All Posts Tagged With: "Calling"

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Thinking of Seminary?

During the summer, some folks are finalizing plan to begin seminary in the Fall. Whether you’re on your way, or thinking about it, here’s a summary of our series on calling to ministry. Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here Part One Part Two Part Three Sounding the Call Part Four The Calling to Ministry [...]

August 17th, 2009 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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What do ministers actually DO?

Great words from James MacDonald or Harvest Bible Chapel about the critical difference between ministering equippers and servants in the church. (Video not working? try here) This is a pretty important distinction. In particular, I’ve seen people go into youth ministry because they love working with youth. Then they become full-time ministers and realize that [...]

August 6th, 2009 | Mark | 1 comment | Continued
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Is “Calling” a Biblical Idea?

A few days ago, I got a great question in the comments on a post I’d written on calling to ministry. It’s a topic on which I have well-formed opinions. Here’s the question: Where does this concept of a “call” come from in Scripture? I mean, some of the great men of the faith were [...]

June 2nd, 2008 | Mark | 7 comments | Continued
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Ortberg on Calling

John Ortberg just published an article exploring the idea of the “call” to ministry. I have been a pastor for a long time now. When I was ordained in the Baptist church, one of the questions I knew was coming was, “Tell us about your ‘call.’” In our tradition, if you became a pastor, you [...]

March 5th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Challies on Discernment and Calling

Tim Challies, the author of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, has some good remarks about calling that are along the lines of some things we’ve said here.

January 11th, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here, part four

To complete this series on calling, I offer a personal exercise to help you examine your calling. I’d enjoy hearing from any of you who find this beneficial. I recommend printing the pdf of this, and working it out on paper. Calling to Ministry Assessment Part One: Self-Assessment 1. Write out your sense of calling [...]

January 3rd, 2008 | Mark | 3 comments | Continued
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Sounding My Call to Chicago

In part three, I recommend having your calling verified by a group of mature believers who know God well and you well. Here’s my story. I greatly benefited from the counsel of a group like this when I was trying to find a church right out of seminary. I had interviewed with a church in [...]

January 2nd, 2008 | Mark | 0 comments | Continued
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Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here, part three

In part two, we looked at the first characteristic of those with a genuine divine calling: their inner confidence in their call. Today we look at the second: 2. Other believers who observe their lives will see the calling on their lives and affirm it. I once knew a pastor who thought he was called [...]

December 27th, 2007 | Mark | 2 comments | Continued
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Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here, part two

So how do you know if you’re called by God? Good question. People who are genuinely called by God to ministry have two things that are true of them. Today we’ll address the first. 1. They are certain of their own calling. There is a bit of mystery to how this works. God speaks and [...]

December 19th, 2007 | Mark | 7 comments | Continued
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Make Sure You’re Supposed To Be Here, part one

This post begins a four-part series on calling to ministry. Not everyone is supposed to be in ministry. Not everyone is supposed to be in seminary. This may seem a little insulting as a starting point, but hang with me for a bit. Your true fitness for a life of ministry will be tested. It’s [...]

December 17th, 2007 | Mark | 9 comments | Continued