"Marilyn, I think we have a problem..."

As I mentioned a few days ago (see Thinking...), the autumn of 1993 found me thinking about looking around for new ministry opportunities.  I looked at some ads and made some phone calls but I was not very serious about any of the positions I encountered.  Then one day in late 1993 my GROUP Magazine arrived and in its little classified section there was a youth ministry position listed at First United Methodist Church in Kissimmee, FL.  I could not resist applying at a church that close to Walt Disney World, just for the fun of it.  I assumed a Quaker would have no chance, but I put together a packet of stuff including my resume and a copy of our summer brochure from 1993 and sent it out.  Marilyn and I laughed that maybe they would want to interview me and we could get a Disney trip out of the deal- but I seriously doubted I would hear back from FUMC-K.

So imagine my surprise a few days later when a phone call came for me at the office from Rev. John Willis, the senior pastor at FUMC-K.  He told me he had received my packet and that it looked interesting to them, especially the summer brochure.  He did a short phone interview (asking a lot of questions about our New York trips as I recall) and then asked if Marilyn and I would be interested in coming down to interview with the search committee.  I was stunned.  I could not believe they had any serious interest in me.  I checked with Marilyn and we decided to check it out.  The interview was set for early February, 1994.

We flew into Tampa because it was cheaper, and we rented a car.  They were putting us up at Larson's Lodge (now a Holiday Inn) on highway 192 near downtown Kissimmee.  Even with all of the time we had spent at Walt Disney World, we had never seen downtown Kissimmee.  It was quite a mixture of old and new, of quaint and rundown.  We still both had very mixed feelings about the whole adventure, but our basic premise was that we would have to be blown away by this church to consider leaving Springfield.  I arrived at the church for my interview only to find that they were not done interviewing someone else.  A guy with a broken arm (turned out to be my future-friend Andrew Lewis) came out and asked me to wait in the church library.  It was funny, but I was not the least bit nervous.  I really felt like I was interviewing them as much as the other way around.  After a short wait the other guy came out and I was ushered in.  The interview went on for about an hour, and I have to admit I remember being very unimpressed.  Andrew and Pastor John asked a few interesting questions, but for the most part they seemed more concerned about my ability to handle unruly youth than they were about my philosophy of ministry or my theology (although they were a bit curious abut Quakers).  Dan Autrey, the head of the search committee, also was curious about the trips we had taken in the past, and how Marilyn felt about a possible relocation.  I did learn a great deal about the church, however.  I learned that they had four wonderful years with Jorge Acevedo that had ended when the Florida Conference moved him to another church.  They next two appointed Associate Pastors who also did youth ministry had not worked out so well, each lasting about a year.  Andrew had been serving as the interim youoth leader while they serached.  Four leaders in four years had left the ministry wounded.  They were looking to hire a full-time youth pastor for the first time in a very long time.  This committee was taking that charge very seriously- but they were unsure of what they were doing.

There were also two youth on the committee.  Neither Jennifer Johns nor Elizabeth Dykes had said much during the interview process.  At the end of the questioning, I was asked if I had any questions.  I looked to Jennifer and Elizabeth and asked, "What do you guys want in a new youth director?"  Their answer was change my life.  Elizabeth looked at me straight in the eyes and responded, "That they stay."  I remember the shock that ran through my system as those words sank in.  For a number of years I had been leading a campaign to get youth pastors to commit to staying longer and making a real difference in the churches they served.  And now here were a couple of students asking for exactly that same thing.  I left the interview, knowing that John and Pat Willis were taking us to dinner a little bit later that evening.  I drove back to the motel with the overwhelming feeling that God was calling me to "mess with happy."  I walked in to the room, looked at my lovely wife and said, "Marilyn-  I think we have a problem..."     (to be continued...)

Because of Jesus,