Seeking a New Job (V) A Conclusion

After the interview, a few weeks went by and I began to grow a little concerned. I was tempted to call and follow up, but feared that, like dating, if you are the one doing the calling then the news isn’t at all good.


And my concerns were justified. I was driving Scooter to school one morning and got a call from the person who would’ve been my supervisor. They appreciated my interest, but hired someone who had been doing the same job for about a decade at another Baptist institution. Since this would be my first time to perform this job, I was the unknown quantity and they elected to go with experience over potential.

Scooter burst into tears as she figured out the conversation. I think the most difficult part of this experience has been the girls going through it with Kadie and myself. We decided when I got the campus visit stage that they should be a part of the process. We were surprised at their willingness to move, a willingness that turned to excitement as the events unfolded. So the rejection was felt across the family, only Squealer remained unaffected.

Grief cuts across a lot of things, and my life has been relatively grief free. But for a few months we had been paralyzed by this process (do we enroll the kids in summer programs when we may be moving? Do we take on new responsibilities at church when we could be moving along soon? etc.) and now we grieved its conclusion.

A few take-aways from the experience.

1. I've been motivated to work on some areas of weakness. Since this rejection, I’ve volunteered for several committees across campus that are involved in accreditation issues. These are boring, painstaking, and involve sustained focus to minutia, yet vital to anyone interested in academic administration.

2. Some second guessing about involving the girls in the process. Although it’s good for them to see how Christian adults approach big decisions, it also meant that they felt the pain of rejection as well. I talked with them about their involvement after I didn’t get the job. They each affirmed that they were glad we included them in the process, even though it hurt at the end. And there’s the pride part of it too. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s painful to fail in front of your kids.

3. The process confirmed for us as a family that we will be moving on from our current location at some point. As a family we have the sense that God will take us elsewhere. We trust that God has in mind a place for us to go and contribute to discipling young lives in a Christian context.

4. But I would be remiss to pretend that there’s no regret. Whenever I see the school’s name or encounter someone at a professional meeting with whom I met during the campus interview, I can’t help but to think about what might have been.

Seeking a New Job (IV)

The on campus interview was wonderful.  They invited Kadie to accompany me and she spent time looking at neighborhoods and also hospitals (as potential places of employment). We were feted throughout the process.  The administration made sure that Kadie had a positive experience with campus tours and other interesting side trips while I was locked in various meetings.  When we arrived at our hotel they had a beautiful gift basket full of swag from the university, and they personalized a parking space for us on campus, complete with my name.

On the interviewing front, I met with the search committee, various directors, as well as the president of the institution.  I delivered a lecture to the campus community and had numerous opportunities to speak with faculty about their areas of interest.  In addition to these formal gatherings, we were also treated to some casual dining experiences at local restaurants with the chair of the search committee as well as the person who would be my supervisor.  We received a tour of the campus and got a good sense of various elements of campus life.  The school stands in stark contrast to the staid regional state institution in which I now teach. 

The interviews themselves went well.  There weren’t any real curve ball questions, and while I could always have answered questions better, I’m pleased to say that I didn’t have any Rick Perry moments.  The interviews felt like a conversation among faculty colleagues, rather than a microscopic look at a prospective employee.

As Kadie and I finished our two day trip, we drove home imagining ourselves in a new house, a new neighborhood, and a new state. 

And we were excited.

Seeking a New Job (III)

I sent the application package off to the university in January and then worked to forget about it.  My brother gave me some good advice several years ago that whenever I was applying for a job, not to “move there in your mind.”  And so I tried to manage the amount of time I thought about it, particularly since I didn’t expect to hear anything from them for a few months.

So I was surprised to get word in mid-February that they wanted me to participate in a “telephonic” interview.  I was unfamiliar with this term, but apparently it means the same thing as a telephone interview.  I then spent about ten days preparing for the phone interview, memorizing names, familiarizing myself with significant issues on the campus, and preparing to articulate my own personal and professional goals.  I also spent a great deal of time reading through articles on the peculiarities of job interviews in higher education.

