I left full-time vocational church ministry in August 2018. I made the decision to resign and in that resignation, negotiated a severance to be paid until the end of October. I started real estate in August, taught VIPKid (teaching Chinese children English), interim preaching at a small Christian Church in Searcy, AR, and substitute teaching. Those jobs and more paid the bills that needed to be paid. Later I would try end of life mortgage insurance, working with our property management team, and then eventually join a team within our company. In September of 2020 I found Standing Stone Ministry. It was a fresh wind that blew through my soul. I was now able to minister in a powerful way to other ministers who feel burned out or are needing genuine encouragement. In order to do this ministry I have had to raise my own funds. I think I've done pretty well with the fund raising and could do more. In the 2021-22 school year I was given a unique opportunity to sub for the same teacher every Wednesday for the school year. Along with that I was able to sub for her and other teachers, but all at just one school. I got to know the teachers well and those 5th grade students well. I was on a real estate team within my company, subbing, and doing Standing Stone this past spring.
Several things happened at once. I cannot remember the exact dates, but it was in April...the beginning of April. I have been on job posting sites since 2018. I actually thought that I would be able to grab a lucrative job in the corporate world following my ministry career. I have the skills and experience, but church experience doesn't quite compute to other industries. Therefore after one 200 applications for various jobs I never received an interview. It is a bit discouraging. Yet, my hope is in the Lord so I persevered. Back to the story. I was on zip recruiter, indeed, LinkedIn, and other smaller ones. I'm not sure which one popped but two opportunities caught my eye. The first was a real estate job in town with a different company that was to be a property manager. The second was to be a chaplain resident at a hospital. Since my utter failure to receive an interview has destroyed my confidence, I simply thought on these before pursuing. Finally I reached out to the broker about the property management and we met for an interview at a local coffee shop. At the same time I sent in an application for the chaplain residency. The coffee shop talk was on a Friday and the following week my broker scheduled a meeting with me for that Friday. He offered me a position at our company to be the office administrator. Now, here I am in April of 2022 with 3 different possibilities. What do you do? Leah and I talked and decided that I go for all of it. ALL OF IT!!! So I did. The other company never called me back. One down, two to go. My broker offered me the position, I negotiated a higher hourly wage, and he said yes. My start date was May 9, 2022. There was two to three weeks before my start. Then came the email from the chaplain residency program scheduling an interview with me for that position. As luck would have it, it was May 11, 2022.
I start with my brokerage on May 9 and two days later I make the trek to Little Rock to interview. The interview went well. I really connected to these chaplains and the position. It would be a month before I would know anything they told me. So I kept moving on with life. I kept doing what I knew, rather than what might be. I must stop here and say something about these three opportunities. With all 3 my biggest concern was my Standing Stone Ministry. Standing Stone is my future. It is my heart. The first opportunity with the other real estate company could have been so time consuming, I'm not sure my ministry would've survived. I don't really know that because I never mentioned my ministry. I felt guarded at the interview and decided that if I take this position, I'll need to keep this ministry private. That was a red flag right there. When I met with my own broker about being his office administrator I was open about my ministry and that I would continue meeting with pastors and my support team while I worked there. He was extremely supportive. When I interviewed for the chaplain residency, we talked about my ministry. They were extremely supportive and even offered that what I could learn there could enhance my ministry with pastors. Back to the story.
Right around 1 month after my interview I received an email from the chaplaincy. I was offered a resident position. At the time the email came I was in Texas on a mission trip as a sponsor for the trip with my boys. I was talking to Leah daily during the trip, but didn't want to spring it on her with a phone call. My excitement was riding high and told her anyway. We came back from the mission trip and a few days later we left for our family vacation. Leah and I were on vacation and talking about it. She was surprised I hadn't already signed the agreement. I said I wanted for us to talk and really make the decision. Even though we had been talking since April, it was theoretical until early June. On vacation I signed the agreement through my phone (Leah taught me how) and the stake was in the ground.
This past Monday and Tuesday I began receiving onboarding information for my Monday start date. Here we go! It will be a journey. I'm thankful that you are on it with me.
Several things happened at once. I cannot remember the exact dates, but it was in April...the beginning of April. I have been on job posting sites since 2018. I actually thought that I would be able to grab a lucrative job in the corporate world following my ministry career. I have the skills and experience, but church experience doesn't quite compute to other industries. Therefore after one 200 applications for various jobs I never received an interview. It is a bit discouraging. Yet, my hope is in the Lord so I persevered. Back to the story. I was on zip recruiter, indeed, LinkedIn, and other smaller ones. I'm not sure which one popped but two opportunities caught my eye. The first was a real estate job in town with a different company that was to be a property manager. The second was to be a chaplain resident at a hospital. Since my utter failure to receive an interview has destroyed my confidence, I simply thought on these before pursuing. Finally I reached out to the broker about the property management and we met for an interview at a local coffee shop. At the same time I sent in an application for the chaplain residency. The coffee shop talk was on a Friday and the following week my broker scheduled a meeting with me for that Friday. He offered me a position at our company to be the office administrator. Now, here I am in April of 2022 with 3 different possibilities. What do you do? Leah and I talked and decided that I go for all of it. ALL OF IT!!! So I did. The other company never called me back. One down, two to go. My broker offered me the position, I negotiated a higher hourly wage, and he said yes. My start date was May 9, 2022. There was two to three weeks before my start. Then came the email from the chaplain residency program scheduling an interview with me for that position. As luck would have it, it was May 11, 2022.
I start with my brokerage on May 9 and two days later I make the trek to Little Rock to interview. The interview went well. I really connected to these chaplains and the position. It would be a month before I would know anything they told me. So I kept moving on with life. I kept doing what I knew, rather than what might be. I must stop here and say something about these three opportunities. With all 3 my biggest concern was my Standing Stone Ministry. Standing Stone is my future. It is my heart. The first opportunity with the other real estate company could have been so time consuming, I'm not sure my ministry would've survived. I don't really know that because I never mentioned my ministry. I felt guarded at the interview and decided that if I take this position, I'll need to keep this ministry private. That was a red flag right there. When I met with my own broker about being his office administrator I was open about my ministry and that I would continue meeting with pastors and my support team while I worked there. He was extremely supportive. When I interviewed for the chaplain residency, we talked about my ministry. They were extremely supportive and even offered that what I could learn there could enhance my ministry with pastors. Back to the story.
Right around 1 month after my interview I received an email from the chaplaincy. I was offered a resident position. At the time the email came I was in Texas on a mission trip as a sponsor for the trip with my boys. I was talking to Leah daily during the trip, but didn't want to spring it on her with a phone call. My excitement was riding high and told her anyway. We came back from the mission trip and a few days later we left for our family vacation. Leah and I were on vacation and talking about it. She was surprised I hadn't already signed the agreement. I said I wanted for us to talk and really make the decision. Even though we had been talking since April, it was theoretical until early June. On vacation I signed the agreement through my phone (Leah taught me how) and the stake was in the ground.
This past Monday and Tuesday I began receiving onboarding information for my Monday start date. Here we go! It will be a journey. I'm thankful that you are on it with me.
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