Today I’m doing a wedding. I’ve been counseling the couple for a few months and I’m excited to finally be performing the wedding. The wedding is being held at the beautifu Zilker Botanical Gardens. So what make’s it a wedding cookout?

The heat. Looks like we’ll reach the hottest point of the day at 5:00 PM. What time does the wedding start? 5:00! We’re doing the wedding in the rose garden. It’s beautiful, but there’s no shade. Actually the groom, bride and I will be under an arbor, but everyone atteneding will be in the sun! Good thing the wedding’s only 20-25 minutes. Looks like I’ll be drycleaning my suit after this wedding.

Unfortunately I may have missed the really great deals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but I’m hoping for some other great deals before the end of the year.

In our early childhood department at church is making some changes for 2009 and I need to put some LCD TV’s in our rooms. Basically, I need to buy and install 7, maybe 8. I could have sworn that I saw one in a Black Friday ad for as low as $599. We’re not showing Blue Ray movies, so it can be a simple Vizio or similar 720P. I can find several 32 inch LCD’s for $400 and several 42 inch LCD’s for $700, and most of those are 1080P. So, I’m looking for a 720P for under $500 and I’d prefer to pick it up locally so I don’t pay out the nose in shipping.

Maybe I’m stretching here, but would a local store negotiate the price a little bit since I’m buying so many LCD’s.

Any thoughts? Any help?

Most of you who knew me well knew that I had been really struggling at my last job. Cross Timbers is a fantastic church doing an incredible thing in the Fort Worth area. CT is a multi-site church trying to figure out exactly how to do multi-site (they’re not alone… it’s still a very new concept in ministry). As CT was trying to figure out what multi-site looked for them, my role kept getting changed which brought frustration, disappointment among other issues. Literally, a week before I was let go, Sara and I sat on our couch and cried. We were stuck! I wasn’t happy in my work, Sara (as a new mom) didn’t want to work, and we really needed to get out from underneath our house (we bought it based on being DINKs). We decided that day that we were going to put our house on the market ASAP and I even sent my resume into a church I was interested in out in Las Vegas. Then, only one week later I Sara and I were released from Cross Timbers.

Throughout this process, we were looking for God’s hand in these events. Although this isn’t the path I would have chosen, getting let go actually did solve several of our problems. I was no longer unhappy at work. Ha! In addition, it was great motivation to get rid of our house. Again, not route I would have walked, but it worked.

Some of you who know me well knew the things going through my head at this time. I was feeling a little burnt and was considering taking a break from working in the local church. I saw this as maybe my opportunity to take a break, stretch some entrepreneurial muscles, do some ministry consulting, speaking and even some writing. I was really searching for what was next for our lives. However, many of my closest friends (in a supportive way) essentially gave me kick in the pants in the right direction, not to give up so early on the local church. Thanks… sometimes I need those kicks.

We ended up landing in Valdosta, GA where I grew up. My parents run two EXPRESSTAX franchises where I could help them with this year’s tax season while getting paid enough to cover my bills. I got to work right away for them by learning all I could about preparing taxes, attending two conferences with them all while putting together a marketing campaign that would launch only a few week later. From the onset, I was busy, busy busy… even picking ups some freelance design work for a couple other tax franchise owners. Once tax season started in January, we were working from 10 and 11 hour days virtually 6 days a week. It’s pretty brutal for those four months.

Then, in the middle of January, we took off for Las Vegas. We were being very open-minded as we already were having trouble getting our heads around living in Las Vegas. The whole trip was a roller coaster ride of getting really excited about working at Central and not being sure if we would enjoy living in Vegas. However, while there I was exposed to a completely new philosophy of ministry. I’d heard of it before, but never seen it in action. It was family ministry, an approach where student ministry and children’s ministry are brought together and ministries are more aligned… they work together and help serve families in a more unified way. It solved so many of the issues I had encountered in the past 11 years of ministry. I loved it. I wanted to do it! Just a few weeks later, we found out that I didn’t get the job at Vegas. Similar to Cross Timbers, Central had to layoff 15% of their staff due to finances and the position I was applying for simply went away. Wow! I had told God that it would make it easier for me if the decision was made for me. In this case… it was! However, now I know exactly why I went to Vegas in the first place. It wasn’t for the job… it was for me to learn more about family ministry.