I had not participated in a telephone interview before, and approached this one with some degree of anxiety.  The hiring committee (search committee) was chaired by the program director from another area and six faculty members whom I would be supervising if I applied.  But the committee did an excellent job of putting me at ease and generously asked questions that I had spent a considerable amount of time thinking about.

By the end of the interview, it felt more like a conversation on pedagogy and leadership skills than an interview.  I felt that it went very well.  After several weeks of waiting (about three weeks) I received word that the committee also felt that it went well.  They invited me to come to their campus for a face to face interview in April.  Everything was lining up perfectly.

Seeking a New Job (II)

The academic world is one in which the mill grinds slowly.  University administrators and faculty prize process over results (one of several areas they share with most Baptist churches).  And so the process takes a while.  I first saw the job ad in December and began to compile my application packet.  Standard contents requested by a university search committee are: A letter of application, a resume (called a curriculum vita or cv), four references, and copies of transcripts for each of your degrees.

This can take awhile to assemble.  The most difficult part is crafting a letter of application that  is specific to the institution and demonstrates that you are familiar with their focus and their interests, all the while demonstrating that you, coincidentally, happen to be the best candidate for the position.

So over the holidays (almost exactly a year ago) I worked on my application.  The hardest part of the process was getting two of my references.  I wanted to get one from a colleague and I wanted to get one from my supervisor.  So part of our decision to apply for this position was talking to these two colleagues and letting them know that I was interested.

Telling my supervisor that I was searching for another job seemed to be crossing a Rubicon of sorts.  But, it ended up going better than I thought.  My supervisor told me he thought I was ready for the promotion and that I should definitely apply for another job (thanks?).

Seeking a New Job (I)

We had quite the adventure this last Spring.  Starting in December of 2010 I began a lengthy process of applying for an administrative position at a fantastic Christian college.  Although we've been blessed for the last ten years to be at our current location at a state institution, I have felt an increased calling to begin working in a school that is more closely aligned with my own sense of vocational calling.  I had kept an eye on the job sites where such positions are posted and found one in an ideal setting.

This university  is big enough to have a nice sized student body (and corresponding budget) but still about half the size of my current location.  It would afford a great opportunity to get to know a smaller group of people and be united with them toward a common purpose.  The position was one of greater responsibility as well.  It would stretch me out vocationally and push me to develop some skills that I'm currently under utilizing.  And it is a pretty stable place.  Sadly, not all Christian institutions offer the same sense of stability and fairness that I've grown accustomed to in a state institution.

And so it seemed like a good fit for both sides.  We began the process with high hopes.

The Christian Life and Academics

I’m preparing an address to a Christian group on campus tomorrow evening. The topic given to me was Academics as a form of Worship. I think the direction I will take is that education is a necessary and vital part of Discipleship. I would appreciate any feedback.

Matthew 22:37 -“ Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your MIND.”

Why should a Christian engage in education?

1. Creation bears the testimony of its Maker. Learning about this world carries out our responsibility to be good stewards of it.

2. Studying the writings of atheists like Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud provide a pugnacious and pungent critique of Christianity. And we need to take seriously critiques against our faith. In general, the Christian community does a poor job of looking critically at ourselves.

3. The Bible teaches us that it is not only acceptable, but necessary to ask God the question “WHY?” Habakkuk, Job, Jeremiah, the Psalmist, and even Jesus didn't hesitate to ask God why. Neither should we. (But that doesn't mean we'll get an answer. We might get something better.)



These are the barebones of the lecture. Any thoughts?

A Contrast

"Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed, to consider well that the maine end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternall life, Jn. 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ at the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning."


Mission statement of Harvard College, 1643

The Puritans, Perry Miller and Thomas Johnson, (New York: American Books, 1938) p. 702.



"In a contentious Feb. 26 deposition between Dr. Biederman, a Harvard professor, and lawyers for the states, he was asked what rank he held at Harvard.



“Full professor,” he answered.


“What’s after that?” asked a lawyer, Fletch Trammell.


