I'm not going to be your prostitute

I'm actually getting kind of nervous about this interview on Saturday. Why??? I KNOW I am called to do youth ministry. I KNOW I have been given gifts and talents specifically for this ministry. If they don't want us, we don't want them, right? lol I feel like interviews are a lot like prostitution. Like I have to go to these perfect strangers and try to sell myself to them. We have experience in youth ministry; we have a pretty impressive resume if I say so myself. We have communicated our heart as clearly as possible in limited vocabulary. We have a lot to recommend ourselves for almost any youth ministry position. And yet this is what Paul says about his impressive resume:

You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book.

The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.

What is the Christ-like way for a church to search for a minister if this is what Paul said? I'm not sure. I know Paul is talking here about making ourselves impressive for God and how that is just plain ridiculous. But if we're not supposed to make ourselves appear self-righteous for God, then shouldn't we also not make ourselves appear self-righteous for other Christians/churches? Should we brag about our weaknesses and mistakes so that Christ gets the glory? Or just pretend that we really do have it all together and can answer any tough question that's thrown at us? It seems like that is what most search committees want: ministers who are no longer in need of salvation. I pray eagerly for a youth ministry position!!!! In interviewing, we will present the amazing talents and work God has done through and in us; but I will not become a prostitute for a paycheck.