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Yeah, well untainted journey may be good for the pastor, but the sheep certainly lose out on the deal.

Put off seminary for a couple of years. Get away from the "church" for a while--live a little.

I don't know how else to put it except--get a life!

Seems more than just a bit arrogant of your "friends". I will be praying that the scales will fall from their blinded eyes. This is the type of spiritual snobbery that turns people away and I believe turns our Saviour's stomach. To suggest that someone's ministry is somehow "tainted" by any prior experience is sheer ignorance. My God uses it all!

So much of "ministry" professional ministry that is, is administration, management, leadership, motivation, budgeting, etc. that seminary is really not all that applicable in a lot of ways. Your experience as an entrepreneur is priceless. I attended seminary then became and entrepreneur and now years later am contemplating the ministry and I think I'm the better for it.

Drew Bennett

This reminds me of an experience I had in seminary after having been an officer in an alcohol and drug recovery program in the army.
In ethics class the professor presented the example of a wife coming in for pastoral counseling. The husband repeatedly got drunk and would hit his wife. The next day when he got dried out he would claim he could not remember. The question was should she leave him and seek a divorce. The only ones who suggested yes were myself and a former emergency room RN. The rest of the class who came to seminary right out of college said no and suggested God could heal the marriage. They had no concept that a man who drinks and blacks out could literally, because it happens all to frequently, kill his wife and never know it. They were so confident in their ignorance they were willing to risk the life of the woman. They purity of their life and experiences left them in comfortable ignorance of the whole theological picture. Seems they forgot all about the Jewish return from capativity, the rebuilding of the temple, and the putting away of the non-Jewish wives and families by God's order. In their theology God could have saved the marriages and apparently His prophet misunderstood the message.

It's interesting to note that your friends were all pastors who have not had life experience outside of church work.
This is unfortunate for both them and their congregations. For them, they have become insulated from the day to day struggles of being a follower of Christ in an unchristian world. How can they effectively minister to their people when they have no understanding what it is like to work shift work- be constantly exposed to people who want nothing to do with Christianity. Also, since when did being a full time shepherd become more spiritual than driving a truck or being a cashier at the grocery store.
I have been personally on both sides of this issue. I served in a church right out of Bible School and did not understand the struggle of people who had worked a full day to come out to a mid-week evening service.
I left full time work in the church for several years and had to do shift work, overtime and try to balance Church, work and family.
It made a huge difference for my comprehension of others.
Our church recently hired a pastor and one of the key things we looked for besides seminary training was life experience.
He had previously been a pastor, a missionary for several years. He ended up driving a truck for about 5 years before re-entering the ministry. The congregation is thrilled to have someone who can understand what is like to live in the "real world" and is not isolated.
One should also remember that the Great Shepherd Jesus himself did not insulate Himself from society.
He was a carpenter and his disciples were fishermen, tax collectors and everyday people.
They didn't even have a theologian among them. The theologians of His day rejected Him as messiah.
His disciples turned the world upside down through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps there are some lessons here for us not to be insulated from being in contact with real people in the Marketplace.

I sometimes wonder what part the Lord plays in many of our churches' decisions. Many of our churches rely too much on business savvy and own intuition rather than on the Lord. How often is prayer only used when a crisis is on hands? How often is prayer the continuous mode in which a church is irrespective of the situation at hand?

It certainly seems on first observance, that most of the comments back up the original supposition. Too bad.

Thats a funny statement! Untainted! Well Romans 6 tells us all have sinned.I think the world has made a seat in the church. The letter killeth but the spirit gives life.Who are they going to be ministeringg to. Untainted people? Jesus went to publicans and sinners. Tainting is experieince. The Lord Jesus lives to clean the taintedness in our lives. Perhaps they will retire untainted. LOL

Didn't Paul have "life experience" before he was called to the ministry?