new job in action!

I have now been at my new job for two days. I work for Urban Promise. I am definitely going to like it. The UP offices are in a big house that was once the manse of the church next door. It's got a real comfy feel to it. Three of the people training me on Monday walked around the house barefooted. I can wear pretty much anything I want (within limits of general decency, of course), I can keep my nosestud in, and I don't come home smelling like coffee.

The job is super-flexible in many ways. Firstly, so long as I put in full-time hours and don't schedule events for teens during school hours, I can work whenever I want. I don't have to punch in or out. Also, so long as I maintain the core programs of getting teenagers trained and volunteering in the after-school programs for kids, I can pretty much plan whatever else I want to do with them. I can build this ministry to suit my skills and my passions and also to meet whatever we discern the needs of the teens to be.

Did I mention that I get 4 weeks of vacation? I pretty much need to take them in pre-determined windows (2 at Christmas, 1 in late June and 1 in late August), but there will of course be flexibility when it comes to attending my brother's wedding next May.

I like the kind of Christian atmosphere at this job as well. There is a real desire for the kids and especially the teens to get to know God, but they're not trying to be a conversion factory. It's basically a lot of intentional exposure to Christian beliefs and values within the framework of the after-school programs, and the rest is up to them. This might seem like an odd comment, but I'm also glad that I've heard the staff use the word "ass", so that's not taboo.

I am going to like this job.