Our church was in a good place.
Integrity Church was rocking and rolling pretty well in its 22nd year. We had survived –
and actually thrived in – four fairly difficult transitional years beginning in 2015. We had
seen some significant changes early during that time period – changes that made us wonder
if ‘the sky is falling’ all around us! Key people had left – a bunch of them in one big move
to an across-town church. We had some staff turnover that appeared initially to be really
detrimental. We, also, began a period of revolving Student Ministry leaders that turned
over as frequently as pancakes being cooked!
But in all of that, God showed that He knew what was going on, and through all the
changes, our church settled into a new steady rhythm of consistency that felt really
good. God simply allowed people to move around in His Kingdom, and for our church, and
for many of those who made moves. And we know that God causes everything to work
together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for
them, Romans 8:28.
So with all this going on, it was like God was giving us the green light to move forward
and to do some new things. I remember Debbie Summers, our Chief of Staff, my wife
Tammy, and I talking during this time about this sense of newness, and figuring just what
we should pursue. So, looking at the needs of the people in our church, and of the
population in general, our conversation drifted toward the idea of providing weekday
opportunities for fun and education for young children. After all – we had (and still do) lots
and lots of young families with kids.
Our conversations led us to praying about this particular need. We consulted with a
specialist on weekday education. We learned of the zillions of hoops we would have to
jump through if we were to do a full day program. A full day program would put us under
state authority (not a bad thing as we want our childcare entities to have stringent standards
to live into), and it would cost a bunch to go that route.
So after a few weeks, we decided to go with a half-day preschool format. This was
something that we could do that would take advantage of the facilities setup that we
already had. We could just simply use our existing preschool facilities with very minimal
up-fit. It wouldn’t take much!
But soon after we got to this stage of knowing the direction we would take, March 2020
took place, and the dreaded pandemic roared into country, and our state, with a vengeance.
I don’t have to tell you what happened in the midst of all this. The world got scared, and it
seems like most things shut down. Even our church had to cease live services for ten
weeks, in accordance with the NC governor’s orders. With the world shutting down, what
would we do???
Well, we moved forward! Yes – in the midst of the pandemic, we moved forward. We
would have to do it carefully, but we would do it. After all, who knew how long this
pandemic situation would go on? We knew that if we kept waiting to start, there may be no
imminent end to the pandemic. We said ‘Let’s go!’ The Lord had seemed to drop things in
place for the inception of what would come to be called ‘The Playschool @ Integrity’!
Maryjo Pollard was a frequent attender of Integrity Church since its beginning. She still
was a leader in the home church she had grown up in. But with her ultra-talented son
frequently on the stage at Integrity, participating in and leading musical worship, and with
her big brother serving as the founding pastor, she regularly made time to come around at
Integrity. Before too long, she became involved in leading projects around our church.
Maryjo had lots of experience in simply ‘making things happen’ in whatever situation she
found herself – from serving in public school classrooms to managing a substantial retail
business to organizing people in volunteer settings, Maryjo had made her mark in various
contexts.
Back when we had first made the decision to move forward with the Playschool, our minds
turned to the issue of ‘who will lead this?’. Candidates for this role would be few and far
between. We needed someone with both entrepreneurial and management skills. We knew
that if we could not find exactly the right person, we should not start the project. Not too
long into this thought process, Debbie Summers looked at me one day and said, ‘I know
exactly who we need to start and run the Playschool- Maryjo Pollard!’ Well – it seems that
Debbie had observed Maryjo’s talents, and we pretty set on our bringing her aboard in this
role. Of course, my reaction was something like this…. ‘No way! I know she’s really good,
but she is my sister. We can’t do that!’ But Debbie would not be moved. We discussed this
with my wife, who is an educational expert, and she agreed wholeheartedly with Debbie!
Well – to make a long story short – after discussing with our elders, Debbie called
Maryjo and she jumped at the opportunity! You probably know the rest of the story –and
the success that has come out of ‘The Playschool @ Integrity’. So here we are –yet another
example of how God was walking ahead of us, putting in place the right person, who
would be able to handle and run with what we sensed that He was leading us into!
Once again – God made it work! Just as He is doing with Mission House Bakery and our
friend Dave Cummings, as we read about in our newsletter a couple of weeks ago.
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