Winston Churchill once said that writing a book goes through five phases. In phase one, it is a novelty or a toy. But by phase five, it becomes a tyrant ruling your life. And just when you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling it into the public.~Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last (New York: Harper Collins, 2002), p.ix.I resonate with that quote so strongly,

My friend Doug e-mailed me earlier this week and asked if he could interview me (via e-mail) about my candidacy and transition experience. I was happy to oblige-- and happy also to post the interview here. Here's the first part; the second part will follow in a few days.1. Briefly describe your experience of candidating for jobs in the PCAI approached candidating from several angles-- through networking,

Here's an interesting and helpful idea from David Gordon at Gordon-Conwell Seminary:Dr. Kenneth Swetland, from Gordon-Conwell, recommended a good practice for our students when they were candidating for church positions: that in the later stages of that process, whenever possible, the candidate meet with the appropriate committee and, with a chalkboard or whiteboard, ask the committee members what

I've been working to update my list of links for placement and transition help. I've added a bunch of denominational and school links, as well as a good number of others. I've been prowling around for these for several years now, and I think this is the largest list I've ever seen compiled in one place.If you want to make use of this master list, you can see it on the Doulos Resources website under

A friend of mine recently learned-- the hard way-- that he was in a type of position I call the "unintentional interim." Here's the lay of the land: the pastor that served this congregation before my friend was their pastor for several decades. He was beloved by his people, and served them faithfully. This isn't to say that there were not surely more difficult times, but over their many years together

Here are two quick videos that are helpful information on ministry, along with a couple of quick reflections on their use in the candidacy and placement process. This is the assignment: watch each video, then spend two minutes jotting down your responses to the reflection questions below them, with regard to your current church or a church you are candidating with. (Total time: 10 minutes)John Piper

In my research on the placement process, networking quickly emerged as a significant factor-- indeed, that was the initial reason for including it in my "five factors for effective placement."Here are some quick stats and results from my research:67% of my survey respondents made initial contact with the ministry they eventually accepted a call from through networking.81% of the respondents said they

One of my survey respondents ended up being an interesting case study in the power of networking in the placement process. Here is his story.Two seminary students (we'll call them Joe and Steve) were both going through the candidacy process at the same time; they were good friends, and had resolved not to view the process as a competition between them. Joe found himself as the lead candidate for a

Well, nearly a year ago (but not quite) I promised to blog about building and maintaining your "network". Now, some of you may remember that a year ago I was in the throes of preparing to move for my call to my present ministry, so I hope it is understandable that I neglected to fulfill this promise. Nevertheless, it is an important topic-- and one that I need to come back to. So here we go.For starters,

You must know or be seeking decisive assurance that you are called by Him to minister the Word; and you must eventually, before you begin, be so certain of this that you would die at the stake for your knowledge. [Then] you must be willing to wait His will. Some of the most fruitful ministers I know in Scotland have had to wait years for their God-given appointments. And I might add that some have

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I started it as a repository for data, insights, and interaction with the research that I started in 2004 on pastoral placement. I initially did that research for personal reasons (e.g., I wanted to know how to place well!) but quickly became burdened for anyone who is going through a pastoral transition. As I've continued to study