Some LinkedIn help

Some time back, I mentioned Jibber Jobber-- an online tool for managing job search and career details. I've also mentioned LinkedIn before as a good tool for advancing your networking.

So here's an interesting confluence of the two: the CEO of Jibber Jobber, Jason Alba, has recently created a resource about how to make the most of LinkedIn for job-seeking. Here's an article that summarizes five of the suggestions that he offers.

Thanks, Jason.

Stuart Briscoe on choosing candidates

One added benefit of the [Elmbrook Church] Study Center became evident over the years as more and more people who would never have gone to seminary completed the training we offered (all the time supporting themselves in their secular jobs and pursuing their ministries in the church. This meant that when we had a vacancy on the staff or an opportunity to develop a new ministry, we didn't have to look very far for a suitable person to give leadership. "Look under your nose first" became a rule of thumb as we built our pastoral team. Added to this, we had a system of internships in which young college students who had shown gifts and aptitudes compatible with ministry were invited to spend a summer working with us at the church. Over the years a number of them found their way into pastoral ministry or missionary activity. Little tributaries were flowing in many directions.
I am not at all enthusiastic about modern methods of "recruiting and hiring" in which resumes of hundreds of people are gathered, endless procedures of vetting and interviewing ensue, various "candidates" are displayed, and eventually one person survives the process. While one church is satisfied and one pastor is happy, many ministries are disrupted, dozens of ministers are distracted, and most of them are disappointed. This issue came to a head early in my ministry when I presented someone as a suitable member of the pastoral staff to the church leaders. One of them asked me, "How many people have you interviewed for this position?"

"One," I replied.

"One?" he questioned, startled. Then he added, "How can you possibly know he's the best person for the job?"

"I don't," I freely admitted. "But I know him, I know his heart, I know what he can do and what he can't do, and I think I know where he can grow. In addition he knows us and he has no illusions about what he's getting into. So why look any further? He may not be the 'best,' but he's one of ours and certainly good enough. And why should we have the best anyway?" I happen to believe good enough is good enough-- and in a fallen world, there's no such thing as perfection.

[From Flowing Streams: Journeys of a Life Well-Lived by Stuart Briscoe. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008, p. 133.]

Networking at work: case study #3 from my experience

Here's the last case study from my own experience, and the one about how I made contact with the position I now have.

One of the important parts of my networking in particular, and my placement process in general, was to keep in regular contact with a group of friends who prayed for me, offered me feedback and advice, and generally served as brotherly support through the difficult time that candidacy and placement is.

After seeing the process go to very late stages, then watching it fall apart suddenly, one of these guys-- Bryan, a former classmate who graduated a year and a half ahead of me-- shot me a quick e-mail:

Sorry that things went south in the end. That stinks, and I'm praying for you about it.

A guy I work with might be able to help you find some good leads. I was talking to him this morning about how things fell through at this latest position, and he said you should call him. Call me in the next couple of days about it.

When I called, Bryan reminded me that the Senior Pastor at the church he served had left about a year before, and they had recently called an Interim Pastor: Dominic Aquila.

If you don't know who he is, here's a quick run-down: he has been involved in leadership at different levels in the PCA for decades, in addition to pastoring several churches, and had also be instrumental in starting New Geneva Theological Seminary in Colorado. At the time that Bryan and I were talking, Dominic was also serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCA-- a position that cemented his prominence in the denomination.

Suffice to say, Dominic is also a well-connected contact. I e-mailed him about finding a time to talk, and he also asked to see my resume and Data Form, which I sent along. When we talked a few days later, he had studied both of these, and was well-acquainted with what sort of role and position I was seeking. He worked through the "vacant pulpits" list with me, and made some suggestions of which ones to call (and which ones to avoid!).

A couple of months later, I was anticipating the General Assembly in June and hoping for some good networking opportunities then. I e-mailed Dominic and asked if he might have a few moments to meet with me at the Assembly, which he responded that he would. (Remember, he's the outgoing Moderator, so he had his hands full with stuff-- but he made time for me, nonetheless.)

When we met up again, he suggested several opportunities, including my current church. Within a few days of returning from General Assembly, I contacted the Ruling Elder who was leading the search at this church, and mentioned that Dominic had encouraged me to call. We agreed that I would send my resume and Data Form to him. After we talked, he hung up and called Dominic, as well as my friend and former professor Phil Douglass, and asked them about me.

