A higher plan

So I've gotten a lot of questions about why I left Kmart and also why I decided to come on staff with the Epic team. These are questions that don't really have a simple answer, but they are questions that require a lot of background information. I have my own idea as to how/why I have come to this point in my life, so what I'm about to write is mostly speculation of God's higher plan for me. His plans are definitely not finished, but here is what has brought me to this point in my life. This is probably going to be long, I've summed it up in the last paragraph if you don't want to read it all.

As most of you know, I just graduated from Purdue University in May of 2009. I think the road I'm on now started back in May of 2008. In May of 2008, school was out for the summer, and I managed to find a job in Lafayette working retail for Ace Hardware. You're probably wondering how in the world working for Ace Hardware could possibly lead to working on a church launch team. Don't worry, I'll explain!

At Ace, I learned the ins and outs of the retail industry. Ace's main focus is on customer service, and I learned about customer service from the best of the best (Ace is ranked #1 in overall customer satisfaction in the home improvement industry)! When it came time during the school year to start applying for interviews with prospective companies, I prayed that God would give me plenty of opportunities for interviews. God rewarded me with around 7 or 8 different job interviews within the span of about 2 weeks! Its funny, because the only real business experience that I had outside of actual classroom work, was from good ol' Ace Hardware. So I really attributed my interviews to my experience at Ace (And God doing work as well, of course)!

I started out completely nervous in my initial job interviews, but gradually got better with practice. Kmart's initial interview was one of my final interviews during the 2 week period, and I nailed it, mainly because of all the practice that I had from my other interviews. So then I prayed that God would open up a clear path for me to follow. I asked for him to give me just one company that he wanted me to pursue. Low and behold, Kmart was the only company to call me back for a 2nd round of interviews! So they paid for me (and around 20 other students from various schools) to come to their company headquarters in Illinois for a full day of interviews.

I then prayed that God would be with me during the process, that if Kmart was where He wanted me to be, then He would just open the doors for it to happen. Well, needless to say, my 2nd round interview process was one of the proudest days of my life. It was a day where I actually felt like anything I did was 100% successful. I had a morning interview and afternoon one, which were both the best interviews of my entire life. One of my interviewers at lunch even went so far as to tell me that I was a "natural leader". Needless to say, a few days later, I got the official job offer in the mail from Kmart, with a great salary and full benefits (I later found out that they exaggerated my offer in order to get me to sign, but I won't get into that). So there I was, set on working for Kmart for the coming years. They located me in Warsaw, IN, which was close enough to home so that it allowed me to live with my parents to save some money.

Meanwhile, I joined the Epic launch team in May of 2009, right after I graduated. I really fell in love with the idea of planting a church and how much of a difference we could make in the community. I started working for Kmart on June 15th, 2009 with no doubt in my mind that I was working at Kmart because of God's work. From the very first day, I was getting the idea that God had a new plan in store for me, one that I didn't expect at all. Nevertheless, I decided to stick it out for a few weeks and pray about what path God wanted me to do. About my fourth week into employment and after weeks of prayer, I was sitting at my desk reading more company training documents, when I felt God urging me to leave and to get more involved with the Epic church plant. Some of you may be skeptical, but I can honestly tell you I have never felt God's presence more than that single day while sitting at my desk working at Kmart. When I told my manager that I was quitting, it took everything I had to not break down in tears right then and there in front of her. She was completely understanding and wished me the best! It was a huge relief, and it was easily the biggest step of faith that I have ever taken in my life! I was leaving the security of my well paying job to find God's true calling for my life, which at the time I had no idea what that might be.

A few weeks later the pastor of Epic, Jeremy LeVan, suggested that I come on staff with Epic as a director of administration. The only hitch is that I would need to raise my own support, which terrified me (and still does to be honest). So I prayed about it, and God assured me that everything would be fine, and that He would provide. So I decided to take yet another giant step of faith and pursue this opportunity. So here I am now, starting a one-year internship as the Administrative Director of Epic church!

So here is my take on the situation. I had plenty of interviews that first semester of the school year, and I could have gotten a job and gone anywhere in the country, where I would probably be lonely and know nobody. Yet God lead me to Kmart and to Northern Indiana, not because he wanted me to work for Kmart, but because he wanted me to have a conversation with Jeremy about a certain Epic Church plant. If I had gone anywhere other than Northern Indiana, I would have been completely content with working at Kmart and having no problem in working weekends and Sundays. Sure I'd be super lonely and spiritually dead, but at least those $80,000 worth of student loans would be getting paid off! But instead He lead me to join this church plant and lead me to fully commit myself to it by joining the staff. Sure, I got plenty of jabs from people about quitting Kmart, but I know this is where God wants me to be. So this is where I am now, seeking support, both prayerfully and financially. I need all of your help if I am to succeed in this situation. If you are spiritually moved by this situation, I would love for you to consider partnering with me to provide prayer or financial support! I'd love to talk to you more about it, and if you'd like to get in contact with me about this opportunity, feel free to contact me through any of the means listed below! Thanks!

Email: jyoder21@hotmail.com
Phone: 574-536-4078
Facebook (a private message would work best)