At long last

Both of my long-time readers will know that, for quite some time, I've been working on a book that summarizes my research, my personal experiences, and other information about pastoral transition, particularly on the niche subject of transitioning from seminary into pastoral ministry.

That book, now seven years in the making, is finally out! From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry, is finally available. It can be had in print and digital editions.

Because the book is published by Doulos Resources, naturally I would prefer that you buy it directly through the Doulos Resources eStore.

However, it is also available through the Covenant Seminary Bookstore, as well as through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble (if not immediately, then soon). Hopefully, more resellers (especially seminary bookstores) will be carrying it soon, as well.

Thanks to those of you who have supported the concept of this book. The wait is over! (Of course, now most of you are well-placed in ministry and your interest is merely theoretical...)

Stuart Briscoe on mechanics and dynamics

Stuart Briscoe captures an idea that I tried to get to a while back-- how my research and writing has focused primarily on mechanics and not essentially on dynamics (I didn't use those terms then).

By and large, I have assumed the dynamics at work-- and that candidates are attending to that aspect, as well. I think now that this might be an presumption that there isn't always grounds to make, but for now I will stick with it. (I've been thinking that a book on the spiritual/dynamic aspects of transition might be worth writing, as well.)

Here's how Briscoe describes the differences-- and the interplay-- between the two:

The Promised overflow of "living water" commensurate with the requisite input of life through communion with Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit, as John carefully and helpfully explains in John 7:39. There is nothing hidden or mysterious about the reception of the Holy Spirit. John tells us that it is those who "believe on" Jesus who receive the Holy Spirit. Sadly, I think we should admit that some segments of the church neglected the Holy Spirit, and in a commendable effort to redress this imbalance, other brothers and sisters addressed the person and work of the Spirit but produced an imbalance in the opposite direction. Tensions and temperatures arose, and divisions resulted, but fortunately, in more recent times, wiser heads have prevailed and a much clearer consensus on the person and work of the Holy Spirit has been forged. Having said that, I still believe that particularly in the Western church the Holy Spirit is too often deprived of his proper standing. Let me illustrate.

People where I live love their Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which is not altogether surprising, since they are built in Milwaukee. I know nothing about such vehicles, but I do know that my friends take great interest in the mechanical workings of their machines and lavish infinite care over the appearance of their expensive toys. I also know that all the oiling and polishing, fine-tuning and decorating are of no avail if they run out of gas. Even the mechanical masterpieces we call Harley-Davidsons are useless without the dynamic to drive them. They need mechanics and dynamics-- and so do we! And so does the church. The Holy Spirit provides the dynamic-- he is the dynamic.

So great is our commitment to the thought patterns of the modern world that assume every effect has a traceable, measurable, and understandable cause, that we assume that if we get the causes right or fix them when they are not right, we can guarantee the effects. So we have seven steps to this and five principles of that. We have five-year plans full of goals and measurable goals and intermediate goals, all of which we believe can be reached if we take the right steps and organise sufficient resources. Then if we can keep the program running smoothly-- presto!-- the kingdom will be built. But what of the mysterious, unmanageable, uncontrollable, unpredictable, irresistible, indefinable, unmistakable work of the Spirit? He is the dynamic factor without whom our latest state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technology and know-how and our most sophisticated management principles are useless to penetrate the closed minds, to open blind eyes, to demolish the spiritual strongholds, and to work the miracle of regeneration. The Holy Spirit's dynamic working in the hearts of individual believers and the soul of the community of faith must not be lost in the gloss of our sophistication and the polish of our performance. he works as he chooses, not as we plan. If we overlook this, the more likely it is that we will finish with a manmade system of canals and locks rather than a free network of brooks, streams, and rivers flowing into the brimming river of the relentless life-transforming work of the Spirit of God. True, we will be able to keep control, and undoubtedly we can regulate the depth of the water, organise the times when the locks are open and shut, and manage the order in which the boats pass through. But canals don't flow; they stagnate.

