But let me assure you, especially you new seminarians, that there is another guy you do not want to be.  In the fine tradition of the “Real Men of Genius” radio commercials that salute such men as “Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor”, “Mr. Bathroom Toilet Paper Roll Changer”, and “Mr. Scoreboard Marriage Proposal Guy”, I give to you this guy not to be:  ”Mr. Ask a Question in Class to Try to Look Smarter Guy.”

Allow me to illustrate.  While sitting through my first semester of Introduction to the New Testament, I can recall that, almost every day, a particular student would pose at least one question in class.  This event was always special, because, whenever this gentlemen would raise his hand, the sound of other students’ pencils (think pre-laptop saturation) dropping to their desks made it sound as though a tiny little wooden rain storm had somehow begun inside the room.  Undeterred, this student would ask a question that usually began with the phrase “Don’t you think. . . ” and would continue through at least five minutes of him expounding his particular view of some topic for the professor to approve.  Honestly, I never recall this man asking a question that he did not think he already knew the answer to.  All of his questions-all of them-were intended to make sure that the professor would say, “Yes, that’s right.”

Not being Mr. Ask a Question in Class to Try to Look Smarter Guy will aid your survival at seminary.  Why?  First, you will have fewer students plotting your untimely demise (or, in Christian terms, plotting your predetermined entry to glory).  Second, you will actually have time to hear what your professor actually does think about the topic that he actually intends to teach.  Third, you will have a far smaller chance of expounding heresy in a classroom only to have to be publicly corrected by the professor who has so patiently allowed you to jam all ten toes into your mouth.  And fourth, it could be that another student in the class has a question that will be helpful to the entire class, a question that brings forth from the professor greater explanation of the topic at hand.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we all want to participate appropriately in class.  If the professor is asking for your opinion, feel free to give him what he seeks.  If it is a group discussion, join in and have a blast (within limits of courtesy and decency).  But please, for your own ability to learn and for the sake of the sanity of those who sit in class around you, do not ever become Mr. Ask a Question in Class to Try to Look Smarter Guy.

1. Get up early. Sleeping in is fun, but should be an occasional treat.  Jesus’ example of early rising is worthy of imitation.  (Trouble getting up early?)
2. Eat breakfast.  Kick start the metabolism.  Cereal and fruit is easy and nutritious.
3. Spend time with God first. Have your quiet time first.  Get your spirit in a place of peace and adoration before you tackle the day.
4. Plan your day. Grab your calendar, and look through what’s on tap for the day: classes, work schedule, appointments, etc.  Don’t forget about long term project that you need to be working on.  Read ahead for classes if you can.
5. Make a quick to-do list of things you want to get done that day.
6. Prioritize. Choose two or three items that are the most important for you to get done that day.  No more than three!!
7. Hit it early. Try to accomplish your most important task by 11:00am.
8. Utilize down time. If you have a spare ten minutes in your day, go to your list, and find items that will take 2 minutes or less to do, and plow through a few.  (Pay bills online, make a phone call, return an email, etc.)
9. Make time for relationships. Life is not fundamentally about tasks; it’s about relationships.  One of the reasons we want to organize our days productively is so we can dispatch tasks and have time for relationships.  Whether it’s coffee or phone call with a friend, a walk with your wife, or playing with your kids, a productive day includes relationship time.  Don’t let the urgent crowd out the important!
10. Beware of time wasters.
11. Set yourself up for success tomorrow morning. Set up the coffee maker, make your lunch, set out clothes, tidy up a bit… a few minutes of prep tonight can make for a smooth launch in the morning.
12. Wind down. Leave some time to wind down at the end of the day-with a book, your spouse, or in prayer.
13. Go to bed. “He gives sleep to those He loves.”  Avoid the lure of screen time (TV or computer), which can keep you up too late and rob you of needed sleep.  Be done with all that early in the evening, and get to bed on time, if not early.

What’s your favorite daily time management hack?

You should read it.  (It’s short.)

So my questions:

• How much do you tip?
• What does that say about you?
• Is generosity an important virtue for people in ministry?

