Comments on: Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here, part three http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/2007/12/27/make-sure-youre-supposed-to-be-here-part-three/ practical wisdom to help seminary students avoid burnout and finish well Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:19:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Julie Holm http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/2007/12/27/make-sure-youre-supposed-to-be-here-part-three/comment-page-1/#comment-584 Julie Holm Mon, 03 May 2010 23:12:55 +0000 http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/2007/12/27/make-sure-youre-supposed-to-be-here-part-three/#comment-584 In my church this is required. Someone who has a call has to appear before our board of Deacons, mature believers, and the group makes a decision to take the person in care. Then that person is in the care of the congregation as they move toward ministry. This decision also goes to the association, which is a group of many churches that has a committee, of clergy and mature lay believers, that do the same. I've done both of these, and have a mentor from the association, and the support of my board of deacons, as I move through seminary. I'm also very active in my church. In my church this is required. Someone who has a call has to appear before our board of Deacons, mature believers, and the group makes a decision to take the person in care. Then that person is in the care of the congregation as they move toward ministry. This decision also goes to the association, which is a group of many churches that has a committee, of clergy and mature lay believers, that do the same.

I’ve done both of these, and have a mentor from the association, and the support of my board of deacons, as I move through seminary. I’m also very active in my church.

]]> By: Dee http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/2007/12/27/make-sure-youre-supposed-to-be-here-part-three/comment-page-1/#comment-382 Dee Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:11:08 +0000 http://seminarysurvivalguide.com/2007/12/27/make-sure-youre-supposed-to-be-here-part-three/#comment-382 I am here at 3.54am on a friday morning and I am reading your articles and I am really impressed with the honesty and clarity of each one. I am a female seminary student 1st year 2nd semester, I am a single mother also of a 13 year old and a 22 year old, going through all kinds of craziness trying to stay sane. In one of my classes I had to write about my call to ministry and at times I doubt,because I look at myself and where I came from and sometimes how I respond to situations and I question why would God want someone like me who sometimes cannot behave properly. My call came through a series of dreams.Before I left my native country to come to America, I had dreams as soon as I arrived in the US. The dreams or what I initially thought were nightmares began to become more specific and very detailed. Then I came to New York and I began having encounters with Homeless people, and I was terribly afraid of them, and in the beginning would tell them to go away, I could not help them. One man told me I was a preacher and I looked at him like he was out of his mind, I was still very much in the world and was planning on staying there, thank you very much! As time has gone on, I love them, I love them so very very much, and more than anything I want to see them whole, it is the single most heartbreaking thing in life to see a man or woman laying filthy in the street, whilst everyone walks by and does not consider their journey. I don't know if this constitutes a call or a sincere compassion, I am struggling, with feeling good enough. And I am struggling in seminary. everyone seems so intelligent and together....keep me in prayer I am here at 3.54am on a friday morning and I am reading your articles and I am really impressed with the honesty and clarity of each one. I am a female seminary student 1st year 2nd semester, I am a single mother also of a 13 year old and a 22 year old, going through all kinds of craziness trying to stay sane. In one of my classes I had to write about my call to ministry and at times I doubt,because I look at myself and where I came from and sometimes how I respond to situations and I question why would God want someone like me who sometimes cannot behave properly.

My call came through a series of dreams.Before I left my native country to come to America, I had dreams as soon as I arrived in the US. The dreams or what I initially thought were nightmares began to become more specific and very detailed. Then I came to New York and I began having encounters with Homeless people, and I was terribly afraid of them, and in the beginning would tell them to go away, I could not help them. One man told me I was a preacher and I looked at him like he was out of his mind, I was still very much in the world and was planning on staying there, thank you very much! As time has gone on, I love them, I love them so very very much, and more than anything I want to see them whole, it is the single most heartbreaking thing in life to see a man or woman laying filthy in the street, whilst everyone walks by and does not consider their journey. I don’t know if this constitutes a call or a sincere compassion, I am struggling, with feeling good enough. And I am struggling in seminary. everyone seems so intelligent and together….keep me in prayer

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