Monthly Archives: May 2018

SEX, THE POPE, AND ATHEISM

Image result for Richard Dawkins

From well-known atheist Richard Dawkins came this Feb. 11, 2013 tweet:

“I feel sorry for the Pope and all old Catholic priests. Imagine having a wasted life to look back on and no sex.”

What struck me is that sex must take on transcendence of a sort if you are an atheist/materialist.  There is not much left…

PASTORS LOOKING FOR A CHURCH…

Over the years I have read hundreds of résumés.   Actually, it is probably more than that.  In any case, between interviewing many people on radio and TV, I have also given input to some churches on pastoral searches.  I have evaluated dozens of résumés for a pastoral position.  Here are a few things which you may want to share with a friend who is applying for a pastoral position:

*First impressions are huge.  I was amazed by how poorly several of the résumés looked.  The lack of any attention to aesthetics was shocking.  I am not advocating lots of fancy stuff.  I am saying that using Courier font and inconsistent borders is not quite passing muster.

*The lack of good writing was painful to see.  Poor writing for someone going into a preaching ministry is troubling.

*The word passion is way overused.  When I see someone has a “passion” for this or that, I grow impatient.  I beg pastors to use some other word.

*Family is listed as hobby and many times not even the first one!  Some put family under a category called “interests,” but the same problem remains.  I have seen too many put gardening and golf or reading and travel on the same list as family. 

*No reason is given for leaving a particular church.  One candidate who was candid about the reason for leaving his previous position was put at the top of my pile.

*Stop using trivialities, sloganeering, platitudes, and playing to the crowd.  Since this last church I helped leans toward dispensationalism it was painful to read the pandering descriptions of how committed some candidates are to this particular system of theology.

*No references given from previous church.

*Stop saying the predictable “my wife is the most beautiful and my children are simply amazing.” 

*Dates of experience have gaps and these are not explained.