LoveFirst Coast

A few days ago, I posted a short statement of Facebook about being a bi-vocational pastor.  But I’d like to give a more complete answer.  In doing so, I have two groups in mind: 1) those who may be thinking of becoming bi-vocational, and 2) those who are partnered one way or another with FCMC such as our supporters, prayer partners, and those who engage with us in discipleship, mission and worship.

This is what I wrote.

“I have found it personally satisfying to be back in the world of engineering while serving as a pastor on nights and weekends. It is tremendously satisfying to work at providing for my family with a day job – and its good work. At the same time, I am finding a fresh level of steadiness and confidence in ministry. That has been surprising!”

That’s a short statement, and short answers can be misleading.  On FB, I try to keep it positive and that, too, can be misleading.   But it is true.  On the whole, my experience has been mostly positive – but it has stretched me.   And there are some things I miss about full time pastoral ministry.  So in the interest of more complete disclosure, I want to add a few things.

First, there really isn’t enough time in the day to do it all.  My day job is engineering.  Rebooting my engineering career carried with it pressure to learn how to do some things all over again.   Also, I am trying to build a career in such a way that I can carry with me no matter where the Lord leads.  In my case, I am learning structural engineering and plan to sit for a Professional Engineer Exam in the spring.  As a registered PE, I could earn a living designing foundations, framing, and tie-down plans for homes just about anywhere in the US.  (And, thanks to telecommuting, I might be able to work for the same company the whole time.)  But doing this, means I have to find time to study.  My new career is taking up about nine hours a day, five days a week, plus commuting.   It is also entry level engineering.  So, while it is enough to see us through, my skills and responsibilities will need to grow so that income will grow.

That said, it is very good job for ministry.  While I am able to build relationships with a few co-workers, the job is mainly a “sit-by-yourself-and-produce-designs job.  Because I sit and work I leave work with energy for relationships.  And my job allows me to use the lunch breaks for ministry, too.  I build new relationships, meet with a mentor, and meet with a few men for discipleship.   Another benefit – and this really is a benefit – is that I have less flexibility.  That has forced some discipline for my visits and appointments.  Overall, that’s resulted in firmer boundaries that are easier to enforce.  People respect my time more naturally than they once did.  There is less wasted time in my schedule.

But the absence of time also means less time for reading, writing, continuing education, and administration.  The last one isn’t too much of a problem.  The FCMC stewards and I are working on that together.  But the first three have become much more limited.  I would like to sit down to work on this blog at least two hours a week – but sometimes that’s a hard to find.   And I need to read.  My habit now is to read fifteen minutes before falling asleep.  You can cover a lot with a routine of fifteen minutes a night, but I fondly recall digging into books and ideas over extended reading times.   Finally, I dearly miss the conferences and training.  God worked on my heart at training events.  Inspirational worship, great teaching, and connecting with other church leaders was simply super!  Alternatives for that are hard to come by.  To take advantage, I would need more vacation time or study leave…  That is now two weeks.

And one more thing.  Since become bivocational, I am not able to be with people like I want to be.  Over the last few weeks, people I love have been in need of pastoral care.  I couldn’t drop everything and go.  My employers are pretty flexible and supportive, but they expect me to be productive and working everyday.  But because of my work, my church is understanding.  (I got very little grace for that when I was in the traditional pastoral role).  And, because we are so focused on discipleship, my people are better equipped and motivated than any group I’ve ever worked with to provide spiritual care and support for one another – and for others.  As a pastor, that gives me great joy.

So, on the whole, it has been a win.  But like any transition, there have been some losses.  Consider the costs.  For me, the costs of traditional church ministry right now are too high.  And I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to take the bi-vocational route.

If you are considering bivocational ministry, I highly recommend Hugh Halter’s book, BiVo.  Also, if you are a seminary student,  I highly recommend thinking through what bi-vocational ministry would look like for you.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits– who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy… (Psalm 103:3

 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

If you are engaged in making disciples then you are probably familiar with people’s pain. Disciple makers look for God’s activity in people’s lives.  And if you do that you will hear a few stories about pain.

I suspect most of us believe that God can bring redemption to just about any tragedy.  God loves to turn disaster into blessing, to turn the cross into an empty tomb.   But when we find ourselves visiting with someone about their own disaster, it’s easy to bungle it, to handle such moments poorly.   We can easily, foolishly rush through them, brush by them, offer to look at the bright side, or suggest a some-day-you’ll-look-back-at-this-and-be-thankful solutions.  Don’t.  The disasters, disappointments, frustrations, failures, – the  “miry pits” – are the very likely the most fertile ground for spiritual growth.  God guides us on these journeys of discipleship, and often those journeys lead directly to people’s painful places.   God often takes us back to our own pain.  He does so for a reason.  The painful places where we have been stuck are the places we have to surrender to God’s rescue.  Those are the very places we encounter God.  At the miry pits we have to stop pretending to be okay.  We have to admit that maybe our beliefs are off, that our world is off, that we don’t actually understand our Lord like we thought we did.  We may have to admit to the situations we couldn’t handle that put us there – or to the sin that trapped us.  God not only liberates us at the miry pits.  God teaches us to surrender to His rescuing hand.

I’m kind of a fan of Donald Miller.   There’s a lot to like about him.  He’s a good writer.  I laugh a good bit when I read his books.  He’s very personal, self-deprecating, a bit provocative, insightful and laid back. I enjoy all of that in a writer.  And over the years, his books have given me some new perspectives and plenty of preaching material.  But what I really like about Donald Miller is how he deals with his pain.  Psalm 103 says God redeems our lives from the pit.  It seems to me that Mr. Miller knows how to speak some something helpful about “the pits.”

He did it again today.  I heard him in a conversation in a video curriculum. (His ministry emailed me a sample).  It’s about fifteen minutes long and worth the time if you can spare it.

If you can’t, here are a few gems from the talk.

1. When we find a redemptive perspective on our suffering, it ceases to be suffering.(That’s a weighty quote from Victor Frankl).
2. Trajedy is inherently isolating.  When we suffer, we feel completely alone.  But when we connect our own tragedy with those of others, we find value.
3. We don’t declare a tragedy to be a blessing.  It is still a tragedy.  But when we find good things coming out of a tragedy.  That’s the blessing

Today, I got to be a part of just such a story.  Today, while filling the pulpit in a nearby church, I was invited to help with a baptism of a man named John.   As part of the baptism, I asked John to share a bit of his story.  It involved coming to terms with a  need for recovery, meeting a friend named Doug who had found help in that ministry – a wounded disciple of Jesus who’d found help and healing.  Doug walked with John for a season and eventually invited him to church activities.  John heard the gospel and responded.  He had ben in a miry pit.  He called out to God and God heard his cry and rescued him.

Doug was there today.  As the water poured over John, a outward and visible sign of what God was doing in John’s life, tears of joy flowed among many gathered in the room.  People who had promised to help their brother walk with the Lord.  People whom he had promised to help, too.  A room of wounded disciples brought together by the grace of God.

And I was one of them – blessed to be a part of God’s amazing, grace-filled work!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!