Western Hills United Methodist Church, El Paso Texas

One of the pieces of a pastor’s life not always considered by non-preachers is how often sermons work on the hearts and minds of preachers, first.  Most of us who preach have periods where we know that God is first addressing us, long before God intends to address people in a sermon.  Such is the case with the present series.  Long before I knew what circumstances might come, I decided to preach on Ecclesiastes. Lord, how the Teacher has taught me.

This week, we consider the tweet, “You Just Never Know.”  Part of the Bible passage speaks to the fact we cannot always know what God is doing.  Such has been the case around the church for the past couple of months.  Staff turnover has become the summer experience for this pastor.  First, the director of music with whom I’ve had a great working relationship and friendship – perhaps the best with a church musician I’ve enjoyed in my 20 years. Then, the children’s ministry director wanted to return to full-time motherhood, and no-time staffer, understandable by those of us who’ve had stay-at-home moms at our house.   Then, Pam in the front office decided she wanted to devote more time to a photography business and less time at the church (she plans to stay on and manage our publications, thankfully).  That left us in a position we were in two years ago, an opportunity to split responsibilities in a position that simply cannot be done by the same person or personality.  The same week, Matt who leads worship at the middle service, decided to make a change and move with fiance’ Michelle to Houston to pursue her new opportunity and his career as a teacher.  By the time two weeks had passed, the weekly email updates to S-PRC read “News from Lake Staff-be-Gone” in the subject header.

This time of year is not the most conducive to search for staff in a local church, so I held my breath, prayed a lot, and tried to see what God was doing.  I am still not sure, and am comfortable that I may not ever know.  It may not be God at all, but if so, we must be in for something really good.  What I do know is this – these kind of transitions don’t happen unless God is doing a new thing, whether we perceive it or not.  The best news is, we now have some good candidates for almost every position we need to fill.  Please pray the rest will be made known to us in due time as the Spirit of God calls them to us.

Isaiah, in the 40th chapter, relates that those who grow weary will renew their strength, but before he wrote those words, he asks the question, “Who can know the mind of the Lord or be his instructor or counselor?”  Certainly not me, but I am waiting on the renewal of strength.  I am ready to soar again like an eagle, but for now, I wait upon Him.

See you Sunday, where we will search to understand His mind toward us, and where we will search to know what new thing He may be doing.

Blessings,

Mark