I'm just watching Derrick Morris' DVD Radical Prayer. In it he speaks about the pastor who was so discouraged he gave it all up.

UNTIL...

Can you explain what happened to change your life?

Could it be a particular 'radical' prayer?

I heard Derrick's sermon on Radical Prayer at the Redwood Campmeeting ... some years back ... but I am afraid my memory may not be the best.

Gail, sorry I missed your question earlier on.

Yes, that pastor would be me. And it's true, that 13 or 14 years ago I reached a place where I became so discouraged and fed up that I quit the ministry and moved far, far away.

I suppose like Jonah I couldn't really outrun God, not that I was trying to, so God started using me where I was planted the next time around. And while I left the ministry as a means of employment it's not like I left God. So, while at first I didn't do much of anything, in the years that followed I started to become involved in church life once again to the point of being a charter member of a new congregation that formed in our area and then becoming the head elder and leading out in worship in that congregation.

While I was away from the ministry I pursued some other areas of interest, went back to school for my network administration certifications, and developed a professional life outside of the pastorate. Through all of it God was piecing me back together and I finally came to be at peace with my previous pastoral experiences. And because I could be successful as a non-pastor I learned to find my identity in Christ rather than in my employment, regardless of the position. This would prove to be an important lesson for me. And because I was just another person in the pew instead of being judged by church members, I learned the lesson of grace over works, of the inner journey versus outward appearances.

And I'll be honest, working in a "secular" job, in the "regular" work environment taught me how to stand up for what I believe instead of being surrounded by people who already believed like me. And very few people ever got used to the fact that I was an ordained minister as well as a network administrator. That was a subject that could always start a conversation. :-)

Well God had other plans for me and he started by relocating my family from South Florida to Central Florida in a very dramatic way. With no plans on our part for moving to where we are now, we found ourselves relocating in a matter of weeks and starting over again in terms of employment and housing. But moving here to Orlando opened up the next phase of my life when I started attending the Forest Lake Church online and later began to meet some of the staff.

Pastor Morris, Senior Pastor at Forest Lake, lives in the same development as us and one day, out of the blue, he came by for a visit, having heard that this former pastor guy who now worked with technology lived nearby. He found me out in the backyard in my garden and started visiting with me and then my wife. When he turned to leave he stopped, then turned back and said, "You know, I just feel impressed to tell you that someday Delwin will be working with us on our staff at the Forest Lake Church. I don't know how or when, but just that it will happen." This declaration came out of nowhere and took us both by surprise. And thus began a nearly 3 year journey back to full-time pastoral employment for me at the Forest Lake Church. I started by working with the Audio/Video team with Pastor Patty Hofer and then got more and more involved with the web church congregation and experience. I continued attending online until the church asked me to become their Web Church Pastor, a volunteer position at first, but one that included my being on the staff as any other paid-position pastor.

And finally all the various pieces came together last spring when the Forest Lake Church was able to come up with the funding to hire me full-time as their Pastor for Web Ministries which includes all sorts of things technology related. We're sort of making it up as we go, so it has been an exciting and very humbling process and transition.

Let me finish this overly long post by stating a few things I have learned from this experience.

1. Ministry happens wherever God has placed you, regardless of whether you are being paid to do it or not.
2. I refuse to work again in a church that is not grace-oriented but focuses instead on externals and appearances only.
3. It is very freeing to know that my identity comes from Christ (I'm his child) rather than what I do for employment.

Thank you for your question,

--delwin

Pastor

As some one who has met you face-to-face more than once, I can assure you and other viewers, that I can really see Christ in you, it is hard to put in words, but it is there..

Courage

Your friend

Stan