I will be going to Morristown First UMC to be their Minister of Discipleship. I am excited about this opportunity. I feel it is right up my alley. One of the main aspects of the position is to relaunch a contemporary service they began about a year ago that needs some specific leadership directed to it in terms of music and preaching. This is exactly what I was looking for, preaching in a contemporary setting and helping to set its direction under the leading of the Spirit. It currrently has about 80 people but I see much potential. Building a service from the ground up is a privledge and one which excites me. I want to create a service where people encounter God and also anyone can feel comfortable coming no matter how they dress or what. There is a lot of work ahead but it is something I can sink my teeth into.
Another aspect of the position is to help with their Discerning Team to help them develop a discipleship plan for reaching their specific goal of making disciples. I have done a lot of reading in this area and it is a focus of my dissertation. This designing process excites me as well.
You can read the history of the church by going to www.fumcmorristown.org. In my interactions and conversations with the Sr. Pastor Darris Doyal, I really liked him and was impressed by him. He has a real joy for life and ministry. Darris is a person who gets things done but also very family friendly and I felt this would be a good place to work.
I will be joining a full time staff of a music minister, a youth minister, children's minister, administrator, as well as several part time staff people. They have a membership of about 1500 with about 450-500 in worship on any given Sunday. It is about 1 1/2 hours from Kate's folks.
Pray for us. Kate and I have looked for houses last weekend and a weekend before but no luck so far. It takes time but it is very frustrating waiting. I go down one more time to look for a house and meet with the personel committee (PPR). I am looking forward to it.
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