Qualifications

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Don’t Quit

Sometimes I wonder why God still bears with me when I still struggle so much. After so many years of serving Him and seeing His hand at work, there should never be a time that I doubt Him. But then I don’t think I doubt Him as much as I doubt myself. Even in that, I am constantly learning and hopefully growing. I expect this will be the case until He takes me Home.

God said that He would not strive with man forever (Genesis 6:3), but the Psalmist noted that God will not despise a broken and a humble heart (Psalm 51:17).  We will never be perfect this side of Heaven (although we need to continually strive to be so); yet, when we fall, we must be quick to humble ourselves, admit our failure, get up, and try again. The Bible is full of imperfect people that God used but He knew their hearts were turned toward Him. If we never struggled, we may become full of pride, at which point we would be totally useless.

qualified

If you are struggling today and feel like a failure, ask God’s forgiveness. Realize that the enemy is trying to bring you down in order to render you totally ineffective for the Kingdom. I wish I knew who said that “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” That is definitely true in my life, and I expect it is in yours too.

So today, I just want to encourage you: Don’t quit. Keeping running the race. Do the best you can to faithfully do what God has called you to do. If He wanted it done perfectly, He could do it without you. All you need to do is do your best and let Him take care of the rest. Thank Him that He still has a work for you to do. After all, if He didn’t, you would not be here.

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These Are ‘Want’ Ads For Pastors?!

Is it any surprise that we have need for such open letters for pastoral repentance and bad, bad, bad church signs when churches are actually listing mostly worldly requirements for pastors?

These actual ‘want’ ads are taken off a good sister’s blog:

Executive Pastor
MCC is looking for an Executive Pastor (i.e. acting as the Chief Operating Officer) who will manage the operations of the church and will report to the Senior Pastor. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of effective staff leadership and development and will be a person of integrity committed to the mission and vision of the church. The individual will possess exceptional organizational skills and excellent oral and written communications skills. He/she will be able to manage multiple priorities. The Executive Pastor will supervise all senior staff at MCC and will lead the development of integrated plans across ministries/staff to deliver the church vision. This candidate will have a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. MCC is a 2300 member church that is mission oriented and has a passion to reach the community and the world with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Executive Pastor will embrace this mission and share this passion. This is a full time position with a full benefit package. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelors degree and a strong background in business and organization management. A minimum of 10 years experience in a leadership capacity with responsibility for delivering a vision is required. Executive Pastor Experience desirable (but not required).

Just one Biblical requirement — a close relationship with Jesus Christ?!

Worship Pastor
Emmanuel Baptist Church is seeking a man to serve as full-time Worship Pastor. Candidates must be comfortable leading a “blended” style service. EBC leans toward the contemporary side of “blended,” but we need someone who truly loves and uses both traditional and contemporary music to unite people of all age categories in worship. A little history of our church may help… EBC has more than doubled in worship attendance over the past 5 years to a weekly attendance of 600+. Last year, we saw 251 salvations, 50 baptisms, and 136 new members added to our church family. EBC has grown at an average of 100 people per year in a small town setting. In addition, Emmanuel Christian School has 450+/- students enrolled in grades PreK-12. We also opened a School of Fine Arts teaching music, voice and drama. Emmanuel Baptist Church is balanced, growing, financially sound, and known as “A Place of Grace” in our community. Emmanuel is truly experiencing a modern-day miracle! Candidates for this position should have at least a Bachelor’s degree in Music, a minimum of 3 years experience, and be proficient in piano.

Wow, no mention of any spiritual status at all! One just has to know how to lead a “blended” style service. What that is can be very open to interpretation, especially if we see the word “contemporary”, no?

Senior Pastor – Life Groups
PURPOSE OF THE POSITION
This purpose of this position is to create “Raving Fan” small groups where people can learn, change, grow, connect, support and experience God together.

PRIMARY STRENGTHS/GIFTS/TALENTS REQUIRED

  • Vision Caster – Able to communicate the LG vision effectively so that people buy in and embrace it.
  • Strategic & Systems Thinking – Able to develop effective systems (both administrative & leadership) to make sure the LG’s are on track and achieving their goals.
  • Up Front Teaching Gifts – Able to design and deliver effective leadership training in a way that creates Raving Fans.

Are raving fans an euphemism for raving lunatics? Oh, and by the way, no mention of Biblical requirements for shepherds either.

I rest my case.