Reviewing BuyTheField

I am on my way to a BuyTheField sabbath. These six years of writing have been so formative in this section of my life. As I near this ending pause in the next month or so, I am employing Lea's yearly journal re-reading exercise before moving into her next journaling year. For me that is the sweet gift of re-reading the words of the last 6 years and re-posting a half dozen of these Wednesday writings that stand out to me for some reason. For anyone who is tracking with me in this closing time, thank you. I am mindful of you.

Where is the Korean Church of Knoxville?

(originally written July 13, 2017)

This Saturday is an anniversary for Lea, Trey and I. The two year anniversary of me being on staff at the Korean Church of Knoxville. This is a God story. There is value in documenting this God story in writing, if for noone else, for me.

In the summer of 2014, after a tumultuous year of weird and confusing conversations with church leaders, I was fired from my job as High School pastor at our church at the time. 21 years. It was bitterly sad and confusing. Disappointment. In the midst of pain staking days of awkward conversations with church leadership, gratitude kept bubbling up in spite of the uncertainty of the future. I remember Lea and I sitting at Story Cottage and declaring how the last two decades of all these hearts of students and adults has impacted our lives forever. Rich beyond measure. First time I was ever fired.

We were flung into the deep end of wondering immediately. Lea was about to begin the 3rd year of teaching 4th grade at Paideia Academy here in Knoxville. Such a dear, sweet place for our family. Trey began school there in first grade. With my firing and the immediate uncertainty of the immediate future, should Lea begin teaching? Will we move? What will we do? With the school year beginning in days, we prayed and talked and wondered, all the while so sad about the ending of our time at our local church. Lots of grieving. Deep loss.

Lea chose to start her school year. In the midst of all of the chaos, I asked school board members if I could simply sit in the back of Lea's classroom as the school year started to support her in the midst of this difficult and desperate time as well as assist with a male student with some learning needs that would be in her class. They kindly agreed.

A week later, the parents of the young man that I was sitting in the back of Lea's classroom with went to the school board and asked them if they would consider hiring me to continue shepherding their son through the school year. Wow. What an unexpected plot. This began one of the most amazing times of my life. Lea and I have always wanted to serve TOGETHER. We've even wanted to work together if anyone would ever hire us in tandem. The nine months that followed changed my life. I served under Lea's leadership in a class of 12 memory disciples (the name for her class). I encountered her beauty daily as she poured her life into these 12 disciples, make it 13 including me. Radiant, godly beauty. Daily serving, daily loving, daily dependence....together. So supernatural. I'll never be able to fully describe it.

I began searching for a new job during this amazing 9 months of co-laboring, knowing that we would need further financial provision moving forward. We prayed a lot. I began to search for and apply for job after job after job. Waiting. Wondering. What do you have for us Lord? And during that school year as I applied for job after job, there was no after no after no. A lot of no's. A lot.

In December of that school year, the mom of one the students in Lea's class contacted me to ask if I would be available and interested in being a guest speaker at the English Worship Service at the Korean Church of Knoxville. After a bit, I interacted with this mom and told her that I would be delighted to speak at a Sunday service. It was a clear way that I could bless the student in Lea's class and their family. "By the way", I remember asking, "Where is the Korean Church of Knoxville?" A question that would deeply impact the life of our family.

I taught in the English Worship Service at the Korean Church of Knoxville on January 25, 2015. About 3 weeks later, the Korean Pastor, Ilsun Kim and an elder and deacon invited Lea and I to meet them at the church one Tuesday evening. They asked if I would consider being the interim English Ministry Pastor from March to May. The previous english pastor and his family had moved for his wife to take a job up north. The church leaders honored Lea and I so much in that meeting, the way they spoke to us, the way they were depending on God. It began to pour down snow in our meeting. Lea and I left as the snow storm kicked in. We couldn't even get to our house. We parked our car at the entrance to our neighborhood along with our son Taylor and walked through the snow under an umbrella. School was cancelled the next day, so we sat by a fire praying, talking and wondering about the invitation that had been offered to us the night before. "I accept!" I would serve as the English Ministry pastor (serving middle and high school students and leading a English Worship service mainly populated by college students) on Sundays at KCK and also continuing serving with Lea in her classroom at Paideia during the week....and keep searching for my next job!

And as I searched....more no's. Eighteen to be exact. I applied for 18 jobs and got 18 no's. So humbling. So hard. So much wondering. God, what are you up to? What do you have for us?

In late April/early May as the interim position at the Korean Church was coming to a close, the church leadership asked to meet with Lea and I again. They told us that they were going to form a search committee for filling the English Ministry pastor position. They informed us that they wanted me to apply for that position and that they did not intend to seek any other candidates. Pause.....silence. Could this really be happening God? The other 18 no's have been leading to a partnership in the gospel with a people and a church that I didn't even know existed 9 months ago. Stunned. Oh, the things that delight God's heart that we could never even begin to fathom. I officially began serving as English Ministry Pastor at the Korean Church of Knoxville on July 15, 2015.

This Saturday is our two year anniversary. I am humbled that God would invite us to learn with, learn from and learn about this incredibly special group of people. How does God do these things? As an added current joy in this unfolding story, Lea and I are now officially on staff together at the Korean Church of Knoxville. Lea has been asked by the session of KCK to be the interim Associate Christian Education director at KCK from August to December. She will partner with InHye Park (our pastor's wife) who will serve as the Christian Education director during this period. It is the first time that Lea and I have ever been on a church staff together.

God is forming my heart and the heart of my family through this divine intersection. It is special, humbling, hard, joyful, mysterious and quiet. It is expanding my awe of God. I love these people. They are important to Lea and I. It is so specific and so intimate that I can hardly take it all in.

And so as I bump into old friends around town, they ask where we are these days. I tell them, "We are at the Korean Church of Knoxville." And they understandably reply...."Wow....where is the Korean Church of Knoxville?" I get that. I said that once. Once. Now I almost want to say...."Where is the Korean Church of Knoxville?"....."It's in me."

There's more.