I'm in between church jobs

[RC Vikings]

and the 2nd councilor keeps telling me to be patent because they have something in mind for me. I keep telling him I'm good where I'm at and really don't worry about it. Would you take the first thing offered or hold out for something you would really want to do?

[byu71]

and the 2nd councilor keeps telling me to be patent because they have something in mind for me. I keep telling him I'm good where I'm at and really don't worry about it. Would you take the first thing offered or hold out for something you would really want to do?

What I want to know is why is he telling you to be patient? Are you giving them signals you really want to serve?

[creekster]

What I want to know is why is he telling you to be patient? Are you giving them signals you really want to serve?

Some people get offended when they don't have a calling. It makes Bishoprics jumpy. I have never understood this POV, as I would be happy to never have a calling again, but I do know bishoprics get an earful at times about it. So it may be they think RC is one step away from never showing up again, so they tease him until they can make him official Hymn book straightener or something like that.

[RC Vikings]

What I want to know is why is he telling you to be patient? Are you giving them signals you really want to serve?

I'm not giving out those signals for sure in fact I think I'm about a step away from becoming the ward project. I'm looking for something where I don't have to be their every week, that doesn't take up much time and nobody is disappointed when I don't follow through.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The bishopric has been trying to come and see us every Thursday night for the past five weeks or so. They claim it is just to "see how we are doing" but I am skeptical. Unfortunately, we are free this Thursday so they are coming over.

[TripletDaddy]

The Bishop of our ward-hopped ward approached us on Sunday and asked to speak to us in the foyer (the real foyer, not this thread...what kind of Bishop reads CUF during Sunday meetings?)

He has a fairly serious demeanor, albeit a very gentle one. He tells us, "We met this morning as a stake and the Stake President will not allow us to transfer your records to our ward. You are welcome to attend our ward while you look for a home, but we won't be able to give you a calling. Again, I wish I had better news."

I said, "No problem, Bishop. Don't worry about it."

I think he was expecting a bit more contrition than that.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The Bishop of our ward-hopped ward approached us on Sunday and asked to speak to us in the foyer (the real foyer, not this thread...what kind of Bishop reads CUF during Sunday meetings?)

He has a fairly serious demeanor, albeit a very gentle one. He tells us, "We met this morning as a stake and the Stake President will not allow us to transfer your records to our ward. You are welcome to attend our ward while you look for a home, but we won't be able to give you a calling. Again, I wish I had better news."

I said, "No problem, Bishop. Don't worry about it."

I think he was expecting a bit more contrition than that.

That's funny. What could be better news that that?

[TripletDaddy]

That's funny. What could be better news that that?

Thats what I told MMM! It didnt help that I was laughing a bit when I told her.

She responded with the Michael McLean threat.

[CardiacCoug]

Some people get offended when they don't have a calling. It makes Bishoprics jumpy. I have never understood this POV, as I would be happy to never have a calling again, but I do know bishoprics get an earful at times about it. So it may be they think RC is one step away from never showing up again, so they tease him until they can make him official Hymn book straightener or something like that.

Definitely. I am sure that a lot of people get offended if they don't get a calling quickly enough or a sufficiently important calling.

A couple of times I was given a pretty easy calling upon entering a new ward and the Bishop says something like, "Don't worry. That's not all you will be doing. We will be asking you to do a lot more in the Ward."

Then they get to know me better and decide to just leave me with the easy, low-profile calling.

[Scott R Nelson]

It's been rare that I've been without a church job. One time I was told that I was about to be called to a position right before I lost my job and I let them know that there was a good chance I would be leaving the state of Utah, so they held off and called someone else and I moved a month or so later. I was without a church job until I got settled properly about six months after that.

A few years back I reached the point where I was going to be working evenings for the next six months and could no longer handle the calling that I had at the time that required me to be at the church one weeknight each week, so I asked to be released. They left me with no church calling for over a year until I realized that maybe they had forgotten me or something, so I mentioned it and that issue was corrected soon afterward. It's nice to not have a calling for a little while, but I didn't want that to become permanent.

I've enjoyed most of the callings since then and currently have three, although two are definitely part time callings.

I'm of the opinion that sometimes we get callings that we're already good at and sometimes we get callings for our own personal growth. So if I get one I'm really not looking forward to, I need to look a little closer at how it might make me a better person. The only one I've ever turned down was the one where they would have had to release me a month later anyway, and I've only asked to be released once as well. Most of the time I believe the callings are inspired, and I appreciate that our church leaders go to the trouble to seek inspiration before calling people to positions within the ward and stake.

[dabrockster]

Funniest Church calling I was ever given was while I was in a BYU Ward (not attending BYU at the time). They called me to be the Ward Tutoring Specialist. They wanted me to coordinate study sessions for the Ward.. I kind of laughed and told them that we were in the middle of Exams right now, and that I was leaving my apartment in less then a week.. I think the councilor felt it was a lame calling so he was glad to hear I was leaving and that he didn't really need to call me to it...