There is a huge range of debatable issues in theology and in the practice of ministry that a person could take sides on.  An average church member generally isn’t required to have fully developed theological opinions.  They are often asked to agree with and support the theological and philosophical stance their church, but aren’t required to be an evangelists for or defender of those positions.

Leaders, on the other hand, will be expected to have thought through a wide range of issues in ministry and theology, and to have an opinion on them.

Seminary is a great place to begin to formulate these positions.  No doubt you’ll have arrived at seminary with some issues already firmly settled in your mind.  But for those you’ve not yet considered, you can study the range of positions, pick one to defend, and duke it out with professors and fellow students who disagree.

On some debatable issues, you’ll take a position.  It may not be firmly held, but it will be at least a provisional opinion, an answer to give.  On others, your positions will develop into strong convictions, which will fuel your life and ministry.

Positions can be staked out pretty quickly, but convictions aren’t developed overnight. You need not have strong convictions on every debatable issue.  I would argue that a leader with many convictions will be less effective than a leader with only a few carefully chosen ones.

Here are some issues in theology and ministry you will very likely encounter, either in seminary or in ministry:

• The authority of Scripture, esp how it relates to tradition, reason, and experience.
• Is the canon of Scripture open or closed?
• Charismatic Gifts: Tongues, healings, miracles
• Baptism of the Holy Spirit
• The role of women in the church and in ministry.  Are you complementarian or egalitarian?
• Church Governance.  Where should the functional authority in the church be located?  Pastors, bishops, elders, deacons, trustees, congregation?
• Understanding of election.  In Southern Baptist circles, Calvinism and the doctrines of grace are becoming a flashpoint.
• Church discipline: when and how should it be exercised?
• Homosexuality: Is it morally acceptable or not?  What will your pastoral approach be to homosexual people?
• Abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, and other life issues.
• Divorce and Remarriage: what is permissible?
• Weddings: for whom will you perform weddings (or not)?
• Counseling: who will you counsel or not, and to what extent?
• Baptism: who is a candidate? What mode is proper? How does baptism relate to church membership?  Should alien immersion be accepted?  What are its limits?
• Communion/The Lord’s Supper: What is its meaning? Should communion be open or closed?
• Church Membership: requirements and expectations
• Eschatology/Millennial Views.  (This is probably not as important to many churches as it used to be.)
• Translations of Scripture: Do you have a preferred translation of the Bible and why?
• Priority and focus of the ministry of the church: What things should the church be and do?  What is most important?

This list is just a beginning.  What else would you add to it?

Your seminary isn’t responsible for your education.  You are.

In the past week, I’ve had the chance to visit with a few current and just-graduated seminarians, and some of their observations have been strikingly similar:

• The seminary environment is too academic.
• The assigned readings are too long, and not really related to the subject matter.
• If I do everything they ask me to, I won’t have a life at all.
• How can I learn to pastor from profs who’ve never pastored?

Most seminaries are built on an academic model, focused on seeing that you master a theological knowledge base in an insulated environment removed from the real world of ministry.

One recent graduate remarked, “It’s one thing to talk in class about the practice of church discipline, it’s another thing to do it sitting down and looking them in the eye.”  The disconnect he saw and lamented was that the ones teaching church discipline in class had never had to actually do it.

Which leads me to emphasize again: Seminary does not prepare you for ministry.  Not by itself. The traditional seminary environment can only provide one (albeit very important) piece of the total picture of your ministry preparation.  Seminary grants to you a theological knowledge base, and provides a credential supporting your desire and calling to serve in ministry.

The rest is up to you.

You must take responsibility for your own ministry preparation.

• You will need real world experience in ministry-so go get some.
• You will need a mentor in your field-so go find one.
• You will need to be with people outside the Christian bubble-so go make some new friends.

If you immerse yourself in the seminary environment in the way students are tacitly encouraged to-reading every book, completing every assignment, and focusing on the subject matter presented in class-two things will happen.  First, you will have spent two to four years isolated from the world, and will be unaccustomed to living with the real, lost people in the world to whom we have been sent.  Second, it is highly likely that you will emerge as a theological egghead, with lots of knowledge but not much love.

