Moses turned down as Pastor of First Gospel Tabernacle

Moses, come back from the mountain, decides to become a Pastor. First Gospel Tabernacle has an opening. He applies. Here is the letter he received from the Search Committee:

Dear Moses,

We have been working hard to find the right man for our church. We have put in a lot of hours and looked over all that you sent in. While we feel you are a qualified man, we just don’t think you are a good match for our needs. We wanted to share with you some of our thoughts in hopes that it will help you find a better fit.

We listened to your sermon tapes and while the content was very good, we felt that your stuttering problem was a hurdle we just could not overcome. Our people are accustomed to really quality preaching, and we feel that your lack of polish and clarity would distract from their ability to listen to you week in and week out. Our people need more than good content to learn. We really need an entertaining and dynamic speaker who can connect us to God’s Word.

While we trust that God has called you, we also understand that you have resisted God's leading at key points along the way. We want a guy who is passionate about doing this ministry and who will never question God’s call on his life. We also understand that your wife does not totally support your calling and has acted out against you on at least one occasion. These doubts you have both demonstrated over time give us pause about your potential effectiveness as a leader.

You seem to have some good people skills Moses, and everyone says that you have a certain glow about you that really reflects God’s presence. However, we also found in talking with some of your references that you have struggled with some anger problems. It was reported to us that you once threw down, and broke, some important Church property when you saw your congregation doing some bad things. This is clearly not the way to handle those kinds of situations and we really need a pastor who is always in control of himself in tough situations because our people really do a lot of sinning.

Probably most disturbing of all is your clear lack of leadership ability. While we appreciate the difficulties of leading a mega-church with millions of followers, we were not impressed with the many instances of rebellion under your tenure. We understand that in one case of embezzlement, you forced the congregation to make a public declaration of whose side they were on and then you struck down all those who disagreed with your policies. We agree that keeping high moral standards is important, but your methods seem a bit harsh and unloving. In addition, your lack of vision seems to have kept the people wandering about for the past 40 years. Our people tend to be a bit stubborn so we really need a leader who has demonstrated more skill in guiding his congregation.

Thank you for considering us as a potential match to your call and we hope you find the right congregation that will better match your gifts and experience.

Thanks,

The Search Team