The next thing I knew, I had an invitation to come and interview. No sermon recordings, no phone interview-- just the word of two men who had become an important part of my network, and a glimpse of my resume. That was enough.

And here I am. I interviewed, gathered a lot of information, preached and led worship, and enjoyed a covered-dish dinner with them. As we left, Marcie and I were both convinced that this was where the Lord was bringing us-- a sentiment that was reciprocated the following Sunday in the congregational meeting.

Networking at work: case study #2 from my experience

Another case study from my own experience is below. This one is almost unbelievable, but it is completely true!

I grew up in a prominent United Methodist church in Columbia, South Carolina. My mother and step-father are still members of that church, and are quite active. Naturally, there are a number of people that my mother sees regularly who knew me well as a child, and who often inquire about how and what I am doing lately.

So it didn't come as a surprise to me one day when mom mentioned, "Our good friends the Harleys in Sunday School asked about you, and I told them you were looking for a position as a pastor. They were very interested in that."

Me: "Were they? That's thoughtful! Please tell them thanks for their interest."

Mom: "Well, they asked about where you were looking, and I mentioned that you were a presbyterian. And they said, 'Oh, our son-in-law is a presbyterian pastor.' I said, well, you were a PCA presbyterian-- because I know it's a smaller denomination. And they said, 'He is too! Maybe he could help your son!'"

Me: "Wow-- that's great, mom. Where is he a pastor?"

Mom: "They said he was in Mississippi."

Me: "Oh-- there are lots of PCA churches in Mississippi. Do you remember his name?"

Mom: "It was sort of a strange name... was it... Ligon?"

Me: "Ligon Duncan?"

Mom: "That's it! Their son-in-law's name is Ligon Duncan!"

And so, that is how I happened to spend a couple of hours in two different conversations with Ligon Duncan, who is certainly one of the most prominent people in the PCA, not to mention his involvement with leadership across the Reformed and evangelical world. Dr. Duncan was very gracious, and took great interest in my placement.

Networking at work: case study #1 from my experience

I've had a handful of apparently serendipitous encounters with networking at work. Here is one.

In college, a man named Henry led me through discipleship for several years, and we became good friends. He eventually served as the best man in my wedding, and has remained a source of treasured advice and input over the years.

At one point in my candidacy, I was visiting with Henry during a trip to my hometown. Henry knew that I was seeking pastoral placement, and asked about my progress. After hearing my report, Henry asked, "Would you mind if I made a phone call on your behalf?"

I said, of course not, and Henry pulled out his mobile phone and quickly found a number in his speed-dial.

"Hello-- this is Henry."

"We're well, and I hope you are too. Hey, we're going to spend the week after New Years' at the mountain house, and we'd love it if you two would come and burn some firewood with us."

"Great! I'll call you with details next week. Say, I'm sitting here with a friend who is looking for an opening for a position as a pastor. Would you be willing to talk with him, and point him in a helpful direction?"

"That's great-- thanks so much, Luder. I'll give him your home number."

And when Henry hung up, he wrote down for me the home number of Luder Whitlock, longtime President of Reformed Theological Seminary and now President of Teleios, Executive Director of Trinity Forum, and probably one of the top 10 most well-connected men in the Reformed and Presbyterian circles.

It turns out that Henry and Dr. Whitlock have been close friends for years, and Dr. Whitlock was glad to be a phone call away for me. He suggested a few leads for me, and also committed to praying for me in my transition and ministry regularly. What a blessing!

Maintaining and growing your network, part 2

Last time we dealt with the "organic" approach to building relationships in a network. This time, let's talk about a "technological" approach.

By technological approach, I mean technology tools that will help you maintain and grow your friendships and relationships. (Frankly, many of these can help you build and re-build friendships, as well.)

First, though, an important disclaimer: these are tools, not the relationships themselves. And they are intended to be connection facilitators, not the connections themselves. Don't be fooling into mistaking one for the other.