Not too much longer I went ahead and registered for the Orange Conference in Atlanta. It was a conference I had been wanting to attend for over a year. I didn’t know much about it, other than the biggest names in children’s ministry and student ministry would be there. As of late, I have become pretty disappointed with some of the other children’s ministry conferences. So, even though I wasn’t in a church, I felt I was supposed to attend Orange. I decided to figure out what Orange was really all about. You’ll never believe it. It’s about student and children’s ministry in the context of a family ministry approach. Can you believe that? Was someone trying to tell me something???

Then, just a few weeks later I got a call from a Church Staffing Firm I registered with. The consultant called me to tell me he just picked up a new church client that was looking for someone with my level of experience. He said, “Kenny, this position has your name written all over it.” He started off by telling me about the church. It was Gateway Church in Austin, Texas. In my mind, I was a little disappointed. A few weeks earlier I had seen a posting from Gateway for an elementary director’s position. I was very intrigued by the church, but not really interested in being an elementary director. The consultant must have talked about Gateway for 5-6 minutes. What he said was definitely exciting as it seemed like an incredible ministry… but I was preparing for the elementary director let-down. Then he transitioned. “Let me tell you about the position.” He then preceded to tell me about the new position of Generations Pastor they were hoping to hire. They were looking for someone to oversee all ministry from Birth through College in the context of family ministry. In addition, this would all need to be done in a multi-site approach.

I was speechless. What’s going on here? Don’t tease me!!!

I let him know that I was way beyond interested. This was perfect! Is God doing something here? Has he been preparing me for this?

Well, a few weeks later I was back in Texas closing on our home. I had my first phone interview with the Director of Operations. We spoke for a little over 2 hours. He felt good enough about our conversation that he wanted us to come down for a quick visit that weekend. We attended one service, walked around the next service and had lunch with the Director of Operations during their third service. It went really well and while on site, he asked us if we were interested in going to the next level. Of course we were!

The next week I spent hours and hours putting together several documents for him. Some were about my philosophy of ministry, others on my strategy for family ministry (most of it was so new as I was really learning about it) and several on methods for training, directing and leading volunteers and staff. We talked some more on the phone and finally set up a date for us to come back for the full interview process. That’s what we did last week. Two months after our initial visit, we were back in Austin.

I must say, it was the most intense interview process I’ve ever been a part of. It was a brutal gantlet. From Tuesday through Thursday I was in meetings, interviews or sharing meals with people from 9:00 AM until 9:00 PM. We had two days off where we only had dinner with one staff member and spent the next day with realtors. Then the week concluded with a totally packed Sunday where I attended three services (participating in one and walking around and experiencing the other two). We ate a quick lunch and rested for a few hours before I came back and spoke to a group of Children’s Ministry leaders for a little over an hour. So, even in my downtime over this week, I was preparing for my talk with these leaders. However, after it was all over, I felt good… totally spent… like I’d left it all out on the field.

We came home on Monday and began the waiting process. I had been told that I’d hear back at the end of the week. I assumed that it would probably be Thursday. They had a few more questions for me by email on Tuesday, but at this point I was just waiting. At about 3:00 PM on Thursday, I got the call. Gateway was officially offering me the position of Generations Pastor. They were excited and I was on cloud nine!

Here’s what I love most about all of this. The past 5 months have not been easy. Even to this day, I hate that I was let go… that was like a punch to my gut, a blow to my pride. From the moment it happened, I knew that it would be a lot harder explaining the circumstances as I was looking for my next gig. But God had a journey for us. He knew we were stuck. He knew I wasn’t happy. He knew what I had in me and he had a plan for me. In a few weeks we’ll have gotten a fresh start. We’ll be in a house appropriate for being a single income family. We’ll be in a very fun and eclectic city filled with things to do and places to see. We’ll be at a church that Sara and I are 100% behind… we love what they’re doing! I’ll be in a new frontier of ministry, able to do the things I’m really good at as well as facing new challenges that will make my work challenging and rewarding. In addition, we were able to spend several months with my family here in Georgia, especially to be here after the loss of my grandmother. I’ll probably be leaving just days after tax season ends. It certainly is interesting how things just seem to all work together like that. I’m so thankful for the journey God has had us on. We’re so happy!

Stay tuned, I’ll tell you more about Gateway in a few days.

Well, we sold our house. We didn’t get as much out of it as we would have liked, but the fact that we sold our house in a depressed market and no longer have a house payment… we’re very pleased. We close on February 15th so we’re currently packing it up so we’re out in time.

