One In Jesus

I have one more post to go in the current series, and then I’m taking a few days off. I’m not sure how long.

I’ll be dedicating myself to recovering from something called piriformis syndrome. My hip’s been hurting for the last, oh, 18 months and I’ve had about 18 different diagnoses. Continue reading →

15. Talk to your wife. Don’t go for even the first interview unless your wife is sold on the move. If this isn’t obvious to you, you’re going to have serious problems in your marriage.

If she doesn’t want to move, things are not going to go well. And the elders — and their wives — will be sensitive to any reluctance by your wife. And she won’t be able to hide her feelings. Continue reading →

6. Talk to the elders at length. I’d think you’d need at least four hours talking with the elders to really come to understand them. Maybe more. If they won’t give you that much time, look elsewhere.

Ask them about their vision for the church, about their prayer lives, about their Bible study, about their understanding of the role of elders, about their relationship with the staff, how much time they spend on church matters. That is, ask them the same kind of really hard questions they asked you. Continue reading →

I’ve never been in fulltime ministry. For that matter, I’ve not searched for a job since, well, ever.

I practice for a law firm that’s a successor to a firm I clerked for while in law school.

So I’m hardly an expert on how a minister (or anyone else) should go about searching for a job. But I’ve been involved in many, many minister searches. I know something about that process, and so maybe these few observations will be of help, even though surely very incomplete. Continue reading →

22. Don’t shut down; don’t try to do too much. You can’t install a new church vision during a preacher search. You really shouldn’t ordain new elders during a search. After all, the new preacher will want to have met and be very, very comfortable with the new elders. You can’t do that and be in the midst of an ordination process.

But don’t stop doing church. Send short-term missions off. Institute new mission efforts. Have energetic campaigns for the new adult ed program. Give the sense that things are happening — because they really are. Continue reading →

20. The search committee. I have mixed feelings about search committees. I’ve had good and bad luck with and without one. I’ve been on search committees, and I’ve been part of an eldership that hired without one. I’ve had great successes and great failures both ways.

My misgivings derive from the unique relationship a preacher should have with his elders. The search process is kind of like this — Continue reading →

The Christian Chronicle has published a helpful list of addresses of churches active in the relief effort.

Note:

Right now, one of the least effective things you can do to help Oklahoma tornado victims is load up your car with tools and bottled water and head toward the city of Moore.

As police continue search and rescue operations in Moore, just south of Oklahoma City, they are turning away people trying to get into the area to assist, church members report. At least one relief team from a Church of Christ was turned away early today. Instead, the volunteers are working on relief efforts for other parts of the state hit by recent tornadoes — including Shawnee, Luther and Edmond.