Responding to the Call

By Cliff Richards

I am currently in my second career.  I enjoyed a 15 year stint as a retail store manager of several clothing stores.  I thoroughly enjoyed going to work every day.  As someone who lives with Attention Deficit Disorder, working in a clothing store was exciting because you had to constantly shift from sales to merchandising to managing staff.  It kept me on my toes.  However, as I became more involved at Druid Hills UMC, my devotion to my retail job began to change.  Selling sweaters to people who have a closet full of sweaters became less fulfilling for me.

Several years into my membership at the church, I was asked to serve on the Outreach Team.  It was through that team, I became involved at Intown Community Assistance Center.  It was there I started to see gifts start to emerge as I assisted clients who were looking for clothes, needing a sack lunch or advice about how to receive needed services.  I saw myself connecting with the clients I served.  I was intrigued by their daily challenges of food, clothing and shelter, something I often take for granted.  I also saw myself becoming more impressed with the director of the center, Judy Powell.  I would watch her enormous heart at work in serving our neighbors in need. 

However, I would have to say the most powerful influence moving me toward my second career would have to be my first Gifts and Talents Retreat I attended at Camp Glisson almost 15 years ago.  The retreat gives the participants the opportunity to share stories of life experiences that guide you to identify God given gifts and talents.  One of the exercises allows you to articulate heroes and mentors that have had an impact on your life.  It is through the qualities and attributes of those heroes and mentors that you begin to see qualities growing in you.  At the end of the weekend your small group helps you identify several gifts.  My gifts were helping, hospitality and exhortation. 


So after a 15 year profession in retail, it was time to find a fulfilling career that could use my newly discovered gifts.  This required a return to school to get a degree in Sociology and Psychology to better prepare me for a new position as a social worker.  In late 2001, I was introduced to the executive director of Decatur Cooperative Ministry by someone at Druid Hills UMC.  I have been with DCM for over eight years now excited to go to work, everyday.  I am using my gifts of helping, hospitality and exhortation to prevent homelessness in metro Atlanta.  I am very grateful to my church family for guiding me, supporting me and encouraging me to live a life of integrity and fulfillment as I live out my calling to serve our neighbors in need.