For church starter guys, there is a sense the church has "arrived" when the church starter guy finds himself no longer dependent on "outside employment," making him "full time." In many cases, a church's growth trajectory is measured by the subsequent hiring/s of full-time employees. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I've certainly lived it and benefited from being full time myself. If I were to drop those full time church starter guys from my Facebook friends list, my friends list would be cut in half. (The only benefit to that would be having that many fewer birthdays to acknowledge, I guess.)
Since my college days I have engaged in 26 years of full time vocational pastoral ministry. (Even reading this it seems like a lot.) Wedged into those years since college I also engaged in 8 years of "marketplace employment." (Two feet on one banana peel.) 5 of those 8 years qualified as "bi-vocational." (Each foot on a banana peel.) We refer to those 8 years around our house as "the years we made money."
This past weekend, under the guidance of my professional career advisor bride, I "reoriented" my social media accounts to reflect a more "marketplace" orientation. It's not that I'm ashamed of my vocational life; it's just that my vocational church life doesn't necessarily translate directly into the marketplace, (meaning, it makes for a confusing resume to whoever is reading said resume.)
I reoriented my social media accounts because I am excited about being bi-vocational, even long term bi-vocational. I am currently applying for jobs that are not part-time, and are not necessarily flexible. I am beginning to see bivocationicity (my word; I made it up) not as a departure but as essential to what it means to be a church starter guy here in Alaska.
We church starter guys want our church people to be the church, even and especially out in the marketplace. I guess I want to be involved in that myself. Again.
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