“Followers want comfort, stability, and solutions from their leaders, but that is babysitting.  Real leaders ask hard questions and knock people out of their comfort zones and then manage the resulting distress.”
Harvard Business Review

Over the past few months, I have been approached by a number of people asking me the same question, “How does a person know if they are called into ministry? How do you know if you should be a pastor of a church?”

Since I am a pastor and have been serving in the church in that capacity for almost 25 years, I have chewed on this question a lot. It is one of those subjects that is hard to really nail down. In fact, more than once I have asked myself in the heat of battle, “Have I really been called by God to do this, because it is hard?”

“Calling” is an intensely subjective term. It means many different things to many different people. So to help find some solid answers, I decided 10 years ago to write a booklet that addresses different ways to consider how to approach the “certainty of having a calling.” Over time, I have worked through my findings with approximately 20 different individuals that wanted me to help them as they considered serving God full-time.

So in light of the recent requests, I have decided to post my original thoughts on this blog, I have edited them where I think it is appropriate, and then I am asking you, my readers, to make comments on what you agree or disagree with. Hopefully, this discussion will also be a great resource for those of you who have wondered if God may be calling you to serve him as well.

I also thought this would be a welcome change from the blogosphere’s recent political ramblings and angry venting that can so easily get us bogged down and depressed. So I am asking those of you who are curious about this topic to join me each Wednesday for the next 8 weeks as we consider: What does it mean to be called as a pastor of Christ’s church?

SETTING THE STAGE

The opinions I am going to share are not derived from textbooks, or seminary classes – – they are insights from the trenches.  It is simply me and my thoughts, no more and no less.  I have thought long and hard about this, because “Pastoring” is a mighty strange animal.

I must admit, I am becoming more post-modern every day.  I don’t like hard-edged plans that fit nicely on an alliterated outline, I want the meat, the human feel of an issue.  Grab my soul, and give me the gut-wrenching truth.  That, my dear reader, will be my objective.

So get ready to probe, be honest, because this is a topic where you will be forced to wrestle with God. It is a very dangerous calling.

In truth, serving Jesus is not a job, it really isn’t, it is an honor!  There are eight areas that we will address, and I believe they are the issues you can not ignore:

* Guarding Your Heart
* Feeding Your Mind
* Navigating your Family
* Maintaining a Devotional Life
* How to View Christ’s Bride….the Church
* Mastering Speech
* Dealing with the Urgent
* Fostering the Habit of Rest

If you ignore any of these eight areas, destruction is certain – – either in your life or the body of believers that you have been assigned to love. So before we journey on this muddy, narrow, and rocky road, ask yourself this simple question,

“Is there anything else in life that excites you as much as a career or calling other than ministry?”

If the answer is yes, you must first pursue that path. . . . because I personally believe the residue of regret can kill your ministry when you are in the trenches.  And let me tell you, the trenches are real and they are smelly, don’t let “could have beens” or “should of beens” embitter your soul.  So if you are ready, next week, we will begin.

Stay tuned…..