“God,” Dr. Biederman responded.


“Did you say God?” Mr. Trammell asked.


“Yeah,” Dr. Biederman said."

New York Times, March 20, 2008.




Times change.

Don't Do It!!

The Chronicle of Higher Education is the primary professional publication for higher education in the United states. Thomas Benton, one of its best writers, recently took up the question of how he advises his undergraduate students who are considering graduate school in the Liberal Arts.

The money paragraph:

“Nearly every humanities field was already desperately competitive, with hundreds of applications from qualified candidates for every tenure-track position. Now the situation is becoming even worse. For example, the American Historical Association's job listings are down 15 percent and the Modern Language's listings are down 21 percent, the steepest annual decline ever recorded. Apparently, many already-launched candidate searches are being called off; some responsible observers expect that hiring may be down 40 percent this year.

What is 40 percent worse than desperate?”


His advice to his students? “Just Don’t Go!”

Wednesdays are for Work (and Play)

Wednesdays will be Work or Play Day. I’ll attempt to find some bloggable material at the location where I spent the majority of my time, or from what I enjoy doing. Today, it’s all work.
A substantial reorganization was recently announced at our institution. It will involve the elimination of a few administrative positions and will rename several academic units across the campus. I don’t want to belabor the reader with the particular merits of the decision, but I do have a concern with how it was devised. The reorganization was developed by a small group of leadership and then announced to the larger campus in an email.

There are more similarities that you may think between communities of faith and academic institutions. One dysfunctional similarity is that a silo mentality can develop between leadership and the larger community. This mentality is especially strong in how leadership makes decisions and communicates ideas to the rest of the organization.

The situation plays out like this: out of a concern for negative feedback (or a feeling that feedback is unnecessary), leadership expedites the implementation process. When there is the predictable blowback after the decision is announced, leadership commends itself that it made the right decision and it was better to generate the feedback after the decision rather than before.

The primary problem with this thinking, is that it detaches the rest of the church or institution from the decision making process. Then when the organization depends upon the members of the congregation to carry it out, they often have nothing personally invested in the process and they don’t participate. By involving the congregation (or the rest of the organization) in the decision making-process, you get more buy in down the road.

The Axe Falls

A tough few days all across our campus. In addition to the normal end of the semester shenanigans, we are operating under some pretty severe state imposed budget cuts. We have to implement these cuts mid-year and are in the process of prioritizing programs and (adjunct) faculty. Public universities are in a double bind when it comes to recessions. During most recessions, enrollment in state colleges and universities rises as parents can no longer afford to send little Johnny to more prestigious institutions. In addition, workers who have been laid off will return to college to gain additional skills as they retool for future employment. So at the time when enrollment swells, we have to cut back on the number of sections being offered. Irony abounds but money doesn’t.

Although our campus has been through difficulties like these before, it is my first time to experience them in a decision-making position. And it’s a much different perspective. I had to recommend a list of adjunct faculty to be cut for this semester. Part of the challenge is balancing needs. The needs of the students come first of course, but there are also the needs of some adjuncts to, you know, eat. And their regular income was supplemented by income from teaching that they were counting on. But we're not given any idea ahead of time how many positions we should cut. So, like Gideon sending men to the river, we will start whittling down until we are told to quit. We should find out over the next couple of days how this will pan out.

And apparently we have much company, including some colleagues in at least one of our Southern Baptist institutions.

It makes for a tough week before Christmas.

The Contract

This is week three of the Long March in our household; similar in many ways, to its historical antecedent (except, you know, without all the communism). A couple of times a year, Kadie takes out a contract at her hospital and commits to work more often than normal.* Normally she works for two shifts a week which allows us to meet most of our financial goals at this point. But there’s little $$ extra for things like major household and vacations. One of the frustrating elements of my own job is that I cannot really pick up any extra work. (Unless I moonlight at Chili's).

