After the Interview

I felt my interview in Neenah, WI went well. I felt like I had a good rapport with the committee and with the pastors. I had lunch with the pastors. I think the Sr. pastor is more introverted and therefore I had some problems reading him and getting a feel for whether I could work with him or not. From some of the material they gave me and the interactions I had with folks, the church seems to be content with where they are and what they do. There are some who seem to want to expand and experiment, but I don't see either pastor really taking that on.

The big surprise of the weekend was being thrown in on Sunday morning. I ended up taking over the lessons in Middle School and in Pre-K because they wanted to see how I interacted with the kids and if I understood developmental levels. That is where my teaching background comes in handy! They wanted to see if I could pick up a lesson and run with it with no prep time.

Coming away from the interview, I didn't have an overwhelming feeling that I am called to Wisconsin, but I also didn't walk away thinking, "There is no amount of money that could get me there" Part of the problem is not having another face to face visit to compare it with. Time will tell. But I did get a phone call from the Sr. pastor tonight to get my address so he could send me a couple of audio tapes of his preaching. Interesting that he called and not a secretary or a committee member. He said they were very impressed with me and I was high on their list, but they had other candidates. He also said the next step would most likely include me being asked to come back. I'll keep you posted.