[From Flowing Streams: Journeys of a Life Well-Lived by Stuart Briscoe. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008, pp. 198-199.]

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.

Survey Instrument

Tonight I'll present the findings of my survey instrument to the Candidating and Transition into Ministry class at Covenant Seminary.

To those who have come to visit the Placement Reflections blog for the first time, you may be interested in viewing the survey instrument I developed for my initial research. (Incidentally, an updated and expanded version of that instrument will be used if I get the grant from the Louisville Institute to extend the research.)

Welcome to the Can-Tran classmembers!

Technorati Tags: Research, Seminary

Interesting salary research

The New York Times recently posted an article called, "How Much Should You Get Paid?" It's a good article, with helpful advice about negotiating (and re-negotiating) salaries.

While the article is geared toward businesses and the secular workforce (naturally), it did point to a few interesting resources:

• Salary.com posts the results of its own salary surveys.
• PayScale.com goes a different route, actually polling* individuals about what they get paid.
• A newcomer, PayScroll.com (still in the very early stages as of this writing) trolls online job listings to develop composite data.

There is interesting data to be found here for Pastors negotiating their salaries-- though I would say the results I found looked a bit high. Still, it may be worth a look.


*The polls conducted by PayScale are based on actual people citing the salaries for their jobs, whereas the surveys conducted by Salary.com result in generalizations. A minor difference, but it can have major impact on results.

Technorati Tags: Ministry, Transition

Advancing the research

Long-time readers will know that I have been researching pastoral transition for several years.  Specifically, I've been studying "effective" placement from seminary, and to that end I have already conducted an extensive survey with graduates from Covenant Seminary.

Today I spoke with the Louisville Institute, who is offering a number of small research grants funded by a much larger grant from the Lilly Endowment.  One in particular, the Pastoral Leadership Grant, is a good fit for my research, according to the Director of the Louisville Institute.

For almost two years I've wanted to expand my research to include other seminaries, but I can't afford to underwrite the costs myself.  This grant would clear the path to expanding and advancing my research significantly.

Over the next few weeks I'll be putting together a proposal, and Lord willing I'll win my first research/writing grant.

Technorati Tags: Research, Seminary, Transition, Writing

On getting an early start

I've mentioned before that my research shows how an early start, combined with diligent work, is crucial to an effective placement.  These combine for what I like to call a "placement work ethic."

Looking at the research a bit more deeply, this effect is surprisingly stark.  Here are some statistics:

• 11% of my survey's respondents did not begin their candidacy until AFTER graduation!
• 9% began their search less than 3 months before graduation

These graduates struggled in finding placement in a timely, effective way:

• For those who started at graduation, 60% of them required more than 3 months to place, and 80% of these took more than 6 months to place
• 50% of those who began 3 months or less before graduating were placed by their graduation
• Even those who began 4-6 months before graduation struggled: 40% of these were still without a call by the time of graduation

When asked, "what was one thing you would do differently?" no less than 14 different respondents answered, "I would have started earlier..."

This would have been a good change:

• Of those who began their search 7 or more months prior to graduation, only 11% were not placed by the time they graduated
• Less than 3% of these were still without a call within 3 months of graduation.

The lesson here: start as early in your candidacy as you can.

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, Effective

I really did mean it...

So, nearly a month ago I said, "I'm reminded about how much I care about this topic..." and "expect to see more posts!"

What's up, Eubanks? Where are the posts?

First, let me say that I have been working through several ideas, and have about five posts half-finished. I'm committed to finishing at least one of these in the coming week and posting it here.

Also, I've been a little pre-occupied with some other things:

• My new job at Wildwood is going to begin a good bit earlier than previously planned-- mostly because of a huge speedbump facing the school. I've been working through that for the past two weeks.


• A church where I've preached a number of times has a pastor whose wife is dealing with significant health issues. As a result, I'll preach there tomorrow for the third time in four weeks.


• We're just in the beginning stages for moving to another rental property. This one will be a house, and it's not too far from where we are now. This kind of move brings a strange dynamic, as it doesn't require the care and attention in packing that a more distant move does, but there is still a lot to do.
  