So during such times, Kadie bites the bullet and signs a contract in which she guarantees that she’ll work 40 hour weeks for the specified duration. Most of the time, these contracts are 6 weeks in length, but these are great days to be a Registered Nurse. Hospitals are desperate for their services and are grateful for any hourly scraps that nurses can provide. So Kadie has signed up for a four week stint.

So that explains the “Why?” but not the “How?” Whenever she signs one of these contracts, our household goes into lock down mode for the duration. Adding to the difficulty of these days is that fact that with this particular contract, she’s working the 11 pm to 7 am shift. So on a good day, she arrives just after the morning rush to get the kids off and goes straight to bed. She then sleeps until the kids start to get home at three, giving her a nice 7 hours of sleep.


Only it never works that way. First, in most instances, a busy night has pushed her morning arrival as late as 10:30 am. Then there are those mornings when there is street construction going on outside the house. We’ve also experienced multiple visits from assorted judges and representatives in the days leading up to the recent election who were out “courtin the electorit”. Lack of maternal sleep leads to increased tension for all.


But enough about her. These contracts are tough on the rest of the family. The kids (and the husband) have to be a little more self motivated than normal. Mornings are particularly eventful. Scooter wakes up Squealer at 6:00 and prepares him breakfast while I hit the shower. Then I fix his lunch while she fixes her own. At 6:40 we wake up Skeeter. Then we get dressed and three of us hit the door to get to Squealer and Scooter’s bus stops. I then return to make sure Skeeter is progressing well. At 7:30 she hops on her bike and I leave for work. I drive by her crosswalk to make sure the guard is there and then head for my own school.


The evenings are filled with homework and house cleaning. I try to pick up the slack because Kadie only has a limited amount of time with the kids. We’ll all be glad when the end of the week hits and her contract ends.

*I’m well aware that the phrase “taking out a contract” has a Mafioso connotation. I’m sure that this is intentional. In my experience, with both a hospital contract and a mobster contract there is a high probability that someone will die during its duration.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (V)

The evening after my presentation I had a conversation with Matthew, a student in my night class. Matthew is an excellent student who has displayed an intense interest in various bible classes I’ve taught over the last few years including two Bible classes (Pentateuch and the Gospels) and one theology (the Problem of Evil).

And he is also gay.

He was president of the Gay/Straight group last year and attended my presentation earlier in the day. Because of our past relationship, I wanted his honest opinion.

Matthew sighed and said that he was disappointed to hear my views. “But, you might as well think homosexuality is sinful, everyone else does” he said with some exasperation. I pointed out to him that I think homosexual acts are sinful, not homosexuality itself. His shrug indicated that he saw my response as a distinction without a difference.

Matthew continued wearily: “You may not believe this Dr. Taran, but I’m a Christian. I don’t believe that God would condemn someone for the way He had made them.” I felt that my role was to listen, and not debate, so I said nothing.

“Remember my friend Nathan?” I nodded. A week before, Matthew told me privately that he was going to miss a few class periods because a good friend of his, Nathan, was dying of HIV. Matthew had sworn to Nathan years before, when he was first diagnosed, that he wouldn’t let Nathan die alone. So Matthew went up to the nursing home for a few days until Nathan died.

“Nathan grew up in a fundamentalist church. And when he came out of the closet in high school, some of the people in that church said some pretty hate filled things to him. But over the last few years of our friendship, I shared with Nathan that there were some good, loving Christians out in the world. Just because he had encountered some vicious people who claimed the name of Christ, doesn’t mean that Jesus was that way.”

“Dr. Taran, because of my witness to Nathan, he came to know the Lord. I firmly believed that he died a Christian.” I shared with Matthew that I certainly hoped that was the case and then we were quiet. "Well, it's getting late. I'll see you later." and Matthew left the classroom.

So where does that leave me? Essentially where I started, but with perhaps more understanding of the outlook of certain homosexuals. I still think that homosexual actions are sinful, but as I told the group, we are all sinners. A person practicing homosexual activity can be a Believer just as an adulterer, glutton or liar can.