There are several tools that I use, and that I think every ministry candidate ought to begin to use, before and during their candidacy process:

• Plaxo started off as a tool to help you keep your contact information current. It still does that, but they have more recently added a social networking component that they would like to become a competitor to the other big ones. More than the social networking aspect, though, Plaxo's original purpose is the real benefit of the service. You'll sync your computer's address book with Plaxo, and then you can contact those in your address book who have e-mail addresses (selectively or the whole book) and request that they verify the accuracy of their contact information. You'll probably find that a number of your friends are members of the service, too-- which means that their information will always automatically be updated. If you've ever struggled to keep accurate phone numbers for your friends, this is the service for you. Furthermore, Plaxo will (at your request) e-mail you reminders of birthdays, and even provide a service for sending customized eCards via e-mail to them. I've found that an eCard sent to most of my contacts is a great way to maintain a regular connection with those who I don't otherwise have frequent contact with.
  
• If you're not already a member of Facebook, I'm surprised. Whether you are or not, you should begin to turn your attention to this social networking service. While MySpace put the social network on everyone's map, Facebook has emerged as the service to be a part of. Why should you be on Facebook? Because you'll find that you are able to re-connect to people you know, but have lost touch with. Whether it be classmates from seminary, college, and even high school, former co-workers, or a fellow member of a church that you were a member of 10 years ago, chances are good that you'll find dozens, if not hundreds, of people you haven't seen or talked to in years. It's also a fun way to keep up with those who you have seen-- watching for changes in status, seeing recent pictures, reading "notes," and writing on their "walls." In fact, it's so fun that it can become an addiction-- so be careful that you don't get too sucked in! Facebook has reconnected me with literally hundreds of people that I had lost contact with-- some of those re-connection stories are pretty cool.
  
• While your social networking appetite will find full satisfaction with Facebook, I have to also recommend that you join LinkedIn, which is also a social network. This one, though, is focused on networking for professionals. Here's what I really like about LinkedIn: they have built into the system a way for introductions to be made between two others who may not know each other. So, if I find someone I'd like to connect to, but I don't know them directly, I may request an introduction from someone we know in common. Also, because it is focused on "professional" networking, the interface feels more like a resume or CV than a personal website or blog (like Facebook can feel like).

Think of it this way: Plaxo will help you keep your address book current; Facebook will aid you in reconnecting with your friends old and new; and LinkedIn will give you access to new relationships through introductions from the people you already know.

One more thing: the Manager Tools guys have some good advice and cautions to offer about using social networking tools; check out their podcasts on it here and here.

Maintaining and growing your network, part 1

Now that you've begun to build your network of relationships, how do you maintain them? How do you grow them?

There are two angles, or approaches, I want to cover about that: I'll call them the organic and the technological approaches. In this post, I'll cover the organic approach, and I'll discuss the technological approach in another post.

There are entire books written about how to build friendships, how to develop relationships, how to grow your "network" in an organic way. Frankly, some of them are awful: they are the reason why some in the church have the negative opinion of "networking" that they do.

But many of them are incredibly useful, and it would be a mistake to try to re-create here the great work of others. (I'll make some recommendations below.)

That said, I'll list a few principles that are crucial in relationship development. (It is much more helpful to think in terms of principles instead of methods.)

• Be genuine. You're setting out to build real relationships with real people; by definition, a relationship is a commitment. If you're not truly interested in building the relationships you are pursuing, stop now. (For that matter, you might seriously reconsider your calling to the ministry.)
  
• Be available. When opportunities present themselves for connecting with friends-- new and old-- then you need to be flexible enough to accept them, at least with regular frequency. You don't have to forsake your family life or passing your classes to do it, but you ought to be willing to turn aside from writing the perfect paper or polishing your sermon to acknowledge and relate to a friend or family member.
  
• Be a listener. Sure, you want them to get to know you-- how else will they really be a friend to you, or have any sense of stake in your life and ministry? But to build a real relationship you must listen. This doesn't mean solving their problems, offering great advice, or giving an ideal book recommendation. (Well, sometimes it might mean one of those.) It means knowing who they are, the details of their life, and what their struggles and delights are.
  
• Be pro-active. Sometimes you need to seek them out and be their friend. Whether its a phone call, a note or card in the mail, an e-mail, or lunch or a cup of coffee together, some of the relationship needs to come from you. Don't be one of those friends who never initiates.
  
• Be attentive. Remember their birthdays. Include them on your Christmas card list. Be aware enough of major life changes to note them. And if you know about something significant-- like that their dog died, their mother is sick, they are looking for a new job, or there is a problem in their church community-- then check in with them about it occasionally.