Another student I spoke with, no doubt in the middle of mid-term madness, was aghast at how excessively his professors overburdened him with readings, papers and assignments.  “No one could do all this and have a real life,” he complained.

Answer: so don’t do it all, and go have a real life.  You must set your own life agenda… just like you must when you’re in a church.  If you allow the institution to dictate your life, well, then that’s what you’ll get.

A few questions:

• Are you fully plugged into the life of a local church?
• Do you know your pastors well, and do they know you?
• Are you serving at your church?
• Have you sought out someone more experienced in ministry for mentoring?
• What exposure do you have to people who are far from God?  Unless you plan to stay buried, irrelevant in the Christian ghetto, you need to make being with lost friends part of the fabric of your life.
• When’s the last time you ignored an assignment in order to do something more important?

My parting suggestion:

1. Sit down with a blank sheet of paper, and design for yourself, from scratch, a ministry preparation program.  What do you need to know?  What do you need to be able to do?  What kind of experience will you need?  How can you get it?
2. Then compare your program to what you’re doing now: your ministry assignments, relationship, and degree program. Show this comparison to someone who’s been out of seminary and in ministry for several years, and get their input.
3. Adjust your life accordingly.

Similar:

Using Mentors In Seminary

Knowledge is Not Life

Live Off Campus

• How did you get my name? (Probably through the seminary, but it’s good to ask.)
• What time does worship begin? When does it usually end?
• What style of worship does the church employ? For example, is the music all hymns, all praise choruses, a mix of both? What sort of instrumentation accompanies the music?
• Who will be writing the order of worship? (If not me) May I request or recommend certain hymns, praise songs, scripture selections, creeds? Will someone e-mail me a copy of it before that Sunday?
• Who will lead worship? (If not me) Will they introduce me, or will I simply begin preaching?
• What pastor, deacon, elder or other leader will be present that Sunday? Will you arrange for them to meet me before the worship service? (I like to know someone that I can refer to within the congregation.)
• Is there a nursery provided for small children?
• May I have the street address of the church? And will someone e-mail me directions to the church?
• Tell me about the denomination (if it is one I’m unfamiliar with).
• Tell me about the church. Who is the pastor? How long has he been there? How long has the church been around? What have been some recent items of rejoicing in the church? What have been some recent struggles?

That pretty much covers the conversations I have with whoever calls. I often feel like they are surprised that I have so many questions– maybe they haven’t had many folks ask questions like these when invited for pulpit supply. But I’ve found that it is important to get this kind of information. You will appreciate it, too, once you have it.

Ed Eubanks is a contributing writer for Seminary Survival Guide.

In the face of all the multiple demands at seminary, the temptation to laziness can be acute.  I’ve spoken with a number of students who succumb to laziness, to their own hurt.  They have much to get done, but cannot get themselves to do it.

Often laziness will show up as procrastination; or choosing to do distracting or escapist activities instead of the work at hand.  (For instance: Playstation, TV, movies, escapist reading, laying inactive on the couch, etc.)

Some factors that contribute to laziness:

• Physical exhaustion. Often people with high demand jobs or hours get to the point where they are so physically tired they cannot muster the energy to do something else.
• Lack of endurance. When you begin seminary it usually involves greater time demands than you’ve faced before. Adjusting to the amount of work to be done can be difficult when you’re not accustomed to it.
• Mental Paralysis. I am one who can get mentally paralyzed in the face of too many demands. I’ll get overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, so I’ll do nothing.
• Depression. Indolence and chronic un-motivation can be a symptom of depression.

Most of the time, however, laziness is a sin. The choice to be lazy is a choice, no matter what your circumstances are.  It is a decision of will. The sin of laziness or sloth is about taking more joy in ease than in doing the will of God, or of executing the responsibilities reasonably expected of us.

Factors we’ve mentioned above can worsen the temptation, in the same way a married man’s temptation to lust is more problematic when his wife is out of town or he’s traveling.  But the circumstance is not the problem.

A few theological reminders:

We were created to work. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15)

We are commanded to work. It’s easy to forget the Sabbath commandment (which we routinely break) begins with a command to work for six days.