But God calls each of us to change….and that includes me. And I believe I’ve changed somewhat through this process. The title of this series has been (in addition to being cribbed from a Derek Webb song about torture) a reminder that we are called to go and be among the sinners, even when it involves overcoming a fear of how a group might treat us. Even when sharing the gospel in hostile settings, “the love of Christ compels us.” That is an ideal to live up to, and one I'm pretty miserable at following.

(With school beginning again tomorrow, I anticipate more time to finish out the extended series on our Pastor Search Committee. We'll see!)

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (IV)

Several questions were generated by my review:

Why are Southern Baptists in particular so anti-homosexual in their views?

Several students asked me about what I thought of the Bishops Spong and Robinson.

The faculty advisor of the group asked me why homosexuality is considered a worse sin than adultery. “Jesus teaches that divorce is equivalent to adultery and we have many people who attend church that are divorced. Why are homosexuals treated differently?”

Some questions about how homosexuality is treated in the Bible.

Providing an odd ending to the meeting was a young man, who had never before attended this group. (He rminded me of Elihu). He said “All of you are missing the key question in this discussion: What about Jesus? You have all missed this point!” The faculty advisor replied “Those are your questions, but not the ones we are discussing today.”

I then told him that this setting was not the proper venue for a theological discussion just as one would not go to an accounting club meeting and ask everyone to talk about the exclusivity of salvation in Christ. He then turned to (on?) me and said “You’ve been doing nothing but dancing with words throughout this meeting. You are dancing around the most important issue of all!”

I replied “I am greatly insulted that you say I’m doing nothing but dancing with words. I carefully chose the words I’ve used and I am offended that you would characterize my discussion as dancing.

Mostly because I told you earlier that I’m Southern Baptist and I do not dance.”

Tomorrow, a final post script on the discussion.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (III)

(Sorry for the delay. I shouldn’t start a series during finals week and right as our pastor search nears its completion).

After my review of UnChristian (see here and here) I addressed the Gay/Straight group with some suggestions for how Homosexuals and Evangelicals could move forward:

First, both sides need to recognize that there is a wide range of response to homosexuals in the Christian community. At one extreme are those who both welcome and affirm homosexual behavior (certain mainline denominations, certain individual churches). At the other extreme are those churches who neither welcome, nor affirm (numerous fundamentalist churches who set aside the sin of homosexual acts as particularly heinous).

So there is not one set response of the church to these issues. A more helpful approach is one that welcomes all to worship and bible study, but does not affirm all expressions of sexuality. Indeed, I think that the response most closely aligning with Scripture is to welcome all homosexuals, as we welcome all adulturers, drunkards, gluttons, liars, ones who lust and ones who are consumed with pride. We welcome them all, but affirm none of these individual sins.

Our stance should be welcoming, but not affirming. (Completely cribbed from Stanley Grenz’s excellent work by that same name).

A second suggestion is that homosexuals and evangelicals can dialogue on these issues. But only if we offer one another honest dialogue. Platitudes merely mask over the genuine differences between these two groups. As I told them, “I need to be able to tell you unashamedly that homosexual actions are described as sinful by the Bible and are therefore immoral. And you need to be able to tell me just as honestly that you consider my perspective to be bigoted and also immoral.”

As Christians, we must lovingly and honestly share the full measure of the gospel with others.

A third suggestion is that homosexuals and Evangelicals need to avoid stereotyping one another. There is a great quote in UnChristian by a Christian who is talking to an angry homosexual. This man had been deeply wounded by past actions of the church. He talkes about the anti-homosexual hatred that flows from the mouths of some so-called Christians. Finally the Christian said “Let’s make a deal. You don’t assume that all evangelicals think like Pat Robertson and I won’t assume that all homosexuals are pedophiles.”

Stereotyping reduces people to caricatures and objectifies them. As soon as we stereotype people, they can become objects instead of creatures made in the image of God.

Lastly, we can work together in some areas of common ministry. The evangelical church, by and large, has done a miserable job of ministering to AIDS patients. We can work with those suffering from HIV. We can also work to end non-religious workplace discrimination against all people, including gays.

