Over the past 15 years of ministry I have learned a lot from mistakes.  I have served at 6 churches over my time in ministry and here is a short summary of each and what I’ve learned over the past couple weeks of looking back.

Faith United Methodist Church (December 1997-June 1998): This was my first job in ministry and I was 18 years old.  I left the church to intern under my old youth pastor in Atlanta.  The biggest thing I learned from my experience here was learning how to be organized.  I still use several forms of organization that I created back in 1997.

Asbury United Methodist (July 2001-March 2002):  This was my second job in ministry and had to deal with several things in church politics that almost made me leave ministry forever.  This was tough time to serve and due to several things outside of my control was a difficult place.  I am very grateful for the friends that I made there and that helped me through these tough times.  The biggest thing I can look back at and learn is not to let people run you over and to stand up for yourself.  Looking back it was tough to do so only being 22 years old and having people try to use me in their games of church politics to get their way.

Tucker First United Methodist (May 2002-May 2003)  This was my first full time job in ministry straight out of college.  I am very thankful for the opportunity and experience I had at Tucker. But I wasn’t ready for Tucker!  The church and ministry were out of my ability and was a bit over whelming.  It was a large group and I was not prepared for the schedule and stress of that big of a church and youth ministry.  Looking back I should have never applied, but I did and I learned a lot from my one year at Tucker after being asked to leave because I could not handle that size of a job at the point in my life/career.  I learned a lot of getting organized and planning out things from Dr. Mike Cash and Rev. Sondra Jones and am forever grateful for everything those two taught me.

Lithia Springs United Methodist (May 2003-December 2006) Coming back to Lithia Springs after interning there in 1997 was one of the biggest growth areas in all my my ministry career.  Rev. Charlie Green taught me more than I can ever explain.  He was the best mentor and Senior Pastor that I have ever worked with during my career.  The biggest thing that Charlie gave me was a voice.  He helped me grow into youth ministry and pushed me more than anyone else ever has and I am very thankful for all the opportunities that he helped give me.  The biggest thing I have learned from my time there was not to get too big for my own britches.  I left Lithia Springs UMC to early because I thought I deserved more money and a bigger church.

Blair Road United Methodist (December 2006-December 2010)  Charlotte was a new experience and it was different going to a place where I had no connections. At times that really hurt me because I worked a loner and one man team too often.  I also learned the dangers of triangulation.  There are several instances that I should have taken the high road and went to the person instead of being caught in the middle of the triangle.  But in my time here I also learned how to promote the ministry and learned what branding really could do for a church and youth ministry.  I also learned to take care of myself better with soul caring and how important it is to have a network of close youth workers.  I also learned how important big conferences like NYWC and SYMC should be in my yearly schedule.  I learned about good communication and how to be a better communicator.

Mt. Hebron United Methodist (December 2010-Present)  Back in my college home of Columbia, I’ve learned a lot in my first 19 months here and I’ll expand on them on a later date…including a guest post on this next week at Carl’s blog.