I grew up in the church and had the idea that if you were going to do anything for God, you probably had to be a pastor or a missionary. I knew they weren't the only jobs you could do, but it seemed like they were the ones I was supposed to do. And I had people tell me that I would be a pastor, and by all accounts I was on track to be one. But then, it just never happened. I think I could have forced it to happen, but it just never felt like the right position for me. Though I often wonder what life would have been like had it gone that route.
So I was interested to speak to my friend Tony Alany who was a pastor and then stepped down from that position after many years in ministry. His story was interesting to me because he didn't leave over a falling out with people or because of a moral failure, but he actually felt called by God to step away in much of the same way he felt called to step into it. We discuss his heart and story in this episode.
I would hope you come away with the idea that God's plans for us may take us to and from places we didn't expect, but he is good and he knows what he's doing. We can "work for God" no matter if we're inside of a church building or not.