I'd welcome "guest bloggers" also: if you are in transition (or recently finished) and want to tell your story, write it up and e-mail it to me. I will almost certainly publish it here.

Getting back to the research

Focusing on this lecture yesterday morning, and reviewing the research I've done to prepare for it, has rejuvenated my interest in this topic.

(You can probably tell this, since I've posted five times in two days, as compared to once in 34 days prior to that!)

It's certainly no news that my blogging has slowed down since last summer. While there are a number of things that have contributed to this (other writing projects, a big shift of focus to the work I've been doing at Wildwood Christian School, etc.), if I'm honest with myself then I have to admit that my interest in the subject of placement and transition has ebbed over the last few months. Even as I've been working through the placement process myself, I've not been as faithful to my commitment to reflect on it here. Sorry about that.

Now I'm back in the game, so to speak. I'm ready-- and excited-- to pick up where I left off on my research and reflections on pastoral transition. And since my own placement is completed, I'm free to work more objectively on it.

Two things I plan to work on right away: first, I'm going to focus on extending my research to other seminaries; I started working toward this a little less than a year ago, and hit a few snags. Second, I'm going to resume extrapolating new concepts out of the data I have to strengthen my hypotheses.

I anticipate that my revitalized interest in this topic will result in more frequent blogging and other writing. Keep an eye out for regular new content.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Research, Survey, Wildwood Christian School

Placement survey instrument

Anyone who is interested in viewing the survey instrument I used in my Covenant Seminary Alumni Survey in 2004 (or downloading it, if you so desire):

You can find it online at this link.

Technorati Tags: Covenant Seminary, Placement, Survey

Advance preparation

This morning (in just a little while, actually) I'm presenting my ideas in at Covenant Seminary class called "Candidacy & Transition into Ministry". I'll present it again in another section of the same class on Monday evening.

My part is called "The Importance of Advance Preparation" and I'm glad that I get to open up the survey, and other research, that I've conducted to help other students understand this issue.

I presented this material last year as well, so it's a familiar presentation to me. Still, I think this is such an important issue for seminarians, and I ask that you pray for me and my presentation, as well as for the students who will work through this material with me.

Technorati Tags: Candidacy, Covenant Seminary, Placement, Survey, Transition

Effective placement benchmarks, no.1: fulfillment of calling

What is effective placement?

I have been asking this question for almost two years now. It has led me to conduct a survey, administer interviews, and read books. It has called me to be introspective about my own experiences, and to investigate corroborative aspects of others' experiences. It has motivated me to brainstorm, to write, and to give lectures and seminars. It is one of the main reasons for this blog.

As I've mentioned before, I have generally concluded that there are three defining elements of effective placement-- three benchmarks which, if met, indicate that a placement into ministry was everything that it could be. They are:

• Fulfillment of one's calling
• A fruit-bearing ministry
• “Full-term” service

Over the coming weeks, I'll reflect on each of these, starting with the fulfillment of calling.

Gospel-centered ministry is predicated on the calling by Jesus Christ of individuals to service in His Church and Kingdom. Just as Jesus’ life and ministry was focused on God’s Kingdom (Matthew 3:2-3, 11), so too the Redeemed, called by God, are focused on ministry within the Kingdom in accordance with their calling. All believers called by God to faith are also called to service in His Kingdom, and are uniquely gifted for that purpose (Romans 12:1-8). Every Christian has the privilege and responsibility to discern God’s particular calling for him, and to act upon that calling, ministering to others, and being ministered to by others, for his lifetime.

This is no less true for the pastor called into vocational ministry. Effective placement into a vocational ministry position, then, inevitably includes the utilization of a pastor’s giftedness. A pastoral call must be a good fit for both pastor and congregation. However God has gifted and prepared a man for ministry, that is how he should serve God in ministry (Romans 12:6-8).

