steward and shepherd the ministries we’ve been allowed to lead, and that is not a place I want to find myself. Personally, this is one of my favorite principles. I’m huge on self evaluation, and I’ve had the benefit of having people in my life that I trusted to always give it to me straight, so that I could develop myself and continue to grow as a person, musician, and leader. If you don’t have these people around you or don’t find this type of discussion beneficial or valuable, I would encourage you to seek them out and to start to develop this type of culture in your group.

So, are you Working On It?
How?

One.Love

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