Here is an excerpt of a letter drafted to my congregations this week:
I am thankful you have been walking this part of my journey with me. You saw me complete seminary and be commissioned in 2022, moving me from Licensed Local Pastor to Provisional Elder.
I realized maybe you all don’t know what’s happening next. In the United Methodist system, clergy are not ordained right out of seminary. First, a request for commissioning (and lots of written documents, sermons, and theological questions), if that is good you are granted an in-person examination/interview, and then if you pass – the actual ceremony to be commissioned as Provisional Elder occurs at Annual Conference. I have done all that, yay! After that, we are enrolled in a two-year study program called Crucible, which meets monthly in Columbus and on Zoom. Yes, I know the irony or reality of this name. Crucible literally means “a severe test or trial.” This is a time of extra preparation beyond my four years of seminary!
In October (as you begin the second year of Crucible) the requirements for Ordination as an Elder are released. The detailed requirements are called a membership request and consist of 32 very detailed steps – shown above – from medical evaluations, all your academic transcripts, sermons submissions, and theological questions (and 28 additional steps)! This list of requirements we call ordination paperwork is due December 1 @ 5 p.m. This Friday! (And no, pretty sure it cannot be a minute late!)
As you may have gathered, I am currently facing that very December 1st deadline. I also want you to understand this process as you will likely see others go through this same process in years to come.
It also means that in all my spare time (cuz there’s tons of that) I am dedicating brain power to these steps and papers. A few of you have asked for non-urgent things and I have asked you to wait – now you know why. I am sitting here this morning realizing I need to bring you in on this because I need prayer (all of us preparing for this need it, there are 5 of us in this Ordination cycle in West Ohio). The to-do list is long and still has a few steps to complete.
FYI: Once my request is complete, I will be granted an interview in the last week of January. God willing, if I pass, then the Ordination Ceremony and Worship Service will be on June 1, 2024, at Capital University.
Sorry to ramble on, but I wanted you to understand that you are seeing me at the end of a process that for me officially began eight years ago (technically a lifetime to get here, but I answered the initial call into ordained ministry in 2015 ! Two master’s degrees, many hundreds of books read, miles traveled, lots of joy and tons of tears but most importantly – a God who has never failed me.
My current motto in the final stretch of paperwork is this:
It’s my motto, yet I hate that perfection is fiction. I want it to be attainable! But as you might guess. This very thing trips me up because I never stop editing, rewriting, and proofing – because it can always be better. Then, I remind myself. Stop. Simply do your best. Your best today. That is it. And pray, always pray!
As I said above, God willing alone that I make it through this process.
Thanks for listening friends…I should get back to work!
Update – December 1 @ 12:41 a.m. following 5 additional long and stress filled days, the request for interview/Ordination requirements are complete.