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3: (Part 2) Adapting To A Brand New Career In Ministry
211 Plays4 years ago
In Part 2 of Jill Devine’s faith journey, Laura Fleetwood learned more about Jill’s former career as a radio personality and Jill’s current career in ministry.
Highlights from the episode include:
*The celebrity Jill considers the best celebrity she’s ever met
*Things Jill misses about radio
*What ended her radio career
*The other podcast Jill hosts, Two Kids and A Career
*The job title she currently holds at her church
*How her career in radio is very similar to her current career in ministry
Normal Goes A Long Way Website: https://www.normalgoesalongway.com/
Normal Goes A Long Way Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/normalgoesalongway/
Normal Goes A Long Way Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Normal-Goes-A-Long-Way-110089491250735
Normal Goes A Long Way is brought to you by Messiah St. Charles: https://messiahstcharles.org/
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Transcript
Introduction and Jill's Background
00:00:00
Speaker
The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
00:00:39
Speaker
This is episode number three of Normal Goes a Long Way.
Jill's Faith Journey Begins
00:00:43
Speaker
I'm Jill Devine, and in episode two, Laura and I talked about the beginning of my faith journey, where it started, and we talked about where it has gone and the questions that I had and continue to have.
00:00:57
Speaker
We're going to continue that conversation in this episode, but we're also going to talk about my radio career and how that does play a part in where I am right now in my faith journey. Hi there, it's Laura Fleetwood interviewing Jill Devine as we continue to get to know the host of
00:01:17
Speaker
the normal goes a long way podcast. And today, Jill, I want to know more about this career journey where you went from a radio host to now working in the church.
A Career in Radio
00:01:32
Speaker
Right? I mean,
00:01:35
Speaker
It's so fascinating to me. How did you get involved in radio and what was it like to be the host of a radio show for 20 years? So the radio journey starts like this. I originally went to school to be a teacher. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a speech and theater high school teacher. Oh my gosh, that's awesome. So I started out at a community college and
00:02:04
Speaker
found out that if I wanted to do that, I had to also teach English because most speech and theater teachers, it wasn't enough students, I think, to have a full load. So you would pair it up. I'm like, I am done teaching English. Like, uh-uh, I'm done. No, that is no interest.
00:02:28
Speaker
So not a joke when I know the word literally gets used a lot. I literally woke up one day and it was important to me that my career be something that was fun and that it wasn't driven by the money. And my aunt was working in radio at the time. And so I thought,
00:02:52
Speaker
Radio could be fun, right? No ambitions to ever be on the radio. I wanted to do behind the scenes. So she set me up with an informational interview with a guy and he said, the best way to get into radio is to do an internship. And in the St. Louis area, an internship has to be for college credit. So the best college to go to in the area is Linenwood University, which is in St. Charles, Missouri.
00:03:18
Speaker
They are known for their broadcast school. That's where you need to go. So that's where I went. Because of the alumni there, I was able to get an internship at a radio station. And that's honestly where it
Celebrity Encounters and Career Highs
00:03:34
Speaker
all began. So for the radio geeks out there, it is a
00:03:40
Speaker
honor and a privilege that I got to spend my entire radio career in the city I was born and raised. And I was part of this crazy journey that came to an end in 2019. And I met some incredible people along the way, not only celebrities, but
00:04:02
Speaker
people that I worked with and people that I didn't work with, but they were part of the community and the listeners, there were so many cool listeners too. And I got to do a lot of things in the community. And I always joke around because living in a suburb of St. Louis, like a lot of people that live in the suburbs, they don't go to the city or they're like, I'm not crossing the bridge. So I was able to,
00:04:28
Speaker
learn all about the city and the surrounding areas and explore that I don't think I would have normally done. And I was doing it all in my 20s and of course there were bars and perks and it was fun.
00:04:46
Speaker
Definitely fun. Cool. What are some of your favorite memories or moments? Like if you could pick two moments from your radio career that stand out to you that the listeners might want
Job Loss and New Beginnings
00:04:58
Speaker
to know. So I always get the question like, who is the best celebrity you ever met or things like that? And there were a lot. I mean, there really were. So I would like to talk about that particular one. And it's so funny.
00:05:16
Speaker
one of my favorite celebrities. There were a lot of celebrities that I met that a lot of people probably wouldn't know. You know, they call them B or C artists. But I got to meet Will Smith. Like, oh my gosh. It was insane. And it was incredible how it all worked out. And we got to interview him. I can't remember what the movie was. It was around 2008, 2009.
00:05:46
Speaker
Oh, it was a drama.
00:05:47
Speaker
But he was awesome and kind, and I was doing morning, so it was early in the morning, and he smelled really good. And he was just so great. So you interviewed him in person? Yes. Wow. Yeah, he came into the studio, and he took pictures with us. He was like, this guy's a superstar. Yes. You don't really. You don't get much more famous. Yeah. And so it's really funny because,
00:06:16
Speaker
In the previous episode, I was telling you about one of my friends that helped me start my faith journey, and we would have our little church dates.
