Well, This Should Be Fun!

Remember this post from last week? Well, the very next day, my pastor sent an e-mail to several of us who have pastoral experience and/or seminary education, asking about our level of interest in worship leadership AND seeing if any of us would be interested in preaching for him on January 2 while he's away (Imagine that! A pastor taking off after Christmas! like he's expecting to be TIRED or something). I replied on Tuesday afternoon, saying that I would be happy to preach at either service (we have a traditional service and a contemporary service) and would love to help out with worship leadership. (Of course, being ME, I said that in about ten sentences instead of two, and included a Brief History of My Vocational Life.)

So, I sent that e-mail and gnawed my fingernails checked my e-mail every five minutes patiently waited for his response (I really was patient. Having been a pastor, and still having many friends in the "business", I know that pastors cannot spend their whole day answering e-mails and phone calls). Yesterday, we went to a fun-filled family thing at church (it really was great. Free pancake breakfast and photos with Santa, a "angel gift shop", and a cookie walk/sale thingy) and within five minutes of us entering the pancake breakfast, he came over and confirmed that I would be preaching at the 11am service (that's the contemporary one, which we usually attend).

So, there you have it. I have my first preaching gig in over a year. I was freaking out hyperventilating for a few minutes, but I'm actually feeling good now. I'm pretty excited. It helps that I was reminded of a few things: first, that experience has shown me that as long as I am faithful to the "process of preparation" as one fellow blogger described it, I (with the help of God, of course) will produce good work and my nerves will be considerably reduced. Second, that no matter how large the congregation may be (average attendance around 250; I'm used to 40-50), I only have an Audience of One, and that would be the One who created me, loves, me, and called me to do this in the first place. God is the only one in the room whose socks I want to knock off, so to speak. Third, I am someone for whom learning and growth both come through experience. In order to gain that experience (and therefore learn and grow), I need to take some risks. This will also be a good initial test for me to see if preaching is indeed something I'm called to do/find fulfillment in, and whether I should go back to the local church. 

So, pray for me, will you? Particularly that I am faithful to the One who called me to ministry and whose Word I will be bringing, but also that my preaching will not cause my pastor to regret asking me to preach in the first place.