A Long Journey, Part 7 (So this is church)

By the time I had graduated I still did not have a job. I had a few interviews, but looking back, I recall at least one that I an glad I did not get. I recall the minister in the interview telling me the importance of making sure that I did not get too close to any of the church members, as this has a tendancy to cause people to pick sides and can cause division.


I had another interview over the summer. This church talked to me on 2 occasions and invited me down for an interview. After retruning home, I received a call. Turns out they were going with their first choice, the one they had in mind all along. They just needed to do some interviews to confirm that they were correct in their first choice. They apologized, because they felt all of the candidates they had interviewed were quality people. They should have just gone with their guts in the first place. Apparently they were hoping to interview a bunch of idiots so it would be an easy decision. God decided differentlly. Or did he?


I finally was offered a job by a church in Virginia by the end of the summer. I remember walking into my office on the first day thinking, "Now what?" I was hired, but not given much direction on what to do. I guess I was expected to know that!


The Senior Minister left about 3 months after I arrived. They hired another and he left within about 8 months. I had been there a little over a year, and was asked to meet with one of the elders. He told me that they were letting me go, as I was not meeting their expectations. I guess that is true when you really don't have expectations.


No other answer was given. I know there was a lot of strife, and the leadership generally chose to deal with it by not dealing with it. I think I became a casualty of that. Unfortunately, I think that is common in a lot of churches. And maybe ministers too. I turned in my resignation and left quietly because I felt it was the thing to do.


A rude introduction to church politics. A rude introduction to being in the adult world. But lessons were learned...


Next: Drifting