Once upon a time, I was a seminary-trained, newly ordained pastor looking for a church here in central PA who needed a pastor. And, by God's grace, over a stomach-stuffing Pizza Hut lunch buffet with my childhood churchmate Neil Breneman (Executive Pastor at State College Alliance Church), I heard about a need for a new pastor at Alliance Christian Fellowship, a student-led church that meets on Sunday mornings in the HUB in the very center of the Penn State campus which I actually attended sporadically during my freshman year many centuries ago. I had never for an instant considered myself a candidate for campus ministry, in light of my tendency to wear black socks with every variety of footwear (including sandals), my aversion to every hint of cellular technology, and my preference for music written by people with names like Johann, Ludwig, and Wolfgang. But God had an epic surprise up His sovereign sleeve.
Within a few weeks, I was the new pastor at ACF, bracing myself for a ministry and a demographic that I did not really understand. And it quickly became apparent to me that ACF was a church with a rich history, an influential legacy, a solid support base, and an astoundingly passionate student leadership team. What followed was a two-year journey that was the most challenging, most demanding, most exhausting, most fulfilling, most rewarding, most significant thing I've ever done in ministry. When people asked me how things were going, my standard answer, which began almost immediately and remained true for almost every day of those two years, was, "I'm having a blast." And it was a blast, from start to finish.
But it was also a rather bumpy road. I encountered some unexpected resistance to my leadership from some of the student leaders, which led to some long discussions with those students, my boss, the church elders, and my advisers about whether this was a good ministry fit for me. And I eventually ran into some unanticipated roadblocks in my journey to licensing with the CMA denomination that ultimately led to the end of my assignment with ACF and the State College Alliance Church. (If you want to hear more about that journey, feel free to watch/listen to the "farewell" sermon I preached at the SCA on June 22, 2014, entitled, "In God We Trust?")
So, last fall, we closed that chapter in our lives, a chapter that we never thought would be written, was immeasurably richer than we ever could have dreamed, and provided me with an opportunity to do so many things in ministry for the very first time (baptizing, baby dedicating, hiring, Double Dream Hands, and texting, among others). And those final times on campus were so very bittersweet.
Here's a picture of our final walk from the parking lot to the HUB and the lobby spot where our girls had their own "Sunday school" with Kate for two years (including their Veggie Tales "lesson").
Here's our normal spot in the back of the room, where we sang, danced with a lot of worship songs, and distributed hundreds of bulletins (sometimes to the same person all at one time, when Julia was feeling especially bulletinly generous) over those two years before Daddy had to head down front to do announcements or lead Communion or preach.
Here's our final walk out those familiar (shockingly squeaky) doors of Alumni Hall:
Here's what I wrote on Facebook on that Sunday morning: As we have embarked on an admittedly lengthy, unusually public, but deeply meaningful "farewell tour" as I've transitioned out of my role as ACF pastor, the past few weeks and even months have been filled with many lasts: my last alliterative ACF email, my last sermon at the State College Alliance Church, Kate's last Sunday leading worship at the SCA, my last staff meeting, my last elder board meeting, our last Common Ground worship service, our last ACF Wednesday, and our last ACF Sunday. As I exchanged handshakes, hugs, and forearm bashes with many of our friends and as I've pondered our experience with ACF over the past two years, my heart is full, full of gratitude and memories and lessons learned and blessings received. What a journey. What a challenge. What a gift. What a blast!!
Our God is so very good, as we continue to learn to trust His goodness more and more. Many months later, as we're still in that familiar spot of waiting and looking for another local church who needs a pastor, those words still ring true. Our time with ACF was an amazing journey, a tremendous challenge, a beautiful gift, and an absolute blast.
No comments:
Post a Comment