The longer you’re alive, the faster time seems to go by, and the last 365 days in my life have been no exception.
On October 8, 2016, I officially moved from Mason City, Iowa, up to Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Only a few short hours later, I taught junior church for the first time at Lighthouse Baptist Church. Thus began my new ministry as the assistant pastor at Lighthouse Baptist in Cottage Grove.
McDonald’s. Text messages. Amazon Prime. ATMs. Google. The retired Concorde. What do all these things have in common?
They are all spelled the same way: F-A-S-T
In the United States of America, we put a special emphasis on receiving things and accomplishing things as quickly as possible. On the one hand, that’s okay, since our life is a vapor and will soon be gone. On the other hand, we tend to settle for less than the best when everything is done as quickly as possible.
In the past, I wasn’t the biggest fan of weddings. As a child I went to weddings with my family and a couple times in my “later years” I had the privilege of playing music for the weddings of close family members or friends. But I never was too enthralled with them. I enjoyed the food though, and if I have enough mental capacity to remember any of the specific weddings I attended, I literally can tell you what food or punch almost every one of them served: Chicken enchiladas, pork roast, Famous Dave’s, grape punch with vanilla ice cream- to name a few.
One of my weaknesses is my tendency to do things slowly.
I like slow. I like deliberate. I like to think about what I’m doing and enjoy the moment.
When I worked at IRBC, I loved my job as the photographer because I was never in a rush to be anywhere after meals. I could sit down and eat for 50 minutes. Dining hall girls were gone after 15 minutes, dishroom guys were gone after 22, and lifeguards departed around the 30-minute mark. I’d eat until I got lonely and then I’d leave. Being given 20 minutes to eat as Contender last year was so painful.
As I drove away from the elementary school where we had our Sunday morning service in Bennington, NE several weeks ago, a small sign on the street corner caught my eye.
“Volunteers Needed. Bennington Soccer Club.”
WHAT?! How can I get involved in that?!
One of my goals in going to Bennington for a year-long church planting internship was to get involved in the community in as many ways as possible. Having played soccer, played in orchestra, and taken lots of pictures while at school, there were three specific ways I wanted to get involved in the community: soccer, music, and photography.
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
