For those following along, my interview at Westminister (the high school, not the seminary) went well. The initial meeting with the headmaster and the four other administrators around the table was probably the toughest part not because of them; it's just awkward to walk into a room and wax eloquent about yourself with men you've never met before. I probably did too much waxing (I have no idea whether it was eloquent) and felt my answers were too long, but no one stood up and said, "Thank you, that will be all," so I took that as a good sign.
The next interview was with the chair of the Bible department. A fellow writer born the same year I was and with many of the same interests and passions, he and I hit things off from the start, and that time was a little more comfortable than the previous meeting, probably because it was just us and I purposely kept my answers to his questions shorter.
After that meeting, he took me upstairs to the class I would teach: Ethics. I faced 22 sophomores I'd never met before and, though you would think those first three minutes would be the most agonizing of all, they (and the rest of the class time) went smoothly. I cracked a few dry jokes (the only kind I can tell), asked them to tell me their individual names, and then had them tell me one thing I needed to know about each of them (which I used against them later) before I got started. The ice was broken and we were off and swimming.
The prep I had done on the Eighth Commandment ("You shall not steal.") came together well during the time, and there was some good interaction and more than a few laughs (which is always important). At the end of my allotted time, the students actually applauded, which the department head says never happens, and I took that as another good sign. From there, we walked back to his office, I asked a few more questions about the school, and he then walked me out as he headed for the headmaster's office to process the afternoon and...
Just got off the phone with the headmaster (seriously - he just called while I was writing this). His words (in summary): "We're recommending that you receive a contract to teach Bible and Ethics for next school year." I won't go into detail, but what this means is that I have one more meeting with the school's education committee on Monday for their final stamp of approval; assuming that goes well and they follow through on the administration's recommendation, they'll extend a contract for the 2007-2008 school year to teach Bible and ethics.
All I can say (doing my best Keanu) is "Whoa." Megan and I need to take the weekend to pray and process the possible implications of all this for the future. Oh, and I still have to find a job for summer, which apparently still begins in June.
Anyway, thanks to all of you who prayed, especially to those dozens of you who contacted me personally to tell me you were praying this afternoon. Thanks, too, to my seminary buddies (Rob, Mitchell, Ronnie, Tom, Josh, Eric) who seemed as or even more excited than I was about the interview today. All of this support means a lot and humbles me beyond words (which would have been helpful in that first meeting I redundantly talked my way through this afternoon...).
Grateful to God and feeling very blessed this evening.