Note that on other issues (e.g. same sex marriage, advocating homosexuality in public schools) we agree to disagree and may even work against one another in certain instances.

5. Lastly I shared with them that people don’t go to hell because they are homosexuals. Everyone sins and that no one goes to hell because of what they do or who they are. People go to hell only because of what they do with Jesus.

Following these points, we had a discussion that led in some interesting directions. I’ll summarize it tomorrow.

A Love That's Stronger Than our Fears (II)

With the words of Bartolot ringing in my ears, I accepted the invitation and addressed the Gay/Straight group this last Tuesday. I started off with a brief review of the book, UnChristian. (For background on the book and a formal review, see Benjie here and here.) I started off by sharing with them that I normally don’t speak about my own personal faith on campus and briefly explained why. Several of the group (about 20 students and faculty) had taken my courses before and I asked them to confirm that I normally don’t speak of such things. I then identified myself as a Baptist and an evangelical (not in a political sense, but in the Bebbington sense).

UnChristian is not an earth-shattering work. It is a fairly straightforward book, including numerous anecdotes, that provides a context for how outsiders view the evangelical subculture. I shared with the group that there are six areas where Kinnemann takes us evangelicals to task. One of these views that Outsiders (nonChristians) have is that they believe that Christians are anti-homosexual. Kinnamann then produces evidence to support this viewpoint (directly quoted from UnChristian) :

1. Born-again Christians are more likely to disapprove of homosexuality than divorce. The vast majority of Christians say that homosexuality should not be considered a legitimate lifestyle and strongly reject church-sanctioned weddings for same-sex unions. However, a minority of born-again believers (39 percent) embrace Jesus's teaching that divorce is a sin except in cases of adultery (see Matt. 5:32). Even among evangelicals, just three out of five describe
divorce as a sin, well below their opposition to gay marriage.

2. Most born-again Christians have a hard time knowing how they
should respond to the lifestyles of homosexuals as well as how to respond to the political efforts of gay and lesbian activists. For instance, many believers advocate legal restrictions on homosexual behavior. A majority of born-again Christians, including more than four out of five evangelicals, say that homosexual relations between two consenting adults should be illegal.'

3. Millions of Americans, including two out of every five churchgoers, say that school boards ought to have the right to fire teachers who are known homosexuals. Of course the issues are complicated, but Christians are fueling the idea that gays and lesbians should not be allowed to work in public schools.

4. Many Christians continue to be very skeptical about donating to HIV/AIDS causes, even overseas, despite Christians' generosity in many other arenas. In one poll we found that just 14 percent of born-again Christians say they would be highly motivated to help HIV/AIDS orphans overseas. In another study we discovered that two out of every five born-again Christians, including the same proportion of evangelicals, admitted they have more sympathy for people who have cancer than they do for people with HIV/AIDS. In probing people’s attitudes, we find this perspective typically springs from the idea that the disease is deserved. They believe God is punishing these people—or that their decisions and lifestyle deserve this outcome.

As you will see, our criticism of gays and lesbians is not only ineffective, but also it repels many 16 to 30 year olds. As one survey respondent put it, "I cannot imagine Jesus actually treating gays and lesbians like Christians do today." (end quote)

I then offered a few criticisms of the book. First, I think Kinnaman needs to address the fact that many in the evangelical church are uninterested in being popular. He understands that, but I think he could’ve headed off that particular criticism by addressing it in the book. UnChristian isn’t trying to make the case that the church should be concerned about its popularity, but I am concerned that some will dismiss its criticisms by simply calling it Emergent and focused only on worldly popularity.

Second, although the book is addressed to Christians, he doesn’t illustrate what we can do to directly engage these perceptions. I then turned to my own suggestions for how Evangelicals and Homosexuals could talk to one another.

A Quiet Passing...

I doubt that anyone who wanders by Coffespoons has ever heard the name Roy Melugin. He passed away last week at the age of 70 after an extended battle with cancer. He was a long time Old Testament professor at Austin (Presbyterian) College and spent his retirement years as a professor at Texas Christian University.

