A New Beginning

When I finally arrived at Trinity UMC- Waycross in February of 2006 I was hit with several immediate realities.  The first was the little house on church property that I would be living in until Marilyn and Will arrived that summer.  It was a bit run down, it smelled funny, and the walls in every room were painted a different bright color.  It quickly became known as The Skittles House.  It had been furnished with some very formal, uncomfortable chairs from the church and a bed donated by one of the members.  Plus, the youth families had given me a "shower" and provided me with kitchen and dining equipment.  I had every thing I needed, except a TV.  A quick trip to Wal-Mart took care of that.  Ahhhh- home!


The next reality was that I was "single" again.  With no family responsibilities, I had lots of time to work.  I went to every ball game and every school event I could find out about.  I went to every church meeting and every church softball game.  I accepted every dinner invitation.  I cleaned, rearranged and decorated the youth house.  I built my office from scratch.  I often worked until midnight.  I was able to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, and it helped me get things up and running.


A third reality was that I only had two high schools and two middle schools to connect with- and that they WANTED me to connect with them.  Being in a small southern town meant that most everyone had some sort of church connection, and a religious presence was welcome in the schools.  I was quickly asked to speak at FCA meetings at both high schools and one of the middle schools, and found myself meeting regularly with some other local youth pastors.  And showing me the ropes of all these things was our Associate Pastor, David White- or as the kids knew him, UBD (Uncle Big Dave!).  UBD was an amazing resource, and made the learning curve in Waycross much simpler.  He showed me the pitfalls, the restaurants, how to avoid the ten thousand trains that pass through Waycross each day, and helped me understand Trinity UMC.  He was a great mentor.  


There were some issues to overcome, including some parents who were huge proponents of the "we never did it that way before" school of youth ministry.  How did I get passed that attitude?  That tale will be told Wednesday...


Because of Jesus,