A New Opportunity

It is Tuesday evening on my first full week on the job at Calvary Grace Church - full-time. I am very thankful for this opportunity. It is a new thing, even though I was a full time pastor from 1990 to 2011 (with two years out for school). I have been an elder at Calvary Grace since January, 2012, so I haven't stopped being a pastor. However, I have a new respect for long-term bi-vocational pastors.

I am one of five elders at Calvary Grace. Pastor Clint Humfrey is the lead pastor and he does most of the preaching, though we all take our turns. That means that I am full-time and not preaching most weeks. That is different. I am the pastoral care pastor, though we are all simply pastors -- we all do each others' job. We each have our area of specialization, either according to gifting or simply the need of the hour.

Our church isn't perfect, what church is? However, I consider this season to be a golden time, a very special blessing. It is a great privilege to work with the other elders here and serve with the other members. We are growing together and the church is maturing and deepening and learning to reach out more and more.

I am looking forward to being more available to the people in our church . I also will have more time for reading and writing -- maybe even on this blog.

I am thankful for my three and a half years at TransCanada Turbines. I won't miss the work, but I will miss the people I worked with. I will keep in touch with some of them. I hope that full-time job gig for that season has made me  a better pastor. God knows. I  know that I am very thankful for the opportunity to go full-time and, to be honest, to sleep-in just a bit later every weekday.