How I Ended Up In Church IT (part 1)

Well it's been a long time coming, but here it is ... my first official post on digital.leadnet.org ... it's a little long so it'll be a 2 part post :-)

Firstly - I'm Jason Powell and I'm the IT Director at Granger Community Church (/me waves to everyone). That means my posts here will probably have a pretty strong IT geek factor, but I'll attempt to keep it relevant for everyone.  I thought for my first post perhaps some backstory on how I ended up in church IT ...

So here's the testimony I delivered on July 27, 2003 to my former church about our God sized story which lead us to Granger, IN and into church ministry. I probably read over this once a year when seeds of doubt try to creep into my mind ... it's a great reminder to me about how great a God we serve and why I'm at GCC.  Perhaps my story will be an encouragement for others so here it is ...

Kenosha Bible Church, Kenosha, WI - July 27, 2003 - "Generally it takes about 30mins for the full version of this story, but they told me to chop it down so you’re going to get the condensed Readers Digest version.

If you had asked me just 3 months ago what I’d be doing this summer the answer would have been something like: working my contracted 30 summer days, spend a week or so in IN at both parents, some house work, maybe go away from our 10 year anniversary…in other words nothing really out of the ordinary.

But as it turns out God had a different plan in mind
Instead
• I’ve quit my job which I loved (IT Director, Zion-Benton Township HS District 126, Zion, IL)
• we’re moving to Granger, IN next weekend
• and I going to be working in of all places...a church!

OK…so what caused this sudden MAJOR shift in our lives?!

It may sound silly, but God used the book If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat to play a major role.
God used this book to force me to re-eval my life, my purpose, my goals. I think it should come with a big warning sticker…”Warning: contents my change your life! Proceed with Caution!”

Back in Feb our small group started studying this book and it wasn’t until Chapter 4 pg 79 that God decided to majorly speak to me. The author writes...
Is there any challenge in your life right now that is large enough that you have NO hope of doing it apart from God’s help? If not, consider the possibility that you are seriously underchallenged.
The words YOU ARE SERIOUSLY UNDERCHALLENGED kept echoing in my head for days … I prayed that God would challenge me in ways that would force me to rely on Him.

AND HE promptly complied to my request in lots of ways, but here comes the fun stuff…

The weekend before Spring Break I was informed that the Penn-Harris-Madison School System CIO (Chief Information Officer) position was opening in Granger, IN…a really sweet position that would be a huge step up in salary and responsibility…and get us closer to our parents. I REALLY wanted this position so I spent my entire spring break crafting a sweet resume.

The next week I got an email from Rob, one of my best friends back in college, who’s one of the pastors at Granger Community Church in Granger, IN…yes the same city as the school job! He said their computer guy was leaving and thought I should send in a resume. I didn’t give it much thought as I wasn’t looking for a hard-core tech position and after all how much could the church possibly pay. Thoughts of driving a barely running beater car and living in a run down trailer came to mind.

After I submitted my resume for the school job, Rob called again about the church job. He explained that they were changing the position into a more administrative position and thought I should seriously check it out.
Since I wanted to be faithful to ANY doors God opened, I went ahead and submitted my resume…still thinking that nothing would probably come of it.

I then got a call from my close IT Director peer at Lake Forest High School (Lake Forest, IL)… his wife was getting transferred and wanted me to take his position! This would be a big bump in salary, but up my commute time considerably.

At this point I said, OK God…what are you up to?
I like my current job and have not been actively looking for something new…now 3 possibilities have been brought to my attention? Help…I need guidance here!

After pondering and prayer I did not pursue the LFHS position…the salary bump would be nice, but nothing else about it seemed to speak to me.

The church called me when they got my resume and I did an hour and a half phone interview with Tony Morgan, GCC's pastor of Administration. During the conversation I started feeling that this could actually be where God wanted me. Then as the conversation drew to a close Tony said, so should we continue this dialogue if I tell you that we could not pay you close to what you’re making now? DOH! Why did he have to say that! Sigh. I told him that if this is truly where God wants me then we are prepared to make some sacrifices.

