How to Get a Full-Time Ministry Job

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What does it take to get a full-time job?

That's a question I wrestled with right out of bible college, as I know many bible college graduates do. The principles I will share here apply to ANY college graduate who would like to do something they love full-time.

I’ve had several young college graduates over the years, fresh off the campus of some Bible College ask me about how to get into a full-time ministry job. And I actually do have some thoughts on that subject, being in ministry myself for over 22 years now, 15 of which have been full-time. I have a few pointers for young ministers who desire to be in the ever-so coveted ‘full-time ministry’ position.


And just a side note here, I completely understand desiring to be in full-time ministry; I really craved it like I crave food after missing several meals. It was all I could think about, and there were times I wondered, “Would I ever be in full-time ministry?” And it bothered me with each passing day that I wasn’t, because I really wanted to be doing my ‘calling’ full-time. Many nights I would fall asleep crying as I prayed for the opportunity. I really struggled while waiting tables at restaurants during those early years, knowing my heart was really in ministry, but I knew it was all part of the bigger picture, my life’s journey.

HERE IS WHAT IT TAKES TO BE FULLTIME IN MINISTRY

I am not going to state the obvious things that are necessary for ministry, i.e. a true heart for God, people skills, healthy spiritual disciplines, being a person of strong character, and integrity, etc. etc. You know this, or should!

1)  Be a great FOLLOWER.  

How well you follow another leader will determine how well you lead others, or if you get to lead others.

If all you really want is to be in the position of ‘leader’ you are missing the whole point of Jesus’ example of servant leadership in ministry. You do not influence people with a position or title, many young leaders miss this. They think they need the position to lead, but they don’t, they just need to be able to influence, then they’ll be the leader. This is why many would-be leaders don’t ever rise to leadership: They aren’t effective at influencing others.

“Leadership is influence” – John Maxwell

Jesus came to serve, not be served and that is true leadership. If all you want is to be large and in charge, it’s not going to work out so well for you, especially in the church world. In the church world it’s all about humility and that’s something we all struggle with.

2)  Treat your volunteer position or part-time staff position like you would a FULL-TIME position.

I don’t mean put in crazy hours and sacrifice your life or the life of your family, but be diligent, committed, engaged, be organized, be a go-getter and model hard work and faithfulness.


I spent seven years as a volunteer in the local church before I was ever even considered for a ‘paid’ position. I worked my rear off FOR FREE! Not to mention many years I spent in a church that I wasn’t ever told “thank you” by any of the paid leadership, and that was okay, because I wasn’t doing it for them. I don’t regret one second of it! I was getting an education, and if I’m being honest here, maybe more of an education in ministry than I did even at Bible College. It was a hands-on education for sure.

I never felt ‘entitled’ like so many I see today do. I knew I had to earn my keep with blood, sweat and tears. I didn’t expect anything I didn’t earn. Just because I went to four years of Bible College didn’t mean jack crap in the real world, and I knew that. I had to prove myself by getting the job done, and done well. Everyone MUST prove themselves. Education is very important, but an education doesn’t supersede being able to get-r-done. I don’t care how many degrees you have -- if you can’t do the job, then what’s the point? Again, education is really important, but it is only part of the picture. Knowing HOW to do something is much different than actually being able to DO it.

The worst thing you could ever say to a pastor/boss/supervisor, “If I was full-time I could do a better job.” Ha ha! I actually had a young staff member say this to me years ago. And I said, “What you do as a part-timer is what we’ll get if we hire you full-time, just more of it!” And that wasn’t much, if anything.

My dad taught me to “work as unto the Lord, not unto men.” Which he said, “Son, even if you are volunteering for something, do it with all you got, as if your life depended on it. Do it better than everyone else, and you will be rewarded!”

We had a volunteer here at Mercy Church back several years -- we’ve actually had many wonderful volunteers -- but one sticks out to me because he went on to full-time ministry, and I knew he would. Why? Because he was AWESOME as a volunteer, far exceeded most all ‘paid staff’ at the church at that time. He never asked for anything, he just got it done, and got it done very well. He went on to Bible College, then on to work in youth ministry at a very large church in Arizona. And guess what? He is knocking it out of the park, of course, I knew he would, I saw it in him as a volunteer.


Proverbs 18:16 A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.

This is the very reason I was hired on at a mega-church down in Texas with no real prior “full-time” experience. The pastor called my VOLUNTEER REFERENCES and I received HIGH reviews. And any pastor knows that how you are as a volunteer so you are as a staff member.

A pastor sees that you knocked it out with no pay, and that tells him you’ve got a great work ethic, and that your motivation is in the right place. You are doing it for the love of God and ministry, not the money.

3)  Don’t treat your volunteer position or part-time position as a mere ‘stepping stone’ to great things.

There is one thing I have learned in ministry, and that is we are in the people business, and if you are not genuinely concerned about others, you’ll never make it in ministry. If you are doing ministry more for yourself, your own ego, it’s not going to go well at all.

