Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Replacement for the Appointment System

Why not mirror the 'draft' system of professional sports teams?

Calvin grads dominate 2006 pastors draft

COLORADO SPRINGS — Big names and big surprises converged before a nationwide audience at the 2006 Pastors Draft on April 27.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," said Alvin DeWalt, 26, of Fuller Seminary, pacing his apartment in Pasadena and watching the draft on the Daystar network. His wife had made guacamole, and thirty friends were on hand to see which church picked DeWalt, one of this year's top ranked prospects.

In the first round, Geoff Parsons and Rick Benson, of Westminster and Calvin seminaries respectively, went first, as scouts had predicted they would. Parsons heads to a struggling mid-sized Methodist church in Memphis, Tenn., which had the top pick this year. Benson was drafted by a mega-church in Casper, Wyo., which had traded two mid-career pastors for a higher pick. Both draftees say they are ready to "help their teams."

Calvin Seminary overall showed surprising strength, placing two dozen graduates at leading churches around the country, plus sending many more to minor league ministries. Of the Big 10 schools, last year's leaders, Dallas and Asbury, showed less strength. Both call this a "building year" and say their classes of 2007 will be much stronger. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Westminster say they were "pleased" with how many grads they placed in respectable positions.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fun post. What if struggling churches were indeed able to access the most gifted persons available? What if the denomination practiced profit sharing so that experienced pastors could be deployed to turn around congregations rather than moved to larger maintenance churches merely to earn a higher salary?