(This post has not been edited for errors. These are my raw thoughts.)
A few times a week someone asks me if I plan on starting another church or pastoring again. I wanted to take a few moments to answer this question. In short, I’m not sure I’ll ever “pastor” again.
I was licensed to preach 15 years ago as a 17 year old high school senior in Kentucky. I was ordained as a pastor about 10 years later.
I started building the team for Courageous Church in Atlanta in 2008 and really thought I’d be there for the rest of my life. When I stepped down a few months ago I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with myself.
I’m hesitant to speak in absolute terms by saying that I’ll never pastor again, but I don’t plan on it. My family and I felt very strongly about this a few months ago, but my thoughts were centered more in the pain and ugliness I experienced in my final months as pastor of Courageous Church. Now that I’m in a much healthier place overall, I still don’t think I’ll ever be a Lead Pastor again.
I’ll always care for people. I’ll always help people. I’ll always be a speaker and a teacher. I hope to train pastors more. I’ll always be a pastor at heart. I still want to serve God – even more so actually. I still care about the church and hope to always be a part of a local church in some capacity (I am serving a local church now).
However, when I look into my future, I don’t have any plans for starting another church or even leading an established one. I don’t think I missed God or misunderstood my calling the past 15 years…quite the contrary. I feel like the past 15 years prepared me perfectly for what’s ahead. Of course I can’t predict exactly where I’ll be in 20 years or if I’ll even be alive, but my best guess is that moving forward I’ll continue to work with social media & projects, local/international causes, writing, and a few other surprises.
I am happy. My family is happy. The team that is guiding and supporting me feels like I am on the right path. I feel like God is pleased. That’s all.