Thoughts on the Possibility of Pastoring, part 2

Charles Spurgeon, in his Lectures to My Students, lists four main evaluators of what he deems “the heavenly call” to the pastorate. Walking through each of these, I am encouraged that, if I have perhaps rightly heard his voice, God has been and may be calling me to the pastorate:

“The first sign of the heavenly call is an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work…This desire must be a thoughtful one. It should not be a sudden impulse unattended by anxious consideration.”

On April 12, 2000, I wrote in my journal that,

“I am wondering if God is leading elsewhere, as I sense an increasing desire for pastoring, teaching, and administration emerging deep within me that I wonder if is to be used in a different part of the body of Christ. Despite these yearnings, I am unclear as to where or for what purpose that may be, as well as the context and community in which any of it would take place. The needs for these gifts are great; the calling, however, is elusive at this point in time.”

This entry was not in response to leaving a job uninvolved in ministry for ministry; on the contrary, this was my reply to seven years (at the time) of intense and focused ministry with The Navigators. While it is the first mention of the word “pastoring” I can find in my writing, its use wasn’t to get out of vocational ministry, but rather to get deeper into it. That was six years ago – and that was after seven years of student ministry, as well as another three in college.

“There must be an aptness to teach and some measure of the other qualities needful for the office of a public instructor…A man must not consider that he is called to preach until he has proved that he can speak.”

Teaching has been in my blood from the beginning. My grandfather and mother were both educators, and over the years, God has given me many different opportunities and venues to develop my teaching skills, along with the confidence to utilize them in this way. To learn in order to help others learn to “get” whatever it is they want/need to “get” has been a strong driving force in my life. This is why I love to write; this is also why I love – yes – to teach.