All of this is exactly what you'll be doing with the people you'll minister to in your pastoral ministry. This is the life you will live as a pastor. If you learn the skill of relationships that these principles speak to, you will be far better prepared for ministry.

And really: isn't this simply "making friends 101"? You've done this before! Don't treat it like it is something you don't have any idea how to do, like evangelism or something.

Here are some suggestions for getting a better grip on building relationships:

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a classic on this subject, and despite the corny title is really a good tool.
The Relationship Cure by John Gottman deals with strengthening relationships of all sorts, and is a fantastic resource for this subject, as well as for the counseling you will do in ministry.
The Manager Tools podcast and website is a resource I have mentioned before; they have some good podcasts on developing your "professional" network. I especially appreciated their thoughts on "Building a Network" and "Secrets of a Great Handshake."

Networking at work: research stats and results

In my research on the placement process, networking quickly emerged as a significant factor-- indeed, that was the initial reason for including it in my "five factors for effective placement."

Here are some quick stats and results from my research:

• 67% of my survey respondents made initial contact with the ministry they eventually accepted a call from through networking.
  
• 81% of the respondents said they actively and purposefully utilized a network to some useful extent during their candidacy process.
  
• In an objective question* asking, "What was the best thing you did in your candidacy and placement process?" more than 10% answered something along the lines of, "networking with professors, presbytery or convention, and my church."
  
• In a different objective question asking, "What would you do differently if you were candidating from seminary again?" 10% replied that they would network more often and/or earlier in the process. (Seminary professors and church/presbytery opportunities were specifically identified as areas they would have networked with more often.

*There were no preset answers or multiple choice options, but just a blank "short answer" style question.

Building your network, part 2

Now you have a foundational network in place, how do you add to it? How do you grow it into a larger network? Do you even need to grow it bigger?

To answer the last question first: you may not need to build it bigger. The Lord knows exactly how many of His people you need to know in order to be led to the place He has for you!

But you also need to be a good steward of the opportunities for new relationships God puts before you. After all, when we're talking about "building your network" then what we really mean is adding new relationships to your life. And these relationships will either be as brothers and sisters in Christ, or people who do not believe but who nevertheless may enrich your life (and who certainly need the Gospel!). One way or another, can anyone say they have "too many friends" or that they know too many people?

So really, building your network is about taking advantage of the social opportunities that are naturally a part of your life, and seizing those that are offered to you.

What might this look like? Here are a few examples:

• New classmates. It is unlikely that you will know every classmate in your classes at seminary. If you make it a point to sit beside someone new in one class every semester and befriend them (or even just get acquainted with them), you'll gain 6-10 new friends every semester.
  
• Leaders at your "seminary" church. As you live an active life as a member of the church, and get involved in leadership and service there, you will inevitably get to know a few of the leaders in your congregation.
  
• Members of your "home" church. If you go to seminary in a city different from your hometown, your home church (in your hometown) will be interested in your progress at seminary. They may even ask you to give a report on what you have been doing and learning when you return home. Take note of the people in your home congregation that take especial interest in your seminary training-- these will be the ones who see themselves as stakeholders in your current and future ministry. And here is a great opportunity to build some new friendships with people who care about you.
  
• Co-laborers in ministry. If you're involved in ministry during seminary (and if you're not, then I question whether you're really being well-trained for ministry), then your co-laborers in that ministry are a part of your network-- they have seen your gifts and abilities for ministry at work, and can testify to your fitness for ministry. They'll understand as well as anyone what sorts of ministry opportunities you are best suited for.

Again, this list isn't exhaustive-- there will be other opportunities for you to build your network. But you should have an idea from these what ways you have to grow the number of relationships you have with other members of the Body of Christ. Next time, I'll talk about growing and maintaining these relationships.

Networking at work: a case study from the research

One of my survey respondents ended up being an interesting case study in the power of networking in the placement process. Here is his story.

Two seminary students (we'll call them Joe and Steve) were both going through the candidacy process at the same time; they were good friends, and had resolved not to view the process as a competition between them.

Joe found himself as the lead candidate for a position in a non-traditional ministry, and he pursued that position as far as he felt he could. As the process advanced, Joe did not sense a strong call to that position, and he felt that some of those on the search team felt the same way. In the end, Joe declined to accept the position-- even though it was offered to him-- and instead determined that post-graduate education was where the Lord was leading him.

