More than any other time in my life, I get asked the question, "What are you doing these days." I don't blame anyone that asks that question, because in large part, I have intentionally fallen off the grid of most of my past involvements. I am no longer a youth pastor, Janny and I moved up to Santa Cruz, we don't "attend" a church, etc...With that being said, I thought I would offer a bit of a personal update for anyone who may be interested.
As you may know based on previous posts and/or personal conversations, I have been trying to move forward in a posture of humility and awareness of my God designed soul more than ever before. Hard to quantify what that may look like and their isn't much language to describe its details, but I think that's what I'm finding makes it so divine. I am beginning to discover what contexts burn the heck out of me and lead towards oppression/depression and am being open to ones that seem more in line with how/what I was created be.
I committed this Spring semester to be a living experiment. I have left the "known" for the "unknown" to some degree. After resigning from Harbor Chapel in January, I had opportunity to jump into other Youth Pastor positions that probably would have afforded me more security in terms of finances and reputation, but I knew that it was not the spot for me at this stage of my life. Instead, I committed the semester to being a substitute teacher and high school golf coach, while at the same time applying for local non-profit jobs in Santa Cruz that might fit my interests. My good friend and LONG time sub, Steve Boutry, offered the profound insight that "substitute teaching is like earning a Master's Degree in human nature." Well put. It is NOT glamorous, often inconsistent and when people ask what I'm doing it isn't rare to be looked at like I've gone off the deep end.
A couple months into teaching the different class everyday gig, I was offered a Long Term position teaching 7/8th grade science at a local Middle School until the end of the school year. Although science is by far my weakest subject, I figured for the sake of getting the most accurate data for my experiment, I had better take it(like my scientific language??). It has been terrible, awesome, overwhelming and incredibly insightful all at once. Not to my surprise, I enjoy the lunch break conversations with the kids that wander into my class WAY more than the discipline, grading and parent stuff that frequents most elements of the position. I also took on the Head Golf coach position at a local high school this spring. It was a great experience as a whole, other than the REALLY long days and endless driving. I built some solid relationships and we actually played much better than expected.
As this phase of the experiment comes to a close, I'm fairly certain it has served its purpose as giving me a realistic look at the life of a public school teacher. It is a great place to live out the church and invite others towards God's story through my life, but I'm not sure whether it is the context I'm going to commit to 100% at this point.
While somewhat hesitant at first, I am now very excited about my next "experiment." I was recently offered and have now accepted the position of Summer Staff Pastor at Mt. Hermon this summer. I had already committed to speak a couple weeks up there as I have done in recent years, but will now be on as a full time staff through the end of the summer months. I am a pastor to the staff and will be doing almost 100% the things I am most passionate about; teaching and shepherding/listening/counseling. While hesitant to get back into an "institutional" setting, I have found my responsibilities won't involve what has disenchanted me so much in the past. Of course, it will be a challenge at times, but I am hopeful it will be healing and that I will be an active participant in living out and inviting others towards a life lived in the Kingdom. We will see!
