Dr. Bernard, this idea of divine calling is very important to Pentecostals.

We might regularly hear a pastor say, God called me to this city, or God called me to this church.

And I think that brings great comfort to the congregation because

they're assured that this person isn't here just because they got hired by some ordinary hiring

process. This person's here because God put him there. So that expectation prompted one of our

audience members to write us with a question. He said, we talk about ministry callings, but I saw a

Facebook post advertising an opening for a pastor to church. Is it wrong to post pastor positions

like we would any other job? I think that's a fair observation because if God is the one who

calls a pastor to a particular place, is it therefore wrong for churches

to advertise a pastoral opening like we would just any other job and to go through a process

that maybe mirrors something that we might find in corporate America?

I would say briefly that no, it's not wrong, but I would say more broadly, as in many questions that we have, the answer is not either or, but both and.

So this question might pose this dichotomy. Well, either God has called you or a church has hired you.

One is in opposition to the other. You can't have both. I would say it can be both and. And let me give you some examples to you. We definitely believe in a call of God, a call to preach. You see this in the Bible. The apostles were called. The prophets were called. You see this in the ministry of Paul, even as he was deciding where to go

in ministry, that the spirit forbade him to go to Bethenia. The spirit said, no, don't go here. But

then there was a call, go to Macedonia. So we as preachers need to feel like we definitely have a call

to preach, but we also need to feel like we're called to this

particular ministry or this particular location at our time of life. So absolutely we need to feel

that. However, at every stage the call needs to be recognized by the church. So God can call you

to preach, but First Timothy and Titus talk

about the qualifications for a preacher. How is that fulfilled? Well, in the UPCI, you meet a district

board. They interview you. You have an application process. You have a recommendation of your pastor.

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