In declining the position, Joe mentioned Steve favorably to the search team, and urged them to give him consideration. They contacted Steve and he quickly advanced to become their prime candidate, and they eventually offered Steve the position, which he accepted.

In reflecting on this, Steve said, "I wasn't consciously networking, but through the network the job found me."

Who's in your network?

When you're thinking about building the network you'll need* for candidacy and placement, it is helpful (and encouraging) to consider who is already in your network. When I've taught on this subject, and when I've counseled with those going through the candidacy process, I often work through this with them to demonstrate how their networks are already far more robust than they know.

So, who is in your network? Here's a list of starting points:

• Family members
  
• Seminary classmates
  
• Seminary professors
  
• College friends
  
• Other friends
  
• People from your home church(es)
  
• Former campus pastor(s) or ministry worker(s)
  
• People from presbytery, synod, or region association
  
• Visiting pastors and/or speakers whom you have gotten to know while in seminary
  
• Present and former co-workers

As you can see, that list alone could generate dozens of names-- depending on your life circumstances, perhaps even hundreds. And that is just a beginning; your circumstances will dictate how many more people you can add to the list.

So to get started "building" your network, make a list of everyone who fits into as many of these as you can. Do you have addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses for them? If not, who would you call to get them? Collect all of these together-- in your computer address book, in a notebook or planner, or however will be the most effective way to collect your names and contact information.

Don't look now, but you've got a network!














*I say "need" because I'm firmly convinced that it will be through your network that you will most likely find effective placement. As the results of my survey showed, by far most of the graduates found their placement through their network; more than that, the effective placements among them were almost all through a network. For my own experience, every ministry job I have ever had-- including my ministry jobs in seminary-- came through my network.

Building your network, part 1

Well, nearly a year ago (but not quite) I promised to blog about building and maintaining your "network". Now, some of you may remember that a year ago I was in the throes of preparing to move for my call to my present ministry, so I hope it is understandable that I neglected to fulfill this promise. Nevertheless, it is an important topic-- and one that I need to come back to. So here we go.

For starters, let's go back and refresh what a "network" is (according to my survey, and as far as this writing is concerned). A network is not:

• An unhealthy idea, common in the business world, in which every relationship is viewed from the perspective of personal gain.
  
• A somewhat “professional” approach to relationships, in which some relationships are seen as beneficial beyond the normal extent of friendship and acquaintance.

In contrast, a network is:

• At least-- a natural process of relating to others, sometimes benefiting from them and sometimes being of benefit to them.
  
• Optimally-- a sense of community in which everyone serves one another toward the common benefit of all.

So, at least we're looking at relationships where we hope we might benefit and be a benefit. And here's the plain truth about networks: as Jesus said in Luke 6:38, the measure you give is the measure you get. (Okay, that text doesn't mean exactly what I mean here, but the principle is still found in that sermon.) In other words, if you want to enjoy the benefit of a healthy network, first you must have a healthy network-- and to get one, you must have been of benefit to others.

To do that, you can't simply call up strangers-- or practical strangers, the folks who have been in your address book since your freshman year of college but who you haven't talked to since sophomore year-- and expect them to put out. Instead, the benefit you are able to ask of your network is directly proportional to the amount of relational energy you have spent in building it.

Think of it like an endowment. When a school or other organization has an endowment, there is a substantial stash of capital put away in an investment, and the interest from that investment pays for whatever is endowed. A network is like this, too: you need to have enough relational capital with the folks in your network that you can "live off the interest," so to speak. (Incidentally, ministry is like that too.)

So the first lesson about building and maintaining a healthy network is this: how much have you invested in building the relationships you will tap during the placement process?

If you're following me, you've probably realized that you should have started a while ago-- years, even. That's true, and if you're just about to launch into your candidacy process there is probably very little you can do about it. In my next post, I'll talk about who is already in your network; there may be some surprises that you haven't thought of. (Most guys I counsel about this quickly discover that their existing network is much bigger than they knew.)

Who's in your network?

When it comes to candidacy, the best thing you have going for your is the relationships you have with others. The church is inherently relational-- after all, it really isn't good for man to be alone-- and those relationships form the framework for how God brings many things to pass: friendships for accountability, introductions of future spouses, and career connections.

