A recipe for unemployment

I feel for you with being rejected. I have had several SBC churches in my area that have went through several pastors in the last 9 years, but rejected me as a pastor.

I realize you don't want to go where you are not lead and God doesn't want you... thing is if you have never been in a position such as yours or mine you really don't understand.

I had a D.O.M.'s wife tell me I shouldn't go to Liberty University. It may cause me problems in getting a job or a church. I would not exchange my education and growth I have received from my time at Liberty University. I have my thoughts of why she had that opinion, but it did matter to me.

God has opened many ministering and preaching doors since I finished my degree. One of the doors was non- traditional. The other door has been the chance to preach at several churches in the last 10 months. It has sharpened my skill and helped me to grow in my walk.

Keep looking for those chances to preach the Word. Be faithful to the Lord and He will take care of you. It has taken me a while to get to that point... some days I still struggle with that fact.

 

You may not consider yourself liberal, but most conservative Christians would. You are married to an woman who has been "ordained" and is a "pastor".

 

unemployment

What is your denomination?

Around here, Fuller is considered a secular school by many.

 

Too many churches are too proud of themselves and think they are the best thing God invented.

 

Yes-and they may be one of the worse things to happen to Christianity.

 

Those kind do not need a godly pastor. They need someone to help them die.

 

You bring up a number of things here...I will attempt to deal with a few of them. First, I think that it is a bit disingenuous to ignore that Fuller certainly is less conservative today than it once was. I do not believe Fuller is running from that claim as much as you imply. Now, having stated this, I am also not claiming that it is one of the great bastions of liberal theology...I don't believe that it is yet in that category. Still, its direction is moving in a way that had made conservative churches wary for a number of years. I dare say you knew that when you registered to attend there; it is not exactly breaking news.

Likewise, Dr. Mouw has a long track record. He has never been considered theologically conservative. In fact, he has been consistently labeled as a member of the evangelical left. Again, I have not read of him rejecting this label. As you offer in you OP, he is finding himself on differing sides from conservative evangelicals...from my reading, this is not an usual position for him. Again, why would we act surprised?

As to Dr. Mouw's endorsement of Bell's book, it would certainly seem that there is not a long list of well-known evangelicals lining up to follow him. In other words, Mouw's endorsement of the book is simply further evidence of his (and I believe the Seminary's) movement away from conservative evangelicalism. Many will be pleased with this. Yet, I think if anything, even mainstream evangelicals might find it difficult to believe that Mouw endorsed this book. We will have to wait and see how it all pans out.

Lastly, you ask if Dr. Mouw's quote sounds good. Absolutely not. I am troubled that he would claim that anyone takes pleasure in people going to hell. I have never known anyone who did. He makes a mistake in not separating that we preach hell as a reality for which many people are headed with a love for this fact. It doesn't bother me, however, because I do not follow Dr. Mouw. I follow one who warned that there is a narrow path to salvation which few will find and a wide path to destruction that, sadly, will be traveled by the many. If Bell doesn't like this message, his argument is with the One who first preached it.

 

At first I thought you were speaking of people. Now I see you were speaking of churches.

 

As to the second half of the equation, I feel for you. Finding your first pastorate can be really difficult. At the same time, we all make choices which we know will have real-world repercussions. If you go to Liberty and your desire is to pastor a reformed congregation, you will have a lot more explaining to do than if you went to say Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. You chose to go to Fuller; certainly this will make employment more difficult with certain congregations. I am sure that you knew that going in. It doesn't mean that you can't get hired, but it does mean you will have to be able to answer why you chose to attend Fuller.

As a person whose been on both sides of search committees- member, adviser and candidate- I can tell you that it is a mixed bag. Some really are informed and do their homework...others do not really have a clue as to what they are looking for. Inexperience hurts, but people who are wet behind the ears are hired daily. If I had been turned down that many times, I would really give my resume a once-over. Perhaps there is something in it (besides Fuller) that is scaring people off.

Finally, and this is important, you have to be absolutely honest with committees. You may truly be more liberal than the churches that you are applying to. They may sense this in your resume or in conversations with you. The important thing to remember is you never want to misrepresent where you stand. Too many people have said what needed to be said in order to get a pastorate; this generally ends with the pastor leaving after much stress and a church greatly injured. This is equally true of conservatives in liberal churches as it is of liberals in conservative churches. As Christians, we should honestly say where we stand and leave the rest to the Lord. From the fact that you have had so many unsuccessful applications, it would seem that you are not willing to simply try to get a post. For this, I salute your integrity. Hang in there with much prayer.

 

Have you considered looking at English speaking Baptist churches in the UK or Europe? It is not as far fetched as you might think.

 

Being raised in the "Bible Belt" I can say, yes, it is. The fact that your wife is an ordained pastor will get your resume chucked into file 13 real fast in the Bible Belt, because most of us still believe women are not to teach or usurp authority over the men in the church. The exception would be the American Baptist Churches, or Methodist churches.

Also take into consideration the culture of the Bible Belt. It is far different than that of California. Outsiders are not easily embraced. They are expected to assimilate and become "one of us" before people will really listen to you. It takes time, years in fact, to prove yourself worthy to earn trust. Not saying this is good or bad, it's just how it is.

If it's God's will for you to pastor a church, it will happen in His time. You won't need to worry about it or force it to happen.

 

And that should be the focus not whether one is liberal or being rejected because of it. If God has called one to pastor then it will happen and no one on earth can stop it. If you get ahead of God you will get yourself in trouble.