Doing what you trained for

https://fromtheunknown.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/7-years-ago/

Seven years ago, on May 8th, 2010, I graduated from seminary. It was an exciting time. I was done with my academic work for the time being and had finished a goal that I had set out to accomplish back in August 2002. I had earned a Master of Arts in Theology and now a Master of Divinity. To those who may not know, a Master of Divinity degree is a 96 hour masters program. I would liken it to the MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in the secular world.

Seven years ago, there was a great deal of excitement because now I could focus on full-time vocational ministry. I had wanted to go on and pursue additional education. I had applied to attempt to work on a PhD but was not accepted. I had thought about working on a DMin (Doctor of Ministry degree) most seminaries require that you have at least 2-3 years of post MDiv experience so that was out.

…

Seven years later, I have sent out over 50 resumes and been rejected 50 times. At this point, some have told me that I should quit that it is apparent that God must not have called me into ministry because there is no reason that I should still be looking. I have met with several people in full time ministry looking for advice thinking I had done something wrong or had a wrong approach. I did not receive any new or different advice from any of them

The last resume that I sent out was in September of 2016. The emails and phone calls have just about stopped and dried up. Although I did recently receive an email from a church that I had never heard of before, only to have them tell me that I was not selected to be their assistant pastor. I was used to this response, only in this case, I had never applied for the position. It is hard to answer the question when people ask you what do you want to do with your career when you are 48 years old and thought that you would be able to serve in full time ministry, after all that is what I went to college and seminary for and spent over $50,000.00 on an education? Now, I am being told that I am too old and I have no real church experience (never served as a church staff member).

This morning, Monday, May 8th, 2017, seven years to the day that I finished seminary

A few thoughts, largely echoing what others wrote two years ago:

1. I don’t think full-time ministry is going to be a viable option for most conservative churches in the coming years. I think a Pastor must be ready to be bi-vocational. I’ve been in law enforcement my entire adult life. I am blessed the Lord gave me something other to do than “full-time ministry.” There are too many Pastors who have no marketable skills (besides ministry), and they wind up driving a schoolbus for spare change because their churches can’t pay them enough to live.
2. Look beyond the “full-time ministry” paradigm. I resigned my Pastorate precisely one year ago because an apostate, elderly, retired pastor in the church led a faction and split the church to pieces. I am not in a “ministry” position at my current church, but I might as well be. I got involved and am doing things. I’m teaching adult Sunday School every week, and I just organized a meeting last night about starting a weekly, evangelistic children’s bible club. We’re doing stuff. You don’t have to be “in ministry” to do stuff. Y

You’re trained. You’re eager. Just start doing stuff. Or, contact Regular Baptist Church planters and look into planting a church. Contact the local GARBC folks and ask about pulpit supply. Look into hospital or first responder chaplaincy; again, through the GARBC. Contact ABWE about missions opportunities. Or BWM. Or BMM.

One thing that strikes me upon reading the link Jim provides is that the rate at which he sent out resumes is far slower than I’ve done when looking for work. Now after sending out 50, he should have gotten at least a nibble from someone, of course, but there’s a hint that there could be a substantial difference in the job search protocols. Is there anything like Monster.com for pastoral candidates?

That noted, a lot of what Tyler notes works in secular job search, too. Get your name out there, do some things which show your stuff, someone will start to get interested. But that said, we’re a tremendously insular “industry” here in fundamentalism, and sad to say it seems that “sales are down” while a lot of guys that would ordinarily be retired are still working because they skipped Social Security and didn’t save for retirement. Something of a vicious cycle, really.

The reality is that they’re are a very small number of churches looking for full-time pastors. My last check of a “churches looking for pastors” list had 3. In addition were opportunities for bi-vo’s and missionary pastors with the “our church is ready to grow” inducement along with youth/music openings.

One young man told me that he went to a well-known seminary and discovered that an inordinate number of his relatively small class were the sons of established pastors who were training to follow their fathers.

In our search for a new senior pastor three years ago, we had (I believe) 123 resumes submitted.

