Private soul-searching is not enough to determine your call to the ministry. The judgment of the people of God must be sought; long before the time when it must be given formally it should be sought informally.

Seminary is for men who are seriously considering the ministry; it is a place where a man may test his gifts and calling in the service of the Word...Uncertainty about a call to the ministry may indicate with certainty a call to theological training. Even when God does not call a man to pastoral work, he often leads through seminary study to other ministries of teaching and to informed leadership in the work of the church.

On the other hand, a desire to serve Christ in the ministry may become intense before there is evidence of the necessary gifts...If you yearn to serve Christ in the gospel ministry, that desire is surely a calling to prayer for the Spirit; likely it is also a foretaste and earnest of greater gifts in store.

On the other had, a desire to serve Christ in the ministry may become intense before there is evidence of the necessary gifts...If you yearn to serve Christ in the gospel ministry, that desire is surely a calling to prayer for the Spirit; likely it is also a foretaste and earnest of greater gifts in store.

Most often the presence of such gifts of the Spirit creates a desire for their exercise. By them a man is drawn to the Word, to Christ, to men. For this reason a deep and sincere desire to enter the ministry is the commonest evidence of the Lord's calling. It is no sure criterion, however, for the gifts and desire are not always joined.

The call of the Word of God to the gospel ministry comes to ALL those who have the gifts for such a ministry.

Sometimes Christians speak of each decision of their lives as though they were launching a moon-shot where a single miscalculation would send the capsule into a trackless void. Even space scientist do better than that, correcting the flight of their space-probes by radioed signals. God does much better. He knows that we are often incapable of distinguishing trivial decisions from momentous ones, and that we are foolish and imperceptive. He knows---- and keeps us in his hand.

Christ's suffering was redemptive not because suffering itself is redemptive, but because Christ himself is the Redeemer