The Journey of a Divine Call

If you haven't heard by now, I've been given the honor to pray over some specific next steps in the life of my family and ministry. It has been percolating for the past few years where I have been a part time ministry worker with my home church at St. Paul's WI where I lead worship 3 weekends/month, help with scheduling and mentoring as well as participate in our Ministry Growth Team. As God has started to shuffle the ministry staff "deck" in many churches around the country, he has seen fit to extend a Divine Call to me through our friends at Crosswalk Lutheran in Phoenix, AZ.

My full time work remains a love of mine, working with college meteorology students in my role as the Director of Operations for Innovative Weather at UW-Milwaukee, which I have had for the past 11 years. I continue to lead Awake and Alive (our next event is coming up June 10th in Muskego and online) and I continue to make plans to get back into the concert ministry as time allows this summer. But, this is a new thing for me to consider a call from a church into full time ministry for a specific reason and for a specific season.  My full time work remains a love of mine, working with college meteorology students in my role as the Director of Operations for Innovative Weather at UW-Milwaukee, which I have had for the past 11 years. I continue to lead Awake and Alive (our next event is coming up June 10th in Muskego and online) and I continue to make plans to get back into the concert ministry as time allows this summer. But, this is a new thing for me to consider a call from a church into full time ministry for a specific reason and for a specific season. It's an honor and... it is a challenge! If you've ever wondered some of what goes into it, here are a few things I've learned:
 
In my rookie experience, the Call process seems to have 4 key parts.

  1. Align ministry and values. Do my skills match the calling church's needs, mission and values?
  2. Pray for peace in the financials. I have a lot of people that remind me that God will provide what is needed. As a person who didn't guard my finances early on in life, I'm sensitive to Dave Ramsey's advice.
  3. Family input and reality. This isn't a call just for my ministry, but the ministry of our family and that includes my wife Melissa and our three children.
  4. And while all of this is going on, we listen to thoughts and concerns from our church, co-workers, family and friends. You see I already have a call on my life that I'm living out. This is a pause to consider a change of focus, which means that if I have peace with 1-3 ultimately I have to make a judgement.


Honestly, I never really understood what getting a Call means for the family receiving it, but it basically means putting your life on pause and agreeing with God to step back and reflect on a lot of things in life; where you are serving and where God is leading. In many ways once the decision is made it ultimately is a win/win for the person receiving the call because God will make all things work. But the process??? One friend said it's like being handed one more part time job on top of the work you already do. It adds some stress, but the blessing comes as God gives multiple pieces of one's life clarity. And I've been praying for that a lot lately.

So please do keep us in your prayers and please do share what gifts and talents you believe God has given me that he can use in ministry to a world that is longing for a hope that will last. Whether it's something I do already or something I might do down the line, your encouragements, challenges and affirmations are a value to me.

My family and I thank you!

 

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