Whew!! The interview is done

Well, I had a good interview with the Board of ministerial service. I was asked to tell my story, and in the interest of time, I told my story by mental process, through significant events, and through spiritual events. The board asked me some questions about education, like what I was doing now, what my plans for the future are,etc. I told them about my school attempts, and that I am enrolled in a community college, and that I would like to continue my education at least to masters level, but that I need to stay focused on the present steps to achieving that goal. They asked me some questions to get to know me better, and I came out of the meeting feeling that the board had my spiritual development at heart, and they made me feel welcomed and honored.

Interview and sermon prep

At the end of this month I am meeting with the Board of Ministerial service for an interview based around the questions I answered previously in this post and for them to grill me a bit on my beliefs and all that fun stuff. I am looking forward to this meeting, but I wonder what the board is thinking about my somewhat other than normal answers.

Other than that I have had an opportunity to preach recently, and was drawn to "The Lord's Prayer" as a good sermon for the new year. I felt led to delve into it a bit more deeply than the usual drive-by praying of it that usually happens. I also delved into one of my favorite pastimes which is song parody, and added a brief parody of what is really going through our head when we sing "I Surrender All."

You can listen to it at Olympic View Friends Church
The preparation was a little intense for this one, as my computer was down, and I had to do my research mainly in paper form. I learned that I can still do it well, but I am grateful for how much faster research can be done with good software, and the internet at your disposal.

As I was walking home from church on Sunday from our worship planning team meeting, the creative juices were still flowing. We had been discussing how the church was positively responding to some of the worship music where we took a hymn and swapped it's chorus with a modern worship chorus that fit. One of the hymn suggestions for the next week was "Trust and Obey", and if ever there was a hymn that could use a stronger chorus, that's one. What I came up with was to attach the Gospel chorus "I'll say Yes, Lord, Yes" to "Trust and Obey". After doing some looking with my wife, both songs were in F, so we didn't have to figure out chords or transpose anything.
It was really cool how that worked out, and I can only thank God for the bolt of inspiration that struck.

I'm genuinely enjoying the leadership roles that I am increasingly finding myself in, and am sometimes wondering if another shoe is going to drop, but I think I am learning about what Christ meant when He said "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Labors are easier when you enjoy what you are doing.


Grace and Peace,

Gil