a new adventure

so right now i am sitting at my desk - a new desk, a new office, a new place to live, a new job, a new adventure.

it seems like i should be saying something about sidewalks and freeways...

we have arrived in so-cal for me to be the lead pastor of pasadena covenant church. this is our latest assignment and my newest job. we had hoped to be here in this place and do whatever needs to be done to make the kingdom happen. i am not sure of all the reasons this seemed like a good idea to God but when you throw together passions and gifts into a context it seemed it might be a good idea...though i am curious as to what it might end up being.

people say certain things about me and my work over the years and i am wondering what it means coming to this place. i never guarantee 'success' but i do work hard at trying to discern and make things happen. but it always seems like obedience - being wherever he wants me to be, being who i am created to be, doing what i do and whatever needs to be done. how does he want to use me here? what will that look like? how will faithfulness to a calling come to pass? what will i learn about him and about myself in the process? how can i share this with my wife? does our life here look familiar or completely new and different? can this become our home and we stay for awhile? can i be faithful no matter what happens?

over the years there are a number of things i know in my heart that are a part of who i am: a passion for people and reaching as many as possible with the gospel, a passion for integrity and refusing to compromise the uncompromising, a passion for learning and becoming more like him, a passion for creativity and innovation in methodology, a passion for leading and mentoring others, a passion for communicating and telling the truth, and a passion for my family that i will never minimize or be distracted from.

so i am sitting here at my new desk.
we now live in l.a. specifically pasadena...i have always loved southern california since i was a kid...now we are trying to call it home.

it is the smallest church i have led and i am wondering if my leadership is a good fit for what it is now or what it will be. it is the first lead pastor role in the evangelical covenant church denomination and i am wondering what that means after being non-denominational all these years. it is a church that has seen some better days and i am wondering if they really want to be more than they are now. it is a church connected to seminaries and bearing advanced degrees and i am wondering if they can become like children in the kingdom. it is a church that once capitalized on methodology that can remove barriers and i am wondering if it would take those risks again to do whatever to advance the kingdom. it is a church that we felt led to come to and i am wondering what is God up to and how can i be a part of it...