Our first year in New England and in full-time ministry were, in many ways, a baptism by fire.
We arrived in New England just in time for a beautiful fall. I was told, at some point, that we'd have around a month to get settled and figure things out before much was expected of me. That ended up being about 4 days...
I started right away with a funeral (which I had never done before) and then began leading the worship service at 2nd Congo. I thought this part would be a breeze but was caught off guard by the simple fact that 2nd Congo is not Christ Central and that a very different worship service requires s very different style of leadership. I started to get the hang of it before too long, but the first few weeks were pretty rough, with me going on with little mini-sermons and everybody checking their watches (at least that's how it felt).
I also started the fall off with two pastoral counseling cases. When I first started to pursue ministry I wanted to be a Christian Counselor and I've always thought this was an area in which God had gifted me, so I thought that this might be an enjoyable and encouraging part of ministry.
Wrong.
Well, whether God has gifted me for counseling or not is still up for debate. But there's no debating the fact that my first 2 counseling cases were both disasters. To be fair Pastor Bill told me they were going to be disasters, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch people's lives fall apart right in front of you.
Then came snowmaggedon 2010/2011!!!! We had over 7 feet of snow for our first winter in New England. I slipped on the ice more times than I want to admit and we slid our car into a snow bank at least once. I also got to learn the joy of snow-shoveling that motivates so many people to move to Florida. I don't like snow-shoveling, but I like it more than Florida.
I also started preaching monthly as soon as we got here and began filling in at a few other church pretty quickly as well. This is always the part of pastoral ministry that I am the most nervous about. By God's grace, though, this has been one of the best, most enjoyable and most encouraging parts of my ministry here. Even though I still rarely finish a sermon before 1a.m. on Sunday morning I've found that I'm actually much better at this (again, only because of God's grace) than I ever thought I could be.
More than anything else, though, our first year has been a learning experience. Learning about God learning about New England culture, learning about people and learning about ourselves. I've learned that New Englanders are, in several ways, a tough group to reach. They're very opinionated and often very set in their ways. They're quick to tell you their opinion but not very interested in yours. In short, they're like people everywhere. The challenge here is that people tend to have a pretty negative image of religion in general. Helping them to realize that the Gospel I preach is any different than the legalism and morality that they see all around them is the first, and often hardest, step. I've also learned that I'm far less prepared for ministry than I thought I was but that God is far more gracious to work though my weaknesses than I realize.
Above all else I've learned that God is faithful to his church and can and will work through whoever is willing to be used by him, even me and even you. So please pray for us and for New England. God will use your prayers.
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