Thursday, February 16, 2006

I'm a Pastoral Intern

OK, I'm a pastoral intern now. It just occurred to me that I should supply references... so I emailed a couple of former pastors and an elder to see if they would be willing to be contacted as refences. I'm not sure what being an intern will entail, as the church really doesn't know me (I've only attended for 10 weeks, and that was many months ago).

My head elder got back to me today. It seemed to me that they had designs for me, which I disrupted with my internship. A new round of elders and deacons will soon be selected, and I confess that I was hoping to serve as an elder. Those plans are now set aside, however. A year is a long time, and I am committed for two semesters.

If this new church is willing to invest the time, effort and risk of taking me as an intern, I must do my very best to serve them. It will be a long time, then, before I get the privilege of serving as an elder. The new church would be wise to withhold that privilege until I was proven, and my old church would have to rebuild a relationship with me before I could serve there again in a position of spiritual leadership. Not to mention, I'm not inclined to pull a "thanks for the investment, I'm outta here" on the church interning me... They deserve a return on investment.

Life is strange, is it not? All the people I have come to know and love, people I desirely deeply to serve and to protect, will be unseen to me for several seasons. I plan to visit, of course... but my allegiance must shift. *sigh*

Cathy will still make the drive to the church where she serves as treasurer, though. The service times are such that she can attend the first service with me, then go and serve as the treasurer and attend church "out there." I am certainly looking forward to some local fellowship, which I have been missing.

2 comments:

  1. Lee, I am a little confused. I read all your posts to figure it out but still didn't get it. You are an intern at a new church closer to where you live. But you said something about something being healed before you could serve at Frienship again? But Cathy still attends Friendship? Help..I'm confused! Love, Jenn

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  2. "Healed"? Is that a typo? Or maybe I mumbled on an audio post?

    If I referred to healing, I must be referring to Cathy's Hep-C, as I am rather healthy (if a little chubby).

    To clarify, I'm committed for at least one semester, if not two, serving at this local church. In the mean time, I cannot make it to Friendship to serve or be in fellowship there, but Cathy can (and fully intends to).

    Once Cathy is healed, she'll probably attend the early service with me near the house, then leave early to get to Friendship on time. That would be about six months from now. In the mean time, she can only make it to one church, so I think she'll be going to Friendship alone, and I will be an intern by myself. :-(

    As far as me serving at Friendship, I would LOVE to (looking forward to it), but after being gone for a year, I figure they'll need to make sure I'm still trustworthy, especially new people that join the church.

    Does that help? :-)

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