It has been so fun to watch Titus grow and develop. He got his first tooth about 2 weeks ago and a second tooth is getting ready to break through. He’s our little snaggle-tooth right now. He’s enjoying solid food and has just learned to eat cheerios. What’s really fun is to watch him try to get them in his mouth. Probably most fun of all is that Titus now has bath toys. He loves splashing around.

Last of all, I’ve been very busy interviewing for ministry positions. This has been a very tough transition for me. I’m really blessed to have an opportunity to provide for my family during the interim so that I can truly explore my options. Finding the right ministry fit is a very delicate process and there are so many things to consider. I couldn’t imagine feeling the financial pressure of having to jump into something really quick (If this were the situation, I am sure God would guide and provide). However, this time I find myself in a very different situation. In the past I was very anxious to dive into positions that provided an opportunity to explore, try new stuff and grow in ability and skill. I’ve loved the opportunities that I’ve had. However, this time around I’m looking for more of an opportunity to apply the skills I’ve developed over the years and be challenged in new areas. So, in some ways I’ve been a little picker than I have been in the past. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with and interview with a handful of churches making a huge impact on their communities. Although it has been nice to not be in a rush, I’m really anxious to get back to what I do best. I’m sure there will be some more definite developments in the next 6 to 8 weeks… I’ll keep you posted.

Well, that is about it. Hopefully more frequent posts in the near future.

This last year was a very productive year for the Children’s Ministry at Cross Timbers. I led the charge in a total re-branding of the Children’s Ministry from TimberLand to CT Kids. I made some strategic changes in staff, developed a Small Group ministry for elementary aged students (which has grown 40% every semester for 3 semesters), revamped the Nursery ministry, resurrected a Vacation Bible School program (we had 900 kids participate which was triple the size of the last one), created a mission outreach for 4^th and 5^th graders (took 20 kids and 20 adults to Mexico for 4 days), improved a self-run summer camp for 3^rd-5^th graders (we took almost double the kids we took the year before) and brought a 140 child weekday preschool under the leadership of the children’s ministry. In addition to all of this, I brought Sara on staff with me (part time as a volunteer coordinator) and we had a baby in the summer. Did I mention it was a busy year too?

For the past three years Cross Timbers has been on the “Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches” list and this last year was no exception (2005, 2006, 2007). However, with this year’s attendance growth, giving did not keep up. Leadership made budget projections for 2007 and so far Cross Timbers has failed to meet these projections on a weekly giving basis. Although we recently raised over 2 million dollars for a special offering (these are restricted funds that cannot be used for general budget needs), giving has been significantly down.

That’s where we come in. This Monday, Cross Timbers’ Leadership was forced with the unpleasant decision to make staff layoffs… 16 to be exact. In addition, key leadership took pay cuts as well. Sara and I were fortunate enough to be on this list. Yeah, our world got rocked this Monday! You can read the official news from Cross Timbers Here.

At about 10:00 AM on Monday I got an all staff email requesting all staff to attend an urgent staff meeting. I remember thinking to myself… this can’t be good. Just a minute later, I got an email invite for Sara and I to attend a meeting with the leadership team. My heart sank… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening.

I went home, prepped Sara for what was coming and we came back for our meeting. This had to be a horrible day for the leadership team. We met for about 20 minutes and thanked them for the opportunity to serve at Cross Timbers. They were generous to give us severance until the end of the year which helps us out tremendously.

Once we walked out of Cross Timbers, the weight of responsibility was lifted from my shoulders. It felt very freeing. However, I was immediately saddled with the pressure of finding a new job in order to provide for my family… I don’t know which is heavier!

You may be asking, “Well how are you guys?”

Actually, we’re surprisingly good. The funny thing is that we’re kind of excited. About 6 weeks ago we decided that we were going to put our house on the market… so we were already headed toward getting the house ready. We’ve seen God work in amazing ways has he has prepared us for what was next. I don’t doubt for one minute that God is already working behind the scenes to place us exactly where he wants us. Although losing my job could be a “drop-kick” to the pride, I feel more secure in my calling than I ever have. Just before I walked out of Cross Timbers on Monday, I check my mailbox one last time. In it was a hand-made letter from an elementary aged girl. Click here to see it.

Isn’t it amazing how God can speak to us through so many different ways? In this case, he spoke to me through the creation of a little girl. God was telling me in the midst of a crisis or the worst day possible that I was making a difference doing exactly what he’s called me to do. What a beautiful and gentle reminder of his presence and plan.

So, that’s our big news this week. I’ll definitely keep everyone posted with current news.

Thanks for your prayers!