Comments on: A High Calling

By: Should Your To Do List Wear a Halo?

Should Your To Do List Wear a Halo? — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:58:06 +0000

[...] Stephen, be a pastor if you want. Geoff, stay in business (and maybe let me know if you want to write for us at TheHighCalling.org too). I [...]

By: David Rupert

David Rupert — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:27:04 +0000

This story is filled with all the drama that surrounds talented individuals and a church culture that simply doesnt know how to commission and support these people in the secular workforce…so they grab them for their own structure.

Thanks for asking he Hard questions

David
http://www.redletterbelievers.com

By: Bradley J Moore

Bradley J Moore — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:18:53 +0000

Hmmmm. Here’s how I see it: Your friend substituted "Destiny" with "Comfortable." That’s how most people go through life, right? They interpret God’s calling based on feelings they have, ususally of comfort, happiness, alignment with self-image, etc. rather than sacrifice, anxiety, expanding self-perception, and long-range thinking.

Your friend may have taken the easier path because it fits his overall life plan right now — maybe he’s getting older, wants to settle down, is done with paying his dues. So he settles there. Why enter the fray of high-pressure sales job, when he has no experience or desire?

What’s usually ironic in these situations is that the "safe" path still presents its share of stress, anxiety, long hours, politics, etc. So it really does come down to personal tolerance for risk and ambition.

In any case, he would have been doing God’s holy work either way.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:09:19 +0000

Agreed. And people in pastoral jobs are not immune to burnout — far from it.

In retrospect, I think Stephen did make the right decision. His life is more full and satisfying, even without the extra perks that come with a high paying job.

By: Is All Work Holy? « True North On Line

Is All Work Holy? « True North On Line — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:57:29 +0000

[...] All Work Holy? Here is an essay from the Inside Work website that asks us to consider what “holy work” looks like. [...]

By: Glynn

Glynn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:06:34 +0000

I’m usually first in line of those saying "all work is holy because it all comes from God." But in this case, without knowing the rest of the story, I believe Stephen made the right decision for himself and his family.

What if the publisher’s agent job required 12 to 14 hours a day? What if it required him to work weekends to catch up on all the paperwork? What if he had to skip meetings at his children’s schools or their sports games because the publisher scheduled staff meetings in the evenings? What if the choice was between more money but a total work/life imbalance and less money but something that offered more normal hours?

I don’t think some work is "more holy" than others. A church staff job can be as political as anything in corporate America. We’re all called to the mission field, be it the inner city, a village in India or a company in the Fortune 100. We can be publishers’ agents or executive pastors — but it’s still the mission field.