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| Westwood, California |
In 2005 I was a twenty-five year old Assistant Pastor at a "healthy" church in a suburb outside of Indianapolis. After receiving my Master of Divinity degree Andrea and I moved to
Carmel and were immediately welcomed as family by a very generous and loving congregation; (in many ways 2005-2008 were three of the best years of our life). In God's providence around 2008 I began to explore the possibility of becoming a Senior Pastor (wherein preaching and leadership would become my
primary ministry responsibilities). I honestly did not know then whether or not a search committee or an elder board would affirm my readiness to serve as the "leader among leaders."
Having been raised in a model pastor's home and having received phenomenal pastoral training at the
Grace Community Church (for 12 years) and
the Master's Seminary I believed (that with the Spirit's help) I could effectively serve in this capacity. However, I also believed that my readiness to serve as a lead pastor would be affirmed one way or another in the laborious search process (A.K.A 'pastoral candidacy'). In other words, if no evangelical congregation extended an invitation to become their new Senior Pastor I was content to continue serving in a support role.
