My Story

On October 17, 2008 I was laid off from my job, Genie industries. It was a good job, with great pay benefits and weekends off. But the company was downsizing due to the economy.

I could probably have held it out a lot longer, after all, I been there for some time now and knew quite a bit about the assembly line that I was working on. Genie did however, have a Voluntary Exit Program (VEP) that they were stressing. They didn't want to have to lay off more people than they had to so the offered better benefits to anyone who would voluntarily leave.

I was one of the first to leave. Several reason actually,
1. I have no debt. None. Just monthly rent.
2. I'm single. I have no family to provide for, I don't have kids that I have to feed.
3. Though at the time my relationship with God wasn't as good as it is now, I was still walking under the anointing of God.

So I left, if only to save one person their job.

And I have been unemployed ever since. Unemployment pays the bills, in fact, I am actually saving money on unemployment. I didn't however, find a job.

Now ever since this happened my Pastor and I have been praying for a new ministry. Because when you think about it, your job isn't just a job, it is an opportunity to minister into the lives of others.

In January of 2009 my home church in Warden Washington had a guest speaker, evangelist David Woods. Brother Woods travels the country 35 weeks of the year ministering to churches through signs, wonders and miracles.

God worked through our church in Warden through Brother Woods' ministry. I found myself quite useful while he was here, just helping out with the little things that he really didn't have time to do himself.

When he left things just kind of went back to normal as far as my daily routine goes. Though I did take on a few more little responsibilities in the church, nothing big changed. I was after all, still unemployed. I felt to be a bit useless.

My Pastor and I had a habit of meeting every Monday, he would disciple me, and I would offer as much help as I could with the church.

About two or three weeks after brother Woods left, Pastor had asked me in one of our meetings what it is that I felt called to do.

Did I have a future plan?

At the time I was just trying to be useful, and that's good, but it's not enough. Without a vision, people perish. And as far as my own life was, I didn't have a personal vision. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with helping in the local church, I encourage it, but understand that I am a twenty-three year old single guy, who is unemployed and has no collage education.

No plans.

Not much of a future.

Pastor John encouraged me to call up brother Woods f or several reasons. I was quite helpful to brother Woods at the time he was here, and he also wanted me to experience ministry outside of the local church and community. I had been involved in my local church for sometime, I had done an internship at a church before, but I still hadn't found a place to call my own.

So I walked away from that meeting planning to call brother Woods. The following week however, Pastor had left for about a week and a half, so I was doing a little more around the church to keep things running smoothly. I didn't call brother Woods. It was in the back of my mind, I just didn't take the time to call.

A few days before Pastor John had come back brother Woods called me himself, looking for some help. Keep in mind that this was only a matter of weeks after I had met brother Woods for the first time.

See, he was traveling from church to church ministering, but he always left and didn't have any material to leave for the church. So he was wanting to put together a CD collection of some of his sermons. He needed help with it and asked if I could dedicate some time to copy these CDs and then ship them to the churches before he got there so that he could have them there while he was ministering.

I agreed. What better time to talk to him about the conversation I had with Pastor then now? So I mentioned the conversation and this is how he responded:

"Philip, I wanted to ask more of you, but I knew that you were very involved with your church there and I didn't want to pull you away. I'm looking for someone to travel with me and assist me with my ministry. The job will mostly consist of all the little details."

We scheduled a time to meet in Monroe Washington. He wanted me to come so that we could talk about the details of the job. And to get a feel for what I would be doing. He did however tell me to talk to Pastor John about it, because brother Woods didn't want me to get too involved with helping him out unless I had Pastor's blessing.

So I talked to Pastor and he told me that he loved having me in the church helping out, but he also didn't want to hold me back from doing what God would call me to do. So he sent me off.

Brother Woods, his family and myself connected. There was no doubt that our meeting each other was ordained by the Lord. I have to tell you, I have never felt more at peace, more useful in my life, then when I was here with brother Woods.

The second day I was here with brother Woods, he took me to JC Pennies and bought me five suits. I have never worn a suit in my life. God was good, all the suits we looked at were anywhere from 50 to 75% off.

I returned home and told my Pastor of what was happening. We have met up nearly every morning to pray, he was advising me, I had never been in the ministry before so he was telling me of all the things he learned.

Just last Sunday March 1, 2009, the church commissioned me. This was not just Pastor sending me off. I had talked to one of the board members and he also was excited about it. I have had nearly the whole church come to me and tell me they were happy. I don't say this to brag. That is not at all my intent, I say this to assure you that my church approves of this ministry, they support it.

I left my church with their blessing. And I can't thank God enough for the opportunity.

I plan on updating this blog as often as possible. I am trusting God to provide me with a laptop that is capable of doing what I need it to accomplish. I ask that you continue to pray for me. When you walk under the anointing of God you are a walking target. Already I have had so many things happened to bring me down. By the grace of God, I am still standing!