Square Peg in a Round Whole Culture

Have you ever felt completely out of place before? Like everyone around you had received an e-mail that somehow you just didn't get, or you realize that the party that you are attending was a black tie affair and you came in jeans? The first-time I experienced this reality was when I decided to pursue a Masters in Business Administration degree. At the time I had been a pastor for close to a decade and was feeling a tension between two passions, my call to ministry, and the overwhelming desire to lead, administer, cast a vision for, an organization to become all that could possibly attain. I soon found out that this would become a black mark on my credentials.

For centuries when one felt a calling to be a pastor they would go to the seminary attain a theological decree, and then lead a church. Business and ministry, so says the prevailing church culture, do not mix or at least that's what I have been told over and over and over again.

I doubt many people will ever read this blog. I assume this would be more of a cathartic exercise in articulating my thoughts in a semi-cohesive fashion. If you do happen to come across this blog and are feeling the tension between two passions, know you are not alone. God gave you these passions for a reason, fight the urge to leave your calling as a pastor to enter into the secular workforce. God is continuing to do an amazing work in His church and I feel that we as business minded pastors will have a key role.