Ordination Interviews

Tomorrow, Joleen and I are going to Lewistown, PA for interviews with the Board of Ordained Ministry—beginning at 8:45 a.m., ending at 12:45 p.m.

The morning will consist of four interviews, each with a different team, probably 3-4 people. Each interview will focus on a different area of work that we submitted in January (see Monumental Milestone). Board members have readour work within the last few weeks.

We won’t know what order we’ll do them in until we get there, but here are the four areas of focus …

  • Theology. This interview will focus on the theology papers we wrote in response to theological questions in the Book of Discipline. This will be the most nerve-racking interview.
  • Worship & Communication. Last fall, we both video-recorded a worship service based on an assigned passage of Scripture (Joel 2.23-32).
  • Life Issues. This interview will discuss our life issues papers, personal reference forms, and medical report forms.
  • Ordination Project. This is a new area. We will give a 15-minute multimedia presentation on the ordination project we conducted in our churches. This should be fun as long as there are no technical difficulties (we will bring our own laptops and connect to their projectors). Every time Board members discuss this new area, they call us “guinea pigs.”

There are a few things that make this year’s round of interviews interesting …

  • This is a new Board because it’s the first year for the Susquehanna Conference, formed last year from the former Central Pennsylvania and Wyoming conferences. While there will be some continuity, it’s still a new Board.
  • Some of the requirements were changed as a result of the formation of the new conference. The biggest change was the addition of the Ordination Project (which replaced the Bible study component). This is new, unchartered territory. And nobody really knows what to expect!
  • Another significant change is the inclusion of an entire (recorded) worship service, not just the sermon.
  • Clergy mentors will attend the interviews with the candidates as a silent, supportive/prayerful presence (although my mentor will not be able to attend my interviews).

Well, that’s a brief overview of tomorrow’s interviews. We would certainly appreciate your prayers that our interviews will honor God!

We’ve been told to expect to hear results of the Board’s vote Wednesday afternoon. Check back (late?) Wednesday for the results!

3 thoughts on “Ordination Interviews”

  1. Thank you both, and all, who have been praying!

    We’re back from interviews, and now we wait. Looks like it’s going to be Thursday till be hear from the Board of Ordained Ministry.

    We both think our interviews went pretty well, for whatever that’s worth.

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