Reunion

Reunion
"Change will come
Change is here
Love fades out
Then love appears

Now my water's turned to wine
And these thoughts I have
I now claim as mine
I'm coming home

" – Collective Soul – Reunion


Well, it has been a while since we’ve updated. We've had so much going on that certain things had to go and this was one of them. I’ve written several posts in my head since the last one, but they never made it out of my head. Typically, once I’ve prepared my Wednesday night message and my Sunday School message and the occasional newsletter article that’s all my writing time.

Well, recently we full on hit the Cray Button.

Now, for most of you thought the cray button was firmly pressed back when we decided to have our 4th kid Mr. Squishy. 

Nope.


"You think we on 10, boy you ain't seen nothing 3-2-1 Cray Button" - LeCrae

After much prayer, Lindsey and I have decided to switch roles. She is going back to work and I am leaving the IT Field to become a Stay at Home Dad, as well as, be more available to the church.

I graduated high school in 1997. I enrolled into PCC in the IT program and started in the fall of 1997. I had plans of doing some kind of job that involved computers. Then something radical and totally unexpected happened. I got saved. That was Feb of 1998. Everything changed.

I graduated in May and had my first full time IT job in Sept of 1999 with a local company. I struggled with it. It was far more frustrating then I expected. I spent breaks/lunches studying the Bible which I had grown to find far more important and interesting then computers and IT things. In Dec of 1999 I had a job with benefits at the bank. I enjoyed it and really threw myself into it letting spiritual things slip to the side gradually across two years. I was rewarded with a promotion at the bank and a bonus. Career wise things looked good. They looked terrible everywhere else. My health declined. My girlfriend and I broke up. My walk with the Lord was questionable. Then my career started to suffer. I found that when all you love is the job the job does not love you back. The bank got bought out and the new management just wanted more and more and more out of me with me receiving anything in return. It took about a year (specifically all of 2002) for the Lord to straighten me out.

It was at that point that I first started seriously considering ministry/seminary. Even though now I can roll the clock back in my mind to when I was still at PCC that I started seeing the signs for my calling. The gentle, subtle and not to gentle, not so subtle prodding of the Lord. By the end of 2003 I felt I was back on track, not a smooth ride by any means, but pointing in the right direction at least. I had reconciled with my future wife and even served as an interim youth pastor for about 6 months. By 2004, I had a 50 minute commute to work which I despised. I felt a good 2 hours of my day was wasted just driving back and forth to a job I felt stuck in.

I tried to make the most productive use of that time that I could. I had the drive broken down into 3 segments. The first segment I would listen to the Bible on CD. The second segment I would listen to a Christian audio book or sermon. The third segment was Christian music. That was on the way to work. On the way home from work it was prayer time.

Now I don’t want you to read that and think "Oh, he’s such an awesome Christian no wonder he’s pastor." Far from it. I did all that just to try and keep a grip on life.

"Don't even know who I am no more
Can't recognize my own face
I'd burn it all and just walk away
For a moment of grace" – The Almost

Most days feel like a sinking ship that is begging for that moment of grace. By 2005 I was married and living in Greensboro with the love of my life. I once again had a job that I loved with the Bank but this time as a field service technician. I would drive around the Triad fixing things at various branches and moving on. There was little after hours or weekend work and when there was it was I get time off the next week. I had an expense account, a company vehicle, and I worked from home two days a week. It was my IT dreams come true.

Then out of the blue, at least to me, our beloved senior pastor sent me this horrible email. It said (paraphrasing here)

"The church is growing significantly, it’s more than two pastors can keep up with. I want you to pray about being our third pastor and moving back to Roxboro."

I ignored that email. I had a good life in Greensboro. A good job. A good marriage. A nice apartment. We even found a church we liked. I was more interested in furthering my IT ambitions. The Lord quickly put a stop to that. I soon gave up on studying for an important IT certification and instead, one tearful night, enrolled in seminary. That was spring of 2006. By the fall of 2006 we had moved back to Roxboro and I had been voted in as Minister of Education at Antioch. By the spring of 2007 I was an ordained minister. As God would have it, shortly after I was ordained, my IT career halted. Since 2007 I’ve had roughly the same job/title/pay since then.

I applied for plenty of IT jobs, many of which would have advanced my career. I was qualified for the majority of them and even knew people within those companies. I got multiple interviews but no offers. I was one might imagine it was quite frustrating. The only career moves I was able to make were ones that allowed me to better serve family and church and not my IT Career. Praise the Lord.

When I was first saved and going to PCC I can remember walking around campus and praying . "God, let me be a Godly husband and father." This was before I met my wife and a good 10 years before I met my first child. God has been honoring that prayer for almost 20 years now.

Now once again I have a career change. Its purpose is to allow me to better serve my family and my church. Some of you understand that, some of you don’t. It’s ok. I’m finally home.

"Change has been
Change will be
Time will tell
Then time will ease

Now my curtain has been drawn
And my heart can go
Where my heart does belong
I'm going home" – Collective Soul – Reunion

Much Love,

Pastor Glen