---The Story---
Calvin has been my right hand for the last 6 months. Last January he and his family started leading the church in worship. They've been a God-send for us thus far. Ultimately I see Calvin as a church Administrator for us. His background is in Computer IT. He's ridiculously qualified but in July he was laid off from his job. His entire family has had terrific life-change and spiritual growth at Focal Point and it looked as though they'd be forced to relocate. Well I felt a prompting to challenge Calvin and 'Go for the Ask'. So one afternoon over lunch I challenged Calvin. I said "Calvin... All your life you've gone after success.... Why don't you consider giving the rest of your life to the pursuit of significance."
I didn't know if he'd laugh at me or punch me but he did neither. He listened and I continued "Calvin, I want you to consider being a missionary with our church for at least a year." He continued to listen as I shared with him the fact that I felt like we were gaining ground and I want to leverage our relationship to continue to improve him as a leader and his family... I also wanted him to experience the joy that comes from successful sacrifice.
We parted with Calvin agreeing to pray about it. He came back a few weeks later and said "Okay, I'm in." His family has been here ever since. That's the great part. The down side has been that at his level in his profession there really aren't many opportunities available to him in our area. He could EASILY go to D.C., Atlanta, Maryland or Charlotte but he's turned down these offers in order to stay here and work with the church.
---The Prayer Request---
Calvin has two opportunities on the table right now. Both are opportunities he'd enjoy.
Please pray that one of these opportunities would come through for him. He's been so faithful and he's completely trusting God... I ask your prayer because this would not only impact him but the health and continued growth of the church. He's someone I'd like to groom into the ministry one day... so I personally want him to be able to say. God's will be done... but I'm going to ask him anyway :)
Also, please pray for closing on his home. Neither of the job opportunities pay what he was making as a VP of Technology for his old firm so he'll downsize to make this happen. He's not hurting (don' worry)... it's just that he wants to better position himself to make this happen at least for this year.
Thanks a ton for your prayers. I appreciate all of you who read and dialogue with me on my journey. I've appreciated blogging for all of the relationships I've formed through this experience. Thanks again for adding value to my life in a very real way.
3 comments:
Tally, I'll be praying for Calvin. His situation hits close to home for me, I am in the IT field and was laid off and out of work for many months after 9/11 and ended up relocating for a job, but one of the last Sunday's at my church, my pastor told me he thought I should really consider going into ministry. It blew me away, to be honest, I had never considered it but over the past few years, my heart has really been leading me to ministry in some way. I'm not sure where I'll end up but I'm actually in the beginning stages of talking with my former pastor who challenged me with the thought going into ministry about working together somehow, maybe even a church plant off of that church.
So, I understand looking at ministry from the corporate America side. It's freaky, to say the least, but man, God is good and He knows what is best. If He can draw my heart to ministry, then anything is possible. Of course God is God, nothing is beyond Him.
I will pray for Calvin, his family and your church.
Tally you can count me in on the prayers man!
My prayers are with you, Calvin and his family.
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