This was the first time I had been in full time work with a congregation. I had worked with congregations in Dyer, Tennessee and Pensacola, but neither of them was full time. I was a little nervous and a little scared, but I loved every minute of it. I was doing what I had wanted to do my entire life.
Since we moved there during the Summer, we didn’t have many major Summer events like a youth group would normally have, but we did take a few days and to to Atlanta. At our first devotional at our house we had a ton of kids, food, and of course a frisbee ended up on the roof. It was great. Dustin climbed onto the roof to get the frisbee and as he was sitting there smiling, his dad walked up. I thought “Great! First devotional in the new town and a dad shows up to find his son on my roof. It’s been fun…”
We survived that night and many more after. It took a little while to get used to Cleveland but we liked it a lot. The work there was great. Our first VBS I was able to just help out and after that I was in charge. I managed to build an eleven foot dinosaur, a train, and an eleven foot tall spinning Ferris Wheel. I simply love the work I am blessed to do.
It is hard to sum up the three and a half years that we spent in Cleveland. There were many happy times, many sad times. There were times I was angry and wanted to give up on ministry. One of those times was when I came home from a weekend vacation to find an anonymous letter in my box. It was pretty nasty and said some hurtful things. It said things I hope I never hear again.
As a minister you go through tough times. You are always on the “front lines.” When something goes wrong you are often times the one looked at, even if you were not there.
After three years in Cleveland I had really began to think about what I was doing. Did I have a future in youth ministry? I hoped so. It is all I ever wanted to do. I felt like I was good at it, but was beginning to believe differently. I thought about hanging up my ministry shoes. My Bachelor’s Degree is in Communications/Advertising and I had looked at maybe finding a job in that field. There were some pretty tempting openings that I might have had a chance at if I had applied but I never did (although I was encouraged to do so). A Bible verse kept coming back to my mind.
Jeremiah said, “I will not make mention of Him(God) Nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.”
Everything Jeremiah did was wrong in someone’s eyes and he was ready to give up on his ministry. He just couldn’t do it. He knew it was more important for him to do God’s work. I felt the same way but I couldn’t give up on ministry just yet. I made it through some of the darkest days of my ministry with the help of great friends, an amazing wife, and God above. I am thankful for each of them.
After three and a half years I was told that there were some changes being made. The youth program had been re-evaluated and it was going to be taken in a different direction. If I wanted to continue in ministry, it was not going to be in Cleveland. Once again, I was devastated. Should I stay in ministry? Do I find another job and see what happens? Kaycee and I spent a lot of time in prayer and decided it wasn’t time to give up just yet. Too many people give up at the first sign of trouble and that had never been us. We weren’t going to let it be us either.
Then, we heard about an opening in Hamilton, Alabama.
To be continued...