In case you aren't a part of WellSpring or you missed the announcement, this video was sent to volunteers and shown at church today.
My chapter at WellSpring is coming to a close. As I stated in the message, there really isn't some sneaky drama or secret to cover up. But there is a back-story, a genesis to my exodus if you will. Sorry, churchy humor. I couldn't help myself.
So if you want the details of how this all happened, make a cup of tea and settle in.
In 8.5 years at WellSpring, I have never looked for a job. I had received the occasional recruitment but always politely turned the opportunities down. We didn't have any plans to leave.
Until about 6 months ago. God began stirring in my heart this feeling that something was coming, and unsettledness was approaching. In August, an opportunity for a church in South Florida came around and I felt like God wasn't telling me to shut it down like I had in the past. It is the church my Mom attends and I have a few friends that work there. I called a mentor of mine, a Paul to my Timothy, and asked him to pray through this with me and to be a reference. At the end of the conversation, he said, "just think about why all the sudden in 8.5 years, are you open to this idea now?" He went on to say that this may be the church God wants us or it might not be. Maybe the point of this church was to start the process. I interviewed with that church and turned down an invitation to come. Twice. I didn't have a peace about it and neither did Sully. They changed the position to fit my skills exactly. They wanted to hire Sully for a full-time Tech Director job. It would have made complete sense on paper but I just didn't have the burden to go there from the Holy Spirit.
I thought back to what my mentor said and really felt like the desire of my heart since having Ezra was to be closer to my family. I had even prayed for a way to make that happen. So I looked. I went to a church staffing page and I looked. That was a hard move. I felt like I was cheating.
Then I saw that a church in Savannah, GA, Compassion Christian, was hiring an Elementary Minister and that it was a Christian Church(the church tradition I was raised in). The Christian Church is somewhat of a small world. There are a few conferences and colleges that everyone in the movement goes to so there is a lot of crossover. I figured I would probably know someone. Sure enough, I saw that one of my friends from college worked there and so did her husband. I hadn't talked to her in 10 years but I figured I would ask her before I go through all the effort of applying and interviewing. So I sent her a Facebook message and asked her if she would be open to answering a few questions.
When we connected over the phone, she opened with this, "Before we tell you all about it, I want you to know that a few weeks ago, I was just saying to my husband that maybe Melissa Drummond would be interested."
Did you catch that? I've not talked to her in 10 years, she mentions my name to her husband and just a few weeks later I message her to ask her about the position. Can't.make.this.up. Come to find out later that her husband actually wanted to call and she told him they weren't going to poach people. :)
That got my attention. Even still, I wasn't convinced I was supposed to pursue it, or maybe I was just being stubborn. I needed more. So I wanted to speak with the Children's Minister, Rob. I don't know what I was expecting really but I remember being caught off guard after my conversation with him. I was caught off guard by how much I wanted to explore the idea of working with him and what being a part of the team would look like there. It's different in a lot of ways and would be a huge change but I felt like I needed to keep moving forward. At the same time, the Senior Pastor for this church was doing a retreat at my friend Amanda's church. Wouldn't you know it, a conversation about me and Children's Ministry came up organically two days before what would be my interview with them.
Compassion requested a Skype interview on a Monday and I took a vacation day from work to do the interview and to spend the afternoon in prayer. It was important to me, that I didn't use WellSpring time to do that. The next day, they called me and wanted me to come out for a visit...THAT weekend.
Whoa. So it was like a line in the sand moment. If I went, I would have to tell Andy because I love and respect him. If I went, I would have to come to terms with the concept that moving was now a possibility. Sully and I prayed and felt like we should go. It was his 30th birthday weekend, so we thought going on an adventure would be fun.
I talked to Andy and I cried. Andy Hudelsons don't grow on trees and I'll never find another one like him. Being the precious pastor that he is, he assured me that if God was telling us to go, we needed to do it but to not make any quick decisions and to give them the opportunity to explore what it would take for us to stay.
Driving over there, I actually thought, I am probably not going to take this and leave everything I have known and all the people I love. I was telling God in my head that I would look but was probably just browsing, especially since Andy had encouraged us to process what it would take to get us to stay.