Never is this more present-- or important-- than in the placement of pastors in ministry. Chances are, you met your best friend, a key discipleship leader in your life, and your spouse (if you're married) through the relationships you have with others in the church. Why wouldn't you expect to meet your future congregation or ministry in the same way?

The first part, then, of seeing this happen is recognizing who is in this network of relational connections. To sum it up, these are the people in your world, in your pool of relationships, who do and will see themselves as "stakeholders" in your life and/or ministry: they have a personal stake in whether you succeed or fail, burn out or thrive. So, who is in your network?

This question was asked directly of me by a guy who had taken the class that I teach a portion of at Covenant Seminary. He stated that, for reasons I won't go into (but that make sense), he had not connected with a church in our denomination for the six years prior to coming to seminary-- thus, he feared his network would be severely lacking as he began his candidacy. "Who," he asked, "is in my network?"

In answer to the question, I'd like to point out that he had a reasonable concern: a substantial contribution to your network is made from your previous church(es), in the form of pastors you knew there, well-connected elders and deacons, and simply having lay-people who knew you and can speak to whether you will be effective in ministry. The first question I usually encourage others to ask, then, is: "Who knew you in your last church that you have maintained some sort of relationship with?"

Since in this case that question did not apply, I encouraged him to dig deeper: how about other churches he had been affiliated with? Maybe he was involved in a campus ministry in college; is there anyone he still keeps in touch with from there?

Having examined your personal history, now turn to the more recent past and present. After all, you've been in seminary for several years; surely you have met new friends and acquaintances who are now in ministry. You know many professors, and some better than others. And, of course, you have been attending a local church while in seminary (and hopefully you've been active in ministry there, as well). All of these represent parts of your network.

And don't forget-- or underestimate-- your family. These will be the biggest stakeholders of all, in some ways. Depending on your background, you may not feel that these relationships are directly helpful for ministry candidacy-- but you would be wrong. You should never assume that any relationship will not be potentially the very contact you need to be in touch with the church God is calling you into.

Then, realize that the members of your network don't include merely the relationships that you have and maintain, but all of their relationships as well. In fact, this is how your network will work with you to help you find placement. We'll talk about this in another post.

Next time, I'll talk about how to maintain your existing network, or begin to build a network if you haven't already been working at it (though it is unlikely that any adult will be starting from scratch).

Maintaining (or starting!) your network in seminary

If you've read much of what I write here, you know that "networking" is important to the candidacy process. God uses His body, through the relational connections within it, to bring pastors into contact with churches. Including my most recent placement, all five of the ministry positions I have occupied have been the product of direct, relational connections between me and others.

If you are in seminary-- or if you are wondering if God may be beginning to move you out of your current job or ministry-- you would do well to attend to the nurture of your "network" toward this end. It is important to realize that you need to do more than just calling up or e-mailing contacts in your address book, many of whom are vestiges of long-defunct friendships, and asking if they will offer you some help or support in your pastoral search. You need to be in contact now, and already, with the people you intend to call on for recommendations.

Over the next few posts, I'll discuss who is included in your network, how you should be maintaining those relationships, and what tools are available to help with this.

Blogging GA, day five: final thoughts

I came today from the PCA's General Assembly, riding home with the staff from Covenant Seminary who had gone to GA to work the exhibition booth. We had a safe trip home, stopping in Sikeston, MO at Lambert's Cafe for some "throwed rolls." The guys I rode with were great traveling companions, and I feel like I came away with new friends.

I was talking with one of my former classmates about the expense of General Assembly, and I realized what a bargain trip it had been for me:

Ride down with my Pastor: $0 (though I will give them something for gas)
Riding the bus to and from my housing (10 trips @$1.50 each): $15
Riding home with the seminary staff: $0
Housing at University of Memphis (4 nights @$32 per night): $135, including tax
Meals (minus three meals provided by others, and breakfasts-- I took granola bars with me): $70
Books and gifts: $40
Total cost of my GA Trip: $260

Riding with others and taking the bus saved me tons-- with gas at $3+ per gallon, and parking in downtown Memphis at $6-8 per day, I probably saved more than $100 on transportation. Housing was similar: the total cost of my housing was less than one night at the hotel adjoining the convention center.

