Life Stories...

Today, I made a trip out to Waukau, WI. I never heard of Waukau until I found out that a pastor who once worked at FUMC Oshkosh had been assigned as the pastor there. It is only about 20 minutes and 13 miles from Oshkosh. I drove into the city to discover that it was unincorporated. There wasn't necessarily a whole lot to see. But, they have a vary quaint and beautiful Methodist Church.

I walked inside and met Chuck, the pastor there. He took me on a tour of the facility. The church is by no means modern, but it "older" style and theater-set wooden pews provide a wonderful atmosphere. It felt like I stepped back 100 years (the church was built in 1904). I would love to worship there. They are in the process adding on an addition that will provide much needed education and office space. The pastor currently uses a section of the fellowship hall as his office! Things seem to looking up and people seem to looking forward at the church.

The pastor of this church is hosting a Disciple class. The class helps folks to survey the Bible and find more meaning in it. That seems up my alley. It involves 34 meetings, and seems very thorough. I am excited to try it out. Getting to the theme of my entry today, we ended the session with sharing our journeys with the group.

I found the others in our class to have very interesting lives. Many are significantly older than me, and have lived rich and exciting lives. They say their lives are boring, but they are filled with interesting tales and major changes. I realized today how much I enjoy hearing about the lives of others, especially folks who lives outside of a residence hall ;).

Perhaps that is part of why I am called to ministry. I want to learn more about people and learn how we can work together to become better people.