Jump directly to the Content

The Law of Gravitas

What makes leaders weighty, worthy, and believable?
The Law of Gravitas

The two seminary students sat in front of me wearing suits that didn't appear to get a lot of work. They had completed the first two years of their course work, had mastered the art of the all-nighter study session, knew what it took to get the A in their classes, and were now interviewing with me to be interns in our congregation. As one of them eventually said, "This is like a job."

As the three of us talked, they kept looking over my shoulder surveying the theology books that line the walls of my study. I knew it was my job to get them to look as longingly at the work of Christ in human souls. I wondered how I would ever do this.

I remembered when I interviewed for my own seminary internship more than 25 years ago. I still can't believe a pastor hired me, because I must have appeared, well, pretty much the same way these two did.

It isn't that these students looked bad. They were sharp, pleasant twenty-somethings who I knew had done well in their coursework. They ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
The Glory Drive
The Glory Drive
Godly ambitions lead to life, if we don't settle for the counterfeit, self-glory.
From the Magazine
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
While reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close