life update

For those that I don't speak to too often, here is an update as to my situation with ministry in Miami.

Background:
I spent most of the Fall and early part of the Spring "negotiating" terms of me possibly coming back for an additional year in Miami.  It was a huge stress, to say the least, that included me flying to Jacksonville for an hour-long meeting with our state director, countless emails, phone calls, and budgeting of every aspect of the matter.
Finally, a couple months ago, I received word that the proposal, for me to stay with a pay increase, had been approved.  I was told that we'd work out details later.

Fast forward to last week.
I spoke with our human resource guy at the state office about the details.  He went over details about my situation with our state's executive director to get everything ironed out to best suit everyone involved.  The result of this meeting was me being brought on as a "administrative-approved employee", which means I'm just one step below a "board-elected employee".  This means I now get insurance, dental, and some life insurance paid for by the convention rather than out of my own pocket.  I also get vacation and sick days as well as get to stay living in the BCM building without having to pay rent.
The biggest news to come from all of this is the fact that I will not have to re-up each year through stressful "negotiations" and proposals.  Instead, I am a full employee on an "indefinite" timeline.  If I decide to leave, for whatever reason, I can or if they want to bring someone else in my place, they can but will give me plenty of advanced warning.

So, essentially, I'll be in Miami for several more years.  This is a huge relief of pressure to not have to wonder if I have a job each year.  It also gives me the opportunity to plan for some future vision within BCM, since I know I'll be here for a while.  I also continue to press forward with my seminary schooling.  I should be done in about a year and a half.  It has made me realize how much I enjoy learning about ministry and theology and hate our learning systems in America.  I press on though.

As I joked with a friend the other day, this lessens my chances of finding me a good southern girl, unless they come to me.  I guess that's something I'll just have to deal with.  I'm sure I'll manage.

-peace

...story of my life

For several years now I've had enough adventures, both in life and ministry, to warrant people constantly telling me I should write a book.  While I would love to do so, I'm not sure it would ever get published or read by anyone other than my mom.  Even with that being the case, I've jotted things down here and there should the time ever come for me to step up and make writing a book a reality.  For now, I plan on using this blog to at least write some of my ideas for what would be in my book.
___________________________


Often when something odd or slightly unpleasant happens, you'll hear someone say "story of my life".  I took that idea a bit further though, once I found myself saying that phrase more often than not because of all the oddity in my life.  With the idea of writing in the back of my mind, i thought "instead of 'story of my life' it'd be more like 'chapters in my book'", since i feel my life is too varied and adventured to fit all it has to offer within a title that falls short.  I couldn't have the title of the book about my life and ministry being something trivial like "a day late and a dollar short".

What's in a name?
It should be noted that from the initial idea to write a book, I had the title figured out.  Credit for that partially goes to Jason Mills.  While on a mission trip in NYC at the The Bowery, I was having a conversation with several of my students about the possibility of writing something and what it would look like.  With the types of stories I would include, and knowing somewhat my tendency to not be fully clothed all the time, Jason rattled off "Various Stages of Undressed: The Matt Wofford Story".  We all laughed at the idea and went on with our day.  This, however, got me thinking.  Maybe this did sum it all up.  Perhaps my life was a tale of various stages of being undressed.

As I recall from childhood, as evidence by a recent facebook photo album, I was never one to wear clothes too often, unless I absolutely found it to be necessity.  Even aging, and thus "maturing", didn't remedy the desire to forfeit clothing as my first option.  Despite my on-again, off-again "heftiness" in college I gladly took the reigns of the "Naked Guys", a group of BCM guys that would paint up their chests for home football games at Arkansas State.  To this day I think the phrase my sister has said to me more than any other is "Matt!....Pants!!" (of course eluding to the fact that I wasn't wearing any and thus needed to put some on to make her more comfortable)...Although I feel that if I were to wear pants around the house, when I'm home for Christmas and the occasional Summer weekend, it might throw her off and in fact be odd.

At any rate, beyond the fact that the title seemed to fit with my seemingly "free as a bird" lifestyle, it felt right in so many other ways.  The idea of "Various Stages of Undressed" felt like it reached deep into my soul.  I've always been a fan of the idea of the reverence and respect paid to royalty and who better to pay respect and reverence to than the King of kings?  Whether it is in my personal devotional time, study of scripture, or even corporate prayer, I always see myself bowing at the foot of the throne of God, on my knees, and completely humbled by His glory and might.  Going a step further, knowing that He knows my every thought and feeling, I realize there are no barriers between us.  For that reason, I am naked before God.  There is nothing that I can put up as a shield to cover up who I am, what I've done, or what I offer Him.  He sees me for what I am and still loves me as if I were the only one.  That amazes me and draws me closer to Him.  It is that moment that I feel closer to God than any other, knowing that there is nothing separating us, and that moment that I aim for in every aspect of my life...to be naked before God.
So, with that in mind, here is my life.  Journeying through various stages of undressed.

