[Andyman_1970]

In response to the question.........some major life stuff happening in the Andyman household..................

Generally this is lounge material, but seeing that I spend the majority of my time on the Monkey here in the PD forum, I in a weird way consider you guys my forum family so to speak.

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I was approached by a local church about coming and being their college/young adult/gen-X (18-30ish) pastor. I met with the Sr. Pastor for a 3 hour lunch, and really liked the guy, the ideas that he has, and the direction that church is going. One thing I thought was cool, is they make sure at the end of the month they have no money in the budget (once all their bills are paid), they give it away to people in the community that need help rather than hoarding it to build a huge building. Their worship (in church talk that means music)leader is the former drummer from Evanescence………..which is pretty cool, they are definitely not “churchy” in their music, which I like.

It would not be a full time position, and I would keep my “day job” which is fine, I like working with airplanes and the technical aspects of my job. This is really an opportunity I never thought I would have, and certainly wouldn’t get at my current church – I’m divorced, which means to their fundamentalist interpretation I’m ineligible to be a pastor of any kind – so I’m excited in that regard.

So some of you have asked “what’s my plan?”……………..this is my plan to do my best to change the perception of what Jesus and being His follower is all about.

 

[JRogers]

Awesome. Good to see. Sounds like an interesting church.

 

[ohio]

Sounds great Andy. Congratulations. If you have the same gift for communicating about Christianity in person that you have on this board, they've made a great choice and you'll do a fantastic job.

Good luck with it.

 

[LordOpie]

Now you've got the devil on the run!



Congrats on the opportunity.

 

[Slugman]

Congratulations - sounds awesome!

So some of you have asked “what’s my plan?”……………..this is my plan to do my best to change the perception of what Jesus and being His follower is all about.

Ambitious to say the least...

 

[Tenchiro]

Congratulations! Are you gonna be like Pastor K off 'King of the Hill'?

PASTOR K: You people are all alike. You look at us and think we're freaks. Come on, even Jesus had long hair.
HANK: Only because I wasn't his dad.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Thank you all for the kind words..........now it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is.......LOL

Now you've got the devil on the run!

Not lil ol me..................

 

[Andyman_1970]

Congratulations! Are you gonna be like Pastor K off 'King of the Hill'?

Yeah probably not...........I was thinking more along the lines of Rev. Lovejoy from the Simpsons.........

 

[reflux]

Yeah probably not...........I was thinking more along the lines of Rev. Lovejoy from the Simpsons.........

Still a better choice than Jesus from South Park.

Congrats Andy, I'm sure you are going to do great things there.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Thanks I'll keep everyone updated how things go.............

 

[kinghami3]

Sounds like an awesome opportunity! I look forward to hearing more about it.

 

[Andyman_1970]

There are plans for the church to have it's teachings downloadable each week on the internet.........maybe I'll do the same so (if you want) you can hear for yourself.

 

[Changleen]

That's Awesome. Well done and good luck.

As Google say "Don't be evil."

 

[valve bouncer]

There are plans for the church to have it's teachings downloadable each week on the internet.........maybe I'll do the same so (if you want) you can hear for yourself.

"And the lord sayeth unto the flock- go out and ride that heavenly singletrack"
You can be the mountainbikin' preacher- full face and dog collar

 

[manimal]

good on ya man! i'd love to DL some of your stuff....kinda of the fundamentalist rebel.

 

[enkidu]

Sounds exciting, Andyman! Good luck.

 

[Andyman_1970]

"And the lord sayeth unto the flock- go out and ride that heavenly singletrack"
You can be the mountainbikin' preacher- full face and dog collar

You'd be surprised (or not) how often I use moutain biking illustrations in my teachings................

 

[binary visions]

Congratulations, Andyman! That's great, I've always enjoyed hearing what you've had to say - I'm sure you will bring great things to the church.

 

[Andyman_1970]

That's Awesome. Well done and good luck.

Coming from you Chang.............thanks.

 

[Andyman_1970]

good on ya man! i'd love to DL some of your stuff....kinda of the fundamentalist rebel.

I'll be sure and give a shout out to all my RM brothas everyonce in a while.............

 

[ummbikes]

You are the second person I know (well the other guy I have actually spent real time with) who has been called into ministry this year. Very similar stories too. God bless Andy!

 

[Andyman_1970]

That's too cool........thanks UMM...........

You'll have to PM me his story if you want.

 

[MMike]

Yeah yeah...all real nice... but what are the perks? Do you get a reserved parking spot at the church? I think you should hold out for the reserved parking spot...with your name on it. And alter boys should have to wash and vacuum your car.... and you should be allowed to damn people to hell... at least 3 per month.

 

[Silver]

Yeah yeah...all real nice... but what are the perks? Do you get a reserved parking spot at the church?

Angels float you in to the service...

What do you think, he's one of those Catholic chumps?

 

[MMike]

Angels float you in to the service...

What do you think, he's one of those Catholic chumps?