What is more, all of these expenses are tax-deductible, since they are directly related to my job search. All of that is to say that it shouldn't be too hard for a seminarian to get to GA to make the connections they will need for candidacy.

One closing thought about General Assembly: on the last night, I was sitting toward the middle of the assembly for worship. As I stood there during one of the hymns, I stopped singing and listened: over 2000 people, almost all of whom are Ruling Elders, Teaching Elders, or their families, singing in worship together-- it was a moving sound.

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, PCA

Blogging GA, day three: making more connections

I continued today to find that General Assembly is a profitable venue for making connections toward candidacy. Without digging into too many details, here's a quick synopsis of Wednesday's productivity:

• My friends and former classmates continued to offer me help and tips in finding leads to new opportunities-- through them I met no less than five new people today, all of whom had opportunities to share with me (often including names and phone numbers of contacts).
• At least five friends asked me to call them in the next week, as they had information in their offices at home that was needed for pointing me toward new leads.
• I met my old Young Life leader from high school, who now is an Associate Pastor in a PCA church; he is helping me connect with his Senior Pastor on Thursday, as they are seeking a new staff member.
• I was told about the same church, and encouraged to contact them, by three different people at different times. Clearly, this is an opportunity I need to follow up with!
• I also connected to the Acquisitions Editors at three different publishing houses, and they are all interested in seeing a proposal for my book on transition from seminary into pastoral ministry.

One further thought here: All of these connections are ones that are served better by the fact that I am here, in person. Let me give two examples why:

One of the Acquisitions Editors told me that he was interested in my book, but probably wouldn't have looked at it seriously if it had simply come by e-mail as an unsolicited proposal. Because it was of a peculiar nature, he said, it would have been one that was eliminated through an early screening.

Similarly, my former Young Life leader told me at first that they were probably looking for someone with a bit more experience than me. After we spoke for a few minutes about what my experience actually was, however, he was willing to encourage his Senior Pastor to consider me more closely.

Of course, neither of these are sure-bets, but I wouldn't even have received their consideration if I had not been speaking with them face-to-face. This is still more evidence at the value and importance of networking.

More tomorrow on my last full day.

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, PCA

Blogging GA, day two: a day of "grip and grin"

After resting in relief of my near-miss and God's protection, I rose this morning and returned (by bus) to the Cook Convention Center. General Assembly (GA) doesn't officially begin until this evening, but there is a lot going on today, and I'll certainly be able to make connections and see people.

And see people I did. I had e-mailed or called a number of people I knew and asked them to find some time for me at GA, and nearly all had agreed.

Now, because of 7 years of youth ministry in the PCA (during which I regularly took students to large conferences), as well as knowing a lot of graduates from Covenant Seminary who were classmates, I know a substantial number of pastors and others in the PCA. This means that I can just hang out in the lobby area at GA and in a matter of minutes see someone that I know.

That said, I think that anyone-- regardless of their degree of "connection" within the PCA or another denomination-- would find the assembly of their denomination a worthwhile investment of time for the sake of connecting and networking. As I've emphasized a number of times before, the relational connections that a candidate has are among the most important aspects or factors for effective placement. In fact, I would say that this sort of "networking" is second only to a strong sense of calling in its importance to good placement.

As an example, here is a little summary of how fruitful my day at GA was today:

• I saw no less than 20 former classmates, all of whom were interested in where I was, what I was doing, and in praying for my search.
• I also saw a handful-- 3 or 4-- of the men that I regularly contact for prayer support and encouragement. All wanted to spend some time with me, encouraging me; those who weren't able to stop then and talk set up a time to visit with me.
• I met with four different people who had specific leads for me-- opportunities for me to follow up on that may be a good fit. All of these people offered to make an initial contact on my behalf, which means that I won't one more name in a sea of unknown names.
• I met with five people that mentioned other opportunities, each of whom invited me to use their name when I made initial contact with the opportunities.
• I made plans to meet with three people who had recently left positions, who were interested in helping me explore whether these opportunities would be good fits for me.
• In all, I came away with 15 new opportunities to pursue-- all in one day. By the way, many of these are not (yet) on any of the lists out there.

As you can see, attending General Assembly has been a profitable time for me so far. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and continuing to make connections.

