Here we go...For several years now, I've gone through different seasons of feeling like I was supposed to be involved in full time ministry in some capacity. Sometimes the feelings would last through several days or weeks, and sometimes only a few minutes or a fleeting thought. Over the past several months, however, those fleeting feelings turned into a constant tugging not only for me but for Mel as well. -Let me take a moment here to tell the guys out there that when your wife starts getting these funny feelings and her intuition starts kicking in...get ready because something big is about to take place-.
Enter January 14th, 2012. Mel and I had decided to take a trip to get away for a weekend. No plans, no agenda, just a trip. We decided on Oklahoma City, mainly because one of our goals was to go visit some of the churches that we had followed and read about for years. It was between Nashville and OKC, so we chose OKC. I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure I chose it because I found a good deal on a hotel room for that location on that particular weekend. Anyway, off we went. We got there on a Friday night and then woke up on Saturday the 14th and hung out in the city all day. We then came back to the hotel. We were planning on going to one of the LifeChurch campuses in the area on Sunday morning. I had followed the Senior Pastor of LifeChurch, Craig Groeschel, for years and had read many of his books so we were excited to see the experience in person. Then, through a last minute decision that we made, all of a sudden we were getting dressed quickly and going to a Saturday night service as well as still planning on going to one on Sunday as well. We hurried to the church that Saturday evening and walked in just as the worship was starting. It was a great service and as we were leaving, I noticed the Campus Pastor standing in the lobby with no one around him. Mel and I walked over to talk to him. He asked where we were from and all the usual small talk stuff. We talked about me being a banker and about our past experiences with volunteer work at churches. About 2 minutes into the conversation he asked me if I was looking for a job, or if I had ever looked at their jobs online before. He then proceeds to tell me to send him my resume sometime. Say what? Needless to say, Mel and I didn't talk that much on the way back to the hotel. Was he serious? Was this God's way of telling me something?
We got home and that week I sent him my resume. We talked back and forth a couple times through e-mail and then...nothing. Never heard from him. What was that about God?
Fast forward a couple weeks to February 4th. Mel, in her wisdom, encouraged me to send my resume to them through the regular route by applying on their website. I reluctantly did so, but because they get so many resumes I really didn't see them picking one out from a banker in Arkansas. Then 10 days later on February 14th, I walked out of a meeting at the bank and noticed I had a missed call and had a voice mail from Edmond, Oklahoma. The girl on the voice mail said they had received my resume and could I please call her back. I called and after a brief conversation, she asked if I would be interested in doing a video interview with someone from LifeChurch that week. I said yes. I hung up and was stunned. Did that conversation really just happen?
Two days later I had the video interview. It was with 2 guys from LifeChurch...in the interview, they told me they had 2 openings for the position I applied for. One was in Albany, New York, and one was in Wellington, Florida. They asked what I thought about those locations because they were so far away from home. Well, unknown to them at the time, Mel and I had been praying that we were ready to go whenever God was ready for us to and we would go wherever he wanted us to go. So, I told them that was fine and they proceeded with the interview. It lasted 30 minutes and honestly, I thought I blew it. They said they would call me in a couple of days and tell me if they wanted to proceed further with me or they would shoot me straight and tell me if they didn't think I would be a good fit.
43 minutes later my phone rang and it said it was a call from Florida. Really? You're calling me this soon to tell me I'm not a good fit? You could have waited until the 2 days like you said at least. On the other end of the line was one of the guys that interviewed me. He said they were interested in taking the next step with me if I was interested in them. Say what?! I said I was interested. He said that they would like to fly Mel and I out to Oklahoma for a weekend interview process. He also stated that there would be other candidates for the positions there that weekend as well.
March 10th : Mel and I flew to OKC. -Interestingly, they put us up in the same hotel that Mel and I had chosen to stay in back in January on our weekend getaway trip…in a room directly across from the one we had stayed in-. Now…this is the part of the story where I’m going to leave a whole bunch of what happened in the interview process out because, #1-It would be way too long and this post is already going to be long enough, and #2-If there’s anyone out there that happens to read this blog that is planning on interviewing with LifeChurch, I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag as far as how the process goes. I will tell you, however, that it was the most grueling and intense process I have ever been a part of but at the same time it stretched me and made me learn more about myself than I probably ever would have. It was a wonderful experience.
Fast forward 2 days to March 12th. After an exhausting afternoon of interviews (Mel was with me the whole time), the process was over. We waited in the lobby for a little while and then Larry, the Campus Pastor of the Wellington, Florida campus came and got Mel and me. We went back to a conference room where there was another staff member seated.
God had rocked our world. Here we were seated in a conference room at a church where I was interviewing for a pastor position…it had been 27 days since I got that first call from OK asking if I would be interested in doing a video interview. What in the world was God doing and how in the world was I sitting at that table…
So many nice things were said about Mel and me at that table. We give God all of the credit because Bryan and Mel weren’t sitting at that table because we got lucky or because we were more qualified than anyone else. We were sitting there because the God of the Universe had a plan and all those years leading up to this day were preparing us for what was about to happen. He was about to show us what was in the next chapter of our lives.
Larry proceeded to tell us that he and the others thought we would be a great fit for their campus in Wellington. The offer was made right then and there at that table and we accepted on the spot. I was the new Associate Campus Pastor- LifeGroups/LifeMissions at LifeChurch (http://www.lifechurch.tv/) in Wellington, Florida. We smiled. God smiled.
It’s now 11:59 p.m. This birthday will be one I never ever forget as my family and I are getting ready to start this new chapter in a little over a week. Thanks to all of you who are praying for our family. Thanks for reading our story. It's only the beginning. Keep believing in your story…
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
