Hi,
I was wondering if anybody can recommend a job/career path that would compliment somebody looking to do "bi-vocational" ministry? I plan on planting churches one day, and would like to pickup something that I could easily take with me from one city to another. Recommendations?
KingJimmy wrote:
Hi,I was wondering if anybody can recommend a job/career path that would compliment somebody looking to do "bi-vocational" ministry? I plan on planting churches one day, and would like to pickup something that I could easily take with me from one city to another. Recommendations?
My pastor cleans office buildings in the evenings. It's basically just take out the trash and vacuum after it's closed down. It may sound like a low job, but if you can get somewhere like a doctor's office you can actually make some really good money. If you did something like that you could work like 5 hours in the evening (after 5) and have the whole day to do whatever you need.
If you do that you have to take out your own taxes. In this case you are basically your own business and they just pay you like they would any other company.
Thanks for the suggestion. However, I personally need something that pays around 35,000 a year due to my financial situation. Ideally, 40-45 hours a week.
Medical/Dental professionals have a lot of freedom of movement once they finish with school and rotations. Plus you can use your skills as tools for ministry/missions as well.
IT professionals are needed in almost every geographic location in the country, people with network skills, database skills, programming skills. Definitely a lot of mobility capable for people in the technology field.
Accounting professionals and other financial professionals are needed just about everywhere, if you can get a CPA you can move pretty freely.
Legal professionals have a lot of mobility, there are a lot of different fields within the legal profession -contract law, copyright law etc. The legal profession has a bad rap, there are plenty of Christians within the legal field and there are plenty of places where you could go with a legal profession.
Ideally, 40-45 hours a week.
Oh ok, you're wanting a full-time job. Don't you have a little bit of a computer background (I don't remember)? You can find technology jobs all over the place.
Legal professionals have a lot of mobility, there are a lot of different fields within the legal profession -contract law, copyright law etc. The legal profession has a bad rap, there are plenty of Christians within the legal field and there are plenty of places where you could go with a legal profession.
I have a bachelors degree and paralegal certificate, sadly, even after over a year of searching I've not been able to get further than a mail/copy clerk. Few want anybody doing entry-level work. I keep plugging away resumes and praying, but, alas... no doors seem to open in my area.
Don't you have a little bit of a computer background (I don't remember)?
Sadly, my technology background is a bit dated, and I don't have the opportunity to go back to school at this time.
One of the greatest needs within most ministries and missions agencies right now are people with networking, database, programming and web development skills. If you like technology you should definitely look into expanding this skill set -I believe there will be a lot more Christian ministry activity done with technology in the future (take this website for example).PreachParsly wrote:
Oh ok, you're wanting a full-time job. Don't you have a little bit of a computer background (I don't remember)? You can find technology jobs all over the place.
KingJimmy wrote:
There is a ministry called 'Christian Legal Society' which you might be interested in. They might be able to give you advise or coaching on writing an effective resume or interviewing. Here is their website: http://www.clsnet.org/
I have a bachelors degree and paralegal certificate, sadly, even after over a year of searching I've not been able to get further than a mail/copy clerk. Few want anybody doing entry-level work. I keep plugging away resumes and praying, but, alas... no doors seem to open in my area.
You don't necessarily need to go to school. If you can get a certificate it's nearly as good.
Here are a few different groups you can get certified with. If you get a technology certification you can almost always get a job.
[url=http://certification.comptia.org/allcerts.aspx]CompTIA
[url=http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/default.mspx]Microsoft
Many of them you can just buy a book or so, study the material, and take a test.
EDIT: If you skim through monster.com for tech jobs you will probably see many of them either requiring that you are certified or wanting you to be.
Probably not what you're looking for, but achitectural/interior photography and product photography have a never ending, nationwide demand. When you see a building going up, or a new store being built, you can drop a sample of your work. The real estate business depends on it, magazines and newspapers need it...
I've found enough work in every city through my engagement and wedding photography business.
About $5000 in gear, six months of dedicated practice to become decent, but after that there is almost no overhead besides transportation.
This is my site (only the wedding and engagement portfolio up right now; I'm redesigning)...
[url=http://www.michaelspotts.com]http://www.michaelspotts.com
What's most rewarding for me is using photography for missions work.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I will have to consider them. Forgive me if I sound a little down in my comments. I'm just in a tough spot right now and really need God to open doors for me. I am patiently waiting... but that is very hard.
Very interesting you brought up photography as an idea. This last Christmas I received a rather nice digital camera. Not quite DSLR quality, but pretty top of the line for its class. I've played around a bit with it, but not as much as I'd like. I've thought "this would be a neat way to earn a living" if I could better master the medium.
Somebody I work with is presently starting to make a transition in his career as a bike messenger to photographer. He's not too bad. http://whereonearthisbill.blogspot.com is his address that contains outdoor biking/photography travel/information.
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