Weekly Update: 2/27 – 3/5

This has been, in recent memory, the busiest week of my professional career. I spent every workday in crunch mode for a site launch, handling hourly emails of bugs, copy edits, and additions. By Friday I was so brain-fried that I slept for 12+ hours that night.

Oh, but work hasn’t been the half of it, either.

I finally prepped my short story “Juicers” for critique. “Juicers” will be my Paradise Lost submission, as well as my first piece of short fiction in several years that doesn’t involve some IT monstrosity. I’ve spent so long writing Daily WTF articles and working on the Zeno’s Paradox Novel that I feared I had forgotten how to do genre short fiction.

Speaking of The Daily WTF, my article “Copy Protected” posted on Monday. Some communication snafus and the months of busy-ness kept me from writing more, but I’ll have another article soon.

Besides work stuff and prepping “Juicers,” I’ve been juggling some things for church. I’m leading worship at a service later this month with a guest speaker, yet I can’t quite commit to the order of service I want. I’ve also been leading the Adult RE committee, helping build a foundation for future courses at our church. But the most interesting development took me totally by surprise.

A couple years ago, I was asked to run for our Board of Trustees. My life was in transition at the time and I was burned out from leading the young adults and teaching youth RE, so I turned the offer down. However, I have a hard time saying no twice. I was asked again just recently to run for a position on the board.

This time, I agreed.

Simply put, I need more leadership experience. In my ongoing discernment process, I wondered if I had served enough on lay leadership to pursue ministry, having only been Young Adult leader and more recently the head of the Adult RE committee. I also need to see if I can convince others that I can lead, as our church elects members to the board in a congregational meeting. And I want to see if a three-year term will lead either to burnout, or to a grown desire for church leadership, as three years is far shorter than ministerial installment. And it may turn out that lay leadership does me just fine.

So that’s great, but why do I want to serve on the board?

[Stands up on soapbox]

My vision for our church is simple: we’re experiencing tremendous growth, with nearly-full Sunday services and RE classes, and we need to take advantage of it. We should be leading two services on Sundays, with alternative services throughout the week. We need to cater to young adults more, with offerings that fit the free time of my generation better than weekday and Sunday mornings. With our Multi-Purpose Building, we have the space to offer courses in science, religion, and social justice that could attract more like-minded people and fulfill our spiritual lives. I already serve in the spheres of Young Adult community and Adult RE, and I know what many of us could really use.

[Descends from soapbox]

I wasn’t ready to be asked, but it happened. Opportunities in my life seem to happen sooner than I would want, and being asked to serve on the Board of Trustees is no exception. In the end, it somehow works out.