My Trip to Des Moines, Iowa

Here are a few pictures of the trip this past weekend and then I will discuss what my experience was. I will then do a couple of follow up posts on Do’s and Don’ts of an interview.

Above is the search team that I spent time with from about 4pm to 8pm. The time was spent with Q & A and eating some great food as you see below we had some ribs.

The next couple of pictures are where the church currently meets. They currently meet in a mall but are building a new facility a few miles away.

Here was my schedule:

4:50am - I woke up and got ready to get to the airport in Great Falls, MT.

6:22am - My flight left from Great Falls, MT to Denver, CO

8:10am - Arrived in Denver and ate some breakfast and hung out at my gate

10:15am - Flight took off from Denver to Des Moines, IA

12:47pm - Arrived in Des Moines, IA (1 hour difference from MST to Central)

1:00pm - Pastor Andy picked me up and we drove and talked for about 3 hours. During our time we chatted about some of my experiences and what I thought about youth ministry. He also asked what I liked to do. It was basically getting to know each other. I also was able to see his home, the church, the new church, and much of south east Des Moines.

4:00pm - Met at a home where search team gathered and we had some snacks and then the search team asked questions for probably 2 to 2 and a half hours. Most of the questions were scenario based questions so that I could give them specific examples of what I have done and experienced. Then we had some great ribs and treats. I was then able to ask some questions back to the search team. Then they asked me to step outside the home so that they could solidify their thoughts and impressions of me. I came back in and they told me that they would let me know this week on their decision.

8:00pm - Got to hotel room and was ready to sleep, but managed to stay up and watch Michael Phelps get his 8th Gold medal. I also called my wife to let her know my day and then went to sleep.

Sunday

7:00am - woke up got ready to go, ate breakfast at the hotel.

8:45am - Pastor Andy picked me up and we went to the church. Got to see everyone show up and watch the worship team practice. Got to see how people interacted with each other. I also got to meet the youth pastor that is leaving and spoke with him about stuff which was cool.

10:45am - Had to leave service to go to the airport to begin the journey back.

3:35pm - Arrived back in Great Falls, MT and wife and kids were there to pick me up.

The trip was really quick, but it was a good experience. I got to see and meet people and got a sense that I could work there if offered the job. I hope this experience helps you out if you decide to go into youth ministry or if you are maybe looking for a job in youth ministry. I will write more later.