Pastor's Kid: A Short Story

To me, a leader owns their mistakes and uses their mistakes as learning experiences. A leader

I made friends and started to thrive again. I started attending Emmanuel Episcopal Church in town. I always offered for anyone interested to come with me. Some would come with me, mainly as a way to get off campus and try not to be a Cadet for a little while. The liturgy helped to ground me. The Ritual of the Communion gave me comfort and I continued to heal. I stopped rebelling and started to care about my studies and made friends. My Military Science teacher Norman Smith (aka Big Sarge) asked if I would like to attend his church with him and his wife on a Wednesday night. There was something different about this church, something that I had seen in other churches but never felt. Not even in the Episcopal churches that I had been to. The Church was what they referred to as an Agape church. It was not in a building with grand stained glass windows and gold and silver crosses, priests in clerical garb. It was a hotel conference room with nothing but chairs. All of this was very new to me. I didn’t know anyone other than the couple that I had come with and this was NOT a church. I was thinking that I had been duped and taken to a sayonce. The people were very warm and inviting and treated me as a part of their family. But I had remembered Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

Besides my experience in the National Honor Society, I also serve as a classroom leader in my church’s children’s ministry. My purpose as a classroom leader is to inspire and motivate young kindergarteners and first graders in pursuing a deeper spiritual relationship with God. I am there for the kids and their love for Christ; I wake up early each Sunday to make sure their spiritual needs are a priority. Working with little kids truly humbles me as a person, and it motivates me to put other’s needs before my own

For as long as I can remember my family and I have attended church almost every Sunday. Being from small town Iowa, everyone around me had always accepted the same ideas and beliefs as me, so I never had seen a different perspective. I had stayed within my comfort zone for fifteen years at this point in time, and I had no intentions of going outside of it any time soon. Part of being in this comfort zone was attending youth group every Wednesday night. Instead of being something I

As a child I was not raised in a “church-going family” but I was always interested in why people followed the Lord and gave their lives to him. When I was around 8 years old I asked a family friend if she would take me when she went the next Sunday, and she said yes. But, for an 8 year old, sitting in a big room with some strange man trying to be funny and using words that I didn’t understand wasn’t very fun. I kept going even though I didn’t enjoy it and I would draw and try to find ways to make the hour and a half pass. Without my knowledge there was a whole other thing going on upstairs, children’s ministry. That’s something I was interested in. So, the next Sunday I made my way upstairs and found where I was supposed to be and it shocked me that I wasn’t the only one who drew at church! There was an entire table designated to coloring pages and more crayons than I could have ever used. After coloring on countless coloring pages we went to “worship time.” It was so fun! We got

Steal Away Home opens in 1841, when Spurgeon is a lad of 7, and concludes with his death in 1892. Authors Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey hit many highlights of Spurgeon’s life and ministry without glossing over the physical ailments and bouts of depression which often plagued him. Having recently read a biography about the “Prince of Preachers,” I believe what this book does differently to stress the humility of Spurgeon as well as the beauty of his marriage. In fact, both Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson appear to have been married to their perfect helpmates. As a woman, I enjoyed these two portraits of Christian marriage.

Pastor Steve is a wonderful preacher. However, this is the first church I have been at where the associate pastors don’t speak unless the head pastor is out of town. I enjoy all the different ways that each of the pastors preach, and I would enjoy an opportunity for them to speak more.

We told our mom that the point of our church was for us to learn about God and that we didn’t like God, we didn’t want to be christian. Although my mom insisted that it was for everyone and made us go anyways. It was a struggle every week and eventually she stopped trying, and we stopped going. A little whiles later

As we walk out of the catacombs the fresh air fills my lungs and I thank God that we made it out of there alive. I wish Pastor Ron could be here with us right now. He didn’t deserve to be killed. If anyone I did. Sure I wanted to come here to build a wall to help the school kids, but I honestly only did that for the service hours I needed to graduate. He had volunteered to come down and make sure we stayed and safe and to work on the wall. He didn’t have to. Now he is dead. I wish I could take his place and him be here right now, where I am standing. Just then I hear a burst of gun fire in the distance. Immediately I turn to it. I see two rebels fire and a bunch of bottles and they laugh and continue to jug their beers. Palmer grabs my arm and pulls me to the ground. He then points to the

An individual posed the question, “How can we assist a friend who has been offended by the church and will not attend church?” Unfortunately, there are numerous individuals this week that will not attend church because somewhere in their life they were offended by the actions of those they attended church with or with the church itself. So in their offense, they decided to quit serving God or to quit attending church completely.

(Pastor Dunbar) With that, I was incubated into the church at an early age. I felt a call around thirteen years of age and my call was reinforced by praying deacons and family support. The discernment process included not only praying about what God would use me for, but even as a teenager I began, to see and respond to certain activities and opportunities in my life that was calling me into serving. My preparation for ministry also included Sunday school, which I did not have to be coerced into attending. In fact, I would get up and walk to church. We moved away from the church when I was about ten or eleven years of age I took the bus to church and always made it on time. My parents would meet up with me after Sunday school for morning

When we went to church, we “had church”! It wasn’t 60 minutes and go home, we were there for hours. Sunday morning service would start at 9am and end at 12:30 or 1 and Sunday Nights would start at 6 and end between 8- 9pm. The ending time depended on how much the Spirit was moving! Just when I thought church was over, the Spirit would start moving again. At that time, I despised when the Pastor would say, “Let’s sing that song one more time.” I knew what that meant, yep, the Spirit was going to move again! So back under the pew I would go and find rest in Jesus!

Tell them how the enemy has tried to stop me. If the jews from Antioch and Iconium could stone Paul, leave Him for dead and he rose to preach again in the same cities, then I can do the same. Bobby had no idea what he was in store for. He asked me last week if I would pray about teaching if he had to go out if town over the next few months. I said of course Caryn and I would. The time was a little off but the Lord said yes. I say that Bobby had no idea what he was in store for because of what happened the last time I taught. It was a Friday night that became a Saturday that ended on Sunday evening. The amazing thing was the audience in the fellowship was 16-19 year olds. So strap in. I am having pizza delivered around noon (just kidding)

During the school year, I don’t have any friends who go to church, and I don’t know where the nearest church is. I often spend the weekends relaxing from a tough week of schoolwork, so I’m out until four in the morning, and often in no condition to wake up early on a Sunday morning. I prefer to sleep in, watch football, and do homework.

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.