Calling you

Preparing for ministry you constantly hear conversation about how poorly pastors are paid, or how this church pays their pastor more than that church. Recently there was a group of people together and they were praising a senior pastor, the comment was made, "He could easily make more money at another church" and then some one hushed them and said, "Don't let him know that, he may leave". Overhearing this conversation I whispered to a friend, "If your calling won't keep you, we don't want you"!
My personal opinion of "the call" is God calls individuals to full-time ministry. Then allows us to pick how we will fulfill that calling as we examine our "SHAPE", as Warren calls it. With this understanding I would also be predisposed to think that one could fulfill God's calling to full-time ministry in a large spectrum of ministries.
If one is called to full-time ministry salary should never be the determining factor in whether they remain at a church or not.
I would respect a pastor who left a church because he was not passionate about the ministry he was in, or he didn't feel his talents and or gifts did not match the ministry he was in far more than I would some who leaves a church because they don't pay him enough.
For those of you who know me, you would realize this is a drastic change in my previous opinion that salary should be a major factor in the decision to go to a church or not.
In Summary "your passion and God's peace should empower you to be at a church to fulfill your calling. If you do not have passion or peace then it's time to leave and fulfill your calling elsewhere".
Please comment and help me to develop these thoughts further.

Growing and Dieing

So over the last month or so I have been receiving MSN messages asking, "What's up with your blog spot". I usually responded with, "it wasn't fulfilling its purpose so I trashed it". However, the requests have still been coming, so I have decided to resurrect this cyber valley of dry bones. To everyone I say, "You've brought this upon yourself"?

This past weekend our youth group went to May Rally and during one of the rallies I got nostalgic. I thought back to years ago when I was a teen and how I would stand in similar rallies with my hands raised and my heart humbled. There was a genuine contrite spirit that pleaded before the Lord to be made holy, with full anticipation that he would do it.
Fast forwarding to this weekend I began to ask myself this question, "What happened to your childlike faith"?

As we "grow up" it seems we build a callousness around our hearts and a cynicism around our minds, all to protect "US". Our faith has shrunk from a mustard seed to an atom. The God we once praised for being able to conquer death and shake the foundations of the earth, we no longer feel safe to give our heart's desires to. We chain the Lion of Judah to our realm of understanding . YHWH has become a security blanket. We no longer, rely on the Bread of Life for our daily bread. Warm fuzzies he can give us, but we need to take care of our real needs.

"When did growing up turn into our faith dieing"?