No way.....

But I still think he should get some authority to do some good smiting...

"Can't talk now...I too busy smiting"

"What do you MEAN your only copy of Beaches has been rented? Am I going to have to smite you?"

"doo doo doo da da doo doo....Smite smite baby"

"Mr. McGee don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

 

[ridetoofast]

good on ya Andy

im certain you'll do one bang up job and will have a postive impact on peoples lives at a formative period in their life...how many people can say they do THAT???

 

[Damn True]

Sounds like a very healthy church is about to become more so. Congrats Andy.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Nice to see you back in these parts DT...........you should stick around more.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Lame.

 

[BuddhaRoadkill]

……………..this is my plan to do my best to change the perception of what Jesus and being His follower is all about.

vs

Congrats to ya. Christendom [and the world in general] needs more Andy and less Gaawwwd Warrior.

[if they do throw in smiting, can we give you a list? Starting with equestrians ... ]

 

[Reactor]

Congrats!!....I think you'll do a bang up job, and the world could use a lot more poeple like you.

 

[Andyman_1970]

So here’s an update on what’s been going on with this.

It’s been a long and strange journey to say the least (those of you who will visit my website will get the pun)………anyway. Mid December I was all set to transition (part time BTW, I’m still keeping my engineering job) to this new church. I was a bit apprehensive about the time commitment and how that would affect my family. The plan at the new church was to start a specific service for the “twentysomething” crowd which I would “preach” at (I hate that term) at. My wife and I went and had dinner with the staff from the new church and absolutely loved them, felt like we had known these people for years, but I was sill scared about how I was going to swing a full time job, preparing for teachings (8+ hours of preparation) and be the dad and husband I’m suppose to be……….not to mention ride my bike……..LOL.

So, I told the Sr. Pastor at the new church that I wasn’t sure and we put things on hold. Meanwhile, my best friend and I have been on a much smaller scale (10-15 people) had our own “twentysomething” event. We decided in January to do things a bit differently, meet every week, we lined up a cool place to meet, found someone to lead us with the music and it was great. I was teaching every week and it was/is totally wearing me out, 4 nights a week all I did was prepare to give messages not to mention Saturday nights were taken up doing the teachings.

Meanwhile we are still going to our “old” church, very conservative very fundamentalist…….which since January this has really come to a head with my wife and I………..we just really don’t fit in that kind of environment any longer.

So about 4 weeks ago I contacted the Sr. Pastor from the “new” church and confessed to him that I would love to come there and be their “twentysomething” dude, but I couldn’t teach every week and be whole. He was totally cool with it and didn’t care.

So I don’t know what that whole “twentysomething” thing will look like at this new church but I’m certainly looking forward to a change and being in an environment where I can be myself and not constantly have my mental censor on.

If anyone is interested I recorded all the teachings I did this spring and put them on our website as MP3’s...............www.the-journey.cc/listen.

 

[Westy]

Dude you must be doing something wrong. My neighbors are twenty something church leaders. They get paid to take college kids rock climbing, white water rafting etc. and force the word of god down their throats as the kids are dangling on a rope over a 300ft cliff ( just kidding about that part). They have three cars and their house is twice the size of mine. I'm pretty damn jealous.

They had a bunch of college girls over one night singing songs around a backyard campfire. I swung over to introduce myself, I was piss drunk and had my fly open and was asked to leave so I just sat on the roof with a pair of binoculars. Just kidding again, almost.

 

[Andyman_1970]

I'm not sure if there is any $ compensation, it would be nice if there was, but if there isn't it won't change my mind.......I enjoy teaching too much.

I think that's what we're going to focus on, less doing a specialized service for them (the service is pretty unconventional to begin with, which I totally dig) and more doing stuff like you describe........but not forcing God down their throats........just teaching when those situations come up in real life.......I know a rabbi that taught that way.........LOL

 

[Westy]

I'm not sure if there is any $ compensation, it would be nice if there was, but if there isn't it won't change my mind.......I enjoy teaching too much.

I think that's what we're going to focus on, less doing a specialized service for them (the service is pretty unconventional to begin with, which I totally dig) and more doing stuff like you describe........but not forcing God down their throats........just teaching when those situations come up in real life.......I know a rabbi that taught that way.........LOL

I have no idea how they actually teach, just poking fun, they seem like great folks.

Good luck to ya Andy, we need more of your kind in this world.

 

[sanjuro]

Change Cleanliness to:

"Cycling is next to Godliness"

 

[Westy]

Grow a soul patch and use the word extreme a lot. It will really get the kids attention.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Grow a soul patch and use the word extreme a lot. It will really get the kids attention.

I had one for a while but shaved it off at the wifes behest..........I think I'll grow it back...........if she asks I'll tell her "Westy told me to"...........LOL

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

thats great!.

put on a kipah, grow some peies and say "this is the way jesus would have done had he been alive today" and rap like matisyahu.

 

[ummbikes]

Good.