AOG Pastors?

[revrod]

My wife and I pastor an AG church in Illinois. Just curious if there are other AG ministers around.

God bless!
Rodney

 

[dayhiker]

I was an associate pastor in Maine a number of years ago

 

[thesunisout]

My wife and I pastor an AG church in Illinois. Just curious if there are other AG ministers around.

God bless!
Rodney

Hi Rodney, I am not a minister but I was wondering how you knew when you received the call? Lately, people have been telling me I would make a good preacher, or I will be a good preacher, and I kind of feel drawn that way..but I wouldn't do it without a definite call. I think pastors are called and not educated, so I wouldn't deign to try to jump into it with God calling me to do it. Do you have any advice for me?

 

[revrod]

Hi Rodney, I am not a minister but I was wondering how you knew when you received the call? Lately, people have been telling me I would make a good preacher, or I will be a good preacher, and I kind of feel drawn that way..but I wouldn't do it without a definite call. I think pastors are called and not educated, so I wouldn't deign to try to jump into it with God calling me to do it. Do you have any advice for me?

Well, my friend, you are approaching this in the right way. It is DEFINITELY IMPORTANT to have/sense a call from God to preach/pastor and never base it on the ideas or opinions of others. Other people can, will and even should CONFIRM what God is speaking to you, but we should never follow people's plan first.

I will be brutally honest with you and say that I approach it in such a way as to try and talk people out of a call to ministry if I can. Why? Because unless there is a genuine call, ministry can be brutal. There are times that it is only the sustaining assurance of God's call that keeps me going forward in the fulfillment of what I know to be God's plan for me. In other words, if you can do ANYTHING ELSE then please do it. However, if deep in your heart and spirit you cannot imagine yourself being fulfilled by doing anything else but preach/serve in the ministry then that is a good indication of a calling.

Now, in terms of understanding when God speaks to you, I take a very specific approach to that.

1. When God speaks to a person HE WILL NEVER contradict His Word. His written word will stand true and God will always uphold and honor that. If you feel God is calling you to preach, ask Him to direct you scripturally and specifically. For me, He placed a very specific verse on my heart as to His plan or desire for my life and the ministry to which He was calling me. Ask Him to show you through His Word - He will do so.

2. Do you have a genuine sense of peace? God will lead us in peace and it will often be the peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:7). Don't mistake peace for relief or even excitement. Challenge and question your heart and your motives to determine the existence of genuine peace.

3. Is what God said to you confirmed out of the mouth of two or three (or more) TRUSTED witnesses. This one is key in that you listen to the right voices and they confirm God's direction and not establish it as I said before. I had numerous clear confirmations from other people and ministers that truly nailed down the reality of the call of God for me.

There are other things I consider when wondering/testing the validity of whether or not I heard form God, but those are the primary three I always start with.

Now, specifically for ministry, a couple of things to consider.

1. Are you approaching with a desire to serve or be served? Be honest with yourself about this one. It can be a real pitfall.
2. Are you willing to prove yourself faithful to God and to His people? Can you be faithful over the little so God can entrust you with much? This might mean scrubbing toilets, changing diapers in nursery, doing yard work and manual labor things around the church. Doing things with an attitude and willingness to serve God and the church.
3. What is you vision/idea of ministry?
4. Are you teachable?

There are so many factors that go into calling to ministry. I appreciate the question and I hope I have been able to help in some manner. Feel free to ask me anything on here or via PM. If you ever want to talk you can PM me your number or we could connect on Skype. I feel that part of my calling is to help new and aspiring ministers to become what God desires for them to be. It is a process and journey. When Jesus called the disciples to become fishers of men, they weren't instantly that. It was a process. When we allow God's process to work/play out in our lives, He is able to accomplish in and through us what He desires for us.

God bless
Rodney

 

[stormdancer0]

I'm a CoG pastor. Will I do??

 

[revrod]

I'm a CoG pastor. Will I do??

Cool. Pleasure to meet you.

 

[thesunisout]

There are so many factors that go into calling to ministry. I appreciate the question and I hope I have been able to help in some manner. Feel free to ask me anything on here or via PM. If you ever want to talk you can PM me your number or we could connect on Skype. I feel that part of my calling is to help new and aspiring ministers to become what God desires for them to be. It is a process and journey. When Jesus called the disciples to become fishers of men, they weren't instantly that. It was a process. When we allow God's process to work/play out in our lives, He is able to accomplish in and through us what He desires for us.

God bless
Rodney

Thank you for taking the time to answer this Pastor. I appreciate your insight.

After I found out about God, but before I became a Christian, I was involved in the new age movement. I thought for a long time that I was going to be some sort of teacher, or guru, because I felt like God had made me wise and I had something important to share. Of course, I was a fool, but the point being is that when I became a Christian, I realized that because of this delusion Satan would probably try to appeal to my pride and get me to believe that God would give me some kind of extraordinary job to do. I believe the logic being that if I tried to do something God hadn't directed me or gifted me to do, I would soon be leading a spiritually defeated life. So this is something I am being extremely cautious about.