I know this all too well, because that was me for many years. I wanted ministry more for my own ego than I did to really serve people and further the cause of Christ. Now of course I could, and did, know that right answer when people would ask, “Why I was in ministry,” but it wasn’t the truth. I was self-deceived. But I knew the truth down deep, I wanted ministry for me.

I stopped doing the volunteer opportunities like mere steppingstones and began really pouring myself into them. Truth be told, many times employers will look at the volunteer “experience” as real experience, so make it worth having on your resume!

4)  Be so good that they’ll have to hire you full-time.

I have told many part time staff over the years, make me hire you fulltime! Make me go get a side job to pay you. I have had some staff take my up on that over the years.

5)  Help grow the church, not just your ministry.


Be a team player!

6)  Never ever, ever make excuses.

The worst line I can ever hear from someone, “we can’t do that now because …” or, “If only we had more money we could do something cool …” excuses, excuses, excuses. My personal opinion is that leaders don’t make excuses. This doesn’t mean we ignore obstacles, but a real leader looks for ways to get under, over, or through any obstacle!

Side note: Yes there are times that you can’t do something because of some limitation, whether its lack of people or money, I get it. But that is when a real leader thinks of another way to do it. Don’t let some little limitation stop you from doing something great. Don’t sell out to excuses. Because if you do, you’ll have an excuse for why you haven’t done anything great in life.

A Story of overcoming an obstacle: Back when we started the church, we didn’t have a facility. We rented a school for Sunday service, so we didn’t have a cool place to hold our youth mid-week service. And we didn’t have money, didn’t have a live band, and not very many youth either. That didn’t stop the youth from coming up with an idea to hold service in my garage each week. They hung black sheets to cover the junk in my garage, and set up some chairs, printed cool little bulletins and set up a little sound system to play worship via CD. It wasn’t long before they packed out my garage with 30-40 students every Wednesday night. It was crazy.

Where there is a will, there is a way!

One of the churches I had the most success in was a lame church, with lame leadership, a lame vision, lame facilities (church was in a trailer home converted into a church,) lame doctrine, lame area, lame pay ($25 a month was my salary) and only a handful of kids. We took that little handful of teenage kids and grew it to 24 students in six months.

I treated that ‘lame’ position like it was a full-time position with a big salary, an attractive health insurance package and a 401(k)! The position deserved my full heart, it deserved my full effort … I was doing it for God. And I used that experience on my resume!

7)  Be loyal to the boss/pastor.


One of the things that I learned the hard way was how to be a loyal employee/staff member. It’s critical to the success of the organization as well as to the relationships within the organization.  All bosses require it, even if they don’t verbalize it, they expect it. And it should be given, even if the boss isn’t all that great. And if you are in a situation where the boss is legitimately bad, move on. Don’t cause strife and division, move on and find a boss you can support and be loyal to.


Q: What if I am at a church that that isn’t growing enough to offer a full-time job?

Great question, I recommend making an appointment with the pastor/leader/boss and saying, “Hey, I’d love to be full-time, is that a possibility here, and if not do you mind if I start searching?” and any loving good pastor would say, “Absolutely you can! I will help you, I have many contacts.”

Homeless Are People Too

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I just finished up my 24 hours in the shoes of a homeless person experience on the streets of Kansas City. It is my 6th year to do, and I learned yet more new and exciting things about the homeless. Each year it is an adventure, and a glimpse into the life of the homeless lifestyle.

 

There is one primary reason I do this each year and it’s to raise awareness for the plight of the homeless and help the Kansas City Rescue Mission before the holiday season, and to tell the story of the homeless.

 

This year I, along with the fellas who traveled with me, learned more than expected from a homeless young man named Phillip. Phillip (guy in middle of the picture) is from Miami, Florida and is really homeless by choice. He is college educated, well spoken, clean cut, not a drug user and very interesting to talk to. He decided he wanted to get away from it all, so he walked away from his job in graphic design, sold his car, let the lease on his apartment run out and bought traveling gear and hit the road. 7 Months after leaving Miami wound up in Kansas City. Jumping trains and hitching rides with truckers is his means of travel. I do not have the space here to tell you all he shared in our 10 hours together, but one word to describe it would be ‘fascinating.’

 

I do not know the statistics of homeless who are like Phillip and those who suffer from addictions, substance abuse, or mental issues and those who have just been down on their luck. If I was to guess I would say he represents 25% of the homeless? A total guess, but from my very limited experience that’s what I see. Most homeless have real issues and would really struggle to enter back into society and desperately need a place like the Kansas City Rescue Mission to help them get back on their feet gradually.

 

WHAT I LEARNED THIS YEAR

 

It sucks to be homeless! Basically that is what I came away with. It’s know vacation, and it’s definitely no life to envy, especially when most homeless are dealing with loneliness, cold, rain, hunger, sleeplessness, depression, and so much more on a daily basis.

 

And the one thing that is reinforced each year for me is that I have nothing to complain about! Life is good, truly I am blessed! And you are too!

                                                                                       

Watch the full WHAT I LEARNED LIVING HOMELESS video here: https://vimeo.com/48728150

Strife Hurts People

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No organization, even an extremely healthy one, is exempt from strife. Anytime you gather people together there will be strife. How we manage it is the challenge. Whether you allow it, and how you handle it determines how destructive it will be.


