As most people in my life know by now, I recently accepted the position of "Associate Minister of Connection and Commitment" (long title, I know, but that makes me look more important, right?) at Eagle Heights. I started working last week and this is my first week on my own [gasp!]. This all really came about and started progressing this past month but it all seems like it happened so fast. These past few weeks I have been overcome with joy and praise for this opportunity God has given me and I decided to take some time to write about the journey thus far.
To begin, I will start with some brief but helpful info. After I graduated college I began working at the OSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) here in Stillwater. I absolutely loved my job! I loved serving in ministry and investing in others. I consider myself a hard worker and never thought I would EVER want to be a stay at home mom, I mean I really enjoyed working. Then I found out I was pregnant and I really felt God leading me to leave BCM and wanting to be a stay at home mom. This was hard but I truly believe that chapter of my life was over and a new one was about to begin. While there are many people (students and staff) that I deeply love and miss seeing regularly I have never once regretted this decision or felt like I made the wrong decision.
Once Madeline was born in February 2011 I wrapped things up at the BCM and officially closed that chapter of my life. Even though it was what I wanted to do and what I needed to do, it was still a struggle. I loved staying home with Maddie and did not want to sacrifice this but at the same time I genuinely missed and longed for a way to minister to the body of Christ. I have many gifts that I felt weren't being used and knew that I needed to find some way to fulfill this longing and this calling in my life, so I began to pray. I thought about volunteering at BCM (which I did some) but it was a fine line of overstepping my boundaries and also there just wasn't a ton of opportunity. I also looked into serving in the Youth department at Eagle Heights but that just didn't come together either so I just continued to randomly serve when needed and pray that a light would shine down from heaven and God would audibly tell me what to do. Unfortunately this isn't really a common thing, but luckily, sometimes God opens doors and you just know.
I continued to pray and serve at Eagle Heights when one day I called (I'm pretty sure I called) Brent Prentice (aka Pastor Brent, Brother Brent, Our Lord's Servant Brenticas Preticas, etc.)* to ask him a question and he passively mentioned that the current Associate Minister would be leaving at the end of May and if I would have any interest in taking over part of the duties. My first question was probably "would I have to make the announcements?" but when I found out I wouldn't I was interested. He told me a lot of the job would be able to be done from home which was also a huge selling point and he told me simply to pray about it.
So I did what any girl does, I started dreaming! I thought about how wonderful it would be and how it sounded like it was the job that would utilize my gifts and abilities and I just plain got my hopes up. Several months went by and I heard nothing. I tried to be patient and just prayed that God's will would be done. And then I did what every pessimist does, brushed it off. It had been probably 2 months since I heard anything and so I just assumed that they wanted a man in that role or had found someone else but I secretly hoped I was still a contender. Then one day I heard someone talking in the church hall about this new job they were going to start and I immediately let my imagination run away. I was convinced that he had gotten the job and no one was going to tell me and then I did what every girl needs to do - I told myself to stop being crazy haha. I decided instead of letting myself assume and sulk to just go ask Brent what the status of the position was. He told me the process was just slow but that he still wanted me to take the position. After that things seemed to take off pretty quick.
I went in to talk to Brent about the job, what would be my duties and what would be expected of me - especially with Maddie. And I also needed to ask another important question for my own sanity - were there other people they were considering. Brent told me no and I can't express how humbled and honored I felt at that moment. Brent and I had worked together at the BCM and I think the world of him. He has seen my good and my bad. He knows my work ethic, my heart for ministry, my strengths and my weaknesses. Brent is one of the godliest people I know and I knew he had prayed about it too. As I learned more about the job the more I felt like this was not only something I would be good at, but something that I would genuinely enjoy. I would welcome and connect new people to Eagle Heights and to Core Groups.
And before this "simple blog" has to be submitted and published as a novel I will wrap this up. I love God. I love people and making them feel loved and special (probably because that was what first attracted me to Christ). I love my Church - I am soooo thankful for a church that loves God and proclaims the gospel. I love that God can be trusted - He answers our prayers and opens and shuts doors at the appropriate times. I don't know how else to end this but to say how blessed and honored I am that Christ has allowed me to serve alongside the Eagle Heights staff - a group that I look up to so much. I pray that God would continue to work in me and enable me both to will and to act for His good purpose (phil. 2:13).
*Brent will not enjoy that I put these names on here and will probably do his classic frown when he reads it.
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