Granted, we were a church with average attendance of around 1,600 at the time (now around 3,000), but had we not established & firmly stated some specific qualifications we were looking for in candidates, we probably would have received many more.

I know the response we saw is hardly typical, but it shows how fierce the competition can be for some ministry positions.

Jim said:

Used to be poor policy to send unsolicited resumes to churches - the right way was to have a patron or sponsor send one’s resume.

For young pastors or those with minimal experience, it is almost a necessity to have some kind of connection. With me it was either the fellowship of churches or the former pastor who opened the door.

There are places to serve if you want to serve. As Jim has observed, not all the openings are glamorous. I have several friends who serve in nearby churches who hold earned doctorates and are bi-vocational and in some cases their wives work, too.

On the other hand, I will soon say goodbye to our first Assistant Pastor here who spent about 2.5 years serving here. He’s been called to serve in a smaller church in northern Iowa. They have provided him with a full-time salary and the opportunity to buy (not from them) and make payments on his first home.

There is wisdom in making connections. There is wisdom in being active in local church ministry while you are training in college and seminary. But more than all of that, there is wisdom in remembering God cares for His churches, and that He has not made a mistake by leaving you where you are. I got in contact with our man who is now leaving three years ago after calling on a reference on another resume. After being told I didn’t want that guy, the reference passed on a contact of the man we ended up calling, who at the time wasn’t even actively searching for a ministry.

If you believe God has equipped you to serve, than serve as much as you can where you are. If you can’t do much where you are because there aren’t many opportunities in that church, find a church where you can. If you need suggestions, let me know. :) But whatever you do, don’t hold out until someone agrees to pay you. Serve because you love the Lord and His church and you can’t be happy doing anything else.

Can a seminary graduate seeking a paid, vocational pastoral position “work” himself into such a job?

Humor me; here’s what I’m asking: while employed in a secular job, but seeking a pastoral position, is it possible that such a man could theoretically prove his skills, his work ethic, his dedication to a church to the extent that he would become their default candidate if/when a pastoral position becomes available either due to a vacancy or a newly-created position?

Let’s imagine a seminary graduate joins a church that is either in a growth phase, has the potential for growth, or might possibly have a pastoral position available due to a vacancy in the immediate future. Say, while still a layman in the church, he pours himself into the ministry there. Perhaps he:

• Tirelessly witnesses & invites visitors, so that the church sees new attendees and/or members as a result.
• Volunteers to teach, whether it be adults, youth, or children.
• In general, demonstrates a servant’s heart in any capacity or role that may benefit the church.

Is it possible that if/when a pastoral position becomes available due to vacancy or numerical growth, that such a person could be so ingrained into the church that he might then be viewed as their de facto candidate?

Is what I’m describing essentially an unpaid apprenticeship of a sort?

Per Larry’s comment, it strikes me that not only have I see volunteers become associate pastors, and not only do I hope to see it happen more (I’ve got a particular candidate in mind), but I would even dare suggest that if indeed the pastor also is an elder or “older, more experienced person”, then we might even wonder if it ought to be normative.

Really, to go even further, we might even suggest that at least a portion of deacons ought to have something approximating what Bible college/seminary training ought to be. If we want to have robust church growth that will give a new generation a chance to serve, I don’t see any other way.

One other note; really appreciated all the comments about how pastoral hiring differs to a degree from secular market hiring, though of course sometimes it matters “who you know” as well.

What Larry suggests is how I got my first vocational ministry position in 2001.

When I led the search committee last year looking to hire a Pastor of Young Adults, it was the 97th resume I received that was submitted by the man we ended up hiring.

I agree with Greg and everyone else who has said if you want to get involved in ministry, get involved in ministry even if volunteer or part-time. I agree that generally speaking, your pastoral calling and gifts will be recognized on some level. And if not, perhaps you weren’t really called to pastoral ministry, but rather to faithful lay ministry, which is a tremendous help to every pastor. Remember that “being called to pastoral ministry” has two aspects—the inward call and the outward call. You are not really called to pastoral ministry if no church ever calls you to pastoral ministry.

Mark Dever “On Being ‘Called’ to Pastoral Ministry”