Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Staff Expands

The staff of Middleberry did what they did for the next couple months.  Elders and members of the church filled in where they could and things were fairly simple.  There was a group at Middleberry that wasn't able to find their place.  On a volunteer basis the eldership had put together a patchwork youth ministry.  Often times in the couse of missions or church planting we often forget that the kids are brought along for the ride.  In this case, the youth of Middleberry had always been part of a thriving youth ministry at GracePoint.  Now that Middleberry was on their own, who would lead the youth?

Enter Tyler.

Tyler was a local college student who had a passion for youth ministry.  His passion for youth ministry was shown in his preparation and his depth.  Tyler was a thinker!  He loved to ponder ministry and how programs interact.  It was his passion to lead families closer to God, and he felt like Middleberry was the perfect place to do it.  Tyler also needed an internship to graduate.  He approached Pastor Keith about the opportunity to intern for Middleberry and to create a youth program for them.  Tyler was hired!

During Tyler's short tenure at Middleberry a problem arose.  A woman in the church had been volunteering to put together the Childrens Sunday Morning worship.  She excelled at interacting with the kids but lacked in her organizational skills.  Tyler was new to the staff and was worried about being placed in charge of Children's programming.  Tyler was excellent with the jr. high and high school kids, but had no desire to be working with little kids.

Enter James.

James was working at a local warehouse and his heart ached for inner city students.  James had recently been hurt on the job had received a healthy settlement from the company and was now delivering packages.  Now he was looking for something to do...Middleberry was the answer.  During his youth, James spent a great deal of time at a lower economic pentecostal church volunteering.  He had an enormous heart for the kids in the Middleberry neighborhood.  There was no questioning his passion.

James made no qualms about his training.  He had graduated from a four year missions institute, but he was really only there to play sports.  Now he was on the doorstep of Middleberry asking to work for them.  Tyler loved the idea and Pastor Keith thought it was great.

James was brought on staff...besides he had grown up at GracePoint.  Though he never had any desire to do ministry and was considered unqualified to do many of the tasks that he would someday need to perform; Pastor James was brought on staff because the "fit" was just too perfect.  James was not the next step to anything, nor was he a move in a direction; James was a hire because he wanted a job.  The Elders at Middleberry loved James and brought him on for ten hours a week to do sunday morning childrens worship.

For those of you keeping score at home, the staff of Middleberry is up to Five: Pastor Keith, Steve the Outreach Pastor, Patricia the Secretary, Tyler the Youth Pastor, and Part-Time Childrens Pastor James.  With this staff in place Middleberry sprinted through their second year of ministry.

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