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

I've talked to a fair number of seminary graduates who finish in December, and they all tell the same story: December graduation is tough.Now, placement is not easy for any seminary grad, but I think finishing in December is a lot tougher than in May for most graduates. To introduce my reasons, I'll recap some of what my research in this area has shown:40% of those who started the candidacy process

It is peculiar, just a little bit, how much transition happens (or doesn't happen) based on the season.I regularly (read: daily) check the vacant pulpit listings for my denomination, and I noticed an odd affirmation of this seasonal dependence recently. Over the past month, only four new listings have been added to the main listing, yet the “last updated” date changed at least twice a

I don't know any seminarians who have lost weight or gotten in better shape during seminary.Don't get me wrong-- I do know a good handful of guys that find time to exercise. Even I have found streaks of a few weeks where I've been on the treadmill regularly. But my pitfall is, I would guess, the same as many of my fellow seminarians': some point in the semester (exam time, a major paper due, a break

A friend challenged me about my views on networking, “Can you pursue placement through networking, as you suggest, with true integrity?” Good question-- and it brings up a significant issue that a candidate-pastor must address: does a placement effort done with pure motives mean that networking is not an option?Anyone who has heard of “networking” will understand this critique.

I recently heard an interview with business leadership maven Stephen Covey, whose mega-seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has changed the way many think about leadership and productivity. While there is much about the book that I would recommend, an aspect of the interview that is not directly addressed in the book caught my attention.Covey was asked why he chose the word “effective”

How long will you live in your new town, serving your new church, before you seek out and befriend other pastors in the area? Will you even refer to it as your “new church” by then?My guess is that most pastors put this at the bottom of their priorities. After all, one group that every pastor can be certain will never join their church are other pastors in the area! And there are already

If you've been checking, I'm sorry you've been disappointed. It's been a full week for work, the last week of a summer school class, and I've been finishing the article I'm doing for ByFaith magazine. Keep an eye out-- there will be a new post over the weekend. Thanks for checking!

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

You think transition is hard on you? Wait until you see the fallout for your family.Any transition is difficult-- not just for a pastor, but for his wife, children, parents, siblings, former friends... no one is left unscathed. Some friends of mine recently felt the force of this as they moved to seminary: they were doing pretty well with it, until it finally caught up to them. Like the rest of