I attended church regularly from early childhood through my teen years, going every Sunday morning and evening with my Mother. We attended Wednesday night prayer meeting nearly every week.
As was custom in our church, there was an altar call nearly every Sunday evening and on every Wednesday evening service. That means I probably sat through several hundred altar calls and was pretty numb to what was happening.
Then, at about the age of 12 or 13, I remember getting a little uncomfortable during these calls to the altar. Eventually I began to realize it was the Lord, urging me to make a public acceptance of His love and dedicate myself to carrying out His will.
This was a glorious time in my life. I finally got it. I had been able to get all that head knowledge of Christ to move down into my heart. I was soon baptized and began my journey with Christ. Shortly after that I remember my Father taking that long walk down the aisle to the altar also. I still remember the hymn that we were singing: "The Old Rugged Cross".
That was nearly 50 years ago. I have taken a number of wrong turns on that journey but, thanks to my Mom and Dad, I had the solid foundation they gave me to build on. Even in the toughest of times, I instinctively knew that I had the Lord on my side to help me through. I just didn't take advantage of Him for many years.
After searching for a new church for a year or two, my wife and I were drawn to a small, country church in McMichaels. After a year or so and a change of pastors, we became members of that tiny church and began getting involved. I soon found myself being challenged to help more and become more and more involved. In a number of different ways, the Lord was asking me to help make this tiny church survive and grow. I later found out that the church was on the very brink of being closed when we joined.
My time at McMichaels United Methodist Church has been the training ground that the Lord set up for me. I was forced to learn about the structure of the church and the duties and responsibilities of each of the divisions and committees of a United Methodist church and how to set them up. I was challenged to come up with ideas on helping the church grow and was forced into seeing these things were carried through. I found the pastor coming to me for ideas and asking me to get them started. I never said no.
I created advertising material to bring attention to our church and handouts to use at any function we held. I developed outreach programs to bring people from the community into our tiny church. I developed and maintained an internet web site to show what our church was all about. I did everything I could think of to market our church and bring in more people. And, just when I would become discouraged and think I was wasting my time, some new member of the church would say how they first came to visit our church because of a brochure they were given or they came to visit because of something they had read on our web site without knowing that I had done those things. The Lord was setting me up.
These things were pretty easy for me to do. I enjoyed doing them and I could remain in the background. But that wasn't enough for the Lord. Soon the pastor was asking me to do other things. Remember, I said that I never said no. I might feel uncomfortable or question the pastor's sanity, but never said no. He began asking me to help out in different portions of worship services. I would be asked to come up with something different for a particular holiday or special service. I started investigating skits as a method to make a point. I would find the appropriate skit, develop music to fit, recruit players and conduct rehearsals and direct the actions. This soon led to writing scripts and plays to portray biblical events in a sometimes unusual, contemporary way.
Then the pastor asked me to develop a weekend retreat. The only instructions were that it was to be spiritual. This was an overwhelming charge. I had a couple of months to work on it. My wife and I had been to a retreat "The Walk to Emmaus" and had served 2 or 3 times on staff after that so we had some thoughts of how to plan and how to sturcture things, but had no real ideas of what to do. As happens most often in my life over the past few years, I turned it over to the Lord and He put things in motion.
We were visiting one of our sons in Kentucky while he was going through basic training in the National Guard. We went into a Christian bookstore and bought a few music CD's. About two thirds through one of the CD's, there was a song. We both started crying half-way through the song and knew instantly that this would be the basis for the entire retreat weekend. As near as I can figure, I spent over 400 hours, scratching my head, typing, timing and retiming and crying with the Lord before the retreat finally took form and was completed.
I have led bible study for about 4 years, helped in various worship services and serving of the elements during communion, written various plays and skits, wrote and led two weekend retreats, been involved in healing services, and served as Vice President of our Administrative Board. I have been President of the Board of Trustees, started a United Methodist Men group, served on the Pastor Parish Relations committee, been a member of our Worship Committee all because I have never said no. I have handled portions of our regular Sunday worship service and have handled several entire worship services when the pastor needed to be away. I represented our church as a voting member of the Eastern Pa. Annual Conference in 2004.
I completed the United Methodist Local Pastor licensing school in early May of 2004 and finished Hebrews I (Old Testament preaching) in October 2004. Completed Pastorsal Counseling in February 2005. I will be taking additional courses for eventual ordination.
The Lord has laid it on my heart to strive to become a minister of His, leading His church and His people for the glory of God. I am waiting for His next move.
His next move has put me in a small community church in Cortez, PA. I am blessed to be part of a church that houses so much Spirit.