Now back to Rob. We get to the church, do a tour and the first thing on the agenda was lunch with Rob. We make small talk over french fries and then I ask him how he ended up at Compassion. He tells his story about how they were living in California close to friends and in walking distance to awesome places and they were at a lovely church, sound familiar, minus the Cali part? Then he shared about how God told him and his wife Julie to leave and they weren't even sure where they were supposed to go. Then he says this, "My church asked me to think about what it would take for me to stay and I felt like I was supposed to say, thank you, I love you, but no." When he said that, I felt like someone punched me in the gut. It was this feeling of, that is going to be me. I ignored it and moved on. We get in the car and Sully expresses that he had the SAME feeling when Rob said that.
We had a dinner that night and the next day we were slated to see the sights of Savannah with Rob and his wife Julie. The second I met her, I liked her. She hopped in the driver's seat of the van and said that she was better with directions and I thought to myself, kindred spirits.
We had a wonderful time and I thought, if anything, that gal is a selling point herself.
During our time together, she asked me if I had any hesitations about coming there and what they were. I am not even sure what I said and probably fumbled the answer but in my head, I was thinking of a million things at once, my friends, starting over, childcare, leaving comfort etc. Not knowing what I was thinking, she replied, "just don't let fear be a determining factor". I wanted to jokingly shout, "You don't know me" and cross my arms because when she said that I knew that was the exact hesitation.
Saturday night, Sully and I had some free time so we decided to drive up to Hilton Head since we had never been before. We drove to the beach and I wanted to walk out to the shore even though we didn't have swim stuff. I was walking looking at my feet in the sand and thought to myself, it would be really cool if I saw some dolphins. I have a thing with dolphins. I really don't like any other animal but dolphins are my jam. Wouldn't you know it, right after I thought that, I got to the water looked up and there was a pod of dolphins! Come on. Cray.
Then it was Sunday and I was asked to teach a large group session and a small group and I found myself...nervous. I teach all the time and it was my spiritual gift, why was I nervous? I realized it was because I wanted them to like me. I wanted them to want to hire me. I did the large group and felt a fire that I don't feel all the time. It's the feeling I get when I lead camps or talk to parents about leading their kids spiritually. It's this feeling of doing the EXACT thing you are supposed to be doing at the EXACT time you should be doing it. I then went on to teach a small group. We did the lesson and only had a few minutes for prayer. I took two requests. One girl raised her hand and said, "Pray for my family because we are moving. I know it is going to be hard but we are supposed to move".
Okay Jesus, I get it.
I loved hanging out in their children's ministry. It was so life-giving to me.
The final thing on the agenda was my interview with Cam, the Senior Minister and Harvey, the executive minister. As I was sharing my testimony that included talking about my parent's divorce and our failed adoption, Cam would stop me and validate how hard that must have been and he was sorry that I had to walk through those things. Precious man. I felt like I was talking to Andy, the forever pastor. The interview went well and then it was time to decompress.
We headed over to Rachel and Jason's house, they were the friends from college that we spoke to. It was such a blessing to process through all of this with them because just a little over a year ago, they walked through the same thing.
The next morning we headed home and I just knew. No offer had been made but I knew this whole thing was probably going to happen. I had a few more questions for Rob to clarify the role and thought, well maybe this will help me decide and of course, everything he replied with is what I had previously told Sully I hoped was the case.
I called Andy and I cried. I just didn't want him to be hurt. He assured me that it would be okay and that it's going to be good either way.
I was not waiting patiently for the offer and it finally came. I think I probably consumed all of Amanda's data with my antsy texts.
I sought wise counsel and talked to my "Paul". He walked me through a process to really test the Spirit and make sure it was in fact God calling us.
We prayed and then even moments before I accepted, I asked Sully one more time if he was sure this was right. He had so much discernment with turning down the other place and I was hoping he would have the same for this position. He felt strongly that we should go and that it would a good move for our family.
And just like that, the decision was made.
The following Monday, we told Andy and the staff and now we're here.
Those are the details and that is the back story. Sure, there is more but those are the high points.
I wrote this in hopes that you would see it's no accident. We didn't move forward blindly. Every step was met by me getting on my knees.
I am leaving home. I am leaving my friends. I am leaving my comfort.
But I think it is exactly what I am supposed to do. Sure, I am scared and out of control but I am excited and watching with expectation for how God will use me. The Bible is full of people who built an ark, put a baby in a river, marched around walls and defeated a giant. When we give God control, we can do amazing things!
There is an amazing song by Bethel that has been my anthem through this process and I want to close with it because I feel like the lyrics are a perfect picture of the newest journey that God has called us to adopt.
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