If a Pastor is to serve out the calling God has given him, he must either fulfill this in the unique way that he is crafted or he will face eventual failure. Some men are capable enough that they might work outside of their giftedness for a season; a very few are remarkable enough to do this for an extended time. No one, however, can sustain work in ministry (or in any other vocation) indefinitely. All eventually burn out.

On the other hand, if a Pastor is allowed to focus on the areas where he is gifted, his work will delight him rather than leaving him spent. This means two things: first, a Pastor (or Pastor-to-be) must have a clear sense of how God has gifted and shaped him for the work of ministry, as well as a clue about where he is too weak to spend much time or effort. All of us have our weaknesses, and if we aren't aware of them then we cannot find appropriate complements for them. Pastor, know thyself.

The other implication is that both Pastor and church must recognize when a Pastor-- uniquely suited for a certain kind of ministry-- is a good fit for the position they are filling, and when he is not. Neither Pastor nor church should be afraid to simply say, “You're just not the right fit.” Obviously this must be done tactfully and graciously, but it must be done. Then, if feelings are hurt or egos bruised, that just shows the wrong approach was taken to the search.

A good fit or not? When the candidate-pastor and the candidate-church both know what would be a good fit for them, the question should be fairly straightforward. Anything else denies the possibility of genuine fulfillment of calling.

Successful = effective?

I recently heard an interview with business leadership maven Stephen Covey, whose mega-seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has changed the way many think about leadership and productivity. While there is much about the book that I would recommend, an aspect of the interview that is not directly addressed in the book caught my attention.

Covey was asked why he chose the word “effective” for the title instead of “successful.” He replied that the idea of success in today's language conveys so much outward achievement-- career advancement, financial gain, social esteem, etc.-- but often still leaves us empty. He wanted to carefully avoid falling into that category, as his principles (or habits) allow for a truly genuine success. He therefore chose the word “effective” because he believed it conveyed this in a way that success could not.

I think Covey has a great point here. I wanted to point it out because I intend to adopt his rationale and begin discussing placement in terms of effectiveness, where I previously would have called it success.

I also wanted to clarify in this way: when I have referred to “successful” placement in the past, my intention has been to speak to a kind of placement where worldly measures of success (such as those that Covey bucked against) were not the primary benchmarks. Rather, the kind of success I intend in placement-- if you will, effective placement-- is measured by three key ideas: fulfillment of the pastor's calling (and the congregation's); a multiplying or self-replicating ministry; and the fulfillment of the full term of God's call.

As I look back through my blog archives, I realize that I haven't really said much about any of these. Over the coming weeks, therefore, I'll try to develop these ideas more fully.

Prayer = successful placement?

As I continue to think through the idea of successful placement-- and consider what factors lead to it-- then I must address a question I've been asked several times: what about prayer?

This seems like a no-brainer. And the last thing I want to do through my research (or the things I write about my research) is suggest that the spiritual dimension is not a factor. The Holy Spirit is an incredibly important “factor” through the process (and in ministry generally), and certainly pastoral candidates must be men who pray, read the Bible, worship regularly, etc. If any of you candidates (or pastors!) are not doing these and other essential spiritual disciplines, I would suggest that you get busy.

And while I'm at it, if you're wrestling with this, true to form, I have a book recommendation:

“Disciplines of a Godly Man” (R. Kent Hughes)

That said, prayer strikes me as a non-factor with regard to my focus on successful placement. Before you cry, “Blasphemy!” and write me off, then let me qualify my remarks. I've blogged before (see Next Steps) about the research methods of Jim Collins and Thom Rainer, who are in many ways the models for what I want to do with this research. One big problem that they both work hard to avoid is identifying “factors” (so-called) that are not actually factors. Collins calls this discovering buildings: if he simply were to look for the common aspects of all businesses that fit his “great” model (from Good to Great) then he might discover that all of them had buildings. But those things which are true of just about everyone are not necessarily the things that lead to great companies, unchurched-reaching churches (as in Rainer's Surprising Insights from the Unchurched), or in my case, successful placement. Thus, these common aspects should not be viewed as true “factors.”