“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work….

(Exodus 20:9-10a, emphasis added)

We do need rest. Laziness, however, is not about rest.  It’s about avoiding exertion.

We were saved to do good works. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Ephesians 2:10

Remember also the Bible is clear about the results of laziness:

• Fruitlessness (Proverbs 20:4)
• Poor reputation (Proverbs 10:26)
• Lying (Proverbs 22:13)
• Poverty (Proverbs 24:30-34)
• Procrastination (Proverbs 6:9)
• Hindrances (Proverbs 15:19)
• Conceit (Proverbs 26:16)
• Dissatisfaction (Proverbs 13:4)
• Death (Proverbs 21:25)

If you are succumbing to laziness, here are a few suggestions:

Take responsibility. No one is making you lazy; that decision is entirely your own.  Don’t blame it on anyone or anything but yourself.

Be done with excuses.  Your life is not that exceptional.  Quit whining.

Take initiative. Laziness will only go by the exertion of effort on your part.

Look at the big picture of your life. What is it that you want to do?  What’s your purpose in being at seminary?

Try keeping an activity log for a few days. What exactly ARE you doing?  Write everything you do and how long it takes you.  Just being aware of what you’re doing can help.

Break things down. If you find yourself overwhelmed, break down your work into hour long chunks, and assign them to your calendar.  Then you can focus on just one thing at a time.

Simply your schedule. If you have too much to do, look for things you can eliminate or delegate.

Get counseling. Laziness can be a symptom of depression.  Are you depressed?  People in ministry are not immune!  Most seminaries have free counseling-make an appointment.

Go to sleep. If you’re tired, sleep.  Most Americans, in fact, are acutely sleep deprived.  Beware of staying up late watching TV, vegging on the couch.  It is not helping you.  Go to bed.

Exercise. Done right, exercise is energizing, not tiring.  I’m not asking you to run marathons, but a brisk walk will help improve your metabolism, and it will get you moving.

Watch your diet. Eating fresh and healthy choices will help feel more energized.  Fast food can make you lethargic.

Be with people. I find it much easier to be lazy when other people aren’t around.  There is a motivation in community.  Studying in the library might be a good alternative to doing it at home.

Get perspective. You’re at seminary.  Do you know what a gift that is?  Do you know how many third world pastors are pouring themselves out for their people and will never have the opportunity for formal theological education? Be grateful, and work hard.

Repent. Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for your sins so you could avoid work.  Live worthy of the calling you have received.

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” Colossians 1:10

Finally, a few quotes:

There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work. - Charles Spurgeon

Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind. - Henry Ford

Determine never to be idle… It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

- Thomas Jefferson

A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends. - Cyril Connolly

Related:

Procrastination: Seminary Time Waster #1

Eliminate Time Wasters

Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about having a fruitful ministry through pulpit supply. Here are some of the lessons learned:

Approach it as a ministry. If you’re doing this just for the experience– or worse, just for the money– then you shouldn’t be doing it. I try to see myself as the minister of the flock that I’m preaching to for that day. Attend to their needs, pray for them and with them, and generally make yourself available, heart and soul, for their spiritual needs for that time.

Be willing to preach. How much notice will you require to accept a preaching invitation? Here’s my policy: if they call me, even last-minute, because of some sort of emergency, I’ll go unless I’m preaching elsewhere. This policy has meant that, on a handful of occasions, I’ve had to preach with only a day or two of notice. But it has also meant the world to those congregations– and I promise you, it didn’t matter to them if my sermons were a little rough.

Be considerate of the church you’re preaching in. If you’re a Presbyterian and you’re preaching in a non-denominational church, it’s probably not the time to pull out your sermon on predestination. Sure, it’s part of your deepest convictions, but there’s no need to ram it down their throats. Tone down your language if you’re talking about a topic of difference; if you have to discuss predestination, use “election” instead. You’re there to love them, not tell them everything they’re doing wrong or that you disagree with. If you want to have a lasting, long-term ministry to them of any sort, be considerate.

