Minister Available
From time to time I am confronted, in religious journals, with an "advertisement" which reads: "Minister Available." Usually the ad carries only a box number is which you are to reply, in case you want to "hire this minister." A recent ad also carried, "Nearly ten years experience." Some curious soul might read such an item and get to asking embarrassing questions.
Just when would a preacher NOT be "available" to preach the gospel? Of course the answer there is, "When he already has a place to preach." Does a "minister available" notice mean, then, that the preacher has run out of places to preach? Are places to preach THAT hard to find in our "competitive profession?" When our Lord sent his disciples to preach "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" he told them, "But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." That admonition helped allay their fears at the prospect of running out of a place to preach. Maybe "available" doesn't mean that a man is out of WORK, but that he is just out of a SALARY.
Why do the ads carry box numbers instead of names? Is it that the preacher fears that the very mention of his name would cause him to be swamped with offers? Maybe he just wants to be "available" and remains anonymous so he can catch the bird in the bush before he lets go the one in hand. Or is he "available" so often he gets sensitive about it. Someone might catch on that he is a good SALE but a poor BUY.
The ad says, "Years of experience"—experience doing what? Are these the years since he "went into the ministry" and thus became a "professional?" If these years have been spent preaching to people, why are not some of the people with whom he has thus made contact using him now? If they already "have a man" they should be sending brother Available to preach to some "mission field." It just seems a pity when the people who know a man can't find work for him and he is forced to call upon those who do not know him.
It just might be that the elders where I "have a job" may not like this article. They may have read an ad and decided to give the other man a "tryout." So, just in case, I'd better stop and write me out an ad—"Minister Available."