00:06:24
Speaker
Well, she had from another friend, all of us single people, they would create Christmas cards, funny Christmas cards, you know, because everybody would have the family Christmas cards or whatever. So she started doing it too and she would do celebrities because she worked for the St. Louis Cardinals. She did a suite where it was like the owner suite or something along those lines. So she would meet a lot of celebrities.
00:06:51
Speaker
So when I got my picture taken with Will Smith, there were other people in it, but we were able to cut them out.
00:06:58
Speaker
He was my first Christmas photo that I sent out as a single person. And like, I remember my sister saying, all of them saying, like we, it was coming in the mail and we're like, this is from Jill. What is this picture? That is hilarious. We need to post that on the social media for normal goes a long way. I mean, and well, and a lot of people thought too that it was all Photoshopped that I Photoshopped him in.
00:07:23
Speaker
But what we did was we photoshopped a Christmas background in there, and I think we photoshopped a Santa hat on me. But what's so funny is my youngest nephew at the time, so yeah, 2008-ish or whatever, when they opened up the card, my nephew said to my sister,
00:07:45
Speaker
Is Ian Jill with iRobot? Because he was, I don't know the movie that it was, he was iRobot or something. And so he knew him from that movie and it just landed this really great big joke. It was awesome. That's amazing. That is quite a memory. Yeah, that was one of my fondest memories and it was just great. The second one, that's a hard question.
00:08:12
Speaker
I would probably say that any time that I got an accolade for my work. Okay, so you go from the radio world of meeting celebrities and talking to celebrities, and now you work at a church. What is happening? How did that transition happen? Okay, so as I said, my radio career came to an end 2019.
00:08:42
Speaker
And it wasn't by my choice. It was definitely by God's choice. And during that time, too, I had when I was pregnant or after I had my first daughter, I started having all these like thoughts and
00:09:03
Speaker
Why aren't people, why don't people prepare you for some of the stuff when you're pregnant? Like the whole dumb, you're never going to sleep again and you don't have the money. Like I don't care, but there were some other things that were happening that nobody had ever addressed with me. And I think also it's a case by case situation, but it got my wheels turning.
00:09:23
Speaker
And I started thinking podcasts, but I didn't know for sure. I thought maybe blog. And then I got pregnant with our second daughter in 2018. And I went to my boss. I said, I want to start a podcast. He said, I want you to start a podcast. He said, but you cannot start it until you get back from maternity leave because you can't start it and then take three months off. You have to be consistent. I said, okay.
00:09:50
Speaker
So he put plans in motion for me when I got back from attorney to leave to start it. So did that in like May of 2019 and was realizing how much it was helping me fulfill mint inside and then also talking to others.
A New Path in Faith and Community
00:10:09
Speaker
So that became something that I was like, okay, this is I'm feeling a void. There's some toxicity going on. Something's not right.
00:10:20
Speaker
So it is a true blessing that I lost my job. I didn't see it at the time and I think most people are the same and that's, it's an ego blow. Even to this day, like ego situation happening, like it hurts. Yeah. Like you're not wanted.
00:10:35
Speaker
Even though you know you did, I don't think I could have done any more. So the one thing that I kept moving forward was that podcast. And then a couple of women that own their own digital marketing agency, they helped create a website for me and they were like, you have to create a business.
00:11:00
Speaker
And so that was crazy. So I became a small business owner and I'm still a small business owner so that I could house that podcast and then also have the website and the digital things. Which is two kids in a career by the way. Two kids in a career, yes. That's the podcast.
00:11:14
Speaker
Well, if you could probably guess 2019, December 2019, I lost my job. We all know what happened in March of 2020. So then I'm in lockdown like the rest of the world. And you know, we're, we've been going to our church. Uh, that church, his name is Messiah Lutheran. And so then,
00:11:40
Speaker
At one point during the lockdown, the church had sent out an email about these short-term community groups were going to meet on Zoom. The one that was presented was called Breathing Room, and it was for busy moms. Well, I clicked Sign Up for that, and I believe doing that
00:12:03
Speaker
has launched to where I am today. So one click of the button. So the person that was leading that clearly saw something in me and she also I mean knew that I had a name in the community and she presented this idea of being a coach
00:12:25
Speaker
for leaders of a community group, uh, to my current boss. And it was a very part time position. I was like, well, why not? I mean, what else am I doing? So I interviewed for that and then I was hired on. And just as
00:12:46
Speaker
That was starting that individual. She went on to another job and she was in charge of community groups. And so then it just was a natural fit. But when you look back at the things, I remember going to staff meetings and realizing like how normal people that work at church are.
