SteveJamieson.com

So far my life has been marked by significant, and sometimes drastic transitions every few years. There’s starting school, moving up to middle school, and then on up to high school. There’s high school graduation, college graduation, and graduate school graduation. I suppose one of these days I’ll eventually discover the transition to marriage and :gasp: even having kids (Lord willing, of course). However, today, I’m commemorating the beginning of another transition–the first real job. The full-time working thing. The career.

Yes, I, Steve Jamieson, have been hired. So what [not so] exotic locale will I been jetting off to? The answer is… Saint Louis! Yes, I’m going to be employed right here in the city in which I currently live. So what is this job? Well, you’re looking at (or would be if you were looking at me) the Covenant Theological Seminary Library’s new Reference and Systems Librarian! Yes, that’s right, I will soon join the staff of the institution from which I just graduated.

Now, I suppose many of you might be confused. After all, it is the typical pattern for a seminary graduate to become a pastor rather than a librarian. And, no, I have not been secretly working on a library degree on the side either. So what’s the deal? Let me tell you how this all came about…

One day late in the spring, I was casually logging in to the seminary’s student portal in order to look something up (maybe it was to download a document for class or check to see if any of my grades had come in). As I was greeted by the welcome page, I noticed a new announcement indicating that the library was seeking a new staff person to replace one of the librarians who was preparing to leave to go plant a church. Upon reading the short announcement, my reaction was an intrigued and optimistic “huh”—it had struck a chord somewhere deep inside me.

Despite having never considered becoming a librarian, I contacted the Library Director and expressed my interest in finding out more about the position. Several interviews, a wedding, and a Grand Canyon vacation later, I was offered the job, which I have obviously accepted. So what was it that made the job so attractive to me? Well, let’s look at the three primary duties of the job.

1. Research. One of my key responsibilities will helping students (and other patrons) find the necessary materials for their research and fielding questions about the library and how to use its resources. Thus, I will be playing an important role in the intellectual and spiritual development of future pastors. That’s definitely a ministry and pastoral opportunity that I’m interested in.
2. Systems. Another primary responsibility is to oversee and manage the technological needs of the library. This starts with doing some general troubleshooting, software installation and management, and working with the IT department. However, this also includes working within the regional consortium of libraries with whom our catalog database is linked, and managing the associated technological issues. In short, I’ll get to muck around with computers a lot.
3. Administration. Finally, I will take on various administrative tasks and oversee certain library employees.

With a job description like that, it is little wonder that the more I found out about the job, the more interested I became. I’m thrilled that I happened to stumble across a job that fits so well with my unique talents, skills, and interests, and that I got it too.

Several weeks ago, I had my first phone interview. It was with the pastor of a church in Greenwood, Mississippi that was looking for a “Director of Student Ministries”. Basically, that was a fancy title for Youth Pastor. Although, I’m not very interested in specializing in youth ministry, I pursued the position further because there would be opportunities to do other things, and there were some other positive factors that made it somewhat attractive.

Today, I received an email informing me that I was no longer being considered for the position. They wanted someone for whom it would be less of a culture shock. I guess they want a good ol’ southern boy rather than a Yankee like me, and I can’t say that I blame them. It’s never fun being rejected, but I’m not really bothered by it in this case.

Last week I had my first job interview—as in pastoral job. Yes, graduation is fast approaching, and I have no intention of continuing school for the time being, so I must find a job… a real job… in the real world. Well, it just so happened that some people were coming up from Arkansas—Fayetteville to be exact—to interview soon-to-be grads like myself, so I signed up for an interview. I had picked up a job description from the placement office, and it seemed to be a good fit for me. According to the description, it was an associate pastor position with general responsibilities, but perhaps with a slight tilt towards administration. If you know anything about me, you know that I’m strong in administration.

The interview went really smoothly. Unfortunately, it turned out that the job was actually a church planting gig, and that the job description only applied during the first 2-3 years while the hire gathered a core group, and after which it was expected that he then move down the road a few miles with said core group to start a new church. I say unfortunately, because I’m no church planter. I was disappointed that the job didn’t turn out to be what I thought it would, but because it turned out that way, I wasn’t too disappointed when I got a call two days later informing me that the interviewers had decided not to pursue me any further.

June was a very unproductive month for this blog. I posted only two entries the entire month. That’s horrible, and I’m terribly sorry. I can’t believe that I haven’t met an untimely end at the hands of a lynch mob. Maybe I’m not the only one feeling lethargic?

My internship started June 1st, so I have one month under my belt now, and my first paycheck in the bank. It was a good start, I think. I’ve settled into my office, which has become my geekosphere away from my geekosphere. I’ve also made reasonable progress on my primary duty, which has so far involved meeting with ministry team leaders, designing a new form, and putting together a database.

Reformation & Modern Church History, my first class of the summer, which I’m taking by tape, is mostly done. I’ve listened to all the lectures, and I took the midterm a week or two ago. Now I just have to take the final, and write a 15-20 page paper. However…

Ancient & Medieval Church History began yesterday, and will run for 4 weeks. The fun part about this class is making up a timeline of the 100-200 most important events during the period. One of the most creative projects from previous years that the professor shared with us was Ancient & Medieval Church History Monopoly. (It was even endorsed by Athanasius!) Right now I’m leaning towards Ancient & Medieval Church History Trading Cards™.

Tonight’s session meeting went wonderfully. The elders voted unanimously to hire me as the church intern effective June 1 and extending to May 31, 2004. This is awesome news. This will allow me to knock out my field ed. hours, fulfill requirements for my presbytery internship, and earn money at the same time. I don’t know what I’d do without this tremendous opportunity. In addition, I get my own office! How sweet is that? Now, I just have to come up with an official proposal for what I intend to accomplish, and sign up for 8 credit-hours of class this summer so that I can cut my fall ’03 and spring ’04 schedules back to 11 credit-hours each. I’m very very very happy.