This coming Friday, a bloke will come to our house and take our washer machine, fridge and freezer for some sweet moolah. Saturday we will move half of our things from our house to my parent's place in Richmond. Sunday, me and the other half of our stuff will relocate 90 minutes south, to Cliff College, with wifey and Joelly to follow soon after.
When I was 17, I committed my life to Christ properly, and I count myself as genuinely having my own personal faith from that point (previously it was much more under the shelter of my parent's faith, not having wrestled the issues through myself). One of the first things I felt when I became a Christian was that God told me I was going to be a pastor one day. I laid out a fleece (as in the story of Gideon - judges 6 I think) to confirm whether this was true or not, and the answer came back as yes. Now I personally don't put much stock in laying out a fleece to hear from God any more, it's too much like testing God, treating Him like a slot machine, and is kinda presumptuous. However, in that absolute infancy of faith, perhaps God honoured what was a genuine attempt to hear from Him on a matter concerning my calling and destiny.
This took place at Grapevine, a week long Christian festival in Lincolnshire, and I talked to a South African pastor there, Francois Van Niekirk about my experience, the fleece and all that. He seemed very enthusiastic that this was God, and prayed for me in this calling.
Ever since then I have thought back to this time every now and again, wondering if I really did hear God then. When I started working for Greggton UMC in Longview TX I felt I had found my denominational church home in United Methodism. I began giving some thought to getting ordained, but nothing came of it. After 3 years at Greggton I moved to another United Methodist Church, Grace Crossing, and once again began pondering becoming a pastor, and getting ordained. My then pastor, John, seemed surprised when I told him I had decided not to pursue ordination, but at that time I remember praying a 'big hairy prayer', which went something along the lines of 'God if you want me to be a pastor, please cut off every other way forward, and let only that door open.'
This month I was due to start my BA hons course at Teesside University in musical composition with a view to becoming a lecturer. However, the way forward has been very very awkard and difficult. Student Finance England have been profoundly useless, and even though I applied for the Student Loans in April of this year, they still had no answer for me 3 weeks before the start date.
It reached the point where it had become too late, and we would not have been able to have made enough money to get by if I continued with my intention to go there, due to SFA's never ending piles of bureaucracy. I called them and canceled my loan application, and emailed Teesside Uni to cancel my place on the course. After a few days of 'what now', and talking our next steps through with Sydney, the thought of pastoring crept back in, and we began discussing it, remembering the big hairy prayer. We decided that, as this was the 5th failed attempt to get a music degree, perhaps this door was being closed by God, and maybe we should at least try pushing the theology/ordination door to see if it opens.
I don't believe in hearing the voice of God in my head or audibly, and I don't really put much stock into 'prophetic words', having received so many bogus ones in the past. I believe God guides us through circumstance, and kinda view the difficulty in getting everything in place for Teesside uni as Him doing that. I felt that if I pushed this door and everything immediately fell into place like it hadn't for music, then that would be enough for me to accept it as God's way forwards.
I googled bible colleges, and looked for the nearest one. It was just outside of Sheffield, in Derbyshire, and historically Methodist (although now it is focused on the wider base of the Evangelical Alliance), Cliff College. I made a phone call to inquire, and less than 24 hours later I had a place on the course, accommodation sorted, and the support of my wife, family, pastor and friends. Craziness.
I am very excited to walk down this path and to see where me Syd and Joel end up...
I have now and in the past always thought it is a shame that there is no vibrant seeker-friendly contemporary church in Catterick Garrison, but who knows, that may or may not be something in my future, its in Gods hands now apparently, and thats ok with me :)
When I was 17, I committed my life to Christ properly, and I count myself as genuinely having my own personal faith from that point (previously it was much more under the shelter of my parent's faith, not having wrestled the issues through myself). One of the first things I felt when I became a Christian was that God told me I was going to be a pastor one day. I laid out a fleece (as in the story of Gideon - judges 6 I think) to confirm whether this was true or not, and the answer came back as yes. Now I personally don't put much stock in laying out a fleece to hear from God any more, it's too much like testing God, treating Him like a slot machine, and is kinda presumptuous. However, in that absolute infancy of faith, perhaps God honoured what was a genuine attempt to hear from Him on a matter concerning my calling and destiny.
This took place at Grapevine, a week long Christian festival in Lincolnshire, and I talked to a South African pastor there, Francois Van Niekirk about my experience, the fleece and all that. He seemed very enthusiastic that this was God, and prayed for me in this calling.
Ever since then I have thought back to this time every now and again, wondering if I really did hear God then. When I started working for Greggton UMC in Longview TX I felt I had found my denominational church home in United Methodism. I began giving some thought to getting ordained, but nothing came of it. After 3 years at Greggton I moved to another United Methodist Church, Grace Crossing, and once again began pondering becoming a pastor, and getting ordained. My then pastor, John, seemed surprised when I told him I had decided not to pursue ordination, but at that time I remember praying a 'big hairy prayer', which went something along the lines of 'God if you want me to be a pastor, please cut off every other way forward, and let only that door open.'
This month I was due to start my BA hons course at Teesside University in musical composition with a view to becoming a lecturer. However, the way forward has been very very awkard and difficult. Student Finance England have been profoundly useless, and even though I applied for the Student Loans in April of this year, they still had no answer for me 3 weeks before the start date.
It reached the point where it had become too late, and we would not have been able to have made enough money to get by if I continued with my intention to go there, due to SFA's never ending piles of bureaucracy. I called them and canceled my loan application, and emailed Teesside Uni to cancel my place on the course. After a few days of 'what now', and talking our next steps through with Sydney, the thought of pastoring crept back in, and we began discussing it, remembering the big hairy prayer. We decided that, as this was the 5th failed attempt to get a music degree, perhaps this door was being closed by God, and maybe we should at least try pushing the theology/ordination door to see if it opens.
I don't believe in hearing the voice of God in my head or audibly, and I don't really put much stock into 'prophetic words', having received so many bogus ones in the past. I believe God guides us through circumstance, and kinda view the difficulty in getting everything in place for Teesside uni as Him doing that. I felt that if I pushed this door and everything immediately fell into place like it hadn't for music, then that would be enough for me to accept it as God's way forwards.
I googled bible colleges, and looked for the nearest one. It was just outside of Sheffield, in Derbyshire, and historically Methodist (although now it is focused on the wider base of the Evangelical Alliance), Cliff College. I made a phone call to inquire, and less than 24 hours later I had a place on the course, accommodation sorted, and the support of my wife, family, pastor and friends. Craziness.
I am very excited to walk down this path and to see where me Syd and Joel end up...
I have now and in the past always thought it is a shame that there is no vibrant seeker-friendly contemporary church in Catterick Garrison, but who knows, that may or may not be something in my future, its in Gods hands now apparently, and thats ok with me :)
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