Blog Assignment #11

Exercise 5.6 p. 220

Today in class we continued to edit our papers.  For this last and final blog entry we are now asked to answer 4 final question to see how we feel this book helped us and to see how we grew as a write also.

Question 1- "Hey you, I think you can't really say that one opinion is better than another one.  Don't you agree?"
I do not agree fully to this statement.  I would say if to people have an opinion on something that has not been researched at all yet usually they are both valid opinion, however on a highly researched topic usually ones opinion that lines up with the research is more valid, however this is not always the case.  Also some peoples opinions can be just plain stupid and make no sense at all so those points are not valid.

Question 2- "There's all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery.  What did you discover?"
I discovered in my topic that their is a decline of good Biblical pastors and we need to turn that around if we want a revival in america.  Their are many different reasons Pastors are declining and three possible ones are a lacking of a call, an unclear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and a greater influence of the world and flesh in todays society.

Question 3- "What do you figure was the most challenging problem you had to solve while working on this research project? How did you solve it?"
How to start researching this field and how to narrow down the many reasons Pastors fall out of ministry into a few bigger points.  I solved this by finding what many of these reasons had in common and I started finding research just by looking through lot of information on the field and also looking over notes from my Pastoral Class.

Question 4- "After all this work, what do you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?"
I take away many things to be careful of while in ministry.  All this information will benefit me greatly because I am currently studying to be a Pastor at Lancaster Bible College.  I can now examine my life better and look for areas that I may be lacking in so that when I do become a Pastor, I may have a better chance of not failing out.

Blog Assignment #10

Exercise 5.3 P. 194-195

In class today we took our essay and cut it all into individual paragraphs.  While looking at our thesis we read each question out and looked to see if this paragraph helped our paragraph, if it did we put it in a to keep pile and if it didn't we put it in a throw away pile.  Doing this we saw how affective all of our paragraphs were to see if they helped our cause and if not it would be better to throw it out.  Now after doing this we are asked to answer some questions from looking at the paragraphs all cut up again.

For questions one and two we were asked to switch our paragraphs around a bit and see what kind of a difference it made.

Question 1- How are they different (that being the set ups)?
The set ups were different because it put a different flow to the essay.  In my opinion it did not make as much sense this way because my points flowed from one to the next so it would be very different.  I also think it would be different because my points build up and add to on each other, which helped my cause.

Question 2- What did you learn?
I learned that I need to be careful that I keep to my point and topic.  I can get off topic at times, and things that I originally thought were important to my cause, I now see actually didn't add anything to it at all.  I also saw that I like to be easy on myself when editing because I don't like to have to get rid of the work I already did.

Question 3- How did this whole process help you re-see your essay?
I saw that there were things I need to fix in it and that I also need to be more careful that I keep to my point.  I also saw though that the order doesn't always matter and that its neat to switch around your paragraphs to see how it changes the flow of your paper and to see if it improves it at all.

Blog Assignment #9

For this blog assignment we were asked to highlight our essay with one color all the parts that aren't our words or that are quotes.  Then with another color we were told to highlight all the other parts that our words and analysis.  Then we were asked to answer some questions.  Since I didn't get my rough draft done yet, I did it with another essay to see what my tendencies are to watch out for when I write my actual essay.

Which color dominates?
My voice defiantly dominates, which I believe is a good thing in an essay because you need to be showing your own thoughts and not just saying what other people think.

Are you turning over too much of the text to your sources? 
I do not believe I am using too much of my sources.  Yes I do use my sources but I then explain what they mean and show if I agree with these sources or not.

Are you ignoring them and rattling on too much about what you think?
I balance a good mixture of voice and quotes.  This is because I will use a point to show something and then I describe what that quote means and why I do or do not believe in it.

Does your source use seem appropriate to support your purpose?
I do believe it seems appropriate because if you use only what you believe that doesn't give much credibility.  I do not have a degree in a field so I can not say something without studying and getting others opinions and beliefs first.

What do you notice about the pattern of the color?
My pattern goes the highlighter that shows quotes first, followed by the highlighter that shows my words.  This is because I give a quote then explain it and then I say why I do or do not support this quote.

Are you taking turns paragraph by paragraph with your sources, or is your own analysis and commentary nicely blended within paragraphs, so that the information is always anchored to your own thoughts?
I am blending my paragraphs with both quotes and my own words.  This gives a nice balance of my voice and others voice which helps keep information true and organized.

Do you surround quoted passages with your own voice and analysis?
I do surround my quotes with my own thoughts on them and why I do or do not agree with the quote or information.

Who wins the wrestling match?
I do win the wrestling match, because I have a good amount of my voice with a  balance of quotes and facts though.  I believe it is a good balance and that I do a good job with this in my papers.

