Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Sounding the Call

Part Four

The Calling to Ministry Self-Assessment (pdf)

And as a bonus:

Is “Calling” a Biblical Idea?

Learn to Pray

Learn to Share Your Faith

Learn to Submit to Authority

Learn to Love People

Learn to Exercise

Learn to Confess Your Sins

You can find it at theologyblogs.com.

Ryan, the GTS webmaster, has been very helpful to me personally in getting this site up and going.

The newest development is that I will occasionally be contributing some content for them. I wrote a piece on Sustaining Relationships that just posted over at GTS. Head over and check it out!

Here’s a bit from the official announcement:

The Bethlehem Institute has graduated nine classes of pastoral and missionary-destined men for Bible-saturated, God-centered ministry….

Now a flash point has been reached for moving to new levels of training and a new place of ministry.

The new levels of education include moving toward becoming an accredited college and seminary. That means offering as soon as is feasible an accredited BA in Biblical Studies and an accredited MA and MDiv at the seminary level.

I’m sure they won’t have a lack of applicants!

Full announcement here.

HT: Adrian Warnock.

1. Cultivate pride by writing only to impress your professors instead of writing to better understand and more clearly communicate truth.

2. Perfect the fine art of corner-cutting by not really researching for a paper but instead writing your uneducated and unsubstantiated opinions and filling them in with strategically placed footnotes.

3. Mistake the amount of education you receive with the actual knowledge you obtain. Keep telling yourself, “I’ll really start learning this stuff when I do my Th.M or my Ph.D.”

4. Nurture an attitude of superiority, competition, and condesension toward fellow seminary students. Secretly speak ill of them with friends and with your spouse.

5. Regularly question the wisdom and competency of your professors. Find ways to disrespect your professors by questioning them publicly in class and by trying to make them look foolish.

6. Neglect personal worship, Bible reading and prayer.

7. Don’t evangelize your neighbors.

As I read the complete list, I recognized myself all too well. It hammers mercilessly at the real dangers of seminary and ministry: pride, conceit, and Pharisaism, of exactly the type I’m so susceptible to.

My counsel: print the entire list, and review it at least once per semester during seminary.

Thanks to Travis for the heads-up.

From the time they are born a pastors’ child is the center of attention in the church and cannot escape scrutiny by members. When dad doesn’t come home when he said he would, when dad misses the ball game, when dad misses the ballet; his children begin to resent the church at an early age…. If your children grow up to love, adore and cherish Christ and His church and become active members in a local body you have succeeded in your ministry.

He’s got a great list of practical suggestions.

1. Spend time with your children.

2. Don’t discuss church business in front of your kids.

3. Praise the church in front of your kids.

4. Don’t let your children be an example to the rest of the congregation.

5. Pray with your children.

Read the full post for complete explanations.

Good job, Dustin.

So before you get started with another round of classes, I want to suggest that you take a little soul inventory.

I sat next to Mindy Caliguire on a plane last year returning from a conference. She is the founder of Soul Care, a spiritual formation ministry.

She recently published an article on simplicity and duplicity. Her main point, as I understand it, is that the multiple pressures of ministry push us to try to be more than we really are. We often unintentionally create a false self–a ministry self–that is more capable, holy, and perfect than we really are.

Here’s a quote:

When I feel the pull to be more confident, more together, more successful, more spiritual, more hard-working, or more organized than I really am, I am tempted by duplicity. And when I succumb to that temptation, everyone around me suffers.

It is critical that you and I be alert to this temptation. Religious professionals can become Pharisees overnight, without warning.

Take a moment and do a little self-examination. You can find her complete article here.

Timmy Brister highlighted a Pastor-In-Training program at Third Avenue Baptist in Louisville. In summary, it seems that this church is actually taking responsibility for the development of new ministers, and not delegating that responsibility to the seminaries. Way to go, Third Baptist! May your tribe increase!

Seminarians: let me say it again. Get involved in a local church. Find godly mentors (more on that later this month). Ask to sit in on meetings for your own education. The initiative has to be with you.

Dustin Benge wrote a great pair of posts called Bridging the Gap Between Seminary and the Local Church, especially addressing the attitude shift necessary for a freshly graduated seminarian as he begins his ministry. Here’s his counsel:

Bridge the Gap Between Seminary and the Local Church by:
1. The “High-Horse” Syndrome
2. Be Teachable
3. Be Willing to do what you ask of Others
4. Be a Mentor
5. Don’t Be Jealous
6. Don’t Look for the Next Best Thing

Definitely worth reading. Part One Part Two

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.” 2 Timothy 4:2

HT: Timmy Brister