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last night I was ordained-
ordination is when a congregation sets someone apart for ministry- most pastors are licensed- which gives them license to "mary and bury," but ordination is a congregation's stamp of approval that continues even when a candidate leaves the church. this is also the time when ministers are given the title reverend.

usually, this is a very long and somewhat difficult process. there is often a year long period of examination by an ordination committee that includes, interviews, sermons, statements of faith, personality profiles, all ending with the ordination council meeting. this is when a group of super-smart theologians and pastors grill the candidate for hours on questions about the bible, ministry and theology.

for years I had zero interest in this. I was a licensed pastor and that was just fine to me. I had no (and still don't have any) intention of leaving the church or needing another title for my resume.

but then 12 years passed- and a friend of mine was ordained- and I thought "hmmm- how hard was it for him to get ordained?" so I talked with my friend Dr. Clark who oversees the ordinations at my church. he said that for 12 year veteran like me, there would be no year long examination, no sermons to submit, no statements of faith, and best of all, no council meeting. he said that my seminary had confidence in me, and my church did too.

I invited my mentor Marvin to come and pray for me during the service-
one of the pastors at the church asked me a set of vows, similar to a wedding ceremony- things like, "do you believe in one God...do you believe in the scriptures...will you carry out the role of a minister in the church?" and for each one I answered "I do." then I knelt on the stage and Marvin and the elders of the church prayed for me- it was pretty cool- although I was super-nervous.

Jane was super-sick from vacation bible school, but she and Deanna managed to make it out to see me- so did many of my friends from the middle school ministry team and my old college group. after the service, Marvin and I went out to the Malibu grill and talked about old times and traded innovative ideas about the future-

what a great day- and what a cool experience. I didn't say anything during the ceremony except my "I do's" but I had all kinds of ideas of what I wanted to say. one of my ideas was to thank all of the men who have invested in me over the years. its impossible to name them all, but I've given it a try- here are a few that stand out:

roger Williams

joe gornik
marvin jacobo
chris mcpherson
mike ospring
mark lefler
justin Humphreys
john danis
will sawkins
dave sawkins
ed denton
chris miller
dan Andrew
Andrew bowman
jim applegate
mark hawn
dave forrest
bill yeager
jon venema
galen call
gary hess
forrest rhinehardt
mike crane
dave Molchan
marcos lopez
marc cardenas
wally webber
howard clark
dan Lagasse
don porter
howard clark
mark Collins
chip Ingram
tim lundy
gary tuck
steve korch
chris Shelley
bert dollahite
curt mardock
john danis

God is love.
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