Last week, I posted to Facebook my back-to-school picture. It was my official first day of course work. This summer I applied and was accepted into the Doctor of Ministry program at Saint Paul School of Theology.
When I finished seminary, I was sure I was done with school. I had spent three years finishing my undergrad right before that. Literally, I finished at UTSA one week and started at Perkins within ten days. After I finished seminary, I spent two years preparing for ordination. I was done studying and writing.
Except I wasn’t.
I’ve maintained a pretty decent reading habit. I write every day. Why not put that into something that could help the church even more?
So, why did I start this program. It’s been something I’ve thought about over the last few years. Of course, we still had a Fletchermint at home. Then I got sick. After that experience, I don’t know why I would hold back on doing anything I’ve ever thought about doing.
During these years, I’ve had, what I think is, a good reason for pursuing this study. But I made have heard it best more recently. I was listening to a podcast and the conversation of church growth came up. One guest mentioned how we always hear about pastors who move up and up. That is, they want the bigger churches and the acclaim that comes with it. Those are the pastors who are invited to conferences and everyone wants to learn from.
But we never hear about a pastor whose willing to go to a smaller church. Is there something wrong with smaller congregations? Do we associate less people with less faithfulness or effectiveness? Take a guess.
So, if need be, I’ll be the one who is very well prepared in the arena of pastoral ministry. And I’ll go to the smaller church if that’s where God needs me to be.
Stay blessed…john
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