Into the future

September 2, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Candidate Process, Seminary, Work 

Hello, folks.

I know that this blog has been dormant for a while.  The main reason was that I was being very careful not to post anything related to my job search that might upset a future employer.  As you know if you go back into my history, I’ve been mostly unemployed since August 2008.  More recently working with the US Census allowed me to create my own small business without upsetting the unemployment folks and that has been operating at a part-time sporadic level since last spring.

Throughout my unemployment period I repeatedly heard a call to ministry.  Sometimes it took the form of a thought that perhaps I should go to seminary.  Often it took the form of me simply noticing that I was choosing to spend my free time while unemployed increasing my volunteer work in the church.  I also found myself thinking that my church work was more important that my job search at times.  A number of times it took the form of a surprise opportunity to stretch my ministry skills into a new area, and succeed, and I credit God with providing those opportunities.  Once in the last 2 years I had a sense of God’s immediate presence, which felt a lot like my previous dream and vision.

All of this came to a head this past January.   Several events – conversations with people that I know, and my hard work back home the week that my church’s mission trip was caught in Haiti after the earthquake – led me to the point where I felt that I “can’t not” consider seminary.  So I took a few steps in that direction.  In the spring I audited a class at Princeton Seminary on pastoral counseling.  I spent a LOT of time talking to people who have already gone through the vocational discernment process.  My wife and I went to considerable efforts to determine whether or not our relationship could handle the change in career to one that pays less and demands more.  We consulted a financial planner to make sure that our cash flow and retirement planning would allow for me to have five years (the next year, 3 years of seminary, and a year after seminary looking for work) of very low income.  I prayed a LOT – sometimes for God to help me make it happen and sometimes for God to take away the call.  Ultimately I reached the point in August where my wife and I (among others – see below) agree that going to seminary and likely going into ordained minstry is the right choice.
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While this discernment was going on (and believe me, it will continue essentially forever but will be very focused for the next few years) I started the official process for becoming an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  My Session voted to recommend me to the presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) as an Inquirer in March.  I met with CPM this past Monday evening and they voted to recommend that the Presbytery of New Brunswick enroll me as an Inquirer at the next meeting in 2 weeks.  So from the official side I’m on my way.  Our denomination has a very planned and regimented process of care, support, discernment and gate-keeping where the CPM committee will work with me (and my church Session, and to some degree the seminary) between now and the day that I may someday be ordained into my first call to make sure that God, the community and I all see that Call to ministry.  That’s moving now.

My plan at this point is to start seminary for my Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree in the Fall of 2011.  Our financial plan calls for me to work on a very part-time basis for each of the next 5 years.  So for the next year I hope to find some combination of small business work, project work (hopefully church-related or something similar) and a regularly scheduled part-time job (again, ideally church-related or something in the non-profit field) that makes up about 10-15 hours a week.  At the same time I’ll be continuing to discern, work on seminary applications, and volunteer at church and elsewhere.  My wife has a solid well-paying job here so we are not looking to move either for school or the future.

So that’s what’s going on.  If you have questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments.  I do plan to reactivate this blog going forward to keep you updated on the journey and to again open up the release of writing that I felt needed to be temporarily stifled by my job search.  Watch this space!

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