Finally… something to blog about!

I just finished my psych testing for my entrance process. On Monday, I reported to Midwest Ministry Development Service in Upper Arlington and spent the morning with 5 other people talking about ourselves and interpreting pictures that we’d drawn. We all went out to lunch together and took the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory) when we returned. That was a weird test! It was a bunch of true/false statements like “people are trying to poison me” and “stealing things is how I keep sane”. After everyone had finished the test, Jay (who was leading all of this) went over the Enneagram with us and gave us our Meiers-Briggs readings. I’ve jumped from INFJ to ISFJ and I think it is mostly due to having studied theology.

On Tuesday, we were split in half. One half of the group went over questions we’d been given to talk about ourselves and the other half did a round robin of meeting with various people. I was part of the first round robin group and my first meeting was with the psychologist. I was really terrified going into it because of the fuss that had been made over my sexual harassment experience at my initial interview. Once I found out that it wasn’t going to be an issue for him, I calmed down and I told him about all the stuff he was pointing out on my medical history and in the results of my MMPI. I triggered the validity sensor which basically predicted that I wasn’t being truthful in order to present the best picture of myself possible. My over-controlled anger score was also pretty high, but that’s normal for clergy. After meeting with Dr. Bartha (the psychologist), I met with Jay and that seemed pretty un-productive other than getting my Enneagram reading. Then, I went with Carol and did the Glaser-Fox test (measuring critical thinking) and some other paper work. We all went out to lunch together again and in the afternoon, I was with Kristen and Jonathan (two other potential candidates who were my age). We went through the list of 10 questions and it was really eye-opening for me what my answers for myself were. (I’ll post them later.)

On Wednesday, we gave our answers to the 10 questions to the whole group and then went through some ministry scenarios. They were interesting and I answered a little differently than I think he wanted me to on two of them. Then we went to lunch. When we came back, we had a role-playing activity that was really nothing I would ever do, so it bombed for me. Then, Jay called us into his office individually to tell us his findings. Apparently, I bombed the Glaser-Fox test. (To be fair to me, it’s really only given to ministry candidates and we would probably score in the 90th percentile of the general populace. It’s also a left-brain test.) He said that he felt like I had a strong call to ministry but didn’t really know where to put me. It was news that was kind of good but also kind of bad since he couldn’t really see me in ordained ministry. (I think part of it is that I haven’t really developed a pastoral care identity since I’m not a parent and I haven’t had experiences like the ones Kristen had had the previous summer while working at a camp for 9/11 victim’s kids.) So… in three weeks, I get the results and I’ll see how things are with the report. I get a copy first so at least I have that before I go for my panel interview.

OK… I got the results of the interview today and I’ve been recommended for entrance into candidacy in the ELCA. My only weaknesses listed were the sexual harassment thing (which is pissing me off) and that I haven’t been Lutheran for long enough. Still… those things only dropped me to 4’s or 5’s (out of 6’s) in those categories so I really shouldn’t be obsessing too much.

Today was my first interview in the candidacy process. I was interviewed by a local pastor and I thought it went well… though I still need to see the paperwork he filled out on me. We talked about:
=my family: He was intrigued that my family isn’t Christian though he said that my parents weren’t that different from people in the pews.
=my sexual harassment experience in high school: He asked a lot about it, probably to see how utterly bitter I am (which I’m not). I was amazed that I could talk about it and not get utterly upset. I’m healing… slowly but surely.
=the politics in the ELCA: I think was to see how politically astute I am. I made the mistake of mentioning the Word Alone stuff and the Sexuality Study stuff. He then told me I was being too specific and asked if I was ok with the fact that the ELCA might not be around in 5 years. My response: I’ll worry about it then because it’s God’s church.
=my call to ministry: Gee… I can’t figure out why he asked me that. 🙂 This question actually caught me off guard as did the question on where I see myself in ministry. I was honest and I talked about preaching, about reading Luther’s teachings, about doing mission schtuff with IV, and I assured him that I knew what I was getting into with the whole ordained ministry thing. He liked my insight on the fact that I don’t know the type of ministries I’d have in my ideal church because every church is different.

I feel OK about it though I’m amazed that my devotional life didn’t come up and that they didn’t ask about my theology.

JON PASSED HIS DRIVING TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Process
I called my interviewer on Tuesday and we set something up for the afternoon of the 29th. I’m half-nervous and half-excited because the process is finally starting. I also finally have my date for psych testing at Midwest: January 13-15, 2003. Psych testing should be a piece of cake after being in therapy for two years in college.

The Seminary Quandry
I just emailed the admissions dude at Luther Seminary and asked about visiting the school. I’m actually *excited* (or *exsotedci* as the CIT’s at Skylark Ranch would say) about maybe moving to Minnesota and actually having familiar businesses like Wells Fargo around. (Well… all the businesses like CVS back here will be familiar there as well.)