In 2017 the game changed for us. I moved from my comfortable church office to my new one in our basement. After 30 years as founding and lead pastor of a multi-site church on the north coast of Ohio, my wife and I moved into the fourth quarter, we retired. After some much needed rest, we began to let the nagging questions resurface. Now what? Who am I now? What am I here for now? It has been an almost two year journey of much prayer, conversations with others on the same journey and simply doing what God puts in front of us. We we are still learning much, and having more opportunities than we ever imagined. The biggest lesson? Realities may change, calling doesn’t. My strength, my health and my responsibilities may change, but my calling to follow Jesus and build his kingdom doesn’t, it never will.
Several months ago, after leading some sessions to other ministry leaders on “Soul Care”, several people asked if I would share some of what I’ve learned in this part of the journey, as well as some of what I continue to learn about ministry from the perspective of someone in this phase of life. Thus the idea of Bill’s Basement Blog came to life. One of the great things about this phase of life, no pressure! If I write it and no one reads it, at least I had something to do that made me reflect on the goodness of God which is always a good thing! But I pray what we’ve learned along the way, and continue to learn about following Jesus and building his kingdom will encourage and even help someone.
So here it goes!!
Bill's basement blog 