Marcie is scheduled for a C-Section today at 4pm! Caroline's fluid levels were still low this morning, so the doctor felt that the safest thing would be to move ahead.As of yesterday, all indications were that both girls (well, all three really) are healthy. Both twins are over 5 pounds, both are showing signs of breathing movement, etc. Marcie is 34½ weeks right now, and 36 is considered full-term

This is a re-post from my Pastor's Blog, originally posted on 10/9/2008...To the generation of faithful men who, as Pastors and Elders, led the formation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA):Dear fathers in the faith,Thank you for the work that you did 35 years ago, in the years leading up to then, and in the years that followed. You stood against attacks on orthodoxy and biblical truth and

I know of a church that is without a pastor; in many ways, this church fits a lot of the criteria of my preferences:They are looking for a preaching/teaching pastorThey want a vision-caster and leadership-equipperThey are in a strong area for growth and ministry opportunityThey are in need of revitalization, and are aware of that (and desire it)Sounds like the perfect fit, right?Add to this that I

"I don't know if you can afford to have a pastor as broken as me."So confessed Pastor Joe Novenson to his Session after 10 years of marriage and ministry.  How did his Elders respond?"If God is burning you, we're going to pray that He burns you white-hot."And they gave him a sabbatical to get to know his God and his wife for three months.  Joe says that those men gave him his ministry, and he will

If you're following my candidacy efforts here, you may be interested to know that I've made the first cut for one church, an Assistant Pastor position in the south.  I am one of four candidates they have advanced, and the next step will be phone interviews later this month.  After that, they will narrow it down to two, and bring those two in for face-to-face interviews.I also have a handful of other

I'm looking again.  It is time to move on from educational ministry to pastoral church ministry, and I'm seeking a position as a pastor.This is exciting to me, since that has been the goal for the long-term.  It's time to move on to fulfill that calling.I appreciate your prayers during my search and transition.  Obviously, you can keep tabs on the progress here.  I've already begun

Tomorrow I'll preach again at the church I mentioned earlier this week.  This will be the 12th occasion I have preached in the past 10 weeks-- every Sunday, at least once, for over two months.  This has been fun, invigorating, and a true blessing; what is more, I've been encouraged in my sense of calling as a pastor through it.  [On a side note: it has also advanced my progress toward

In response to a previous post on singles, ministry, and seminary, Tom commented that [PCA Teaching Elder and RUF Campus Ministry Coordinator] John Stone once remarked that "being an unmarried minister in the PCA is worse than being the devil in many people's minds."John has a gift for hyperbole, but I don't think he's too far off in this case. But why?I haven't done any investigation into this.

From The Work of the Pastor by William Still:“We must be in our God-appointed place in the ministry. This is vitally important. A minister may be authentically called of God, and may have had abundant evidence in one place that God was there, but due to circumstances, personal or otherwise, a move to another place is made and the ministry goes dead. The new congregation is out of God’s

Those of you who have been tracking my placement progress for these many months may be interested to know that I have accepted a position!As I've implied before, the work I've done for Wildwood Christian School this year-- originally intended to be a one-year interim position-- has opened up an opportunity for me to remain in a permanent position there. I'll continue to teach, but I will also have

Dr. Phil Douglass, who I work with in various capacities (see #2 and #3) and whose teaching at Covenant Seminary I deeply valued, makes a bold claim regarding calling and work: he claims that you should spend at least 60% of your time within your area of primary calling and 40% or less in other areas-- otherwise you will burn out. He calls this the "60/40 principle."He further asserts that there should

This is a "Check-in" of sorts, but there's a lot more to it than just checking in, so I won't call it that.If you count the "false start," such as it was, of last year-- when I began the candidacy process under the impression that I would graduate in Spring 2005-- then I've been candidating for a pastoral position since June 2004. I've sent out over 60 resumes and other information since then, and

The transcripts published today: I'm officially a graduate! All forms approved, all final grades in, all classes passed.The only thing left is to walk in the ceremony in May. Between now and then, I'll be receiving my graduation present: a very nice Geneva gown (in black, not white like the one in the picture) from my mother. Thanks mom! And hopefully I'll get a Covenant Theological Seminary graduate

Welcome to the first Check-in of 2006. The Christmas holiday brought, unsurprisingly, no substantial developments in candidacy. Here's where things stand:The outstanding resume count remains the same as before; I elected not to send out more until mid-January, as I am fairly convinced that anything that had been received between December 15 and January 7 or 8 would find itself in a tall pile of unsorted

Here's the latest of the news regarding our candidacy and transition:There are a few more churches that we'll be sending resumes to soon, including one in Texas, one in North Carolina, and one in South Carolina. (The one is South Carolina is one we're already familiar with-- in fact, I had a dream last night that I was the pastor there...)The Board for the school where I work-- Wildwood Christian

A church I'm familiar with just announced that their pastor was being removed from the pulpit due to a moral failure on his part.The results of his sin for the congregation seem obvious at first: many will be devastated by this, possibly leaving the church immediately. Many will struggle against the leadership as they lead the congregation through it. Some will refuse to believe it and may deem the

This afternoon, Marcie and I were looking at the whiteboard where we've listed all of the call possibilities we're interested in. There are currently 20. That's a pretty big list. Here are some surprises:Two of them are not directly pastoral calls at all, but educational ministry.One of them is a church where we've been members.One of them is in a town that we both think is one of the best in the world.Five

My article is now up on the ByFaith Magazine website; you can link to it here.

