Chapter 1
Answering God’s Call
“I’m going to Fort Worth for a couple of years to finish my master of divinity, and then I’m going to come back to Arkansas and pastor for the rest of my life.” “Not only will I never live and serve in New Orleans, but I’m never coming back to the city even for a visit.” These statements are only two examples of what may be called “famous last words” as it relates to my (Adam’s) calling to ministry. As a matter of fact, over a decade has passed since I completed my master’s degree. As I was nearing the end of my time at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, my wife and I made a list of specific ministry desires. Not only did we write the list in such a way to describe our own preferences, but at the time we genuinely felt as though the list represented the details that God wanted for our lives, marriage, and family. However, few details on that list regarding the what or the where of ministry have matched, now nor at any other time since the list’s composition, what we actually have done in ministry. If you can decipher the irony of the first two sentences of this chapter, my position on faculty at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is both a case-in-point and a double whammy. Why is a call often so difficult to discern? Why do so many people struggle to know specifically what they have been called to do? What do we mean by a “call to ministry”? More 1
