staff & elders :: josh causey

josh causey, pastor and elder

as the pastor, what is the one thing that comes up daily in your life that you would like prayer for?

the tendency to neglect the condition of my heart and just focus on what i have to do each day.

born: march 25, 1976, in baton rouge

hometown: i grew up in central, la, and lived there until i graduated from central high and moved into baton rouge to attend lsu.

siblings: i am the oldest of three brothers... andrew (andy or drew) and joseph (joey or joe)

if you and your siblings were on the cosby show, which of the huxtable kids would you be?

i would be sondra... typical oldest child, responsible, not much fun at first glance.

joe would be theo... cool, everybody likes him, good dancer.

drew would be young rudy... always saying something funny, and it's hard to be mad at her/him.

job/profession: i am the pastor guy.

hobbies and/or hidden talents: hobbies... i like anything to do with music; i'm a movie/tv junkie; i enjoy being outdoors unless it involves painting; and i'm an avid golfer for about 6 days a year.

hidden talents: i'm a wellspring of useless knowledge; i can play the french horn.

passion(s):

i desperately want to see the church be all that God designed her to be. i admittedly struggle with helping make that a reality, but i know that God is bringing us there.

i have a heart for the mis-churched, victims of injustice, and those who are searching for more, and i'm so grateful that God gives us an opportunity to join Him in restoring the world. .

on the weekends, i am most likely...

sleeping late, doing something outside, hanging out with my parents, cramming for sunday.

favorite Bible verse or the one that most explains where you are

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 peter 1:3-4

favorite memory of the ring:

this is the most impossible question to answer, but i think that my favorite nights at the ring have been the two silent communion nights. the gym was set up in the round, and no one said a word to each other the entire night. all of our words were spoken directly to God through songs and prayers. it was simply amazing.

favorite memory of one of the other elders or staff members:

when i was in college, reaux, t, drew, and i were roommates, and reaux and i shared a room. sometimes we would wake up around the same time. one day when neither of us felt like getting up, we just laid in our beds and started laughing about random stuff.

t, unable to resist hearing us laugh without him, knocked on the door and said "hey, what are y'all laughing at?" reaux and i looked at each other, smiled, and then laid back down, and acted like we were asleep. t waited a minute and then went back to his room. we started laughing again, and sure enough here comes t knocking again. we get quiet for a second but then can't hold it anymore. t comes in and pouts for a while, and i know he's still bitter to this day.

moment/how you knew God was calling you to be a part of the ring: >

the ring started in march of 1998, and i honestly wasn't sure what the future held. i knew i was "in" until i graduated in may of '99, but it was hard to know past that.

after graduation i spent the summer working a centrifuge camp in panama city. over the course of the summer, God repeatedly opened and closed doors for me. it was tough at the time, but now i see that God was leading me to jump in full force with the ring.

by the end of the '99 fall semester and our first 30 days of prayer, there was no doubt that the ring was my home for good.

anything else?

i am afraid of clowns, and i love steak.

josh's life according to josh:

i was born and raised in central, which is basically baton rouge, but that's another subject altogether. i grew up in pretty much the best family you could ask for.my parents are amazing, which is not surprising considering they were raised by my amazing grandparents. we spent a great deal of time with my grandparents on the weekends, and our family was always together. without a doubt, my family has had the greatest influence on my life.

it sounds cliche, but i really was raised in church. from youth choir to church league softball, we did it all. some of my most fond memories involve the events and people of zoar baptist church.

but when I first started college, i went though a season where i didn't really take my relationship with God or the church very seriously. God got my attention on a zoar/bcm ski trip, where He showed me that i was not glorifying Him by using the gifts and abilities He had given me. so i prayed that He would give me opportunities to do so. honestly, i thought this meant playing bass at church and maybe singing in the choir. He had something else in mind.

within 30 minutes of getting home from the ski trip, i had agreed to lead worship for a few weeks at galilee baptist church. not quite what i had in mind, but i knew it was from Him. a few weeks at galilee turned into over a year, and it was while serving there that God confirmed He was leading me into full-time ministry. from there i went back home to zoar where i was an intern for the music ministry and youth ministry. after a year at zoar, God brought me to parkview baptist church to be the college intern where we started the ring in 1998.

i graduated from lsu in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in music education. truthfully, i never thought i would use my degree. but once again, He had .something else in mind. i taught at central high school for a year and a half, where i was the band director. looking back on my time at central, i really think it was one of the best times of my life. i enjoyed it so much that i thought teaching was the full-time ministry God was calling me to. but that was just a season.

in 2001, parkview hired me as the college minister, and they also allowed me to pursue a master's degree from new orleans baptist theological seminary, which i finished in 2005.

this church starting has been a dream of mine since january of 2000, at our first 30 days of prayer meeting when a bunch of us met in jake rush's living room. it was kind of crazy to have to wait 6 years to see it happen, but i can see now just how perfect His timing was. i am amazed that i get to do this every day, and i am humbled and honored to be a part of this church.