Here are just a few updates on me (and some reasons excuses for why I've been such a slacker with this blog):School suddenly got busy. I'm behind on an assignment and anticipating (a bit nervously) an exam later this week.Work remains busy. Hey-- I don't care what anyone else tells you, casting a long-term vision then organizing an implementation strategy is hard work. And time-consuming work.

Well, things are finally starting to get active and more noticeably underway. In other words, my preliminary efforts are about to give way to essentially jumping in with both feet. Here's what I mean:I'm about to send out a bunch of resume packets; the regional breakdown looks like this: South Carolina-- 2; North Carolina-- 2; Tennessee-- 3; Georgia-- 2; Mississippi--1; Kentucky--1; Florida--1; Iowa

As I approach graduation, the reality of having completed a “Master of Divinity” degree has struck me lately with its profundity. Sure, I suppose I could already list myself as “Ed Eubanks, Jr., B.A. Phil.” (for my Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy) but that seems pretty trite when an undergraduate degree is almost taken for granted in most of the world I live in (and it doesn't

Today I planted the seed of suggestion with my mother that we might stay in St. Louis. She took it well.Not too long ago, Marcie told me that she would be surprised if we weren't still in St. Louis a year from now. Not because she doubts our ability to place, but because she thinks that the opportunities that are here for us are too good to be improbable.The two biggest things on the horizon are

A little over a year ago, I transferred into the Missouri Presbytery. At the same presbytery meeting (they meet once per quarter), the Clerk of Presbytery gave a brief report on the recent decisions a couple in his church made. It seems that this couple, having raised their children to adulthood, were compelled by God and by a love for people to sell everything-- house, cars, furniture, etc.-- and

Just about every blogger eventually asks himself or herself the question, “Why do I blog?” and, since I was actually asked this question recently by someone else as well, I thought I might go ahead a give an answer on my blog.So, my reasons for blogging, in order: The main reason is for myself-- the blog becomes an aggregate of sorts for my thoughts on a particular subject. It so happens

Someone has to be the first one to say, “I love you.”When Marcie and I were dating, we came to that point-- like so many other couples-- in which one of us had made up his mind about where all of this was headed. In our case, I was the one who had arrived there first, and it would take Marcie some time to get there with me. I knew it would take her awhile, that she wasn't ready. In spite

The church I mentioned in my last Check-in (and also here) has narrowed the pool of candidates down to just seven... and I'm not among them. Several of my classmates are, however, and I think it could be a wonderful church for one of them to serve.Another position has come into view, however. This one is not very unlike a position I considered last fall, in this way: it is outside of the field of

Alright Eubanks, you're always barking about the need for better balance in the system-- so put your money where your mouth is.Okay, I will.As I candidate with the church that has my resume right now, I'm going to try something daring, unorthodox, and (to my ears) unheard-of in the placement process: I'm going to build a relationship with the church before things go anywhere with the candidacy process.

This is a new aspect for my blog that will be a regular feature. It's exactly what it sounds like-- I'll give an update on the status of my candidacy process. I will try to provide a Check-In at least once a month (and if things really get going, I'll Check-In more often).As of today, there is exactly one church that has my resume in consideration. From everything I know, this church would be a

Yesterday was the last Sunday for our Senior Pastor. He has served the church where we are members for 15 years, and would, it seems clear, be welcome to serve another 15 if the Lord willed it.Pastor G is a model for me, as well as an great encouragement to what is to come. Though he is only a few years older than me, his already long and fruitful ministry stands as a monument to everything I hope

It sometimes seems like we may never leave St. Louis! The latest change has been in the works for a while, but I'm only now starting to get the word out.With the extension of our graduation to December, I began to explore what my work options were for the summer and fall. I have been teaching full-time at a small Christian school to pay the bills, and they are, understandably, unexcited about me

Well, it has been almost a month since my last post, and I know this is not congruent with the goals I set forth at the turn of the year. However, I anticipate a fair amount of activity here over the next several weeks. Here's why: I am presenting some of the findings of my research from last summer during a class at Covenant Seminary called “Candidating and Transition into Ministry.”

Some things have happened that change everything about our plans. I had been anticipating graduation in May of this year, based on plans to transfer credit from another seminary that I completed before coming to St. Louis. I have just found out (mere hours after I wrote the last post) that this credit will not transfer, and the result is that I have more hours to complete at Covenant than I am able

Among other things, I resolve to step up my commitment to writing, including writing for this blog. I'll even be bold enough to post a few specific writing goals: I want to keep this blog regularly updated (average of 1-2 posts per week) for the rest of this calendar year, at least-- through the entire candidacy process, the transition into a new ministry, and the first six months of that ministry. I

I've recently been approached about considering a position that I would not have thought twice about had I seen an advertisement for it. It is a position as the Head of School at a private Christian elementary school. Even though I am, and have been, focused on a pastoral ministry position, I am a little surprised at how my interest is piqued by this opportunity. There are essentially four reasons