The Making of a Preacher -Prep

Necessary Items

1. A Baptist church is an organization that believes in the inerrancy of Scripture (aka The Holy Bible of 66 sacred books as a library or compendium.)

2. Faith is the ability to trust the validity of God and His Word that goes beyond what one human or a group of humans can certify through scientific tests & measurements. Faith is based on the logic that is reasonable, but which goes beyond any human ability to measure the facts.

3. The Call to Gospel ministry is the Divine Issuance of the concept, "You got the job!" One would think that the reception of such a call would ensure a life of ease to follow. After all, "preachers only work one to three hours a week!" If only... Quite honestly, the opposite is, in fact, the truth for truly God-called Gospel preachers. The reception of The Call to Preach is consistently followed by a period of increased difficulty in life with the adjoining reduction in honor and public recognition. The Call to Preach is followed by a Boot Camp Experience just as surely as being drafted into military service follows this pattern.

4. The expression, "Trusting Jesus of Nazareth as my only Lord and Savior" means that at the core of my being, which is The Bottom Line of my life, I am willing to trust no one to the lofty degree that I trust this Jesus, and this Jesus only, with my security in life and my Eternal Security throughout all of Eternity. This does not preclude the possibility of doubts when things in life go wrong. I may wonder if there is something wrong with my faith and my trust if I experience hurt, pain and loss because The Lord did not choose to protect me in the way that I thought He should protect me. Yet, Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds me that His Way is always best, and His Security is always for the best purposes of Eternity.

5. Sunday School is the hour of weekly Sunday morning Bible Study for children and adults that precedes the main event of the Worship Service. (However, if one refers to the early church in the first century A.D., this Bible Study time was the main event of the church's daily get-togethers. Acts 2:42 reminds us that Bible Study while eating a meal together were the norm for the fledgling church.)

6. Training Union is basically Sunday School in the evening, which precedes the evening Worship Service.

7. Worship Service is the public display of honor for The Lord, which can last from one hour to sometimes four hours, depending on the traditions of any given church. The Service usually starts with music or an initial greeting by a Master of Ceremonies (aka M.C.,) who is usually one of the assistant pastors or the Sunday School director. (The pastor may do this himself if the church is small enough.) Once the initial speech, if any, is made then the first 20-60 minutes (or longer) is spent in singing hymns and/or worship songs, whether traditional (from many years ago) or contemporary, which is often created in the past week. After the music & singing is shared together as a congregation, then everybody sits down, opens their Bibles, and listens to a rather long speech or sermon for 45 minutes to 2 or 3 hours, depending on the traditions of the church and the strength of the pastor's voice. At the end of the Sermon an altar call is issued by the pastor, giving an opportunity for anyone, who to come forward to trust Jesus as his or her Savior for the very first time in that life. When the Worship Service is finally over, the pastor will have a closing prayer. The final word, "Amen," means "We agree with You, Lord!" However, in practical terms, it has come to mean, "Okay, the Service is over. Y'all are free to go home or to the cafeteria if you think you're faster than the Methodists."

8. Congregation is the high church word, which means, "the group of people that have shown up in the auditorium, during any particular worship service."

9. One Week on Earth is seven days long. On ZoNed4 it is eight days long.

10. One Day on Earth is 24 hours long. On ZoNed4 it is 28 hours long.

11. One Year on Earth is 12 months long. On ZoNed4 it is 14 months long.

12. The Rotation Adjustment on ZoNed4 occurs once every year for two days in length. This creates a ten day week.

13. The Sun of ZoNed4 is approximately 20% larger than Earth's sun. This tends to create richer and more vibrant hues of color across the spectrum.

14. The Culture (aka Society) is in many ways similar to the Society of the Mayflower, which brought a group of pilgrims to the New World in 1620 A.D. On this ship were devout Christians and atheists. In order to survive they had to learn to work and to serve together as a group of friends, that may or may not agree on all points of belief. Crossing the barrier of strongly-held mores is always difficult, but survival in inhospitable climes makes respect and honor gifts to be given, nor wages to be earned.