Roy was a world class scholar on the book of Isaiah. Isaiah scholarship over the last 150 years assumed that there were multiple writers, writing in different geographical and temporal contexts. They argued that Isaiah 1-39 addressed a very different historical setting than did chapters 40-66. Dr. Melugin was ardent in his view that this was mistaken. He explored the various connections between these two sections and argued that Isaiah is a single literary piece.

If he was theologically conservative, he was unashamedly liberal on social issues. He marched for racial justice in the 1960’s and was informed by the prophets as he consistently spoke out against the widespread injustices of our world today.

But none of that directly affected me. In 2001, I attended the regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature for the first time as a faculty member. I also presented my first paper to the conference. Dr. Melugin came to the session and heard my stuttering, sweaty, angst-ridden presentation. After it reached its miserable conclusion, he came up and made a few very charitable comments. I was stunned that this gifted academic would be so gracious as to offer me praise and encouragement after my first paper.

Later that evening as I arrived on my floor of the hotel, I stepped out of an elevator as he was stepping in. I quickly thanked him again and awkwardly said something to the effect that “If you ever see me make some mistake around this conference or commit some breech of academic etiquette, please let me know.”

The doors of the elevator began to shut, and in my mind’s eye I can still see his thin, wiry arm snake out to prevent the elevator doors from closing. He looked me in the eye, through his thick owlishly-round spectacles and said to me sternly. “I will Taran, I will. But remember, we are now colleagues and I will expect that you will do the same for me.”

That thought has remained with me until this day. Because as I transition (be it in the church, work, or personal worlds) from the stage in my life when I am the awkward newcomer to when I am the veteran expert, I hope that I will be as gracious, considerate and compassionate to those who come after me.

May he be received into God’s eternal rest.

A Death

A colleague’s 30 year old daughter died this week and the funeral was this morning. During the process of grieving with a colleague in a loss of this magnitude, I was struck again with how unusual the pastoral ministry is. As a pastor, I grew accustomed to hospital visits and to spending time with grieving families during highly emotional situations. But most people aren’t experienced with these types of situations. For many, hospital visits and trips to the visitation time at the funeral home are necessarily awkward and simply to be endured. Although these times bring devastation into the lives of people, I think it is their rarity that causes people to respond in surprising ways.

Shortly after speaking to the colleague I was asked by another coworker “How did he sound?” I struggled for a moment before answering. I’m still not sure what answer they were looking for. Another colleague was angry because someone in the College of Business found out about her death before he did. “They are in a completely different college and I am in his own department. That’s not right!” I told him that shocking news like this can be difficult to direct.

I am convinced that one reason why people so often say the wrong things to those who are grieving is because there is no right thing to say. It is a reminder of the tremendous power that death holds over our society.

Most often, the best response is the response of Job’s friends when they first arrive on the scene of the mournful Job. “They sat with [Job] on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a wordto him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 3:13. Job’s friends take a lot of heat for their subsequent diatribes, but it was their silent suffering alongside Job that gave them credibility in his eyes for their later conversation. Sometimes silent presence can be a tremendous source of comfort.

Please pray for my colleague and his loss.

Some random thoughts on hiring...

Over the past four years I’ve been involved in a wide variety of job hires. Several of these have been at work and a few have been at church. We’ve conducted about six academic searches at work and I’ve been on music minister searches and now a pastoral search. In addition, I was on the search committee for our campus that brought us a new BCM director. Some random thoughts…

It is an awkward thing, these job interviews. You sit down for a few hours and try to project the candidate into a variety of situations. In addition, I have no idea what my other colleagues are thinking as we talk with them. I thought one interview with a pastoral candidate went well, but afterwards several committee members pointed out that he had his arms crossed the whole time and looked defensive.

One candidate for a Foreign Language position asked where the erotica section of our library was while on a campus tour. The librarian looked stunned only for a second, then chirpily informed the candidate where the section was. And no, I had no idea we even had an erotica section… (We didn’t hire her.)

