Ordination

Congradulations Dr. Bob!!!
30 years is quite a milestone.
God Bless you

Atestring

 

I was ordained in 2002, after serving a year and a half as an Associate Pastor. There were several pastors, assistants, missionaaries, and Bible college/seminary faculty present to ask questions, as well as several men from our church. The church I served in was a part of the Iowa Association of Regular Baptist Churches, which is a pretty tight-knit group, so we had good participation/representation from around our part of the state. It was limited in the sense that we stuck to inviting men from churches of like faith and practice to sit on the council (no Episcopals, Methodists, etc.). We convened the council on a Thursday, then held the service with the church on Sunday evening, with a fellowship time following the service.

I found the questions to be difficult ones, but nothing I had not been adquately prepared for beforehand. The experience I had encouraged me, because while the questions were dificult and challeneging, I never felt like they were being asked to belittle me or to give "air time" to pet doctrines or issues. They simply wanted to see where I stood and if I could defend it adequately and Biblically.

The service with my church family was precious. It gave us a time to reflect on and give thanks for the part they had played in my development to that point, while recognizing the enormous responsibility that comes with the office of one called "pastor."

 

I was recommended for ordination in a Southern Baptist church by a motion from the pulpit committee that called me to the church. The entire congregation participated in both the questioning and in the laying on of hands. No outside ministers were present for the vote to ordain, though my father, who is also a pastor, and one of my close college friends, also a pastor, were invited to the service to "invocate" and "benedict".

When my current church, which is not Southern Baptist, called me as pastor, I informed them that I had been ordained in a Southern Baptist church. Though they are an independent church that doesn't call itself "Baptist" it is very similar in organization and doctrine and they chose to recognize my ordination. We also had a laying on of hands ceremony and service.

The SBC church I pastored only ordained pastors and deacons. Our current congregation also ordains elders, since we see that as a biblical office and calling as well as that of deacon. At the present time, we only have a few of each. The nature of our church is such that we have a lot of Christians who've been wounded and shot up in the world, or have had little church experience since coming to know the Lord. We have a lot to minister to, and not many to do the ministering at this point. We have four elders, including myself, and three deacons for a congregation in excess of 300 regular attendance. We do ordain women, and have one woman elder, and two women deacons. We see no prohibition to this in scripture, since Phoebe was a deacon and the word in Timothy that so many translate as "wife" can be translated in other ways, and probably should be considering the context of the verses that come before. Deacons, elders and pastors are not authorities in the church, they are servants of the church, and women who serve as such are not in a position of authority over a man. If we didn't ordain women in our congregation to serve in this capacity, we'd be in major difficulty related to ministry. The practice has certainly been a blessing to the church and we see this as the blessing of God on what we believe has been obedience to him.

 

I remember my ordination service. It was to be performed in the Church which I grew up in as a child. The council was held in the Church fellowship hall. There were three deacons (two from my Church), an associational missionary, and three pastors making a total of seven men. The experience was like standing before a tribuneral of judges over a crime committed LOL j/k.

The one thing I will always remember unfortunately is that during my service two of the deacons of the Church hosting my ordination service (my old Childhood church), stood up and walked out. Only one came back. I thought the other was going to his truck to get a few watermelons he promised to bring me for our fellowship refreshments afterwards. In actuality I found out that he went to argue in protest over the pastor serving in the Church at that time with the other deacon. In anger he took his watermelons and left. Just last month the pastor of that Church was forced to resign so I assume that nothing ever was resolved. When I leared about the reasons that deacon left my ordination early I was and forever will be embarassed that people would stoop to childish fighting during such an important time to me. These people are like family to me growing up. I wish I had chosen the college I attended now lol.