20 Years of Ministry
I never really thought ordination would mean that much to me. I delayed being ordained for several years while I finished seminary and worked in youth ministry. I thought I would always work with students (and I did for another 15 years) and that I would never really leave Glendale (which I would in 18 months). In 1989 I was a seminary graduate, married with two year old twin boys. That spring my pastor Jack Chisholm discovered he had cancer, a tumor in his heart the size of an orange. It rocked me. I began to think of my future in church ministry. It made me ask hard questions. What security would I leave my family? Where will I be when I'm in my 50s or 60s? My intern, Tom, told me about a church in Moraga whose pastor was his sister's youth pastor in Danville. The position was youth and family ministry and he thought I would be a good fit. I interviewed that summer and was offered the position Labor Day 1989. We left our friends and family and moved to Moraga, a small b...