So I think prayer may be the “buildings” of my study. And rather than “discovering prayer,” I need to include into my research some comparison aspects that will show me what is different in those who placed successfully from those who didn't.

Next steps

I haven't posted for a while, mainly because I spent a large part of my spring break working on a website for Douglass & Associates consulting. Dr. Douglass, who I mentioned before, is using the research and writing for his new book as a catalyst for advancing his consultation services to churches, and part of my work with him has been to develop an internet “face” for this consultation practice. If you have a chance, I would love to get your feedback on this website and its content, especially during this week (4/3-4/9) as I tweak out the fine-tuning, and before I list it on the search engines.

Once I've finished with this project, I want to return to working out my research. Here's a new twist: I started reading Built to Last by Jim Collins over spring break, and their description of the methodology they utilized reminded me of an important aspect I had forgotten. Collins (in Built to Last and Good to Great) and Thom Rainer (in Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, and several other books) both use the same approach when doing a study like mine-- they don't just look for common attributes in the groups of their primary focus, but they also use a comparison group.

Collins describes this as avoiding “discovering buildings.” That is, if he were simply looking at those attributes shared by all of the focus companies that were “built to last,” he might find that all of them had buildings! But most or all companies have buildings, so this cannot be a distinctive of what makes them “built to last.” Instead, he compares them to other (still very good) companies to find out what the differences are, and then looks for commonality among those differences.

Thus, the five factors I teased out of my study, claiming that they led to successful placement, may be erroneous; it may simply be that these five factors lead to placement in general (e.g. buildings). What I need to find are some comparisons: some respondents who were definitely successfully placed, and others who were placed but not necessarily successfully. Comparing the two, I should be better able to determine what truly leads to successful placement.

Presentation tomorrow...

I give my presentation on “the importance of advance preparation” at Covenant Seminary tomorrow (and again on Monday night). I've worked out five key factors (based on the results of my survey) that contribute to successful placement. Here they are:

1. A healthy placement “work-ethic”
2. A well-utilized placement network
3. A strong sense of calling
4. A willingness to follow God
5. Humility and submission regarding the process

I've already written about two of these; over the next few weeks, I'll work out details about the rest of them, as well as more information about the first two. Stay with me.

Candidate early, candidate often

Another big piece of the puzzle is what I call the “placement work ethic.” In a way, what I've found about this is surprising: many seminarians (and many pastors) are shockingly lazy when it comes to their ministry placement. Most seminary students that I know are hard-working guys, so I am sometimes stumped when I find that they are taking their placement very lightly.

I inevitably encounter this in an informal way: a friend, graduating in the coming months, and I will be talking and I'll ask, “how is your search going?” “Okay, but I don't have a lot of things in the works,” their response might go. “Tell me,” I prod, “what has your search process been like? How have you been pursuing opportunities?” “Oh! Well, I've been checking the Hot List*!” Then comes an awkward pause while I try to find a tactful and loving way to say, “That's it?!? That's all??!!??”

I don't think these guys are intentionally lazy or neglectful of their placement process, but I do think they are approaching placement with a poor work-ethic. Perhaps they believe that if they can simply get the divinity degree, things will simply fall into place for them. Some of them over-spiritualize the process, applying Jesus' admonition not to “worry about tomorrow” to their placement. Some are simply working off of assumptions that it really isn't that difficult to find a pastoral call.

My experience tells me that none of these are right. It is hard work to find a pastoral call-- in fact, it should be considered another part of the hard work of seminary, just as ordination should be. And God is sovereign over the process, but that doesn't remove our responsibility to be faithful, diligent, and obedient in our participation and work toward finding placement.

My survey confirms my experience. Many of the respondents who were placed quickly listed a wide variety of ways they had been working at finding placement. Those who fit the description of “successful” placements also demonstrated a strong work-ethic. And a major theme that arose in response to the question, “what would you do differently?” was that of working harder-- starting earlier, making more efforts, contacting more people (a la networking), exploring more directions.

