From High Brow Pirate to Hometown Pastor

In  Assignment to Calling I spoke of the Leadership assignment leading to the first draft of what is going to be a living and breathing ministry.  When I was done with it, I showed it to a friend of mine named Fran.  Fran and I were freshmen at Bible College together. He was older than me (still is), married, and had 2 kids.  He also had already worked in the ministry.  He and I became fast friends.  After Bible College he did start a church in 1994 and I stayed with him on the project from day 1 until 1998.  My leaving was not pretty and it put a strain on our friendship.  We would talk awkwardly once every other year or so.  2007 was a verbose year.  We had lunch together twice and exchange 3 emails.  Some of them exceeded a paragraph. 

Well, after I put this together, it just felt right to talk to him.  So I did.  I showed it to him over lunch.  He told me his church has a planting team and he thought it would be fun if we did a q&a time.  Hey!  Why not?  I show them my plan, they ask questions.  We have an intellectually stimulating time.

It was a good time.  What I did not realize was that this would be the first step into building what will be an essential relationship.  Fran’s church is not your typical church.  If most churches closed down, other than a few parishioners, no one would notice.  They help run a food pantry for the poor, they are helping Haiti one village at a time, they sometimes have special offerings to pay someone’s mortgage.  They are here to make an impact on people’s lives because they care, not to fulfill a religious obligation or to hook people into the church. 

This first step has given me (though I have not really said it in so many words) a mentor and his church has given me an example and a group of friends.  Our visions are so close it is spooky and it is my belief that God put us in our paths at this time for a reason.  I think they feel the same way.  Not sure.  All I know is I have appreciated their time and support so far…and as an individual…if not for Fran, I would have packed this in and given up to be a waiter at Denny’s writing this experience off as a fantasy from a man who had a heart attack seeking an epiphany in a void of meaningless quests.  

Having friends, partners, and advisors is essential and it is not something a lot of people get in journeys such as these.  I am grateful for what they have done and will do and I have no idea what that is.  I am not really asking for anything, so anything really rocks!!