Don’t preach in a vacuum. If something huge has happened, be sensitive to that in your sermon. I spent all of Saturday, Sept. 3rd, 2005 writing a new sermon, even though I had plenty of sermons I could have preached. Why? Because Hurricane Katrina had hit Louisiana and Mississippi the week before, and the people I was preaching to needed to hear God’s word speak to them about tragedy and disaster. I’ve also written a sermon for a church whose pastor’s wife had a heart-attack the Wednesday before– they called me on Thursday to preach.

Show up 10-15 minutes earlier than they tell you. Chances are, they won’t tell you what time to arrive– just what time the service starts. But the chances are also good that the Elders or other leadership will want to pray with you before worship. If nothing else, being there early will give you a chance to look over the order of worship and note any changes you should be aware of. Or, if you have trouble with the directions it will allow you a few minutes to find your way without being late.

Take a partner. Whenever I can, I like to take someone with me when I go to preach. Often this is Marcie, and she is a great partner to me. But a number of times she hasn’t gone with me for one reason or another, and I almost always try to take someone else. Why? For starters, it’s easier if you’re not alone; if you have a companion, then you know that you have one supporter. (But don’t believe the lies of your own heart here: everyone else there is for you, too.) It’s also good to have someone to help you evaluate the sermon– what worked, where you could improve, how well you did on that one part you weren’t sure of. I know it’s easy to hate the evaluations in the cold, sterile Homiletics class environment, but you long for some kind of honest feedback when it’s live and in front of regular people.

Be prepared to lead worship. Think about it– the churches that are likely to call you for pulpit supply are not the ones likely to have another pastor on staff to lead worship. Sometimes there will be an Elder who does it, and occasionally a music director that takes a strong part. Most of the time, it will be up to you. It’s a good idea to be ready for it: have some scripture ready for a call to worship, assurance of pardon, and other readings that are appropriate for your sermon topic (or at least appropriate for those functions); maybe even have some hymns picked out that you could suggest if they’re needed (be sure to pick hymns that are familiar to most people AND that you know, since you’ll probably be leading them). If you’ve never done this before, pay attention to the way your pastor does it at your church. Note the way that he has something to say between the elements of worship, how he gives a brief explanation of some parts, etc.

Let one of their Elders/leaders pray for the congregation. I rarely will lead the congregational prayers, because they need to be very personal and familiar prayers– and I can’t offer those for a congregation I don’t know very well. In fact, there is only one church that I’ve preached at where I’m comfortable leading these prayers, and that’s partly because I’ve been there more than 10 times. You may end up leading them anyway, but ask their leadership to take them if they will; most will quickly understand why this is a good idea.

Show your gratitude to the musician(s). If you’ve ever led worship without accompaniment, you’ll understand why this is so important. But it goes beyond that; if you are open with them in your appreciation of how they share their gifts, you are acknowledging that it’s not all about you. You can be sure that the musician(s) will not be the only ones who notice this, and it underscores the value of your ministry to them tremendously.

Be ready to stay for lunch - or at least be ready to stay for a while. You shouldn’t just take off right after the service; if you want to minister to them, talk with them for a few minutes after worship. Often there will be some sort of fellowship time, with coffee and doughnuts or other food. Sometimes there will be a potluck dinner afterward. Now and then someone will invite you out. Don’t deny them their opportunity for hospitality; if you do, you’re communicating that you don’t really care about them, but only about the preaching opportunity. At very least, have a good reason why you can’t stay; “I’m tired” won’t do, but “I have to pick up my family at our regular church” will. “We have to get the kids home for their naps” is iffy.

Thank them on the way out. Be sure to seek out one or more of the leaders and tell them how much you appreciate the invitation to preach. You should feel honored and privileged that you were given that blessing, and you should also feel obligated to communicate to them that you feel that way. I thank everyone I speak to after the worship service for having me there, but I make sure to give a particular word of appreciation to the leaders.

