BOOM!

Daddy's BOOM work is done! The BOOM is conference short-hand for the Board of Ordained Ministry and today we mailed off the last pieces of Daddy's application to be a provisional elder in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church! He started writing this packet back in January, submitted it for approval before the Southwest District Committee on Ordained Ministry in April, met with them for an interview in May, reworked his sermon and retaped it over the summer and now gets to send in this final packet to the conference for their review and approval.

Here's what Daddy submitted:
* Photograph
* 8 page completed Application Form
* 10 page completed Personal Data Inventory Form
* 4 page Criminal Records Release Form (background check)
* 5 page Financial Disclosure Form and Credit Inquiry Release (credit check)
* 7 page Medical Form (physical including lab results)
* Transcripts from every college and seminary attended
* 25 typewritten pages answering 12 Leadership Questions (1. Describe your call to ministry; 2. What is the meaning of ordination in the context of the general ministry of the church?; 3. How do you perceive yourself, your gifts, your motives, your role and your commitment as a provisional member and commissioned minister in the UMC?; 4. What leadership experience have you had in your ministry setting and beyond? Describe at least two skills you have learned from these experiences; 5. Describe several leadership qualities that Jesus modeled in his ministry; 6. Describe several leadership qualities which you demonstrate in your ministry and two or three strengths and weaknesses of each of those qualities; 7. How do your spiritual disciplines affect your practice of leadership in ministry?; 8. How will you discern and implement God's vision for your ministry setting?; 9. How will you equip people for ministry and develop leaders?; 10. How have you or would you introduce and lead someone to Christ?; 11. Discuss your understanding of the primary characteristics of United Methodist polity; 12. You have agreed as a candidate for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ in the world and the most effective witness of the Gospel and in consideration of their influences as ministers, to make a complete dedication of yourself to the highest ideals of the Christian life and to this end agree to exercise responsible self-control by personal habits conducive to bodily health, mental and emotional maturity, integrity in personal relationships, fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, social responsibility and growth in grace and the knowledge and love of God. What is your understanding of this agreement?)
* 40 typewritten pages answering 14 Theology Questions (1. How do you interpret the statement Jesus Christ is Lord?; 2. Discuss your understanding of Christology, including incarnation, atonement and resurrection; 3. Describe your personal experience of God and the understanding of God you derive from Biblical, historical and theological sources; 4) What is your understanding of humanity and the need for God's grace?; 5. What is God's relationship to suffering and evil in this world?; 6. Explain the role and significance of the sacraments in the ministry to which you have been called; 7. What is your conception of the activity of the Holy Spirit in personal faith, in the community of believers and in responsible living in the world?; 8. What is your understanding of the Kingdom of God and eternal life?; 9. How is the Bible true?; 10. The United Methodist Church holds that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason. What is your understanding of this theological position of the church? In your response, reflect theologically on one of the following issues: a) gambling, b) war in Iraq, c) capital punishment, d) genetic engineering; 11. Describe the nature and mission of the church. What are its primary tasks today?; 12. Describe your understanding of diaconia, the servant ministry of the church and the servant ministry of the provisional elder and commissioned minister?; 13. How do you intend to affirm, teach and apply Part II of the Discipline (Doctrinal Standards and Our Theological Task) in your work in the ministry to which you have been called?; 14. One of the historic questions asked of Wesley to candidates for ministry is: "Are you debt so as to embarrass yourself?" In light of this question, what is your total debt? How does this affect your theology of stewardship?).
* 9 typewritten pages answering 5 Personal Growth Questions (1. Have you worked with a personal finance counselor and/or attended a finance-related workshop?; 2. What is your plan for handling your financial resources?; 3. How long have you been working your plan? What results are you experiencing from working your plan?; 4. Are you aware that by the time of your interview for full connection that you are expected to be practicing a healthy lifestyle in regards to the stewardship of your financial resources?; 5. List three areas of your life in which you need to grow for greater effectiveness for ministry Explain why you chose each of these and your plans for attaining personal growth in each area).
* Manuscript of his sermon (4 pages) plus 1 page of reflection questions about sermon
* 2 DVDs of his sermon plus a bulletin from the service where it was preached

Whew! That's 113 pages of application forms and answers. Here's the next steps:
1. The review teams from the BOOM will meet in Leesburg the first week of November to review all candidate materials and decide whether or not candidates will be granted an interview
2. Daddy will get a phone call from the conference office sometime after that letting him know if he has been granted an interview.
3. Interviews will be held in Leesburg in January, the week after we return from Israel.

For now, all we can do is trust and pray!