When interviewing a music minister candidate, I asked him about the role of lament in worship, pointing out that there are more lament psalms than praise psalms in the Bible. I then asked “Do you ever incorporate public lament into the worship service?” He replied “I generally try to keep things a little more joyful.” (We called him)

While explaining to a candidate the lack of leadership in our department, I noted that we needed a hard worker. I said “We don’t have any up and coming leaders in the department. We really need some good worker bees. If you join our department, one day our established leaders will retire…” Without hesitation she added “Then when they retire, I’ll be the Queen Bee.” (We didn’t hire her).

When we interviewed a new BSU BCM director, I asked him what the biblical foundation of his job was. He replied that there really wasn’t one (an honest answer I appreciated) (We called him)

One of the standard destinations for job candidates is to meet with a few campus officials (our dean, the Provost, and the Chancellor). When I took a candidate for an art position to meet the Provost, the Provost made the comment that “We are a well managed institution.” The candidate replied “You must be very proud.” (We didn’t hire her).

Some suggestions for future job applicants:

1. Google yourself before you the interview. If there’s anything that will need to be explained to a committee, then disclose it yourself. Because the committee will be Googling you.

2. Trust the interview process. I think we set ourselves up for mutual dissatisfaction when we try to “game” the system and get a job based on telling the committee what we think they want to heart.

3. Make sure that you are applying for a job that you are genuinely interested in. We had a new hire who decided about 2 weeks in that he didn't like teaching. He resigned and we scrambled to cover four sections of his classes for almost an entire semester. Our Pastor Search Committee has also received letters applying for Director of Missions positions as well. Make sure that you are really interested in a job before you apply for it.

DeMarcus

His enormous, black hands began to tremble as he took out a pencil to write down my email address on a sheet of paper. We were in my office, sitting down across from each other with only my desk between us. DeMarcus had come down from our Hebrew class to follow up on a few questions he had asked in class. He’s a large man, about mid-thirties, who's led a difficult life. DeMarcus was involved in various criminal activities as a teenager before coming to faith in Christ.

He didn’t have the patience to excel in his college classes and ditched them for a career in construction. When the hurricanes came to the coast, he traveled throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama working hard. But he felt God calling him into the ministry and was now a pastor in a local African-American Baptist church.

DeMarcus is one of the top students in my class, but in my weaker moments he pushes my patience. Every teaching point I raise brings a question to his lips. He asks some questions that are at least tangentially relate to the topic at hand “Did the High Priest have a rope attached to him on Yom Kippur?” “”What does amen really mean?” “What’s the difference between seraphim and cherubim?” Other questions matter much less in our Hebrew class “Why do preachers raise their hand when they baptize someone?” “How often does the Bible say we should partake of the Lord’s Supper?” “Did Isaiah and Micah know each other?” I’ll patiently (and at times impatiently) explain that this class isn’t a at a seminary and we need to stick to the subject at hand (although when the subject involves Hebrew participles and construct nouns, I too am tempted to wander).

When he came into my office I took the opportunity to hear his story and find out a little about him. He explained to me why this class is important to him.

“You see Doc,” he began uncomfortably, “in the Baptist churches of my tradition there aren’t many of our pastors who have any education beyond High School. That’s one reason why I came back to finish up my degree. I study hard because I have to face the congregation. And every Sunday morning, when I’m standing in that pulpit, I have to get it right!”

His voice found new intensity at this last phrase. I told him I understood, and then he left the room.

I often wrestle with the fact that I’m not teaching at a Christian institution. I grow weary at times of keeping my light under a bushel. I suspect that often, I too pepper Him with many frivolous questions about my “secular” job and why I’m not working somewhere else.

But once in awhile Christ allows me to see a glimpse of Himself working through me. And that’s gratifying.

That’d Be About Right

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities is a loose affiliation of Christian schools through the US. I check their job site from time to time to see what’s out in the field. I came across the following job ad recently.

(For the unitiniatied, read here.)