My Next Ministry

I’m excited for my next ministry.

I’ve accepted a position to serve at Newport Mesa Church as one of the pastors on staff. Primarily, I’ll be responsible for spiritual formation and outreach (local/global). Additionally, I’ll help give input to the overall strategy of the church and periodically fill in for teaching at the weekend services. Like every new position, I’m sure it’ll morph over time, but that’s the starting line. Come to think about it, I won’t start for a few weeks, and it may change before I get there!

God’s timing in all of this was amazing. Awe-inspiring. Word-defying. Thinking about it causes my breath linger in my lungs. How this all came about was nothing less than a Divine Interruption to the direction my life was headed.

Early in November, I had a defining conversation that clearly signaled the end of my time serving students. While the meeting provided some much needed clarity, it didn’t have the answers I was hoping for. A few hours later, I got a call from Scott Rachels, the senior pastor at Newport Mesa Church asking if I’d be interested in serving on his staff. I hadn’t talked with Scott for five months, he had no idea what had happened that day!

This began a deliberately long and slow process to see we were a fit for one another.

Fast forward several weeks. On January 17, I was called into a meeting to be informed that my position at mariners was terminated. Although it was a shock, the conversation was peaceful. I was actually told in the meeting, “In the future, we’d maybe consider you for a spot on staff, assuming it was a fit for you…” God is always faithful, but I really “felt” his faithfulness that day: not once did I have any anxiety for the future. Ten hours later, I received an offer from Scott to serve at their church.

On two days I had difficult meetings, only to be followed up with hopeful opportunity.

Pretty crazy how God works, isn’t it?