April 11th, 2023: Qualifications

High-tech industry has been moving away from firing who have education from prestigious academic institutions. Pedigree is not as valuable as character, Jensen Huang CEO of Nvidia, recently shared his perspective at a gathering  at Stanford University. He also said this at another occasion at the same university in 2011: “Unless you have a tolerance for failure, you will never experiment, and if you don’t ever experiment, you will never innovate. If you don’t innovate, you don’t succeed.”

It is the time to hire candidates with a new "PHD", Poor Hungry and Driven.

Sometimes I wonder how churches tolerate failures. I have met pastors who were canned because of their acknowledgement of their personal encounters with some form of moral failure. I have also met Christian leaders who have amazing impact on others as they overcame their failure by discovering the need for a deeper relationship with God. Some pastors are driven by their love for God's people. Some are allured by the love of money, fame and power. Some teach with convicted personal experience. Some are just religious entertainers.

So these are questions I would ask pastoral candidates:

In  the past five years, what have you learn about God, others and yourself. How are these new understandings impact your relationships with God, others and yourself?

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."