My arrival in my current setting was met with a loud and resounding yawn.  All of my years of study and experience could never prepare me for the challenges to come.  We were still unloading the moving truck of boxes when I learned of the challenges awaiting.  No one could ever predict how much the results of facing the obstacles would cost us.  Most times you move there is a hope for what we call a honeymoon period.  This is when you have time to meet people, discover your town or just find out what is really happening.  Any hope of a honeymoon ended that chilly afternoon.  What was told me would shape years of work here.  No one could tell me of the toll it would take on me.  My standard line is that if I'd known what was taking place my answer would be to put everything back on the truck.  But it was far too late for that.

Here is a sad comment for anyone who stumbles upon these writings.  Our process for the search of a new minister is filled with peril.  Too many of my fellow ministers tend to fudge if not deceive others in their zeal for greener pasture.  I can admit this though my hope is to avoid such behavior.  Far too many of my brethren spin a false view of their theology or practice.  Churches wind up being severely damaged by these actions.  But also be sure that a congregation can pain a false picture of their setting.  I do not mean to suggest this is intentional.  Nor do I wish you to believe it a common practice.  But just be aware that it does happen.  I know this because it happened to me more than a few times in my career.  Most times it was just a minor thing that caused a bump in the road.  This move would be much more severe than a small bump.

I cannot tell you my response back then if I discovered some of the reality prior to moving.  Perhaps this relocation would take place just as it did.  What is true is my approach would be far different then than it was at first.  Trying to get a handle on the major issues in any church is many more times difficult when you truly do not know anyone.  Time gives you the occasion to build trust with others based on relationships.  When you have a large number of people dropping by to give you advice it is a huge help to know where they are coming from in their visit.  Some will suggest one course of action while the next one thinks we should go an entirely different direction.  What some people tend to forget is how much a single choice affects scores of people with something at stake.  It becomes even more precarious in a no win scenario.  The question becomes not if anyone gets hurt but who will it be?

My goal is to peel back some of the hidden layers of ministry.  No one should ever attempt this who has a weak stomach.    Maybe some men can just cut through problems with no second thought.  That gift was not part of my divine operating equipment.  My personality tends to want more information than really is needed to make a choice.  It also studies each side of the equation far beyond what really matters.  I understood full well the price to be paid in just the attempt to find a solution to those initial problems.  My conclusions gnaw at me still after a full decade of time.  Some choices would be different were I to know then what is known now.  Other decisions would remain the same.  You hope at the time to use all of God's wisdom to do the right thing.  You pray for His mercy for those times of getting it wrong.  What is true is those first days would set the tone for much of my time here even now.  What often goes unsaid is the toll they took on me in every area of life.  No one is to blame for this but me.  Just know my heart did and does seek to find God's best in every significant situation.  Sometimes you cannot just put stuff back on a truck.  You may have to muddle through to find the divine answer to any occasion of life.

Bro. Trey