Blog Assignment #8

For todays blog entry we have a couple steps to do.  We are now focusing on opening our essay and trying to make a strong opening to our essay.

Step 1- For step one we were asked to write 3 different openings that relate to our topic to see which one looks best.

Paragraph 1
I am studying to become a Pastor.  As I look around at Pastors currently in the ministry I notice a decline in the strong Biblical pastors and a rise in the Pastors who fail out.  What is the meaning of this change in Biblical leaders and what cause these good men to fall out of ministry and fail.  While comparing these men, the conclusion has been made that the decline of Godly Pastors is strongly related to the lacking of a call, a unclear understanding of a Pastors roles and responsibilities, and a strong influence of worldly and flesh desires in todays culture.

Paragraph 2
In Pastoral class we learned that the average stay of a pastor at a church is 2 to 3 years.  This makes my heart cry out, knowing that so many churches full of people of God are hurt by this statistic.  Their is a decline of Godly Pastors on the rise and so many churches are suffering due to it.  The decline of these Godly Pastors is strongly related to the lacking of a call, a unclear understanding of a Pastors roles and responsibilities, and a strong influence of worldly and flesh desires in todays culture.

Paragraph 3
At Saint Baptist Church, the Pastor was fired for stealing money from the Church.  This caused the body of believers to suffer not knowing what to do and also feeling so used.  This led to Christians questioning their faith, others leaving their church, and some confused at what to do from there.  Why  are Pastors morals dropping so quickly and causing the increase in Pastors failing and falling out of ministry.  The relationship between the decline of Godly Pastors is strongly related to the lacking of a call, a unclear understanding of a Pastors roles and responsibilities, and a strong influence of worldly and flesh desires in todays culture.

Step 2-  We were asked to show some people the paragraphs we wrote and see which paragraph they liked most.

I asked couple guys in my dorm section and they said they liked paragraph 3 the best.

Step 3- For step 3 we were asked to choose which paragraph we like the most and then ask them a couple questions on it.  The paragraph I chose was also paragraph 3.

I asked my CA these 4 questions and these are the answers he gave me off of paragraph 3.
a. He said I would be talking about why Pastors leave or fall out of ministry. Burn out.
b. Why do they fall morally? How to handle that situation when a Pastor does fall.
c. The reasons for Pastors falling out of ministry is because of a lack of integrity and moral standard.
d.Hopeful because your trying to answer an important question that is hard to deal with so positive.

Blog Assignment #7

Exercise 4.2, p 157-158

In class we learned that we need a good thesis.  The book had 5 different types of thesis templates we could chose from, depending on the way we plan to write our essay.  The type of thesis I chose to write on is relationship because i am showing the relationship between pastors failing out and the reasons they fail out.

Thesis from a Relationship Question

There is a strong relationship between Pastors failing out of ministry and them not having a calling, not knowing their roles and responsibilities, and them being influenced by the World and the flesh.

Blog Assignment #6

Once again we were asked in class to do a blog assignment for English class.  The topic for my Blog's once again is Pastors and the many reasons they drop out of ministry.  For this project we have already been asked to do research on the topic so now we have to answer some questions based on this research.

P. 144-145

Step 1- For step 1 we were asked to have a conversation with ourselves concerning our topic.  We were given 11 questions and were asked to answer them in this blog based on what we have discovered.

