“I’ve been a bivocational pastor for 48 years, and I’m afraid in the beginning I was like the Apostle Paul — ‘full of zeal but not according to knowledge’!”
John King, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Graymont, and church and community relations consultant for Birmingham Metro Baptist Association, served as a panelist at a Nov. 6, “Calling Out the Called” event held at Samford University.
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“I was helped by many mentors in the churches,” King told the group. “They shared with me what they saw as my calling, and they taught me, though at the time I didn’t see what they saw.”
‘Called inwardly’
Other panelists included Julia Higgins, assistant professor of Christian ministry at Samford, and Ryan Wade, church planter and pastor of Cahaba City Church Trussville.
Birmingham Association executive director Chris Crain noted ministers are “called inwardly” and “express their call outwardly” as exhorted by their churches, as he introduced the panel.
Higgins agreed, crediting local churches for affirming her calling and encouraging her spiritual journey.
“My church gave me opportunity to serve, and I taught 6th grade and 9th grade and 12th grade girls in Sunday School,” Higgins recounted. “Then I became a ministry intern. I talked with my pastor about what opportunities I’d have as a woman in ministry.
“I’m committed to the local church because the local church was faithful to me.”
‘Changed my life’
Wade noted he began his spiritual journey in a church of 50 and “the local church changed my life.”
“They told me I had a calling, and they taught me how to serve,” he explained. “I often remind people I was mopping floors before I held a microphone!”
Higgins added the church is called to affirm everyone, not just vocational ministers, since all believers are designed to serve.
“I think we’re all called generally to be born again, to holiness, to love and serve,” she said.
“What can the church do? They can model and teach,” Higgins asserted. “And this is true as well and more specifically when God calls individuals to serve in vocational ministry. The local church has responsibility to encourage and pray.”
Staying connected
When Crain asked the panelists about sustaining their call, Wade responded, “We have to commune with God and stay connected. This is even more important when we encounter negative people.
“People, of course, are a great blessing, but sometimes people can be so complicated!”
King agreed, noting every battery has a positive and negative side.
“Pastors find that they can want for people what the people don’t want for themselves,” he said.
“And sometimes Satan rears his ugly head in church. We can’t be too arrogant to ask God for help and direction. I try to remember the old hymn, ‘I Need Thee Every Hour.’”
‘Spiritual rhythms’
Higgins said “spiritual rhythms” also are important.
“We continue to seek God in prayer, though sometimes we’re wrestling with Him in prayer.”
When Crain asked the panelists what they wish they had known or what they could do over in ministry, Wade said he would remind his younger self that “clarity comes from climbing the mountain.”
“I often think of Abraham climbing Mount Moriah in obedience to God,” he explained. “He really didn’t know what lay ahead, but he kept climbing. I think if God told us what the future held, we wouldn’t go. We’d be too afraid. But we must continue to climb — to walk in obedience today.”
King said he’d learn better self-care.
“Jesus said He was sending us out as sheep among wolves, so self-care is imperative.”
“I like the acronym ‘RED’ since it reminds me of three key things: rest, exercise and diet,” King noted. “And our homelife is important, too. We all need to work to make home a good place we can go to and find welcome.”
The final event in the “Calling Out The Called” series will be at the BMBA office Nov. 20 when Scott Guffin, associate professor and executive director of Christian ministry at Samford, will explore, “How Can Ministry Leaders Encourage the Called?”
For more information contact Marisa Taylor at 205.599.3245.
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