How I went “Back to the Future”

Ummm…it’s been a while.

It has been exactly 31 days since my last post. One month. In blog time, it’s like a million years.

Let me share what is happening in my world.

Back to the Future

I’m moving into the future, looking back at my past.

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was Back to the Future starring Michael J Fox. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but it’s the story of a teen who time travels to the past, meets the teenage versions of his mother and father, saves their relationship, and fights to return unharmed to the future.

On September 24th, I started a new job. Not exactly new – I stepped back into the past. And not a job exactly…

I became the children’s pastor at my home church – Cross Points Church in Shawnee, Kansas. For those of you who have not read The Collective’s About Page, I was a full-time Christian minister for 10 years. I left that “world” to work with my wife, Kia Bondurant, and her family in the photography industry.

This is not what I was planning, thinking or heading.

Why the change?

So…why? I’ve been thinking about this question for a while, and I’ve come up with 4 answers.

These are the 4 reasons I made a HUGE change in my life, but they are also reasons why you might make changes (big or small) in your life.

1. I was open to change.

Most people believe in the concept of change. Here’s the catch…change means DOING something different. Most people don’t like that part of change.

After joining my wife’s family business 8 years ago, I worked directly with them for 6 of those years. 18 months ago I started The Collective. From the beginning, I knew The Collective had to become either a viable business or a hobby (sound familiar?).

Fast forward 1 year. The Collective was a big success in some ways (more and more people were finding and reading, sponsors and advertisers were interested, people were finding value in the content), but it was apparent it wasn’t going to pay the bills on it’s own. Beginning in late Spring of 2012, I began to wonder what was next.

I really had no plan, and I was open to listen.

The true question was this –

 Will I do anything different?

2. I waited.

Waiting sucks. It’s doing nothing, with nothing really to do.

You do what you’ve done, but you know it’s not what you really are going to do. It’s a place of being temporarily temporary.

Kia is an activator. She has an idea, and her first impulse is to act. That’s not my nature, but sitting and doing nothing is not my default either.

During this process, I learned waiting builds character.

3. I was asked.

I don’t know Dane Sanders well, but I had an interesting conversation with him at After Dark KC about this “Why” question. He summed it up well for me.

It’s nice to be wanted.

In my words, it feels good to be pursued.

It’s why people get married. Pursuit is why something lost is found. It’s why people change from what looks like a good (if not great) job to a different one. In the movies (and hopefully real life), it’s why bad guys get caught.

Happening almost concurrently with my journey, my good friend David Jones waited to hear if he would become the next Senior Pastor at Cross Points. Within a few weeks he talked with me about joining his staff.

It was surprising (read below for more), but it was also flattering.

David had spent a lot of time with me in the previous months (while he waited), so he knew me. He knew what made me tick. He wanted me. I’ll be honest, it felt good.

I was pursued.

4. I laid down my pre-conceived ideas.

When David was hired, I blindly told him I was willing to help him in any way he needed. I write blindly, because in my mind it meant helping re-design a website, teach a class or help in some leadership position. My pre-conception did not include coming on staff, doing the exact thing I quit doing almost 10 years earlier.

In late summer he asked me to join his staff as the new/old children’s pastor of the church. To be honest, my first answer wasn’t Yes. It was much closer to No.

I was open to change, but the doing part was holding me back.

As Kia and I talked and prayed about his offer, I came to the conclusion that I needed to drop the ideas, thoughts and plans I had for my life. I needed to take this offer serious. I needed to see how this fit into my life.

With this frame of mind, the offer from David from a probable no to an obvious a yes for me. After more thought and prayer, it became a definite yes.

What’s next?

You just spent several minutes reading about me, but you might be wondering how this fits in with The Collective. Will this be updated?

My honest answer is I don’t know.

I do know this, I love to write. I truly enjoyed sitting at my computer and creating this post. I loved putting my thoughts on-screen, and working to make them understandable and usable.

I also know my time is valuable. Everyone wants some. My God. My wife. My kids. My church. My job. My friends. My Twitter feed (sorry about that too). My website. I can’t give it to everyone. I must be intentional about who I give it to, and when I give it to them.

I’m figuring it out.