A Slow Start

My time at the Union Church of Hinsdale got off to a very slow start in March of 2000.  Once the moving truck arrived with all of my books, files, pictures, posters and nick-knacks, I sat out to make my new office feel like home.  This turned out to be a major problem.  I mentioned before that my new office was small.  I was coming from a HUGE office in Kissimmee- and my stuff simply didn't fit.  There was not room for all of my books.  The wall space was minuscule, and I had to choose 3 posters from the nearly 20 I had on the walls at FUMC-K.  There was room for one chair. The sectional sofa that had been such a gathering place in my old office had to be put in the basement of our new house, and I could really only visit with one person at a time.  My desk was also small, with no room for all my CDs and space for only one candy dispenser.   ONE!  This may all seem very petty, but it was important to me.  A new house, a new city, new people, new restaurants and new youth were tough enough.  I needed for my office to feel like home- and it didn't.

My first youth meeting was also a bit awkward.  They called their high school group (there was no middle school group when I got there) Discovery.  It was a name left over from the 60's, and I wasn't crazy about it.  I was even less enthralled by the actual meeting room.  It was cramped,  filled with old furniture and a massive old TV.  The walls were a faded green, with some very hippie looking murals.  There was nothing in the room to indicate to me that a Christian group met there.  I enjoyed meeting the kids and giving them an overview of some of the things I hoped we could do together.  I taught the lesson- the Beatittudes, of course.  And then I tried leading music.  There was one very large problem- they didn't know any of the songs.  I taught them a couple of simple choruses, but realized I was not in Kansas anymore...

The first few weeks brought a couple of other unpleasant surprises.  I discovered (pun intended) that I was responsible to three different committees.  Three different committees that had not one clue about how to do student ministry.  They dealt with education and finance and family life.  I don't like church committee meetings to begin with, but wasting time on meetings that have little impact on my job was just too much.  Even worse, these committees actually had the power to tell me how to do my job.  Fortunately they seldom tried, but still- it was not a good situation.

The good news was that I stayed busy trying to get caught up on details and my role for the upcoming mission trip, Work Tour 2000.  It would turn out that it too would be quite an education.  The Work Tour stories begin Wednesday- don't miss out!

Because of Jesus,