so I had my phone interview yesterday...

and it went really well!

The Pastor is really cool and easy to talk to.  It was crazy how many similarities Jeremy and I have to him as far as our ministry experience.  I haven't met anyone in ministry yet who had experienced the sort of things we did at the Sunnyslope church, but the first church he was a pastor at was very similar and it seemed everything the other said about things we've learned, and our vision for the church resonated with each other.  It was cool and encouraging.

It's funny, because we actually barely talked about the actual "job" at all.  He was happy with my videos and said, "you obviously are capable and talented, your videos were great", which was a little surprising to me because it was the thing I was most worried about, of course.  I was convinced that he would only be interested in hiring me because of things like ministry experience and our affiliation with Church of God, things like that, and I would just be "passable".  So it was a bit of a relief to hear that he wasn't worried about that aspect of the position.  I know what its like to lead worship at a church where the lead pastor doesn't back you or believe in your calling.

He just wants to be sure we are the right people.  He is looking for someone (in this case, our family even) who feels called to be a "part of their spiritual family".  Someone who is interested in putting down some real roots in the community of Fairwood in order to make a big impact with the people they are serving.  They've had two worship pastors since he came to the church.  The first one was a college student at northwest and she left after graduating, and the second was living in Kirkland and just got tired of the commute.  So I can see why he is looking for someone to stay and be a real leader in the church.  Hearing his passion and vision and where the church has come in the past two years since he has been there was really cool and Jeremy and I are both very excited about this opportunity.

So at this point, he just asked us to think and pray about it more.  Then he wants us to come out and visit the church and see what we think, and have lunch with him and his wife.  So, we'll probably schedule that in the next few Sundays.

It will be hard to leave in a lot of ways.  Jeremy's mom is going to be so soooo sad.  We are planning on telling them that we are pursuing this tomorrow so they can kind of adjust to the idea of us being gone.  Jeremy does a lot at the church and we are up there all the time, so it will be sad.  Its also hard to leave things like the moms group, because it's really gained some momentum in the past few months, but at least now I think other ladies will take up the responsibility and keep it going.  We love Indianola, and I will miss having the puget sound across the street, but I am so excited about this!  Jeremy and I were both thinking about it a lot last night, and I think I was up most of the night praying about it.  But Jeremy said something that makes a lot of sense to me.  He said in the past we have always looked at situations like this as being a "step of faith".  That we are going to do something new and uncertain and trust in God because we know it is where we are called to go.  This applies in this instance also, but he said we are also called to be faithful to our calling.  We know what our calling in life is, so what helps accomplish overall, the bigger calling of our lives?  Being here in Indianola was an important time for us to detox, to refresh, to learn more of God's goodness and faithfulness in our lives, and staying here would be an easy thing to do, and possibly still a good thing to do.  But I don't believe it will help us get to the bigger calling of our life.  

With moving, our hope is that Jeremy will be able to go back to school at Seattle Bible College and get his Bachelors and then move on to the master's program at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.  This is the first time since we've been married that more schooling for Jeremy has even been an option.  Also, going to this church allows Jeremy to go back and finish his pastoral credentialing/licensing process that he was in the middle of with the Church of God.  It also gives me an amazing opportunity to develop my skills as a worship leader (oh boy, is there a lot to learn!).  And what an amazing blessing to find this all in a place that we know and love to live!  We have loved Indianola - but I am so excited about the idea of being back in king county and up in Fairwood, I can't even tell you!

It will be a little bit of a process yet, which is good.  And of course, it is not "for sure" yet, but we both feel pretty confident that this is a next step for us.   If it doesn't end up working out, that is okay.  Even just the process will be good for us.  But I could easily see us transitioning back to Renton by the end of March.

Anyway, enough of that for now!  We just had a playdate with a mom I just met and her two little boys.  Always a lot of work and refereeing when you have two three year olds together!