Personal Narrative: An Interview With The Assistant Pastor

In life many individuals will experience the joys of marital bliss with the pleasure of happiness when they see their spouse, the thought of living their entire lives together, starting and raising a family, the process of buying their first home together as a married couple, and overall embarking on a new and profound journey with the one they love; on the contrary however many of these same couples will encounter times in the relationship and within their immediate family that will include feelings of: being overwhelmed, stressed, annoyed with their spouse, children, stepchildren “as many families are blended due to many first marriages ending in divorce after children have been conceived,” stress from work, bills, as well as the many other

The majority of people who join together with their significant other through the act of marriage hope and dream that marriage will surround them with infinite love and happiness; unfortunately that is not always the case. In fact, “according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, 10 percent of Maine women and 11 percent of men in Maine are divorced.”1 Though 10 and 11 percent seem like fairly small percentages, 10 percent of Maine women is approximately 67,831 women, and 11 percent of Maine men is approximately 71,506 men, which truly are not small figures to take into consideration. Since marriages do not always have a happy ending

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

For many years, I have worked in ministry as a support ministry member. In 1993-1997, I served as Administrator at Beacon Light Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Darryl S. Bister. I was responsible for all of his appointments, drafting of documents, and overseer of additional staff members and responsible for the day to day operations. In 1997, I was called to Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church with my husband under Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. I served in many capacities in this ministry from worship leader to Administrator to the Registrar for Greater St. Stephens School of Ministry. My husband along with our 3 children was then called to Denver, Colorado to serve at Heritage Christian Center under Bishop Dennis Leonard. We serve in that ministry

I attend Gospel Light Freewill Independent Baptist Church in Thomasville, NC. It’s a relatively small church, with about 50-70 people on a Sunday morning. My grandmother, my aunt, and my uncle attend this church as well. I consider myself to be a child of God and a true “born again” Christian. Being “born again” means that one has accepted God into their heart and has been changed on the inside. I accepted him into my heart on October 9th, 2012. Growing up strictly in an independent Baptist church, I didn’t know that other churches were different, at least not until I visited my boyfriend’s church which is Southern Baptist. My pastor preaches heavily on hell-fire and brimstone. He walks up and down the altar, yelling and jumping. There are

Conversely, most people perceive marriage as a sanctuary, satisfying the needs of both partners involved. It is one of the most important institutions affecting people’s health and well-being. Firstly, a strong marriage has a dramatic effect on the partners’

Currently my family and I attend the Enola First Church of God which is tucked away into a cul de sac off of the Wertzville road scarcely situated beyond the Enola boundary in which Pastor George Jensen presides. We have been attending this church for the past 20 years, mostly due to the charismatic Pastor Jensen’s unique aptitude to transverse biblical studies into effortless understanding concerning life’s day-to-day circumstances.

The ingredients used to create a dream wedding, such as a white satin gown, or a three-tiered wedding cake, are not enough to form an everlasting marriage. Divorce rates have drastically increased over the past decade. This fluctuation of unhappiness among married couples may be due to a wide variety of issues. However, sociologist Medora Barnes has sought to pinpoint it down to one primary issue, the lack of a solid foundation in family structure.

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.

The majority of the people on this earth choose to believe once they find their soul mate, they will be able to share a long and happy marriage, “until death do [they] part.” This belief amounts to only a simple myth, as more and more couples file for divorce each year. It is ironic how a man can find the love of his life, his source of the ultimate currency, but is forced to a dead end due to external struggles. In Happier, author Ben-Shahar discusses “the mistaken notion that finding love guarantees eternal bliss leads partners to neglect the journey – the day-to-day issues, activities, and events that shape the relationship” (Ben-Shahar, 121). There are many external factors that can be harmful to a marriage if the couple does not know

I’ve been under the leadership of Pastor Dunbar for eight years, and I’ve found him to be an excellent mentor, a wise counselor, and a dedicated Pastor. What I’ve learned from this interview with Pastor Dunbar is that “pastoral care” means caring, serving not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve. It’s important, not to lord over those entrusted to my care, but be an example to the those I serve. I have always admired Pastor Dunbar’s ability to maintain self-control in all situations. If I can master the gift of self-control that would be phenomenal. Self-control is one of the greatest gifts to have in ministry. Self-control means you have the ability to regulate your

As a Tailgate Ambassador, I walk across the parking lot the of smell of barbeque, gumbo, beer and the fervor of what lies out front, a finish, intense game, a blow out or a Houston Texans win befalls in the breeze. Houston Texans fans fired up the barbecue pits to concoct some unusual treats. The tailgaters adorned their tents with the game day theme and memorabilia. Simultaneously, “The Preacher” sounds his siren signaling all the tailgaters, no matter if you are for the home team or visiting team, to take part in the pre-game sermon and toast. I continue to walk around the parking lot observing the Mad Cow Tailgaters playing life-size Jenga, corn hole or game of touch football with the Baggers Tailgate Party. On occasion, a friendly game

Rather than giving up and ending the marriage, many couples could save the marriage by trying to work through the problems that arise. Many people do not realize how much hard work has to be put into a marriage for it to be successful. When planning a wedding, some couples spend a lot of time preparing the vows that will be exchanged during the ceremony, but sadly the partners fail to live by the vows day after day. Scores of married couples drift apart because their hectic lives do not allow them to spend enough quality time together, which is important for a healthy marriage. Communication is also an essential factor in working through problems in a marriage.

Marital satisfaction like many things in life is not static for most people. For a person to remain fully satisfied with their marriage over the course of their entire life is a great accomplishment. However, marriage over one’s lifetime will most likely be filled with challenges and excitement, in addition to a wide range of emotions that will lead to satisfying and sometimes not so satisfying times. The life course perspective is crucial to exploring changes in marital satisfaction, as it looks at the interplay between different pathways and trajectories in one’s life, and how they shape one another. Marital satisfaction simply can mean how happy one is in their marriage, and how much one is willing to tolerate in their marriage. It’s important to keep in mind that marital satisfaction can be multi-dimensional term, with different definitions from different people. As discussed by Connidis, some signs of a good marriage can include sacrifice, loyalty, in addition to the “positive impact of marital well-being on families, the community and society”(textbook p.7). In this paper, changes in marital satisfaction using the life course perspective will be explored by examining the curvilinear pattern, and how different stages of life such as birth of a child, the empty nest and old age have different effects on marital satisfaction.

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.