-peace

And we're back!

I guess I decided to take 2010 off from blogging.  It was a crappy year anyway (save 4-5 things within it).
At any rate, for those 3 of you that happen to stumble upon this while wasting time avoiding other life responsibilities, you'll notice that I've updated the look and feel of the blog.
You will, without a doubt, also notice that I've updated the title.  My next post will give details as to the story behind that.  You'll just have to stay tuned until next time.

Until then...

unexpected crowds

tuesday night we decided to take what we've been talking about at "fuel" and put it into practice.

we've been going over the 4 c's that we stand for as a bcm:

connecting students to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
creating community for life change.
communicating that all students matter to God.
cooperating with the local church.

we took ice cream sandwiches and popsicles to one of the front of the freshman dorms

a table inside would help point people outside to where we had the ice cream set up

when we arrived, we learned about a fire drill that would be taking place just moments later

so, as we stood just outside the door, we watched as the masses of freshman came pouring out to gobble up all the goodies.

it wound up being a great thing

although all our ice cream was gone within about 5 minutes, we had a captive audience that couldn't' go anywhere, so we used the opportunity to hand out flyers inviting people to join us for "fuel" the next week as well as just meet some people and have some good conversations

one student gave report that her friend that has been on the brink of questioning about spiritual things made the point to tell her that she thought it was really cool and wanted to join her at church sometime soon

peace

finally...a W

as usual, i dedicated my fall saturday to college football.

in the past few weeks, that has not turned out too well (AR has suffered some tough losses) especially last week, since for the second year in a row we lost to a high-ranked team that one of my roommates roots for on my birthday weekend

its amazing how much better a win can improve a whole day

not only did my hogs win, but the canes pulled a big win over a higher ranked oklahoma team

a girl i met at fiu a few weeks ago that is originally from arkansas came over to watch the game so we could combine our good mojo towards the win

sheri (reuben's girlfriend), james, and xavier also joined us

in the second half sheri and xavier agreed to wear razorback shirts

it was great!

granted, it seems that we might have a few tough weeks ahead with auburn at home, then on the road to florida and ole miss

now on to the association meeting today at wayside baptist church (since becky is in louisiana)

the things i do for love

today was a pretty good day

lunch bunch out at fiu with the twins (siobahn and shelby) went well. we had fried chicken and some fixins

good times

i then proceeded to drive to ft lauderdale to pick up reuben's girlfriend. doesn't sound too special, but the fact that he thought she was not coming for another week made it more fun.

i had been extra inquisitive this morning about his schedule so i'd know where he'd be at different times so the plan could go as smoothly as possible.

i passed the terminal pickup where sheri was, so i had to pull into the next one and have her walk over. while i was waiting, the guy in front of me decided to back into me. luckily, my car already has a jack up front bumper and hood, so it was no big deal. i got out of my car to help sheri, who was still walking up and as i did, the sassy security person told me i couldn't park where i did. i informed her that the person i was picking up was walking up as we spoke. it was a close call.

when we returned to the apartment i called reuben to see where he was and discovered he'd not be returning for a couple hours. so, we had to wait sitting around the apartment on pins and needles all afternoon, making sure we didn't get caught by reuben coming in and seeing sheri before he was supposed to.

once reuben got home we hid sheri in my room and i talked reuben into helping me make a promo video for fuel. i gave him some bogus plan that would require him to stare at the wall, then turn around (the thing he didn't know was that when he turned around, sheri would be there). he fell for it all. we started filming and sheri came out to stand beside me waiting on him to turn around. we began filming and he turned around. it took him several seconds to see that she was there and even longer to realize what was going on. the look on his face was brilliant. i got it all on video, so that will be up soon enough.

now, i'm watching forrest gump on tv

good day

peace

26 and counting

i won't even speak to the fact that its been a few decades since i posted on this here blog

in other news:

sunday i turned 26.

its weird. i don't feel "26". i'm not sure what i feel exactly, but as i get older i realize how much age and time are, in fact, relative. i don't exactly still feel like a teenager, because i have to be self-sufficient, and i didn't then. yet, i don't feel as if i'm still in my early 20's, because nothing ever really happened then that made that age feel like a milestone. i guess i'm just stuck somewhere in a youthful state where every day is new and exciting.

i love where i am in life. i don't know where in the world (literally) i'll be this time next year or what i'll be doing, and i'm fine with that. i have faith that God knows what he's doing so i'll be alright.

most of my friends are more "settled" in to life than myself, which is fine. maybe i'll have more/better stories than them when we all meet back in the inevitable "middle". lol

at any rate, i'm hoping my 26th year on this big blue and green piece of rock we call "earth" can be the best one and the one in which i can look back on and say i loved more, lived more, and fought for the kingdom more.

peace