The Smiths could trace their family roots back to the Mayflower. Their ancestors included the likes of Wall Street traders and Senators. Mr. and Mrs. Smith hired an author to record the family genealogy in print for posterity’s sake. As the author pored over family trees and genealogical records and interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Smith, one problem arose. The author had to figure out a clever way to include in the family record the great-uncle who was sent to the electric chair for capital punishment.

When the book was finally published, the following words tactfully addressed the family’s black sheep. “Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a real shock.” (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frankbarton/stories/funny.html (grammar corrected))

The Bible records several genealogical records. These lengthy lists record eternally the names of individuals, the vast majority of whom would have lived in complete anonymity were it not for the Scriptures.

If you are an expositional preacher, you will inevitably have to preach through a genealogical passage. How do you preach the eternal truths found in the genealogies? Why should you preach the genealogies? How do we show the relevance of names of the long departed to the every day modern life of our congregations?Continue reading “Preaching the Genealogies”

When I was in high school, I really, really hated mathematics. The most heinous part of math was the word problems. If it wasn’t enough that letters were put in place of numbers, then some demented mind used sentences to create imaginary problems. I digress.

Every word problem seemed to make little or no sense. Here is an idea of what the word problems seemed like. Question: If you have ten ice cubes and eighty toaster ovens, how many kangaroos can jump on the bed? Answer: Purple, because unicorns don’t wear hats.

By this point you might be thinking, “What in the world the writer trying to say?” This post is about questionnaires for pastoral positions. Inquiries about your ministry often leave you wondering what the church really wants to know about you. Sometimes questionnaires make as much sense as the high school math problems I hated so much.Continue reading “Completing Questionnaires for Pastoral Candidacy”