Don’t make a big deal about the money. Most churches will hand you a check at some point while you’re there. By all means, don’t make this exchange any more awkward by drawing attention to it. If they give you a check, smile, quietly thank them, then tuck it in your Bible or your pocket. Definitely do not open it up and check how much it was for. If they don’t have the check ready, there will probably be someone who is very uncomfortable and apologetic about it; assure them that it is no big deal, and they can send it in the mail later. Again, if you’re there just for the money, you shouldn’t be there. I always approach pulpit supply as something I am willing to do for free; I’ve never refused an honorarium, but if a church couldn’t pay me I would still go when they asked me to preach.

If you take these lessons into consideration, you’ll probably find the ministry of pulpit supply to be even better. Your preaching will improve, your confidence will improve, and you’ll probably get more invitations back to churches you’ve preached at before.

Ed Eubanks is a contributing writer for Seminary Survival Guide.

If you are, or have been, in seminary, you may have heard a classmate say this. Perhaps you have said it- or thought it- yourself.

Now, there is nothing wrong with “recycling” a sermon. I don’t happen to be among those who advocate pastors throwing out their sermons after they finish a series (though some are such advocates, and I understand their arguments). God can, and does, use sermons preached multiple times in various contexts, and if a sermon has been well-prepared (and sometimes even if not) then it should have a message that is timeless and applicable to all of His people anywhere.

But seminary students should be careful not to over-use the “recycling” opportunity as they pursue pulpit supply experience. Not because their sermons aren’t that good (though I’ll admit that, for good reason, I don’t reach back to my “elementary homiletics” material when I get a preaching invitation) but because they need to pursue as much real experience as they can while in seminary. And let’s face it: when you’ve preached a sermon before, it isn’t half the learning experience that a fresh sermon is.

I’ve mentioned before how important I think it is to pursue preaching opportunities while in seminary. How many sermons should a seminary student write while in seminary?

I’ve preached in pulpit supply opportunities a lot– far more than the average seminarian (or recent graduate). During seminary, I preached nearly 100 times in area churches, many of them multiple times. Of those, I’ve probably prepared nearly 50 sermons (yes, the rest have been “recycled”). On the other hand, some seminary students emerge from graduation with six sermons in their file cabinets. How do you go from 6 to 50?

Start with your exegetical papers. (You are electing to do exegetical papers some of the time, right? You’re not taking the alternative assignment every time, are you?) In theory, at least, once the exegetical paper is done, the sermon is half-finished. This is because a well-taught homiletician will be instructed to do good exegesis first. (In actuality, the sermon is probably more than half-finished because the assignment inevitably included some instruction regarding application.) So starting with your exegetical papers means that you may already have a handful of sermons half-written. During my seminary career, I wrote exegetical papers every chance I got– resulting in no less than 10 papers.

From there, start working on developing sermons out of a sense of preparation. Maybe outline a book or a topical series that you want to preach early in your first ministry call, and then start preparing those sermons. Here’s why: your first six months of ministry after seminary will be months of transition, and you will not likely have the time to put to sermons as you will want. Having a stock of sermons to be ahead with will fill the gap during this time. Here’s why else: as John R. W. Stott mentions in Between Two Worlds, the more sermons we prepare, the more familiar we are with the Word. Over time, our preparation time grows to be less and less because of this. Thus, if you spend more time preparing sermons while in seminary, you’ll be closer to that point than if you don’t.

Two more reasons why:

1. As I said before, one preacher suggested that it took about 100 sermons to “find your preaching voice”. He didn’t mean only 100 times preaching, but also 100 sermons prepared. So the more sermons you prepare, the more you will know yourself as a preacher (and the more likely the church that calls you will know you as a preacher).
2. Also, to answer the most frequent rebuttal I’ve received when suggesting this to others: it’s true that there’s hardly time during seminary to be writing sermons you haven’t been assigned. But in reality, there won’t be a lot of time available for most pastors, either. Unfortunately, there will always be other things that are legitimate, good ministry that can, and will, demand your time if you will give it. So if you don’t learn to carve out time for sermon preparation now, when do you plan to learn it?

Ed Eubanks is a contributing writer for Seminary Survival Guide.

Ed has been working for a while on a book about the transition from seminary to your first post-seminary ministry position.  He’s done a lot of very mature and careful thinking about this process.  I’d encourage you to check out his blog, Placement Reflections.

Welcome to the team, Ed!