00:13:09
Speaker
It is business. By normal, you mean like, you know, we throw out a swear word from now and then we aren't always happy. We have bad days. We have marriage issues and parenting issues and all the things. It's a business. It's a business. It's yeah, it's a large organization that requires a lot of different people and roles and we're all humans.
00:13:33
Speaker
Just because we work for a church doesn't mean... Right. But the things that were being said about reaching people, the people that hadn't come through the doors yet, I'm like, I'm that person.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I kept thinking, there's more for me here. And I remember going home into Brian one time and he said, I go, Brian, there's more for me at the church. He's like, you have got to stop volunteering for things. Like Jill, you cannot handle this. I said, no, I'm not talking about volunteering. I'm talking about, I don't know when, but there's something more for me at the church. And that was before this position that I have now.
00:14:10
Speaker
And then things just kind of lined up. And so then let me explain that community groups, what they are designed for, are for people to grow spiritually and connect relationally. And I will be completely honest. I didn't get it until I got in my own community group. I think it's one of those things you have to experience to understand. And, um,
00:14:33
Speaker
But I'm helping people, and that's what I'm learning God has designed me to do. I like to help people. I have compassion and empathy, and I just wanna help one person. That's all I wanna do. You're an Enneagram too. I am. Which is a helper, so makes perfect sense. And so it was like, this makes sense, even though I've never worked in ministry in my entire life,
00:15:01
Speaker
don't know anything, learning a lot. I'm now in it. I remember our lead pastor said to me one time, like, it's not much different than radio in a way. And when you say that out loud, people are going, huh? And we started talking like behind the scenes stuff. And even in person in front of people, there's just, there is this public
00:15:29
Speaker
persona there's this publicness and you know, so I kind of hit home but what was What I struggled with and I think I'm better at it now but what I struggled with was I was not worthy of the job or capable of the job because I had no experience and I
00:15:48
Speaker
I remember being on a call, a conference call with some others that were doing the same thing as me and they're all very, very versed and I just opened up and I, because I was new and they're like, so tell us about yourself. And so I told them, and one guy goes,
00:16:06
Speaker
Oh my gosh, if you would have submitted a resume for us in this position, we would have laughed and thrown it away. And he goes in and somebody else chimed in and they said, it makes you rethink some of the things, doesn't it? Like, yes. And I remember that night I had a meeting with my community group and I cried tears of joy to them. Like I said, I'm worthy of this job.
00:16:38
Speaker
I haven't felt worthy and I do still question that sometimes like my self-confidence because I was so beat down towards the end of my radio career like that I am worthy of this. You are the right person at the right time.
00:16:58
Speaker
and God is He is using you. I mean, I work with you, so I get to see what is happening through the community groups at Messiah that you lead. And it's amazing. And I think that there's this misconception that to work for a church that you have to know all the answers or that you have to know everything in the Bible and you have to have this amazing faith life. And, you know, we want that for you, but
00:17:26
Speaker
God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. I didn't make that up. I have heard that somewhere. But
Exploring Faith and Community Questions
00:17:37
Speaker
it's true. If you look through the stories of Scripture, you see constantly these people that face value were not qualified to do what God was asking them to do.
00:17:49
Speaker
But God's the one that does the work. We are just here to respond to the call that he gives us and to let him work through us. So I think you were the most perfect person for the job. I remember I was in the interview when you applied for that coaching position for community groups. And I just thought, wow, who would have thought? But also, how perfect.
00:18:15
Speaker
And it's been amazing to watch you grow and to become a leader in the church over this past year. And now here you are hosting a podcast all about faith. So, you know, God continues to just
00:18:30
Speaker
just to use you in some really powerful ways. And because you are that person that we're trying to reach in the community because you don't have a strong knowledge base of Christianity because you're asking these questions, I mean, who better
00:18:47
Speaker
to ask the questions than someone who's really living it in their life. And that's what this whole podcast is about. It's about you asking the questions about Christianity that you don't know, that you want to understand, and to allow everybody, even those of us who've been Christians a long time, to realize that it's okay to have these questions.
00:19:10
Speaker
And it's good to talk about it and to normalize it and to realize that we are just messy miracle humans who don't have all the answers. And our job is to wrestle and to ask the questions and to let God teach us what he's going to teach us as we ask and listen. And we are seeing this
00:19:35
Speaker
gap in the church as a whole in the world. There's some heavy stuff that we have to tackle and I understand and I am one of those people that I'm like, I'm not the conspiracy theory kind of girl. I am the love one another. Let's be there for one another. Why can't people do that? And that's what God wants us to do.
