have purpose, will travel

Since there are several people who have checked this blog who don’t know any of the details about why we are going to New Zealand I figured I should post a quick word on that subject.

Too make a long story short, Brooke and I have been invited to come down to Auckland for three months to pursue the possibility of long-term ministry there. This invitation has been extended by the Elders of Redeemer GPC (see their link under my NZ links).

During this three-month visit Brooke and I will be serving in various capacities. Brooke will be working with teenagers in the church and in the Presbytery at large (for you non-Presbyterians a Presbytery is simply a group of churches in the same region). She has the freedom to explore several other areas of service while we are there as well. I will be serving as an assistant pastor for the three months. I will be preaching on the topic of Gospel Relationships for about half of the Sunday’s that we are there, teaching a Sunday School/Bible Study on developing a Christian worldview, guest teaching a few classes at Grace Theological College, and fulfilling other pastoral duties. While we are there Brooke and I will organize and lead a weekend retreat for the youth of the Presbytery. We may also be planning and leading a Friday night to Saturday afternoon training conference for local youth leaders.

The purpose of these three months is to assess whether or not we are a good fit for life and ministry in New Zealand and at Redeemer in particular. It gives everyone there a chance to check us out and vice versa. We will return to the States on December 6, either to begin preparing to go back to New Zealand long-term or to be homeless and unemployed. If we go long-term I will be serving as a pastor at Redeemer and teaching part-time at Grace.

People keep asking if we are excited. The easy answer is “Yes”, but honestly we are experiencing a whole swirl of emotions. We are excited, nervous, curious, scared, hopeful, confused, contented. The list could go on. Part of the trepidation I feel is over the fact that I don’t consider myself spiritually fit to be a pastor. Everyone tells me that a sense of inadequacy is a prerequisite for the position. That’s great, but how do you tell the difference between a sense of inadequacy and the presence of real inadequacy? That’s probably a good topic for a separate post.

Anyway, that’s the short and skinny of why we are headed to the land of the Kiwi’s. If you have specific questions about all of this feel free to email them to me.