Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 10/9/2006

Question
My husband felt God was calling him into the ministry as a young man, but he was involved in the business world. At age 50, he surrendered to God, sold his businesses, and pursued the ministry. He has a Master of Arts in Religion from Liberty University Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Religion from Jacksonville Theological Seminary. He is a licensed minister and does supply and interim preaching. He will be 59 this month.
Once a person has been licensed into the ministry, is this person a Reverend?
Since my husband was divorced years before going into the ministry, Baptist ministers in eastern N.C. frown upon ordaining a divorced man. This has been a hindrance in his being hired as a full-time pastor. Do you know of a Baptist church that would ordain my husband?
What would you do if you were in this situation?

Answer
Kay, while it shouldn't be complicated both licensing and ordination are very complicated.  Licensing is a fairly new innovation in the church.  As you see in Timothy there are only two offices, pastor and deacon.  We know from Acts that deacons can and did branch off into evangelism. They were ordained as deacons but if they are truly filled with the Holy Ghost they will be knowledgable in the Word and have the fire to witness.  No paper needed for that.

A license to preach means something different to whomever issues it.  Some states require a man to have a license in order to preach and minister in jails while some like Texas require nothing but a church endorsement to hold services but require one-on-one visits to be done by an ordained Pastor or Associate Pastor.  Some consider a license to mean you are a pastor apprecntice.  Others see it as something for a person called to other ministries outside of the pastoral office like a Chaplain, street preacher, evangelist, etc.  

Reverend is usually reserved to those who have been ordained.  Frankly, I have to agree with the Church of Christ on this one and say that no one should be called Rev. That is basically a carry over from Catholicism and we should drop kick it into the pit.  The only really nice thing about a Dr title is that if you are somewhere that is not your church and they want to be more formal then Bro Ron they can call your Dr instead of Rev.  I attend a seminar quarterly and they send a confirmation of my attendence addressed to the Rev. Dr. Ron Shultz and I just moan and shake my head.

He has three strikes against him.  The divorce, his age and his doctoral degree. I'm 54 and many churches would not call me as they are now looking for lads in their late 20's to early 30s just out of seminary to reach the X and Y gen folks.  When I got out of college they wanted people 35-50 with 15 years experience.  Yet no one would call a 20 year old so how that 35 year old guy got his 15 years experience I will never know.  I was 30 with little experience.  Now I am 54 with lots of experience but I am now too old and way too Conservative for most churches.

With a doctorate the Rev thing won't matter as much to a lot of churches.  Anyone can be a Rev but they want a doctor in the house even if the building is falling down and they only have 12 people. However, after looking at the Jacksonville web page I would feel safe to say that he won't be accepted by many Baptist churches. I would have to do more research on the school but my first impressions are that I don't think any IFB church would accept it and the SBC folks normally only accept grads from their approved schools. I see where their schools would accept some credits from there but I don't think their churches would accept a lad with a degree from there unless it was on the Liberal side of the house. You might contact someone at the following site who can refer you to like kith and kin in NC if your husband considers himself to be a Liberal.

http://www.bgct.org/TexasBaptists/Page.aspx?&pid=178  

One of my classmates was licensed by a church the first time he preached there in the hills of NC.  I started asking about ordination and I got responses from not needed to needing to be anywhere from 1 to 10 years in the pasorate before being ordained.  Again how do you get to pastor 10 years without an ordination if no one will call you without it?  We aren't very logical at times.  

All an ordination is supposed to indicate is that your calling and gifts for that calling are recognized.  God is the one that calls and ordains.  Men just say, "Amen".  Are there a lot of self-ordianed nut cases running around?  Yep and that is why it is a nice thing to have a group of your peers support you by doing the ordination thing but if God called and ordained you then it doesn't much matter what men say.

If a church wants to call him as pastor, they can ordain him.  There are or at least were plenty of unordained pastors in ministry in this country and aboard.  The paper is only man's requirement and some men don't care about it.  Everyone wanted a Dr and now that I am one I am serving in a church that doesn't care about that and the Senior Pastor has a business degree from Stephen F. Austin and an honorary DD.  Our new Youth Pastor has lots of experience and a license but no college education at all.  God doesn't require any papers or education.  The call is not to the educated or even gifted in most cases.  Paul, said the weak, base and foolish were called and he flushed all his "degrees" so we are not wise when we seek only the educated and wise.

The divorce issue is a tough one. Most churches will not look at a divorced man no matter what the circumctances might have been.  That is the easier way but I am not convinced it is the biblical way.  Here is a link to my teaching on divorce.  If your husband's divorce was biblical then I do not believe that disqualifies him for the office of pastor but no one can make a church call him if they see differently.   

http://www.hwy777.com/plog/blog/maverick_musings/general/2006/10/07/divorce

If he cannot find a church to ordain or call him we are in the age of house and storefront churches.  There is nothing to stop him from starting one.  Not knowing all his doctrine I cannot say that I am endorsing him by telling you all this, I am merely speaking to the issues and the mechanics of your question.  The Bible says to lay hands on no man suddenly so I cannot bless his efforts at this point.

With that principle stated you will have to find a church/organization that will be open to dig into your husband's beliefs and past to know if they will ordain him or refer him.  I do not know of any church in NC that will do it.  There is a church here in the area that ordained a divorced man because the divorced happened before he was saved but it would be hard for them to do the same for your husband as he is a stranger and very far away.

Hopefully, I have provided you with some insight into the issues though I did not provide the answer you were seeking.