a week ago today…

so back in december i received a random phone call from the great state of MI. i was at lunch with a friend and didn’t know the number, so i let it go to voice mail. after lunch i listened to the voice mail and at first thought it was a prank. it was a guy (lerrin wentworth) claiming to be a pastor from some church in the woods of MI and he wanted to talk with me about a worship leader position. i reluctantly called the number back and got his voice mail…so i left a message.

side note #1…i had been looking for a worship pastor position at a church for 6 years or so. some of the time i was looking harder than others. but i hadn’t sent out a resume for months. i was focusing on finishing up my masters. a lot of people know this and friends can play pranks from time to time…

ends up that really is the guy’s name and he really is a pastor. he works for The Woods church based out of Warren, MI. they had an open position in the worship department and they wanted to talk with me about that. so i sent them a resume and some links from Youtube of me leading worship and really didn’t think much of it.

side note #2…i’ve sent out A LOT of resumes. i’ve met with pastors. i’ve had phone interviews with committees. i worked part-time for 18 months or so at a church. we even flew to FL once to visit a church. but all of them ended up in rejection…except for one instance, the rejection came from the other half of the equation.

through a series of phone calls, e-mails, and a skype interview…kasey and i scheduled a trip up to visit the church. during our time there we went through was i would call the gauntlet of interviews. we ate a lot of good food! we met a lot of cool people, including the band from the north campus and i lead rehearsal with them. then i lead worship for their service on sunday morning. after leading worship we booked it to the south campus and sat through a service there. (come to find out it wasn’t in the woods at all!) that was followed by a little exit interview and prayer. not to mention the caramel macchiato from the church’s coffee shop.

side note #3…that’s my favorite drink from st. arbucks and the church’s barista knocked it out of the park!

we jumped in the truck and headed home. i let kasey talk so i knew what she was thinking about the trip, the church, the staff we met, anything and everything that was coming to mind…we prayed and we waited for three long days to talk with the church staff again and see where things stood. those days were filled with questions, doubt, discouragement, attacks, encouragement, confirmation, more questions, more doubt…you name it, we thought about it!

then on wednesday, 2/15/12, i was offered “a package” from the church. that package included a full-time position in their worship department. i had prayed about it and had a painfully low number to expect and a number that i could live with, in regards to compensation. after speaking with the head pastor of the church, kasey and i needed to pray about whether this was where God wanted us as a family or not…it had to be a family decision.

thursday night we prayed with some very dear friends of ours. the kind of friends that know EVERYTHING about us. they’ve been through highs and the VERY LOWS of our lives for the last 12 years or so. in the midst of our time together kasey made this statement about the church, “i know this is where God wants us to be.” we prayed, cried, reminisced, and laughed at my expense (insert long story about no hot water for my shower in CO). but the decision was clear.

it was confirmed over and over again through out the process. whether it was with my school schedule, the people we met, interactions with other churches, through friends, through prayer, and even that “package”. God had opened doors, cleared paths, and made it as CLEAR as possible…we were supposed to make the move to MI.

a week ago today…

i accepted their package and agreed to join an amazing group of leaders up north. i was more than excited to do so. i was put on speaker phone and was greeted with cheers on the other end when i told them that we were putting a for sale sign in our yard…they were gathered around the phone. thankfully they were excited about the decision as well.

through this journey of several years i’ve been all over the map. i can see times of anger, resentment, discouragement, questioning, and even depression. i can see poor decisions being made on my part. at the same time i can see that God was with me throughout the journey. i can see His love, mercy, and grace at work in my life. i can see times of great excitement in leading people. i can see so many individuals that i have been able to develop relationships with and invest in. i can see people who have invested in and encouraged me as well. i can see a great deal that i have learned!

i now have a much better understanding of these two verses in isaiah. because there were so many times that i really thought i knew where i was supposed to be and what His will looked like…but i didn’t! His ways were much higher…far beyond anything i could have imagined…and i am so thankful for that! we have a long road ahead, but i know that He will take care of us!

now the mckanna family begins a new journey and it officially started…

a week ago today…

PS – anyone want to buy a house? PLEASE!