This last week I spent the better part of three days involved in interviews with the Board of Ministry. It was our responsibility to interview men and women in the United Methodist Church. Those being interviewed ranged from their mid-twenties up to a woman who was 68 years old and will be ordained as a deacon at annual conference.

During the interviews, we examined the theological beliefs of the candidates. We listened to tapes of their sermons. We asked a lot of personal questions about their lives; which is a nice way of saying that we were being a little bit nosey about their personal lives and human foibles. We did our best to determine if each candidate would be a credit to the ordained ministry of the church.

Finally, after we had exhaustive interviews with the candidates, they woul…