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There will come a season in your ministry when you are not sure.

The work is hard. The fruit is thin. And somewhere in the middle of a Tuesday you are going to catch yourself asking the question out loud: Did I actually hear God on this?

When that season comes — and it will come — you are going to need something more substantial than a feeling to stand on.

This episode is drawn from material Jonathan has taught to undergraduate preaching students for over sixteen years. Every semester there are two groups in the room: those wrestling with whether they're called, and those certain about it who have never really examined why. This episode is for both.

The working definition: Calling is a sustained conviction, confirmed by the church, that God has set you apart to proclaim His Word.

What this episode covers:

What calling is not — not a feeling, not excitement, not being good at public speaking, and not your pastor handing you the mic one Wednesday night. None of those things are bad. None of them, by themselves, are a call.

Why sustained means duration, not intensity — a calling that shows up at youth camp in July and disappears by December is an experience, not a calling. Callings hold when it's hard. They hold when nobody claps.

Why you do not call yourself — God calls preachers; the church confirms them. If nobody sees it in you but you, that's not a disqualification, but it is a reason to slow down.

George Peters' four biblical implications of the call — sovereignly exercised by the Holy Spirit, individual and personal, unique to the ministry of the Word, and a call to work. Including the line that convicts: If you love preaching but you do not love people, you are not called to preach. You are called to talk.

Four channels God uses to make the call known — human instrumentality, the Word, crisis experiences, and sound logical thinking. Some of you are waiting for a burning bush while God has already spoken through three pastors and a passage you cannot get away from.

The persuasion of the call — including why a deep sense of personal inadequacy belongs on the list. Moses felt inadequate. Jeremiah said he was too young. The preacher who feels entirely adequate for this work has misunderstood the work.

If you came in certain, this episode is meant to root you deeper. If you came in wrestling — the wrestling is not evidence against your calling.

Books referenced: George Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions · Stephen Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching