I know that we’re kind of posting things out of order. But, since it’s apparent that we’re having both a Minister and a Rabbi officiate our wedding, I thought someone out there might like to know how we came to find our Minister.

I’ll be honest – I had read that couples who wanted a co-officiated wedding needed to be prepared for a real search…for a Rabbi. I was not expecting difficulty finding a minister. I really had hoped that the music minister from my parents’ church (Friendswood United Methodist Church) would be able to be our minister. He’s known our family for years and it would have just felt right. However, he had a prior commitment that weekend. Since I have never transferred my membership to a local church in Fort Worth, when “my” minister didn’t work out, I was sort of at a loss.

My next step was to contact a very large congregation in Fort Worth. I had visted there many times during and after college. They have a large ministry staff, so I thought maybe someone would be available – or would at least be a helpful resource. I started by contacting the church’s wedding coordinator and explaining what we were looking for and when. Imagine my disappointment when I was told “I’ve forwarded your request to our ministry staff, but since it’s on a Sunday, I don’t know there’s much we can do for you.” There was no offer of any other kind of help, and I never heard from them again.

Keep in mind that our search for a Rabbi at this point isn’t going much better. We were seriously considering just going with a judge…But, I continued researching and found Alliance United Methodist Church. The church is almost directly in between my apartment and Bryan’s house, and I had noticed it several times. I’d never visited, though. I found their website and there was a link to email the pastor. I did, and that started our relationship with Reverend Bassford. She was immediately warm, welcoming, and her style has been refreshing. She’s open-minded, really listens, and really wants to be a good resource for Bryan and me.

So, if you’ve been following along in the posts, you’ll see that it really took some looking and we followed a few dead ends before we found our co-officiants. But, find them we did, and we couldn’t be happier. (And, as an added bonus, we also found Rabbi Charlie, who is a wonderful teacher and has become someone very special to Bryan and me.)