Friday, November 10, 2006

PALS


Today my family and I get to travel to the southern part of Ohio to attend a PALS meeting. PALS stands for Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support. I am required for 3 years to attend these meetings. The purpose of these meetings are to make sure pastors and their families get off to a right start in their ministries. The bottom line is so that the church does not lose new pastors due to problems in the pastor's new congregation. Many seminary guys are sent out to unhealthy congregations that devour a pastor and his family and the result is that the new pastor quits and the church at large suffers. So there has been an attempt to rectify this problem. The solution is to work with the new pastors. So, the family and I travel about 3 hours and talk about church stuff like how there are sinners in the church and how mean they are to the pastor and his family. We also talk a little about some of the good things about ministry. If it wasn't for a free night in a motel and a reason to get away, we would stay home. I'm sure everyone asks the question, "Why do I do this?" I have no answer at this time. "A waste of time?" I'll let you answer.
Blessings

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is a waste of time for their purposes, but I like going for drives with you anytime. And we got soup mix in jars and free Wendy's.

Anonymous said...

Michael, I hope the meetings mean more to you in the future. If they only save one pastor from some of the sh-- I've seen in some churches it'll be worth it. Maybe it'll be you. . . . Now that I've read one of your blogs, please read mine at hhbode.blogspot.com and leave me an answer. Harold Bode.