Excerpt from The Strange Calling

by John Robert McFarland

Ministers are supposed to be "called" to that vocation by God. No one quite understands what "called" means, or how "the call" is accomplished, but nobody wants a minister who decided to be one just for the big bucks and easy workload. So when a candidate for ministry comes forth, s/he is invariably asked, "Do you have'the call'?" Of course, the ministry isn't the only profession to which people feel called, so adjectives are applied to distinguish between calls and callings.

When I was still new to the minsitry, I read a novel entitled The High Calling, by James Street. I knew before I pulled it off the library shelf that it was about a minister. That's how the ministry was known then, as "the high calling." I wanted to believe I had received a high calling. I knew it was a peculiar calling, but "high"? The way my call came...well, it seemed more like a "strange" calling.

The images of ministry in our society swing in a very short arc from the lovable but inept Father Mulcahy of M*A*S*H to the unlovable and equally inept Jimmy Swaggart. Because I knew nothing about ministers when I agreed to be one and had never seen any at work, except on Sunday mornings, I have made a point throughout my career to observe clergy with a critical but open eye. Neither Mulcahy nor Swaggart resemble any of the clergypersons I have watched so carefully over the years.

Thus, I hope these stories will show what really happens when a person thinks he or she hears the strange calling, and answers it. They are not just for pastors and church people. I hope that "cultured despisers" of the ministry will also read the stories and learn some truth about the people who live in the pulpit.

John Robert McFarland is the author of "The Strange Calling", published by Smyth & Helwys Publishing. To order, go to the online bookpage or call 1-800-747-3016.

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