Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.
What kind of politics are there in this “career”?
How exactly do you get accepted as the minister in a congregation? Does your denomination has any say in the matter (for instance, if it appears that you and your congregation drift far away from its theological stance)?
Also, in reference to the quote : when you mention people “trying to make a living”, does it imply that some of them hope they could end up making good money? IOW, is being a minister perceived by these students as a possible “career” as opposed to just having food and a roof, while doing something they perceive as very important?
Those things might perhaps appear obvious to many, but I’m coming from a Catholic country, and this is foreign to me.
Without looking it up, would you be able to explain the theological differences between the major Protestant churches?
(I’m not asking you to do it, just to say whether you could do it.)
We have a committee (its a Unitarian Church - we have a committee for everything) of laypeople to do counseling because our minister doesn’t have time to do everything required. She does a lot of the initial counseling, but when it becomes the sort of extended home visits for care, or comfort for grief over time, the lay committee steps in.
The committee includes a few psychologist, social workers and abuse specialists - in addition to people who just volunteer - but all are trained.
Having to say the right things to the right people, having to appease the right people while keeping everybody else happy, making sure we read Luke 2 (the birth of Jesus narrative) at our Christmas program in King James because Thelma Lu likes it that way and she’s 91 so…
That sort of thing.
I don’t have a denomination. There is no headquarters or governing authority over any local congregation. I got the job the way you’d get a job at a bank: submit a résumé, have an interview, etc. I had two interviews- a one on one with the elders’ chairman, then with the elders group as a whole. Then I had a “test” Sunday where I was introduced to the congregation, then preached, then they voted on me, but it was a forgone conclusion at that point.
There is money in ministry, but you have to work your way up to it the same way you’d work your way up in a corporation. The preaching minister at a suburban congregation with 1000 people is probably doing pretty well; the preaching minister at a small church in a small town = not so much. No one goes directly from Bible college to preaching minister at a huge church. Of the guys I went to college with who are still in the ministry, most are at middle of the road congregations (200 - 500 or so) and are solidly lower middle class, and happy to be so. Some have moved on to bigger congregations and are making more money; bully for them, if that’s what they want. So yeah, most are doing it because they’re happy with “three hots and a cot” so to speak while doing something they consider important.
I can tell you which ones practice infant baptism vs. believers’ baptism; which ones practice immersion vs. sprinkling; which ones are Calvinist vs. Arminian; which ones are liturgical vs. progressive; etc., but only in the broadest and most general sense (Lutherans are liturgical, practice infant baptism, and sprinkle; for example), and only with the most well-known groups.
Thanks so much for starting this thread. It’s been enlightening.
I understand that you are more open now, but when you held your fundamentalist beliefs, what were your thoughts about other denominations? Did you believe Lutherans and Catholics would reach the same ultimate goal (heaven) as those in your congregation?
Also, did you like everyone in your congregation? How did you handle personality differences?
Thanks! 
I’ve been ecumenical from Day 1, so I always believed that those professing to believe in Jesus Christ, regardless of their affiliation, would wind up in Heaven. That’s a belief held by a lot of leaders AND laypeople in my faith tradition. Others, however, do not hold that view. There’s definitely a lot of variation, but if I had to guess I’d say that 80% of the people in my congregation (and 100% of the pastoral staff) hold the same view as I do.
No, I didn’t like everyone in my congregation. Fortunately, I only saw them on Sunday mornings/evenings. All I could do was smile & nod. There were, however, some people who I became really good friends with - as in, we probably would have hung out even if my wife and I weren’t the preacher and his wife. A Cherokee Indian woman (as in full-blood, parents-used-to-live-on-the-reservation) and her husband & daughter became good friends of mine. Also a widowed lady of about 65; she really took to me and my wife and invited us over to her house every Sunday after church. She had a granddaughter with Down Syndrome (my part-time job at the time was working in a group home for the disabled), so she really respected me for my heart for the disabled.
Hey, I used to know a couple of people who attended OCC back in the 90’s. One of them was a current student at the time (I met her when she was home for the summer break), and another had stopped attending for financial reasons after 2 or 3 semesters. She showed me some notes that one of her professors had given out in class describing how evolution couldn’t be true because it would violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. It was the first time I had heard that (apparently common) creationist argument. When I tried to explain the fallacy, she chose to believe her theology professor over me and my physics degree. 
Her professor’s notes also included creation “science” hooey like the Great Flood as an explanation for fossil strata and geologic formations such as the Grand Canyon.
You said you were once a 6-day creationist. Were you taught creation science at OCC? Did you ever question it at the time? When did you start to change your beliefs regarding 6-day creationism, and what caused you to think differently?
Did you grow up in a fundamentalist Christian family?
If so, what do they think about your current life?
If not, what made you choose that path?
PM me her name, I’ll tell you whether or not I knew her.
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Yeah, I took that class. Never questioned a word of it – I enthusiastically ate up every word. I can’t point to any one time when I started questioning the whole thing. It was well after I got out of the ministry, I can tell you that with confidence.
Culturally Christian. They’re on board with my current life. Essentially my mom, stepdad & brothers are just like me - still Christian, just not on board 100% with fundamentalism.
As for what made me “choose that path,” kind of a long story. Basically I was about 14 when a friend invited me to his church (up until this point my family would go to church on Christmas & Easter, usually to the Methodist church my grandma went to). I got involved in their high school ministry and just soaked up everything I was taught. As I neared college age I started getting “groomed” for a career in the ministry, and that’s where I wound up.