In any case, as I started to grow as a Christian I would feel called at different times to be a pastor, but it always fleeting. Something here, or a sign there, but nothing consistent. In the last six months though people have started voluntarily telling me I would become a pastor. I hadn't told any of them about any of this, mind you. One person prophecied about it. One person who I barely knew was leaving the building after talking to me and came running back to tell me that the Lord told her I would be a great pastor. She was confused about why the Lord would reveal that to her but faithfully delivered the message. Another person told someone I knew after hearing me give my testimony that I would be a pastor. Yet another person told me I would be evangelizing in front of thousands of people. During this time I also had a couple of dreams where I was teaching, preaching and saving people.

Now, all the people who told me these things are Christians, but I don't necessarily trust any of their testimony. Most of them are strong Christians but I have also seen deception working in their lives as well. In any case, since I didn't really trust any of it, I stopped thinking about it.

The reason it's on my mind lately is now a Pastor has been telling me I am going to be preacher. He started mentioning it casually in front of everyone at the last service I was at. I asked him about it and I don't recall him saying that he had a word about it but he mentioned that I had a hunger for Gods word that he felt could lead me there, and that I should ask God whether this is what He wanted me to do. If it was He would start opening doors for me to do it.

So, that's why I inquired about it. I'm kind of confused and I'm not sure what I want to do. Confused because *someone* is trying to convince me of this and I am not sure if it is God or not. I know being a pastor is a very tough job but I would do it if the Lord wanted me to do it. I'm not really in the position of being a pastor, though, because I am not married. I would have to get married first, wouldn't I? Does a pastor need to have kids too?

As for your questions:

1. Are you approaching with a desire to serve or be served? Be honest with yourself about this one. It can be a real pitfall.

I don't really want to be served. I feel satisfied that God will provide everything I need. I think though there is an element of pride in me that wants to be recognized, but I think the true reason is because I want to help people get closer to God.

2. Are you willing to prove yourself faithful to God and to His people? Can you be faithful over the little so God can entrust you with much? This might mean scrubbing toilets, changing diapers in nursery, doing yard work and manual labor things around the church. Doing things with an attitude and willingness to serve God and the church.

Yes, I am willing to do drudge work if that is what is necessary. I think even sweeping floors is contributing something important.

3. What is you vision/idea of ministry?

I think the ideal vision of the church can be seen in Acts 4:32

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

I'm not really sure how to put that into practice, but I think that this is what the church should look like, ideally. I am sure there are some ministries out there in the world that do resemble this, but it almost seems like a bizarre, or even cultish concept, in the western church. I think though straying away from this model is the biggest cause of unbelief in the world today. Why? Because Jesus said this:

John 13:35

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

So, it stands to reason that if we don't love one another, people won't know that we are His disciples. Well, I think that all of this division and denominationalism is the source of that confusion. The true church is the body of Christ, which is a supernatural body of believers with Christ as the head, not institutions made by men. When all nonbelievers see is the institution and the division and not the love then they won't know we're His disciples. Please note that I am not saying that denominations are all inherently evil, or something like that. I myself am a member of an AOG church. I am just saying that there were no denominations in the early church.

I think healing and deliverance are also essential to any ministry.

4. Are you teachable?

I grew up without any religion, and so after finding out there is a God, I also found out pretty quickly that everything I knew was in some way, wrong. It was astonishing to learn that this was even possible. Because of that I recognize the fallibility of my understanding, and that it's only because of the Lord that I know anything true at all. I am learning more and more just how little I actually know, and how far away I am from measuring up to Gods standards. So, I feel that I am teachable, although I can be slow of learning and stubborn in my own ways.

 

[revrod]

It sounds like you are on the right track and you are cautiously approaching these things. I believe with all of my heart that we are all made on purpose and with a purpose. The other side of knowing and understanding God's will for our lives is sometimes more complicated than we need it to be.

I teach it in this way (some may or may not agree). But I look at understanding God's will in two parts:

1. There is a "GENERAL" part of God's will that applies to every believer. This involves prayer, reading the Word, fellowshipping with other believers, sharing your faith and testimony, etc... These are general things that are true for everyone and realistically make up about 85-95% of the life of a believer.

2. There is a "SPECIFIC" part of God's will that applies to each individual. This is the calling or plan for each person. This is where we understand if we are to preach, our vocation, etc. This makes up about 5-15% of the life of a believer.

Where many of us get caught up is by trying to figure out the 5-15% at the expense of the 85-95%. What I found to be true in my life is that when I made it a point to seriously focus on and take care of the "GENERAL" part of God's will for my life, He made the "SPECIFIC" part clear. Instead of looking for His plan, His plan found me. Does that make sense?

I sense that you do have a strong purpose for God. I can't say one way or another what that purpose is. However, I do sense your teachable spirit. In terms of marriage and children, it isn't a necessity or a big deal. Paul was single and mightily used of God. My wife and I had been in full-time ministry for 6 years before we had a child.

In terms of vision, yes the church must exemplify love one for another. I think the Book of Acts as a whole outlines God's plan for the church. If you read the Epistles from Paul to the various churches, most of the issues that were addressed had to deal with some level of deviation from the established church as seen in Acts. The church at Ephesus for example began in power and unity (Acts 18-19) and then when Jesus addressed them in Revelation 2 he said they had forsaken their first love. Somewhere along the lines they lost something. When Paul wrote to them the letter to the Ephesians as well as his letters to Timothy who served as pastor in Ephesus, he primarily addressed a falling away from unity and love. So, I think you are on the right track.