Calling or Career?

The Religion News Service recently reported an over abundance of Protestant clergy in America. This takes me back to my own seminary days when nearly two decades ago guest lecturer, Ray Bakke, unveiled two alarming facts.

First, the number of churches in America was not keeping up with population growth. We were, instead, losing ground.

Second, there is not enough money available to pay for all the new seminary graduates to have jobs.

The result, he reported, would be that 50% of my graduating class would no longer be in ministry five years into the future. Bakke told us that if we want to impact America and the world for Christ, many of us would have to become bivocational.

I don’t believe that many people go to seminary in order to become bivocational ministers. For some ministry is a career choice. You go to dental school to be a dentist and seminary to be a pastor. They don’t envision bivocational work in a struggling rural or inner-city church. They say no to bivocational church planting.

The career minded who do get hired will probably be marked by their upward mobility and keen sense of entitlement. They will plan their ministry around their time off and vacations and rarely will they schedule meetings in the evening.

True calling involves sacrifice. There are many bivocational pastors out there who don’t get days off. Their vacation time is used for VBS or mission trips. They pastor churches or serve on staff with little recognition except from God and the ones they serve. Other pastors who receive full-time support serve long hours ministering to people in need. They serve alongside lay members who have already put in a full day’s work and now are volunteering a couple of hours to Kingdom work.

I have been told that a minister can work hard or hardly work and the church would not be able to tell the difference. I’m not sure how true that statement is but I know you can tell by the results. Even if the results of neglect or diligence are delayed (they often are) the truth will come out in the end. Even if it doesn’t, God is watching.

A minister need not be unemployed while looking for a paid staff position. There is plenty of ministry to do; if one is called.

Urban Youth Leader Training

The DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative program for urban youth workers is an intense 15-month leadership development program is described as part grad school, part boot camp, and part retreat. All costs are covered for the sixty urban youth workers from five U.S. cities are that are accepted each year. Candidates must be nominated by a person of influence in their local community to apply for this program.

The Initiative aims to increase the capacity of urban ministers believing that the best way to help our cities is by investing in leaders in the urban community who have already demonstrated leadership skills. Working in small groups participants receive dynamic, hands-on instruction from experienced national leaders. There are individual and group assignments and instruction is varied—from traditional lectures to group dialogue to interactive exercises and simulations.

Among the many strengths of the program is that it keeps ministers in place where they can apply what they learn in a real world setting.

Baptist Temple has been blessed to have our youth minister selected for the program.

A cutting edge urban university

Today I had the privilege of preaching during chapel at the Baptist University of the Americas. BUA develops Christian leaders in a cross-cultural, urban setting.


The faculty and staff are committed to Kingdom growth. The professors have served as missionaries in Europe, Africa and the Americas and have a heart for missions and evangelism.

The school’s mission, San Antonio location, and affordable tuition make the school an excellent choice for Christians called to urban ministry. It is an example of the types of cutting edge schools that are needed if Christians are going to impact in the 21st Century.

Two BUA students currently serve as ministry interns at Baptist Temple and are examples of the dedicated ministers being produced by this forward-thinking school.

Internships that build the Kingdom

When I was in seminary, I was told that nearly 50% of seminary graduates leave the ministry within five years of graduation. There are many reasons for this but a lack of a need for trained ministers is not one of them.

Many drop out because they can’t find a paying job or an adequate salary. Others burn out from the stress of ministry or family pressure. Most, I believe, drop out due to inadequate preparation. Seminaries and Bible Colleges do an excellent job of academic preparation but it is not enough. Head knowledge is no substitute for practical experience.

Compounding the problem is the reality that churches today have higher expectations of their pastors in regards to business, technical and leadership skills than in the past. Yet, these are not part of the standard seminary curriculum.

What is needed is a partnership between the academic institutions and the local church that gives students real ministry responsibilities under the mentorship and coaching of a pastor. Ideally the ministry student will learn how to work with church leaders to get things done (the most important task not taught in seminary), how to handle conflict, and recovering from mistakes. Even such seemingly mundane tasks as follow up phone calls and other administrative duties show a side of ministry not available in the classroom

The church gets some benefits in having a student increase the ministry’s impact. More important, however, is supporting the Great Commission by producing highly trained workers for the harvest field.

Baptist Temple has one such intern in April Puckett and is working with the Baptist University of the Americas to recruit others. BUA Professor Mario Ramos and VP of Student Development Marconi Monteiro both strongly believe in the power of mentoring to develop tomorrow’s church leaders. They are eager to work with local churches and other groups to better train their students and impact the community for Christ.

The secular world also sees the value in work experience as part of the learning process. In his book, Recession Proof Graduate, Charlie Hoehn recommends recent college graduates work for free at a major company. Doing so, he says, gives you solid experience to put on your resume and starts building the network you will need to find a paying job.

When counting the cost Hoehn suggests that a person might spend $100,000 on an MBA and still not have the type of experience needed to land the job they want. Free work, he argues, is cheaper and has a greater impact on your job prospects.

There are plenty of churches out there for ministry students to find a place of service, but that service must be meaningful if the internship is to be successful. Interns need to have some sort of recognition of their office and their tasks must have a direct impact on the church’s ministry.

It is the ministry students who start well by finding places of service where they can gain experience that will finish well. They will, also, have the greatest overall impact on the Kingdom.