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, PCA

Blogging General Assembly, day one: A mighty Protector is He

I made arrangements to attend the Presbyterian Church in America's (PCA's) General Assembly this week. For you non-PCA folk, General Assembly is the annual meeting of the denomination for the business of the church as a denomination. And in the PCA, every church in the denomination may send delegates-- both Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders (Pastors)-- so there are a lot of PCA people here; over 1200 delegates, to be more specific. So it is a good time for networking and finding new leads for placement.

The General Assembly (aka "GA") is at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN, which is downtown. I rode down to GA with my Pastor, and don't have a vehicle here.  I'm staying in the dorms at the University of Memphis, which is in the suburbs. Therefore, I'm riding the city bus to and from the Convention Center.

When we got to town (around 8pm), I asked my Pastor to drop me off at the Convention Center, since I knew there was a bus route that went right by the Convention Center and straight to the University of Memphis. It took little time to find a bus stop, but after waiting for about 15 minutes without seeing a bus, I decided to walk a bit down the way I would be going. There were bus stops about every block, so I figured I would catch one when it came.

When I was about 8 blocks from the Convention Center, I passed a mission and stopped at another bus stop for a while. Again I waited about 10 minutes, then moved on. I hadn't walked 50 yards when an apparently homeless guy started walking toward me, calling out. "Hey big man! Hey-- I need to talk to you."

"You don't need to talk to me," I told him, and kept walking. But he said, "Yeah I do-- I'm just trying to help you out. Stop and let me tell you something."

I Stopped, and he said, "You don't want to keep walking that way. If you go another block that way, the vice-lords will beat you up and take everything you have."

At this, some of the other men sitting around (also apparently homeless) said, "He's telling you the truth, man."

We talked for a while, and he told me that he tried to regularly catch guys who got impatient with the bus system-- after rush hour is over, they only come about once an hour-- and keep them from walking into trouble. He walked back to the bus stop with me, and we talked until I got on the bus 20 minutes later.

I'm so thankful for God sending this man to help me. He (God) clearly used this meek fellow to protect me from harm. It reminded me of a song I used to lead my youth group with, that sang, "Hallelujah, hallelujah! A mighty Protector is He!"

UPDATE: I wrote this on Monday, but due to erratic connections couldn't get it posted until today (Wednesday). Sorry about the delay!

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, PCA

Who do you love?

As I get ready to teach my brief part of the class at the seminary this weekend, a big issue that will be prominent in my presentation is networking.

Networking sometimes is on the receiving end of fairly harsh criticism in the Church. Okay, some business execs take it way too far, and they only network for personal gain. Yes, some people are manipulative with their relationships. No, we can't expect relationships to avoid the fallenness that affects all of us. And I'll grant that networking can sometimes dwindle down to little more than selfish abuse of the existing relationships of the Church for the networker's purposes only. But those who are unwilling-- or even reluctant-- to recognize the networking nature of the Church, particularly with regard to pastoral placement, are missing a key element to the way that the church works (and a biblical one, at that).

In my survey from last summer, I found that a lot fewer people have a negative view of networking than I would have guessed. Less than 2% of respondents (170 of the Covenant Seminary graduates from 1998-2004) said outright that networking is “an unhealthy idea.” Another 13% called networking “a somewhat professional approach” to placement (seeing “professional” to be a bad thing in this case). On the other hand, 83% indicated a favorable view of networking, acknowledging its value in the placement process.

Further, many of those who viewed networking in a less favorable way admitted that networking played some role in their placement. For some it played a very prominent role (which leaves me curious about their attitude toward networking), at times serving as the deciding factor.

And as I read through the qualitative portions of the survey, networking improves its standing even more: even those who downplayed the importance of networking quantitatively (e.g. they indicated that they did not utilize a network to a very great extent in their candidacy process) suggested or stated outright that the relationships they had (read: “network”) were significant in their candidacy with the particular church or ministry where they accepted a call. In other words, they may not have networked at all for 95% of the churches they candidated with, but the relationships of their network played an important role for the church that mattered-- the one where they ended up.

This is just looking at networking across the board for all respondents; thus, it includes many who did not have a “successful” placement for one reason or another. In another post, I'll work through the implications of networking for those in more qualitatively “successful” placements.

But it all comes down to the question Bo Diddley and George Thorgood, great church-growth experts that they are, keep asking: who do you love?