1. Why? Where? Who? When? What?
• My topic affects mostly christian, especially Pastors.  It is about why Pastors tend to drop out of ministry and the biggest reasons for this.  The biggest reasons I am analyzing for my project are they aren't called, they don't know the roles and responsibilities of being a pastor, and how they are influenced by the world and flesh to do wrong and sin.
2. What do you mean by ________?
• What I mean by my topic is that Pastors are quickly failing out of ministry and not accomplishing their responsibilities as a leader.  I heard in one of my Pastoral classes that  the average stay of a Pastor is 2 to 3 years which really breaks my heart.  It kills me inside knowing that a Pastor can only stay at a church for that long before leaving or getting kicked out. 
3. How do most people see this? How do you see it differently?
• Depends on what view you are looking at it from.  If you are looking at it from a christians view it should be something that breaks their heart and make them truly seek for revival but if you look at it from the worlds view it makes them say why should I be a christian if thats how their head people act.  I see it the Christian way crying out why and wanting to be able to make a difference.  I also want to find out what the roles are and want to find ways to prevent failure, especially for myself, as I am studying to be a pastor and I do not want to end up being one of those statistic numbers of people who leave within 3 years of being at a church.
4. Are you kidding? I didn't know that. What else did you find out?
• I found out also from my english teacher that one of statistics of why a pastor leaves a church is due to only 7 people.  That upsets me too.  Their are always going to be people who don't agree with every little detail about the Bible but their is one thing that you all have in common and that is Jesus Christ and that should help unite a body of believers.  Another reason this upsets me that the pastor leaves because if God's desire for you is to be in that church you can't leave because of a couple of people.  The bible specifically tells christians and pastors it won't be easy and that people will despise you because of it but through this all it tells us we need to continue to do God's will and never give up!
5. Can you give me an example?
• An example of a pastor dropping out could be my old youth pastor was made to resign for problems within the church.  He was not following the roles or requirements to be a pastor and thus it made him have to resign.  This would be an example of dropping out due to sin or failure to follow the duties of a pastor.  An example of someone not being called could be many things.  For one, possibly the pastor just can't preach.  As obvious as it seems this is a sign that your not called to be a pastor.  
6. Did that surprise you?
• The fact that many pastors seem to drop out of ministry does and does not surprise me.  It does surprise me because if these people were called by God and if they truly believe what they have been studying most of their lives (the Bible), then how could they just give up and walk away.  However it does not surprise me with the direction of this world and the direction of the church.  Both are on a decline.  For example the church is trying to be as close to the world as possible which is a serious danger and problem for the church to be participating in.  Another reason is that the morals and ethics of this world are going so far down hill that many people are doing wretched things (including pastors) that the Bible specifically says disqualifies a man from being a pastor.
7. What other questions does this raise?
• It raises many other questions on this subject.  It makes me explore what the Bible actually says. Why do pastors do the things they do?  Does the church try helping them?  What help do they get for this?  Is their people who try to help them rather then push them down?  What does a calling look like?  How can one tell if he has or has not been called?  What experience have I seen that I can also apply to this?
8. Who does this affect, mostly?
• This affects the church but it most primely it affects the pastor.  It affects the church because they will follow their pastor and could possibly be completely destroyed if their pastor drops out or leaves.  It also affects the Pastor because he would be the one losing his job, his church, and what he studied his whole life for.
9. What should we do about this?
• We need to learn the roles about pastors.  We also need to learn about how to better help a pastor accomplish his duties and keep him on track to succeed.  Another thing we need to do is set the pastor up to succeed rather than tear him down and pick out all his little flaws.  We need to find ways to encourage and help pastors get help in areas they struggle in so we can better serve our pastors.
10. I'm not sure I believe this. Why do you?
• No matter what you  say, you can't deny the fact that ministers are dropping out doing wretched things.  We need to stand up and change this way of life and help pastors succeed in what God has planned for their lives.  What some people may disagree with is the reasons for failure but in my essay I will state more of my explanations that back up my 3 main points or reasons.
11. What do you think we should do about it?
• I think we need to gain awareness of the trouble which the church is starting t wake up and see that their is a big problem.  Another thing we need to do is find the roles of a pastor and clearly outline those responsibilities and roles.  The final thing we need to do is encourage and uplift our pastors.  We need to stand by their side and forgive them when they stumble since we all stumble once in a while.  We need to show them grace, but also be able to understand that grace only goes so far especially for a pastor for God.  

Step 2- For step number 2 we were asked to answer one final question.

Question- Okay, this is all very interesting. But based on everything you've learned so far, what's your point?

My point is that the world, especially the church and christians are on the down fall.  We need to stand firm to our beliefs and to be able to help each other out.  Through this down fall however pastors are struggling and beginning more and more to fall into the traps and the snares of the world causing many pastors to drop out of or fail out of ministry.  There are many different reasons behind why this all happens.  In my essay I plan to outline a few, in hopes of getting my main point across that America needs revival and needs to be turned upside down for Jesus and it all starts with those in charge of the Church getting their acts together and serving God with all their hearts.  

Blog Assignment #5

For this blog post we were asked to find 5 credible sources for our topic.  We were asked to read through these seeing why they were credible and in what ways we would use these sources.  We then have to write a citation for each source and add a craap analysis for each source. 

Source 1- Book: Am I Called by Dave Harvey

Harvey, Dave. Am I Called? Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. Print.

This source is a credible source for my research because it is published by a credible publisher and talks about current information.  The author’s credentials include president of Sovereign Grace Ministries and has a doctorate in ministry from Westminster’s theological seminary.  This article was published in Wheaton, Illinois in 2012.  The Author’s main goal in this article is to inform about being called to the pastoral field.  The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: people in the pastoral ministry and those considering the pastoral ministry.  This audience would be interested in this subject because it affects if they should be in ministry or if they should go to ministry and would generally agree with the author’s perspective on this topic.  The author incorporates the following types of evidence: that God determines a calling and you need the true heart to go into the field of ministry because it is dealing with the eternity of people.  The evidence builds credibility because it is important and reliable but is limited because it doesn’t talk about other reasons Pastors fall out of ministry.  Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with this author because I believe a calling is necessary to enter the pastoral field, because it is not just a money making job it is something God calls some chosen people to do.  I think this article is important to include in my essay because I will say the reason people fall out of ministry is sometimes related to the reason they don’t have a heart for it because they are not called to it.

