The Transition - Part 1
In October of 2010 things started to change.
I was the Youth Pastor of Oneighty, one of the most well-known youth ministries in the country. I was working for Willie George, considered by many (including myself) to be the founding father of modern day youth ministry. I was blessed to have a talented staff, a great budget and a 90,000 sq. ft. youth center. So why did I feel this way?
It is hard to explain my emotions at the time. I guess the best way to describe it would be … unsettled. I knew in my heart that “something” needed to change. I knew “something” was coming.
At the time I did not have any idea of leaving. I loved Pastor George. I loved my staff and loved my students at Oneighty. Ministry was good. Life was good. I did not want to go anywhere.
In December Pastor George sat down with me and made some logistic changes in my role at Oneighty. As the Youth Pastor of Oneighty my behind the scenes role was going to change. We created a super-department combining the Children and Youth into one ministry team with one department leader instead of two. So now instead of reporting directly to Pastor, I would report to another department leader. This was an incredible idea. It would stream-line the leadership process, help us make the changes that needed to take place, as well as put me in my sweet-spot as a leader. I was 100% on board with this move.
At the time I thought this was “the change” that I felt was coming, but after we walked it out for a few weeks, the unsettledness began to come back again. When I began to feel that way I pushed it aside as pride, or selfish thoughts. I had given Pastor my word that I would role with these new changes. It was the best thing for Oneighty and I was not going to go back on my word to Pastor. But the unsettledness never left.
In March of 2011, Pastor sat down with me and let me know that for the past two months he had been feeling that there was a change coming for me. He told me that I had done everything I was supposed to do for him and now God had a new place for me to serve in His Kingdom. He then looked at me and said “Surely you have been sensing something Kevin.” I said “yes sir I have” and I began to unpack how I had been feeling since October.
By the end of the meeting, the “something” had came to pass. I was going to answer God’s call to serve Him in another harvest field.
You know it’s funny, God tries to talk to us sometimes but we don’t always want to listen. In looking at all that had transpired over the past few months, my wife said it this way “Kevin, God had been trying to tell you that He had a new assignment for you, but you would not listen, so He talked to Pastor George.”
As I look back over the past 6 years at Oneighty, it was an incredible time. The things that I learned and the people that I met shaped me in ways I may never fully comprehend. Nearly 3,000 teenagers accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and 100’s upon 100’s of students graduated from our discipleship ministry. It was an incredible experience, but that season of our life was over and now something new was coming …
