Bivocational
Today’s Tentmaking Ministers
by
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Bivocational simply means “two jobs,” but, when applied to Christian ministry, the concept is considerably more complex. Specifically, "Bivocational" discusses those ministers who have a God-called “vocation” within the confines of serving Christ through His church and have one or more other jobs or callings. The subtitle, "Today’s Tentmaking Ministers," refers to an updated version of early New Testament ministers like the Apostle Paul and his two associates, Aquila and Priscilla, who formed a team of bivocational ministers (Acts 18:1-3). The three served God to build His Son’s churches while holding secular jobs as tentmakers to provide independent incomes and reduce their financial burdens on those they served.
The demand for bivocational ministers in today’s Christian church is far ahead of the supply. This situation developed over the last couple decades due to national economic declines and significant reductions in the number of people choosing to attend and support churches. The former decreased the value of our currency while the latter reduced the size of the weekly collections from which the church could draw a pastor’s salary. These factors also forced many mono-vocational pastors to become bivocational or to leave the ministry entirely out of family financial necessity.
Dr. David F. Felsburg increases his five-book series on Outreach, Evangelism and Church Growth with this book on the bivocational minister as a very positive source for professional pastors with reachable financial requirements. To that end, this two-part offering begins with “Definitions 101” to set a common context for God’s Call, the Gospel Ministry and the Bivocational Ministry. The second part examines the World of the Bivocational as he or she deals with the Denomination, the State or Local Association, Church Leadership, the Congregation, Other Churches, the Other Job, the Community, the Family and the Life.
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About the Book
Bivocational is about a subset of Christian ministers who range in number from an extremely small minority to a nearly unanimous majority depending on church or denominational theology and/or policy regarding how they assign ministers to their churches.
Part I of the book presents three chapters defining God’s call into the ministry, the characteristics of the Gospel ministry, and the unique characteristics of the bivocational ministry. Part II deals with the world of the bivocational minister as it relates to the denomination, the state and local associations, the church leadership, the congregation, other churches, the other job, the community, the family and the bivocational life.
About the Author
Dr. Felsburg has been a bivocational minister for over 35 years. He was raised in a formal Christian faith but converted to atheism at the age of thirteen. In 1974, he publicly recognized Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. In 1979, he responded to God’s call as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was licensed into the ministry. In 1983, he was called as a Minister of Outreach and Evangelism and ordained into the Gospel Ministry. Dr. Felsburg has served in local churches and denominational associations in 12 states in various leadership positions including Senior Pastor. Each of these positions was held bivocationally while completing over 20 years in our country’s Air Force, serving as Corporate Vice President of a systems engineering company and starting four successful entrepreneurial endeavors resulting in two engineering services companies, a real estate company and a ministry.
Dr. Felsburg holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering, a Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering, a Seminary Diploma in Pastoral Ministries and a PhD in Organizational Behavior and Management including three years of post-graduate seminary work.
Dr. Felsburg has published a series of five textbooks on Outreach, Evangelism and Church Growth. They are detailed in Appendix A of this publication and are titled: “Talkin’ about Christ – Over the Back Fence” (Xulon, 2010), “How God Gets You Back” (Crossbooks, 2010), “Profiling the Prospect” (Crossbooks, 2011), “Making the Little Much” (Crossbooks, 2012) and “Inside the Church” (Crossbooks, 2013). The last four books were republished by Xulon Press in 2015 after the closure of Crossbooks Publishing. “Making the Little Much” was awarded 1st Place for Best Books in the Ministry Category in 2015 and “Inside the Church” won 2nd Place in the same competition in 2016. Dr. Felsburg also published two novels: “The President Had Ninety Seconds” (Westbow, 2015) and “Wounded Eagle” (Westbow, 2016) . These books are exciting accounts of actual events in the US Missile Warning, Space Surveillance and Atmospheric Defense systems during its Cold War with the USSR. This current volume is his 6th textbook and describes the bivocational ministry.