Choose your own adventure -- Pt. 3
As it turns out, Joe and Tina will NOT be making regular sightings of Elvis -- alive-and-well, ghost, impersonator or otherwise. The church in Memphis decided to pursue a candidate with "more experience" than Joe (and older, too). So, while we're pleased to get the answer considerably before November when the church plans to fill the position, we are saddened that the answer wasn't what we had hoped for. The district superintendent has presented us with a couple of other options, and we have a 3rd option on the table.
If you'd like Tina and Joe to pursue a church-plus-Christian-school in Dothan, Alabama, read Option 1. If you think Tina and Joe should pursue a job in Mississippi and full-time seminary for Joe, read Option 2. If you think that Tina and Joe should abandon Plans B, C and D to instead return to a second shot at Plan A, read Option 3.
Option 1 -- There's a methodist church in Dothan, Alabama which is currently without a pastor. It is an Independent Methodist church and has asked the denominational superintendent from our denomination if they could "borrow" a pastor for their church. Apparently there are no Independent Methodists, so an Evangelical Methodist will have to suffice. The church has a Christian school attached to it. Dothan is located in the southeast corner of Alabama, near the border of Georgia and Florida.
Option 2 -- The district superintendent also asked us to consider pastoring a church in Natchez, Mississippi, which would pay for Joe to go to seminary full-time. While Joe would LOVE to go to seminary, our lack of funds and our large student loan debt preclude the possibility of doing this on our own. The church in Natchez has only 20 members, mostly older. The past couple of pastors haven't met with success there and the church members have discussed closing the church altogether. The superintendent wants to give it one last shot and has asked Joe to consider being the person to try and make it work. Natchez is a beautiful, historic city on the Mississippi River complete with Antebellum homes and everything. There are literally only five houses for sale in the city, the cheapest of which is $650,000. There are very few apartments for rent in the city. Not sure where we'll actually live if we choose Natchez. The upside? The church apparently pays decently (along with a housing allowance) and will pay for Joe's tuition to attend seminary in Jackson, MS.
Option 3 -- This option would have us re-apply to go on staff with Campus Crusade. For those of you who don't remember, Joe and Tina applied to go on staff with Crusade in November of 2007 -- this was our Plan A. The person handling the application caused the process to stretch until early April. We had received an answer that sounded a LOT like "not now, wait and re-apply when you're more financially stable" (which is pretty much exactly what was said). So, the day before Joe's hip surgery, we decided to take Crusade off the list. Even if we'd been accepted with open arms, Joe didn't stop walking with a walker until AFTER the date we would have left for new staff training. The possibility of raising needed support while Joe recovered seemed far-fetched. It wasn't until days after the surgery that we received word that the answer that was meant to be given should have sounded more like "yes". We stuck with our decision to take Crusade off our radar and shortly thereafter, the New Covenant ball started rolling. Now that Plans B and C have ended with unexpected results, Joe has raised the possibility of re-applying to go on staff and beginning in January of 2009, assuming we can get our acceptance and raise all the missionary support by then. Tina isn't necessarily in favor of this option, because she had mentally "written off" Crusade as an option when everything went so badly in the application process. Once she's made up her red-headed mind, its hard to go back and might take an act of God. Move the mountain or move me....
So, if you'd like to vote and give your reasons for the vote, that would be much appreciated. We've got a realtor scheduled to come look at our house to list it for sale. If we're meant to choose Option 3, selling the house seems unwise. Having some firm, clear direction would be helpful before we're not only unemployed, but also homeless. We'll see where the adventure leads next!
If you'd like Tina and Joe to pursue a church-plus-Christian-school in Dothan, Alabama, read Option 1. If you think Tina and Joe should pursue a job in Mississippi and full-time seminary for Joe, read Option 2. If you think that Tina and Joe should abandon Plans B, C and D to instead return to a second shot at Plan A, read Option 3.
Option 1 -- There's a methodist church in Dothan, Alabama which is currently without a pastor. It is an Independent Methodist church and has asked the denominational superintendent from our denomination if they could "borrow" a pastor for their church. Apparently there are no Independent Methodists, so an Evangelical Methodist will have to suffice. The church has a Christian school attached to it. Dothan is located in the southeast corner of Alabama, near the border of Georgia and Florida.
Option 2 -- The district superintendent also asked us to consider pastoring a church in Natchez, Mississippi, which would pay for Joe to go to seminary full-time. While Joe would LOVE to go to seminary, our lack of funds and our large student loan debt preclude the possibility of doing this on our own. The church in Natchez has only 20 members, mostly older. The past couple of pastors haven't met with success there and the church members have discussed closing the church altogether. The superintendent wants to give it one last shot and has asked Joe to consider being the person to try and make it work. Natchez is a beautiful, historic city on the Mississippi River complete with Antebellum homes and everything. There are literally only five houses for sale in the city, the cheapest of which is $650,000. There are very few apartments for rent in the city. Not sure where we'll actually live if we choose Natchez. The upside? The church apparently pays decently (along with a housing allowance) and will pay for Joe's tuition to attend seminary in Jackson, MS.
Option 3 -- This option would have us re-apply to go on staff with Campus Crusade. For those of you who don't remember, Joe and Tina applied to go on staff with Crusade in November of 2007 -- this was our Plan A. The person handling the application caused the process to stretch until early April. We had received an answer that sounded a LOT like "not now, wait and re-apply when you're more financially stable" (which is pretty much exactly what was said). So, the day before Joe's hip surgery, we decided to take Crusade off the list. Even if we'd been accepted with open arms, Joe didn't stop walking with a walker until AFTER the date we would have left for new staff training. The possibility of raising needed support while Joe recovered seemed far-fetched. It wasn't until days after the surgery that we received word that the answer that was meant to be given should have sounded more like "yes". We stuck with our decision to take Crusade off our radar and shortly thereafter, the New Covenant ball started rolling. Now that Plans B and C have ended with unexpected results, Joe has raised the possibility of re-applying to go on staff and beginning in January of 2009, assuming we can get our acceptance and raise all the missionary support by then. Tina isn't necessarily in favor of this option, because she had mentally "written off" Crusade as an option when everything went so badly in the application process. Once she's made up her red-headed mind, its hard to go back and might take an act of God. Move the mountain or move me....
So, if you'd like to vote and give your reasons for the vote, that would be much appreciated. We've got a realtor scheduled to come look at our house to list it for sale. If we're meant to choose Option 3, selling the house seems unwise. Having some firm, clear direction would be helpful before we're not only unemployed, but also homeless. We'll see where the adventure leads next!
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