Clearly, the work-ethic is a big factor in successful placement. I like to think of the adaptation of an old mantra: Candidate early, candidate often. Words to live by.


*The “Hot List” is a list of opportunities that Covenant Seminary publishes in-house for its students and graduates.

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?

What's Next?

Yesterday, I preached at the church that five different people mentioned to me (I blogged about that situation here). They were a great group of people, very warm and appreciative of my coming, especially since we had to drive through Saturday night's snow to get there.

They have a search committee organized to find a Pastor, but they have been advised by the Shepherding Committee of their Presbytery to find an Interim Pastor. (The Shepherding Committee is a group charged with overseeing the health and well-being of the churches in a Presbytery, which, in the PCA, is the next level of organization up from the local congregation.) I think they would do well to follow the advice of the Shepherding Committee; an Interim would help them find their focus, and give them some stability while they take their time finding the right candidate.

The possibility has arisen that I might become that Interim; possibly for the summer, or even on through the fall, I could serve as a “Student Pastor” and work with them for 15-20 hours a week or so. Preaching and teaching, meeting with the Session and others for planning and strategy, some visitation, maybe some counseling. It could be an exciting opportunity to help a church find its sense of revitalization. I could also be a great experience for me, and one that would offer a kind of preparation for ministry that seminary can't touch.

I have this sense of connection to this church. I'm sure some of it is that I am convinced that the Holy Spirit put this church in my path for some reason. Some of it is because it reminded me of the first church I worked for, that Marcie and I both loved so deeply. Some of it may be simple compassion on these folks, and a longing to see them cared for and shepherded.

What will come of this? It may become more certain, one way or another, as I continue to preach for them. I'll be preaching there two more times, for sure, and maybe more. I'm praying for clarity and guidance. Maybe you would pray for that, too.

A few words of update...

I posted a while back that, based on some research I had done/was doing/am doing, I suspected that nothing significant would happen with our search until closer to graduation. Marcie and I have been expecting things to begin to pick up after January 1st. The basic reasoning is that, since churches looking for solo pastors can't afford to wait around for 5 or 6 months while I finish a degree, most wouldn't look at me seriously as a candidate.

So far, that suspicion (prediction?) has come true, at least to a small degree. Things have begun to happen. Here's a quick update about what has happened in the past three weeks:

First (on our way to visit our families for Christmas, no less-- I was literally pumping gas when we got the phone call!), a member of a search committee called to ask if I could come to their church as pulpit supply. I have mentioned several times on this blog; it is the one that several friends and professors have suggested I contact, and one of my professors actually suggested to them that they call me. As far as I can tell, this invitation for pulpit supply is also an informal start of the candidacy process.

When we got home from our trip, we found a letter from a church to whom I had sent a resume some time back; they had written earlier, indicating that there were some obstacles that would slow their progress, and would keep me in consideration. This letter was simply to inform us that they were ready to proceed with their search, and that I remained in the running.

We also had a phone message from an Elder at a church that had seen on the PCA Administration Committtee's vacant pulpit website, and wanted to contact. It was also an invitation of sorts, but I could not tell from the message if I was invited to preach, to become a candidate, or both. The church is more than 3 hours from St. Louis, so the idea of simple pulpit supply seems less likely. I don't know how they got my name.

Another letter came, thanking me for submitting my stuff, but that, on careful consideration, I was not a good fit. They had prayed for my search and wished me well.

Similarly, I heard from the Christian school that had approached me: they have eliminated me from the final round of consideration. They have several candidates that are better-qualified than I, which I think is great. This school clearly needs good leadership, and I was poorly qualified for the position. Frankly, I am relieved about this, for the most part.

Finally, I also received an e-mail from an Elder who had received the information I sent right before Christmas. He thanked me for my information, and indicated that a cursory glance looked fine. The information will be passed on to the rest of the search committee.

All of that, and I haven't sent out but one packet of information in nearly two months! I have a list of 10 or so churches to send information to, and I'm interested to see what that produces.