... stay tuned for Part II of the story :-)

Well it's been a long time coming, but here it is ... my first official post on digital.leadnet.org ... it's a little long so it'll be a 2 part post :-)

Firstly - I'm Jason Powell and I'm the IT Director at Granger Community Church (/me waves to everyone). That means my posts here will probably have a pretty strong IT geek factor, but I'll attempt to keep it relevant for everyone.  I thought for my first post perhaps some backstory on how I ended up in church IT ...

So here's the testimony I delivered on July 27, 2003 to my former church about our God sized story which lead us to Granger, IN and into church ministry. I probably read over this once a year when seeds of doubt try to creep into my mind ... it's a great reminder to me about how great a God we serve and why I'm at GCC.  Perhaps my story will be an encouragement for others so here it is ...

Kenosha Bible Church, Kenosha, WI - July 27, 2003 - "Generally it takes about 30mins for the full version of this story, but they told me to chop it down so you’re going to get the condensed Readers Digest version.

If you had asked me just 3 months ago what I’d be doing this summer the answer would have been something like: working my contracted 30 summer days, spend a week or so in IN at both parents, some house work, maybe go away from our 10 year anniversary…in other words nothing really out of the ordinary.

But as it turns out God had a different plan in mind
Instead
• I’ve quit my job which I loved (IT Director, Zion-Benton Township HS District 126, Zion, IL)
• we’re moving to Granger, IN next weekend
• and I going to be working in of all places...a church!

OK…so what caused this sudden MAJOR shift in our lives?!

It may sound silly, but God used the book If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat to play a major role.
God used this book to force me to re-eval my life, my purpose, my goals. I think it should come with a big warning sticker…”Warning: contents my change your life! Proceed with Caution!”

Back in Feb our small group started studying this book and it wasn’t until Chapter 4 pg 79 that God decided to majorly speak to me. The author writes...
Is there any challenge in your life right now that is large enough that you have NO hope of doing it apart from God’s help? If not, consider the possibility that you are seriously underchallenged.
The words YOU ARE SERIOUSLY UNDERCHALLENGED kept echoing in my head for days … I prayed that God would challenge me in ways that would force me to rely on Him.

AND HE promptly complied to my request in lots of ways, but here comes the fun stuff…

The weekend before Spring Break I was informed that the Penn-Harris-Madison School System CIO (Chief Information Officer) position was opening in Granger, IN…a really sweet position that would be a huge step up in salary and responsibility…and get us closer to our parents. I REALLY wanted this position so I spent my entire spring break crafting a sweet resume.

The next week I got an email from Rob, one of my best friends back in college, who’s one of the pastors at Granger Community Church in Granger, IN…yes the same city as the school job! He said their computer guy was leaving and thought I should send in a resume. I didn’t give it much thought as I wasn’t looking for a hard-core tech position and after all how much could the church possibly pay. Thoughts of driving a barely running beater car and living in a run down trailer came to mind.

After I submitted my resume for the school job, Rob called again about the church job. He explained that they were changing the position into a more administrative position and thought I should seriously check it out.
Since I wanted to be faithful to ANY doors God opened, I went ahead and submitted my resume…still thinking that nothing would probably come of it.

I then got a call from my close IT Director peer at Lake Forest High School (Lake Forest, IL)… his wife was getting transferred and wanted me to take his position! This would be a big bump in salary, but up my commute time considerably.

At this point I said, OK God…what are you up to?
I like my current job and have not been actively looking for something new…now 3 possibilities have been brought to my attention? Help…I need guidance here!

After pondering and prayer I did not pursue the LFHS position…the salary bump would be nice, but nothing else about it seemed to speak to me.

The church called me when they got my resume and I did an hour and a half phone interview with Tony Morgan, GCC's pastor of Administration. During the conversation I started feeling that this could actually be where God wanted me. Then as the conversation drew to a close Tony said, so should we continue this dialogue if I tell you that we could not pay you close to what you’re making now? DOH! Why did he have to say that! Sigh. I told him that if this is truly where God wants me then we are prepared to make some sacrifices.

... stay tuned for Part II of the story :-)