Take a five-minute break from your studies and listen to a story that may save your ministry from ruin. It’s the story of a voice that ruined a leader’s career. The story appears in 1 Samuel 15. Like other Bible stories, its intent is to teach, not just to entertain.

The storytellers of Scripture were literary artists, using words to portray the kinds of scenes that painters create with a brush and a palette of colors. In the case of 1 Samuel 15, the historian builds his story around a single word: the Hebrew term lAq (kol). The term kol is fairly straightforward. It refers to a sound, a voice, or a noise produced by the vocal chords. But the narrator uses it in this story to build tension, to convey irony, and to pinpoint a flaw that can dismantle a leader’s effectiveness in God’s kingdom. And while your Bible will translate the word differently throughout the story (no translation employs kol as "voice" consistently), it is the same Hebrew word each time.

In the case of 1 Samuel 15, readers can track the story line by tracking the term voice. It actually provides the spine of the story.

The story begins in verse 1 with the prophet Samuel urging King Saul to “listen to the voice of the words of Yahweh.” Yahweh wants Saul to strike down the Amalekites, and he tells Saul to destroy everything. In other words, Saul may take no spoils from the battle. Verse 9 adds an ominous note, though. It informs the reader that Saul and the people spared Agag, the Amalekite king, along with the best of the livestock.

allas Willard on the real issue of theological education.

So often the question, "Where do I fit in ministry?" is connected to another: "Will I find success in ministry?" A lot of energy is put into the second question during the first part of life. And often it is entangled with the first. Dallas Willard, author of Renovation of the Heart, Spirit of the Disciplines, and The Divine Conspiracy, believes that students should focus on successfully living a life focused on God's presence. In this interview with Ministry Mentor, Dr. Willard says we should ask ourselves the most basic questions of Christian spirituality.

How should a student think about his or her spiritual formation during seminary?
I think you have to ask some serious questions: What is my relationship to God and to Christ? How does God come into my life? And how do I enter into His life? What is my interaction with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit? with the Bible and all of the instrumentalities of the kingdom of God?

For example, when I am discouraged or frightened, is there a presence there that I can open myself up to that makes a difference for me? And, if not, why isn’t it there? That is the place where we have to start.

I’m afraid the young person today has not been well served by his or her experience with the church in regard to that interactive presence.

How does that limited experience with God affect future ministry?
In our time especially, there has been no relationship to general character maturation, becoming a person of solid values and habits.

This becomes a big problem when that young person comes to us in the seminaries to find the place to begin. Then all he or she sees ahead is success in how to build a church or in some other religious work. So he or she goes for the success, and that pulls the student away from what is really going on in his or her life.

I teach a two-week course for M.Div. students at Fuller in a monastery. For many, it is revolutionary. The fellowship and ministry in the group are beautiful to watch and extremely intense. The students have had nothing like that in their lives, for the most part. They begin to see that what really matters is the life they’re living for God. We talk about God’s presence and a personal relationship—what it really means in terms of day-to-day life.

When I first started theological school, I was in the Continuing Education program basically to gain knowledge of the Bible. I felt this helped me grow quickly in my Christian walk, and God used several people to confirm that feeling. But I still wanted to learn more about God—I was very zealous. It wasn’t until my pastor encouraged me to get into the graduate program, however, that I really began to pray about taking my studies to the next level. After much prayer, I felt God encouraging me to go to grad school, and I started in January 2002.

However with my zeal and my increasing knowledge came something I hadn’t expected—higher expectations from others. My family, friends, and coworkers started coming to me with all sorts of questions, expecting me to be able to answer them because I was no longer a “regular” Christian. And I bought into this. I began trying to answer questions by leaning on my own strength—i.e., by sharing all my newfound “wisdom.” I found myself getting “puffed up” from my own knowledge—something I quickly found out God was not calling me to do.

Each time I’d launch into a haughty explanation, I’d hear God saying to me, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” And I’d think about Paul’s response: “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me" (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT).

My knowledge was making me proud, and God wanted to lower me and to deflate my puffed-up-ness. I have to admit, this was hard and humbling for me. Yet I realized that if he was to shine through me, I had to become weak to show his strength.