00:20:02
Speaker
But I also understand that there's some other things that have to be answered for some people. And I just kept thinking in some of these staff meetings, you know, like every time some of something would come up about the unchurched, which we can talk about in a future episode, but it just people that were
00:20:24
Speaker
are me, like, I'm like, this is me, this is me, let me tell you how you should approach it. Like, I don't wanna tell you what to do, but let me tell you why that is confusing or so that it was like, okay, I've been placed here to help, which is all I wanna do. By simply being yourself. Right. Which is the beauty of how God works. And it just, yeah, I mean, still when I talk to people and they're like, wait, what are you doing?
00:20:55
Speaker
You've got your podcast, right? I'm like, yeah, and then I'm also working for my church. Like, well, what? And I'm so happy. Like, I'm so happy. And I was reading something the other day.
00:21:10
Speaker
paraphrasing here, like the more someone grows their faith and becomes connected, like the happier and more peaceful, just more positivity
00:21:25
Speaker
becomes a part of their life and that is always that's been something that's been I've been wrestling over like the last five years like I just want more positivity I want that I want self-help I want self-care I want to work on me I want to do this I want to do that and I'm I'm learning that being a part of this job is
00:21:48
Speaker
and being a part of the church as a congregation member and being a part of a community group, and now being a part of the Bible, that's starting to help. I can't wait to talk to you more about that. Yeah. Yeah, that's powerful. And, you know, I just want to say, from my perspective, this podcast doesn't really have an agenda. Nope.
00:22:14
Speaker
We are not here to convince anybody of anything or to say that one way of thinking is right or wrong. We are here to simply ask the questions and have conversations.
00:22:30
Speaker
with people about them. And that's what I think is so different about what we're trying to do here. We are simply on this journey with you. And we're going to ask the questions and see how God uses it with no agenda other than perhaps to
Upcoming Season Preview
00:22:52
Speaker
give some insight to people about what God's love has done in our lives. Yes. And to encourage others that that is possible for them. I'm just going to say it again.
00:23:04
Speaker
we help one person. And I know not every single episode will resonate with everyone, but if there's one person, that's all that matters. That's right. It makes me now I understand. Okay. So again, I'm still learning and I don't know all of the books, chapters of the Bible. Is that what you call them? Um, but the, the, the lost, the 99,
00:23:33
Speaker
and the one. And I am doing this reading plan with my Bible and that was part of the one I just read this week. And it's like, oh my gosh, that's been my whole thing. Like that's been my thing. I just wanna help one person. Yes.
00:23:52
Speaker
So thank you guys for listening because you're going to be a big part of what we hope this movement is all about by sharing the podcast, by sharing Jill's journey, and by walking this path with us. We hope that, well, we know, we know that God will use this podcast to reach the people that he knows it needs to reach. So it was fascinating to hear
00:24:21
Speaker
your journey of how God led you from being a radio personality to now being a leader of community groups at a church and hosting not just one podcast, but another podcast all about faith. And, um, I think it's just a perfect introduction to let our listeners know what they can expect to hear on season one, where we're going to take a deep dive into the basics of Christianity. What in the world?
00:24:50
Speaker
does it even mean to be a Christian? Because we did a survey and we asked people, believers, non-believers, what it meant to be a Christian. And it was fascinating, wasn't it, to hear the variety of answers. So our first guest that I'll be interviewing is Pastor Jim. He's our pastor. And he never thought he would be a pastor. He's one of the most unpasteurly people I know. And yet,
00:25:20
Speaker
just in the way that he talks and in the way that he engages with the world. Like, I don't think I would know he was a pastor unless he told. Yeah, I agree. And he would say that himself. So we're going to go to him, which I love because he's a normal guy. He was a pastor. And we're going to ask him, what does it mean to be a Christian? That's in the next episode. I'm super excited about that.
00:25:45
Speaker
Thank you for listening to my journey so far and I can't wait to see where it ends up. I can't wait to keep sharing with you and just thank you. I can't thank you enough for the support and for listening. You can interact beyond this podcast by visiting our website, normalgosalongway.com. Also on Instagram and Facebook, at normalgosalongway, maybe you have some questions that you want answered and
00:26:14
Speaker
Maybe I know the person who can answer them. Not me, but somebody else. So just let me know. I would love to help you in your faith journey as well. And in our next episode, Pastor Jim Mueller is going to talk about what it means to be a Christian and how does that look in your life. I hope you'll join us.
00:26:35
Speaker
Simply put, a Christian means little Christ. It means you're a little Christ, which is a tall order because it's saying that a Christian somehow is embodying Jesus still on the earth. And he even promised that to his disciples. He said that he was going to leave and he was going to send a spirit, and then his spirit was going to dwell in them and live in them.
00:27:00
Speaker
And so I would say like anytime somebody has experienced a Christian in life, they're either letting that light shine, the light of Jesus, the spirit of Jesus is in the room, or they're holding it back. And Christianity in general, I think one of the worst things we can call Christianity is a religion. Oh, say more about that. It's not a religion. A religion is man's attempt to find God.