Wade Hodges

As the title suggests, a series of questions and explanations of the questions for ministers to consider before they would leave where they are and go elsewhere.

The author has a companion work speaking more about a minister's present conditions; in this work he presents a series of questions for any minister to consider before going to work with a particular congregation.

Many of the questions are reflective: why do you want to go? Why choose this particular congregation? Many of the questions are about the congregation: why are they looking? What are the conditions there? What happened to previous ministers? He recognizes that he seems to make it out to be agony and as if nowhere would be acceptable; he goes on to explain that no church is perfect, and ends by describing the types of things that a minister should be looking for in a positive sense. He also includes specific questions for younger preachers to consider.

The author has associations with churches of Christ, it would seem, but would be more on the "liberal" part of the spectrum, and that informs some of his language and examples. Nevertheless, a valuable exercise for any preacher to consider when thinking about going into the ministry or moving to a different congregation.… (meer)

A forthright work with compelling questions for a minister to consider in terms of the effectiveness of his ministry in a given location.

The author uses his own experience and that of others whom he knows to get to the heart of issues regarding how long a minister should stay. He speaks of how it is tempting to stay longer than necessary, and even longer after that.

His questions are good; they are worth considering by any minister, not just in a moment of difficulty, but as a continual resource to assess the effectiveness of ministry at any given moment and whether it may be time to move on.… (meer)