Source 2- Book: What Every Pastor Should Know by Gary L. Mcintosh and Charles Arn.

McIntosh, Gary and Charles Arn. What Every Pastor Should Know. Grand Rapid: Baker Books, 2013. Print.

This article is a credible source for my research because it talks about a lot of rules of Pastors and what they are required to do.  The author’s credentials include many other books written and a doctorate in ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary.  The book was published in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2013.  The authors main goals were to teach about how to better lead a church.  The publishing source for this book generally targets an audience that fits the following description: Christians and Church leaders.  This audience would be interested in this subject because it talks about how to make the church better and how to be a better leader and would generally agree with this author’s perspective on the topic.  The author incorporates the following types of evidence: how to lead the Church and some things Pastors do wrong.  This evidence builds credibility because the author studied in school for a doctorate and because it applies to the why the church is declining in todays culture but also is limited because it lacks more in depth information.  Based on my own opinion, experiences and research, I agree with this author because it is biblical and just teaches us about important things to know in ministry.  I think this article is important to include in my essay because I can show some things that need to be followed when being a Pastor and talk about how when someone does not follow these rules they become disqualified to be a pastor.

Source 3- Book: The Pastor as Scholar & The Scholar as Pastor by John Piper & D.A. Carson

Piper, John and D.A. Carson. The Pastor as Scholar & The Scholar as Pastor. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011. Print.

This article is a credible source for my research because it is published by a credible publisher and talks about life and ministry in the Pastoral field.  The authors’ credentials include John Piper being one of the lead theologians in today’s society.  The article was published in Wheaton, Illinois in 2011.  The authors’ main goal in this book is to teach about Pastors and the ministry they do and better ways to improve in their role.  The publishing source for this book generally targets an audience that fits the following description: a Pastor or those looking for the qualities of a good pastor.  This audience would be interested in this subject because they want to see what a good pastor looks like and would generally agree with this author’s perspective on this topic.  The author incorporates the following types of evidence: to help see his calling in us and to help us span interdisciplinary gaps to the glory of God and the good of his church.  This evidence builds credibility because it shows how to be a better pastor and how to better lead but is limited because it should warn of some more possible dangers.  Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with this author because there is a need for revival in America but how can we have this without Pastors who are in tract for him.  I think this book is important to include in my essay because it shows the good roles of a pastor and what they need to follow and that if they are not doing these things then they may be disqualifying themselves. 

Source 4- Book: Becoming the Pastor You Hope to Be by Barbara J. Blodgett.

Blodgett, Barbara. Becoming the Pastor You Hope to Be. Herndon: The Alban Institute, 2011. Print.

This book is a credible source for my research because it talks about how to become the pastor you hope to be and fits in with my topic well.  The author’s credentials include PhD from Yale University and is now on staff at a seminary.  The book was published in Herndon, Virginia in 2011.  The author’s main goal in this book is to teach about improving Pastors to become better leaders for God.  The publishing source for this book generally targets an audience that fits the following description: Pastors or those looking to be a Pastor.  This audience would be interested in this subject because they want to be a better pastor and would generally agree with this author’s perspective on the topic.  The author incorporates the following types of evidence: of how to improve in the Pastor field and who can help you accomplish this.  This evidence builds credibility because it shows ways to improve in the pastor field but is also limited because it doesn’t show things that may cause Pastors to stumble.  Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, agree with this author because she shows lots of ways Pastors can improve which means she shows lots of areas Pastors are lacking in.  I think this article is important to include in my essay because it shows areas in which Pastors need to improve and these areas are reasons Pastors are dropping out of ministry.

Source 5- Book: Answers to Pastors’ FAQs by Howard F. Sugden & Warren W. Wiersbe

Sugden, Howard and Warren W. Wiersbe. Colorado Springs: Cook communications ministries, 2005.               Print. 

This book is a credible source for my research because it is based on the Bible, which is never changing and is by a credible author.  The authors’ credentials include both being pastors for many years and having bible degrees.  The article was published in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2005.  The authors’ main goals in this book are to inform and teach about Pastors.  The publishing source for this article generally targets an audience that fits the following description: Christians including Pastors and Church members’ examining their Pastors.  This audience would be interested in this subject because it has to do with Pastors and the Church and would generally agree with these authors’ perspectives on this topic.  The author incorporates the following types of evidence: what needs to be done by a good pastor.  This evidence builds credibility because it shows what pastors should be doing and is limited because it doesn’t show a secular view on this.  Based on my own opinion, experiences, and research, I agree with these authors because they tell lots of good information on how pastors should live and behave.  I think this article is important to include in my essay because I can use this information to show how a Pastor should be acting and show that if they aren’t acting this way then they are not qualified to be a pastor.