Q: What is strife?
 
A: Dictionary says that strife is vigorous or bitter conflict, discord, or antagonism.
 
Now, I think it’s important to define what is a strife-stirring person. What does someone who causes or creates strife in an organization look like? I am OK with disagreements and even conflict, but not discord and definitely not strife. It attempts to kill the peace and harmony of an organization. I view it like a cancer — a deadly disease that should not be tolerated. So it’s important that we define the kind of person that stirs up strife and how they do it and the Biblical (healthy) way to respond.


I realize that sometimes we are ignorant to being the cause of strife. I will readily admit that I have been the cause of strife before, although not intentionally, but still strife nonetheless. And I was punished for it, rightly so. I hope that by reading this blog entry, it will give us all some insight in helping people — as well as ourselves — stay clear of strife, the ultimate relationship killer.


Proverbs 16:28 says, “A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.”
 
We see in the above scripture that ‘strife’ is actually a result of perversion. Strife perverts the health of relationships.


Here is how strife works. This is a real-life example where I was the guilty stirrer of strife.


I used to work for a great church as youth pastor years ago. After I had been there for about six months, the newness and excitement — all the reasons I took the job — were wearing off. The honeymoon was over, as they say, and I started focusing on things that weren’t going right, at least in my opinion. I started seeing things the pastor was doing that I thought I could do better, or at least could help him do better (because I had been to Bible College and was edumacaded – ha ha!). I also started seeing faults* in other staff members.


*We all have them!
 
Side note: So far what I have described above is pretty normal — a sign of pride — but normal. We all do this to a certain extent. It’s human nature. Now, I will tell the part of the story where I entered into complete and utter sin and disobedience.


As I focused more and more on all the things I saw — that either needed to improve in my book or that I didn’t agree with — I just couldn’t keep myself from “sharing with others my concerns.” I was entering the danger zone – talking to other staff members about it, and even worse, people in the congregation. This is where it crossed over the line and became inappropriate. Honestly, I didn’t even realize I was doing anything wrong, I was young, ignorant, naïve and inexperienced. I felt I was just “sharing my heart" and allowing others to share their ‘issues with the church’ too. I may have even considered it my “duty to help the ministry.” I was misguided … perverse.


It gets worse. Because as I did this, others felt like I was the “go to” guy for talking about issues they saw with the church. And I honestly felt important — like I was providing a service — when actually I was poisoning myself, other staff, the leadership and God’s church in the deadliest of ways. It began stirring up strife. But fortunately I was at a church that didn’t tolerate strife and I was confronted, and I repented. I didn’t do it again.


The Bible* is extremely clear on how we should handle issues or strife with someone – you go straight to the person directly. Don’t talk to others about others. This is a direct sin against the teaching of Jesus. And Jesus knows how relationships work best!


*See Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15


Now I believe we can seek outside counsel in how to address issues, but even then we must seek counsel to truly resolve the issue, not just find someone to gripe and complain to and take our side. And if the place you work is that bad, you ought to find another job! But just to save you the hassle, it won’t be long until you find stuff you don’t like and see things you could do better, in your mind. I mean, seriously, every place has issues or imperfections. There is no perfect job or perfect boss. They don’t exist.


The morale of the story is: Don’t be the kind of person who is always looking for problems, and when you do see a legitimate problem, be the kind of person who FINDS A SOLUTION! All the high capacity leaders I know are never in favor of the kind of person who constantly points out problems. (If all I ever did were point out my wife’s faults, our marriage would stink, especially for her! She wouldn’t feel loved and appreciated by me. And it would poison me too, not appreciating her.)


People who always point out problems wear those around him/her out. (Side note: I am NOT saying we ignore problems or issues. No, no, no! A thousand times no! Work to resolve them, to fix them, to overcome them in such a way that builds trust and feeds unity in the organization. Don’t live in “Problemville.”


In my experience as a marriage counselor, what I have described is the most common cause of couple’s marital issues is that they are focusing on each other’s problems rather than on honoring each other and working on their own issues as well as fighting the problem together!


I got a little sidetracked and want to close by giving you one example of how strife can start. Let’s say Shelly hears Sally say, “Norma is ugly!” So, out of concern for Norma, Shelly goes and tells Norma, “Hey Norma, Sally said you were ugly! OMG! I can’t believe she said that, can you? Why do you think she would say that about you? That’s so mean. I would never say something like that about you.” (That is proof she would!) That right there is the seed of strife. Guess who is the one at fault?


Anyone, anyone?


Shelly is the stirrer of strife! She is the bad one. Yes, of course, Sally was being unkind, and even mean. But left right there, there is no issue, per se. Now Shelly could have, and should have said, “Wow, Sally, that’s uncool and unchristian! You shouldn’t say things like that. You should feel bad about saying that! Please don’t say things like that around me, totally not good!”


Let’s do our best, in whatever organization we are a part of, to be a blessing to the people in that organization. Pray for those in leadership, honor those above you, love those who are next to you and serve those under you! This is the Jesus way!