#1619 – 10 Years

10 years ago, on June 15, 2007, I had my first day of work at Community Baptist Church. I was six days removed from graduating from seminary and I was excited to start my first full-time job in ministry. On that first day, I remember hanging out with my intern and taking Polaroid pictures of objects around our office. It was a lot of fun and I was ready to begin working, but I had no idea what was waiting for me.

Over the past 10 years at CBC I have gone through a lot of life.

• I met Alycia, who was a volunteer in our ministry. I got past the fear of being a creepy youth pastor who dates his volunteers and asked her out on a date. A little less than three years after that first date Alycia became my wife.
• In 10 years I’ve had so many wonderful coworkers. I honestly love the people I work with and it’s a pleasure to go to work every day. I’ve made some lifelong friendships at CBC, people that I’m happy to have in my life.
• I also went through the most difficult season of my life at CBC. My soul wasn’t right and I got to the end of my rope. I went through an emotional breakdown and had to take two months off in order to build myself back up. That was a terrible time, but I’m thankful for what I learned and that I work at a church that supported me through the entire process.
• Eight years into my job as a youth pastor, I realized that I didn’t really want to be a youth pastor anymore. I still loved my church, but I just didn’t want to be a youth pastor anymore. It was a difficult decision to leave, but I see that it was setting me up for where I am now.
• Three months ago I came back to work at CBC as the Pastor of Communications. My new role makes better use of my gifts and I get to tell people why I love my church so much.

10 years is a long time to be at one place. And while I technically didn’t work at CBC for the entire 10 years, it’s still been my second home for that entire time. I don’t know what the next 10 years will hold, but I’ll be more than happy to continue spending them at my church.