year at least, teaching has been a lot more about managing classrooms as it has been about teaching.”

     Jones began transitioning from both teacher and pastor to full-time pastor during this past summer. As his resignation date gets closer, Jones has shifted the classwork for his students online to make it more accessible. 

     “American History probably will not change at all because the whole semester is out on Canvas and I’m putting it together as I go,” Jones said. “Sociology is a little different with putting it together, so there will probably be a distinctive transitional period for the students.”

     Jones’ decision to resign has mainly stemmed from his desire of solely being a pastor. He picked up the job of being a teacher due to wanting a change, but balancing the two has presented its challenges. 

     “I think it has been an evolutionary process since I’ve been teaching, but the more I have taught, the more I have realized that it is hard to balance both,” Jones said. “If you’re doing two things full-time, it is impossible to do both things well and so I felt that I was not able to give my total time and focus to the church because I spend eight hours a day here.”

     As Jones is preparing to leave, there have been talks about who will be coming to fill in for the rest of the semester or who will take his place permanently. Jones believes that his students will rise to the occasion either way so there will be few problems once he is gone.

     “They’ve talked about either an intern or a long-term substitute and there have even been some talks that it might go to Edgenuity where it will be online forever,” Jones said. “Whoever comes in won’t have any problems—I’ll tell you that.”

     Jones believes that Rose has grown on him and thanks the staff, students and administrators for that as his resignation day nears. He believes Rose has a good way of bringing people together and holds onto that as he transitions back into being a full-time pastor.

     “I love Rose and the culture, but what I really love is the diversity,” Jones said. “However, I’m going back to what I’ve always done and what I’ve been doing, but this time it will allow me to focus more on my main vocation, which is being a pastor as opposed to having to balance the two.”