Friday, August 09, 2002
Working on my ordination process today. It's a big challenge, because it is a fairly rigorous process. I can't complain too much about that, though, because I designed the process myself. Ordination is a weird thing to me. On one hand I view it as a hoop to jump through in order to gain some sort of credibility within the world of ministry, and frankly, I'm not very interested in being recognized by anyone based on my credentials. Also there's the fact that with or without those credentials, I do ministry full time now and have the confirmation from God and my community of faith that I am a caretaker of God's kids. On the other hand, I place a high value on ordination because I believe it is biblical to do so. Three of Paul's New Testament letters were directed specifically to the leaders of the church, and a good portion of those letters is dedicated to the cause of the qualifications for the leaders.
So, here I am submitting myself to a process that God has directed for being a pastor/elder/shepherd,caretaker of the church. It is humbling and exciting . . . and a lot of hard work.
