a new day...

1 year ago

a new chapter

I’ve never consistently used a blog in the way that it was meant to be used, but as of this moment I am going to attempt to change that. the last three months of my life have been… Crazy. Excellent, but crazy. God has been teaching Christine and I a lot, and it has been a beautiful time for us. With this time, I have been trying to focus on establishing, or reestablishing, positive new habits (i.e time in scripture, daily trips to the gym… and now blogging ;)

With that said, I want to explain to you a little about what God is doing in our lives… Right around the beginning of the year I started to wrestle with the idea that God might be calling us to make a major change in our lives. It wasn’t something we were too excited about, and we spent about two months just talking about the prospect and praying through what we felt God would have us do. Right at the end of February we came to the conclusion that God was, in fact, calling us to take the next step in our faith journey, and in our ministry. So it was with heavy hearts that we decided that it was time to take a step away from the student ministry at St. Peter’s. That was a difficult decision for us, because in a lot of ways St. Peter’s has been the only community we have known for a long time. As hard as it was, we knew that God must have something greater in store for all those involved, and so I submitted my resignation the first week in March. We committed to serve for the entirety of that month to do what we could to begin to ensure a healthy transition would be taking place. Telling people, especially the students, that we were leaving was by far the hardest part. There are no words to describe how incredible those students were, and are. But as I told them, for me to stand up there week after week and teach them about following God’s call on their lives, and to ignore His call on mine, would make me a hypocrite, among other things. We finished our time at St.Peter’s doing the best we could to serve faithfully and preserve the relationships that we so deeply valued. When our time was actually up we felt that we could truly say that we had given the ministry our best. Over the last 6 weeks, Christine and I have been able to refocus, and spend a lot of time growing closer to one another. We have learned of God’s faithfulness and His provision in our lives. We started the process of looking for a new church. We were looking for somewhere we felt that we would be able to serve and grow together for the long haul. We decided, after doing some looking, that we felt we had a found a home in the mission, vision, and community of the Royal Palm campus of Christ Fellowship. Meanwhile, I started looking for jobs: everything from ministry to teaching to bagging groceries. I did some part time work for my mom, and explored the possibility of trying to do guitar lessons on a more full-time basis. My good friend Dave Simile at Christ Fellowship told me about a position they were in the process of creating in the Student Ministry at CF-Royal Palm. “Creative Worship Coordinator” he called it. I thought that sounded pretty fancy. As Dave told me about the responsibilities of the position and how he envisioned it impacting their ministry I was immediately interested. As I jokingly told a few of the guys on the team later, it was “my dream job.” What I meant by that is that I felt that it would really allow me to focus in on the areas of ministry that I am really gifted in, and not have to worry about other areas in which others are better suited. As Christine and I joined the church, we also began the interview process. During that process we encountered some phenomenal people who we were instantly drawn to. Throughout the interview process we felt blessed to have been given the privilege to engage with these people, no matter the outcome. As of this week I have been offered, and I accepted, the Creative Worship Coordinator position at Christ Fellowship - Royal Palm. The opening of this new chapter in our lives has not been without difficulty, but we will work hard to preserve the relationships that we value. We are excited about this new adventure in our lives. We are excited to be a part of the Christ Fellowship family. I am excited about serving with such an incredible team of people committed to helping students know and love Jesus more. This will be an incredible opportunity for us to grow and to take the next step in our lives.

Will you please join us in praying for a few things? 1.) For new friends and old: that we would be intentional about establishing and maintaining community through this change. 2.) For the staff, members, and students of st. peters. That God would provide clear direction in the student ministry and that it would grow both larger and deeper as He brings it to the next level. 3.) For this new ministry endeavor that God would grow us and shape us and allow us to be effective in ministry in ways we never thought possible, and that He would be glorified in all we do.

With that long explanation I hope that you can join us in our excitement about the new chapter, that God is beginning to write, in our lives.

You can see the job description and the announcement on my friend Dave’s blog here: http://davesimiele.tumblr.com/post/558541370/new-hire-we-are-so-excited-about-ryan-mcdermott

2 years ago

ryanmcdermott: @zachwilliamsss great show tonight. good to see you.

2 years ago

ryanmcdermott: is headed out to Belle Glade to see if we can learn anything from the way Christ Fellowship rolls.

2 years ago

ryanmcdermott: @mbrunjes that is a must have baby device!

2 years ago

ryanmcdermott: Tonight would be a miserable night for lawn seats. It is POURING!!!

2 years ago

ryanmcdermott: Taverna Opa!