The Call
A Pastor's Story
by
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Real life has a strange way of pushing us toward fiction. A novel may be more accurate than the newspaper and newscast; more revealing than the lecture; more truthful than a sermon. How is it that a made up story--a fiction, based on fact, story--may do more justice to the truth than all the studies, reports and findings that we can get our hands on? For one thing, a good novel tells its story truthfully. The full truth, not all the truth that can be told, but the truth nuanced and textured, shaded and colored, in the same way that a portrait may say much more than a photograph. Accuracy alone shifts the focus from meaning and motive to dates and details. Truth is something more than true facts. Reality is hard to get at. It's the stuff that doesn't show up in neatly packaged sequential propositions. Life does not conform to lists. A writer may make up names and dates, places and episodes, but if he or she is at all good in the true sense of the word "good," then the writer is a servant not of fiction but of truth. It is ironic that we label something as fiction when it is truer than the truth that we say when we are telling the truth. At its best, the novel is not a work of art but the art of truth.
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About the Book
Jeremy Kohler takes the reader on a journey through the pastoral search process that explores the meaning of the pastoral call. His story presents a candid picture of what really goes into calling a new pastor. The Call shows us the complexities of modern church life, the interplay of spiritual dynamics and spiritualizing tendencies, and the power of personalities to circumvent the will of God. This true-to-life novel offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on pastoral ministry that will inform and challenge the seminarian, lay leader, and working pastor. Pastoral Search Committees will find this story especially important. The Call focuses on the untold story and hidden dynamics of an all too human institution, which God still uses to fulfill His redemptive purposes. Here is an insider's view of the politics, disappointments, and opportunities of ministering in today's American church.
About the Author
Douglas D. Webster is a pastor and seminary teacher. He has written eight books, including A Passion for Christ (Zondervan), Selling Jesus (IVP), and The Easy Yoke (NavPress).