Very quickly I went from the new deacon to the deacon’s spokesman to the Deacon Chairman.? My understanding of Biblical passages and my untaintedness meant that I was the logical choice in a polarized atmosphere.? I also ended up being the Pulpit Committee Chairman in a rather uncomfortable twist of events.

God placed me in my current church at the right time to accomplish His purpose.? I was placed there to help my church through this rough time, to help bring in the new pastor, and I started to wonder if my task here was done.

I stopped being a deacon when my term was up.? It was months of sometimes weekly meetings, highly charged emotional atmospheres, and I believed that I had become to jaded and calculating to the point where I needed to heal.

However, it is in this time away that my wife and I began to wonder whether this is where the Lord wants us to stay.

I was a sound technician, I had my own choir, I was teaching Kindergarten Sunday School, all the while I was chatting on AIM at home.? I was forming friendships across the country.? At least once a night I was sharing the Gospel with a stranger.? I was flying all over the country with my job, making friends, witnessing on airplanes, and seeing God’s hand of protection and provision.

My college debt was paid off by September.? I owned– outright– my first car (a ’92 Saturn SC2) by December.? I was storing away money in a 401K, Roth IRA, and stocks, the list continues.

And then things started to change.? I married my lovely wife in 2001, and decided that I didn’t want the commute that I had to work.? So we moved closer to my workplace, but that made commuting to church unbearable.

So, we decided to look for a new church.? We believed that God was leading us out of my home church because even though I was married, and expecting our first child, I was not able to escape the perception.? It was time to find a church that wouldn’t look at who I was, but who I am.