Ordination Service

In case you haven't heard by now I was officially ordained by 2nd Congo on March 6th!  I wanted to post a few pics from the service.

The service began with the ordination of 2 deacons and 1 elder.  Below are pics of Tom Rochon (deacon) and Jerry Horbert (elder).

 (There's no picture of Jared, so I suspect he may be a vampire)

Terry Shanahan, the CCCC regional director, came to give me my vows and a charge.

 After this the elders and several local pastors prayed for me.

Then Bill remembered that he's supposed to ask the congregation some questions.  He also told them to listen to me and do everything I say.  (that might be a wildly inaccurate paraphrase...)

 

When all was said and done I gave my first official benediction as a Reverend.  I still don't feel like a reverend but there it is.  A discussion I was part of last night reminded me why the church has valued the external call to ministry so highly throughout its history.  In our age of psychology and therapy I think we tend to put an overly high value on internal calling.  An internal sense of calling is certainly important, but when we look at the qualifications, expectations and demands of ministry, I can't imagine how anyone would really feel up to the task.  Fortunately, the biggest evidence of a calling from God is usually when some part of His church actually calls you to serve.  You may still feel inadequate, like I do, but as we discussed last night, God has a habit of calling the inadequate, the weak and the unimportant to do great things.

Overall, it was a great service!  Thanks to everybody that came, including my parents and sister who flew up.