Did you know that Jeremy Vuolo is a former professional soccer player? He ended his athletic career in November 2014 and was ordained into ministry on March 5th, 2016. A few years ago, while he was still playing soccer and long before he had met Jinger Duggar, Jeremy went on a disaster relief mission trip to the Philippines with Thirsty Ground International. Watch him demonstrate ball handling skills to a group of children in the video below.
Video property of Thirsty Ground International
Jeremy was a professional soccer player and he became a minister AND he married Jinger? You learn something new every day!
ReplyDeleteIs there somewhere where we can read about or watch all the details of that wedding?
DeleteSo why was yours necessary, 4:11?
DeleteSometimes I get the feeling that the complainers on this board are the ones that cause the "negative" comments to continue.
Anon @ 4:11 How was it a nasty comment, I certainly didn' take it that way? It sounded lighthearted to me, almost jokey. Your comment was scolding in its tone, that sounded nasty and unnecessary to me. See, its all in the tone we read something in, it may not be how the poster intended it but its what we take from it. Try to be less judgemental next time.
DeleteI like Jeremy, don't get me wrong. He's showing signs of promise with Jinger in expanding her horizons in a good way. Having said that, please don't sugar coat Jeremy's history. HE didn't end his soccer career, it was ended FOR him when he wasn't picked up by any other team after being released from his then-present team. Furthermore, how is he an ordained minister? He majored in other fields when in college, so how is he trained, educated and qualified to be a pastor? I am asking for his credentials, which is a fair question since he is considered and acting as a pastor or a church, no matter it's size. Thank you for listing his qualifications.
ReplyDeleteAre you a member of his congregation? Do you financially support his ministry? If so, you should know his qualifications by now. If not, then you have no right to ask for any qualifications because his ministry in no way affects you.
DeleteI know. I'm always getting confused about the qualifications one needs to pastor in the evangelical churches. Ministers seem a dime a dozen. Im under the impression that as long as another pastor ordains you, you can become an ordained minister. I'm Episcopalian and to be an ordained minister you have to complete seminary as well as intern under other pastors within their churches before you can pastor your own. Its a long process to qualify actually.
DeleteHe WAS a professional soccer player. He is NOT one now.
DeleteYou can become a minister online in about an hour. My point being there is such a wide variance of credentials that almost anyone can call themselves a minister.
DeletePlease remember you only know about Jeremy and the Duggars what is available on the internet.....they do not owe you an explaination. It appears he holds a job with a church, he met the qualifications of that organization. Enough said.
DeleteI have been shepherded under pastors in the baptist church with their Doctorates, M.Div. , Bachelors in Pastoral Studies and Two Year Vocational pastoral degrees. I have never felt one trumped another in their qualifications or even skills. You do not necessarily need to read and write fluently in Greek and Latin to share the gospel. Serious counseling issues today are always referred to licensed counselors,in the community. As far as "credentials" and qualifications - The Holy Bible lists them: 1 Tim. 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-4. Hope this clarifies things.
DeleteJesus called his desciples and they left everything and followed Him. Jesus said He loved that things about Heaven were kept from the wise and learned and revealed to little children. Jesus told the people to wait for the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost. So somehow maybe if Jeremy has not acquired his knowledge assessed by degrees and credentials from a certain seminary he can still be qualified by the Lord Jesus to be a pastor of a Christian congregation.
DeleteUhm I think Jeremy did end his soccer career because he was being led in another direction. He achieved his dream of being a pro soccer player and being a Christian he felt led to be a pastor. I doubt God inspired any soccer team to pick Jeremy up because that was not His will for Jeremy. That is not sugar coating, that is the glory of God!
DeleteThe beauty of serving The Lord is that He is not bound by religious laws. The religious folks of Jesus time asked Him by who's authority He was doing such things. The veil was torn. We don't need to have a certain blood line, permission, or approval to do The Lord's will. He ordains who He wants, when He wants with or without approval and credentials. He's awesome like that. I used to think more like you but as I have been on this path with The Lord, I have realized that His ways are higher than mine and that I don't have the full scoop on everything. I just need to draw close to Him and trust Him. Lots of priests have raped little children and lots of people didn't question them because they had credentials. Jesus didn't have credentials and He was murdered because He didn't obey religious authority. Credentials can be overrated, just saying.The people going to Jeremy's church need to have enough sense to seek The Lord on His will, whether they are to be there or not. That's part of growing up and growing in The Lord. I say if Jeremy isn't raping little boys and having affairs, he already has at least a notch up on a lot of credentialed people, wouldn't you agree? A piece of paper can't be worth more than The Lord's personal training. :) Let's consider how many times Jesus broke religious protocol while doing The Father's will. The credentialed Pharisees couldn't out wit Him and were humbled by Him many times. This carried on through the disciples, etc. Are you His disciples? This is the true question. Are you producing good fruit for His glory? If so, does that all not count because you don't have a stamped piece of paper? You are worth more than a piece of paper and nod of man's approval. So is Jeremy. :D So, shine on and let others shine on for His glory! :D
DeleteThere will never be any way to know for certain if someone has been "called by God" to be a pastor, priest, minister, etc. in any religion. They may tell you they were, but who knows? Some have no business being an authority on anything, let alone spiritual matters. Because of personal experiences, I am and will continue to be very skeptical of anyone claiming to be a man or woman of God. But then, I take all religions with a grain of salt.
DeleteI agree with the what the Bible says what the qualifications are for pastors. I have visited conservative Anabaptist churches and their pastors have not had special schooling to preach the word of God. And they are excellent teachers.
DeleteI totally agree with the previous reply in that Jesus called His disciples and they left everything and followed Him. Jeremy left his soccer career to follow Jesus, and subsequently Jesus led Jeremy to become a pastor, all to the Glory of God.
DeleteI think if this family puts themselves on reality tv for the whole world to see, they make their personal lives available. Obviously they don't have to say everything, but I think it's odd that they share some details and not others. They say that Jeremey was a soccer player and then a minister. But his minister education is never explained, or the real reason he stopped soccer. I don't think they have to release their tax returns, but they should at least explain what they talk about on their show.
DeleteWow I didn't realize, it had been that long ago that the Lord closed the door on his soccer career. Ellie or Lily do you have a link to his testimony? If not I can Google it when I have time. I love hearing testimonies of how people came to Christ.
ReplyDeleteHi Regina,
DeleteHere is the link to Jeremy's testimony video: http://www.duggarfamilyblog.com/2016/06/jeremy-vuolos-testimony.html
Blessings,
Lily and Ellie
Every year, across sports, professional athletes find themselves without a team. This does not necessarily end their career. There are options. An athlete can choose to go minor (if available) in hopes to return to a major team later or s/he can train harder/differently in efforts for a team to pick them up at a later date. This is realistic and actually occurs. Others may decide that for whatever reason, they do not what to pursue either option. It may be a fair assessment to say, Jeremy ended his volleyball career.
ReplyDeleteAlso, technically, anyone can become a pastor as long as a congregation is willing to follow. The only challenge arises when this person wants to act as clergy in public service e.g. (marrying, chaplain, establishment etc) then a minister's license is needed at minimum. At that point one would follow whatever requirements needed to become ordained by a particular minister and/or church system. This can range from a formalized denomination requiring a specific curriculum of Bible education passed before one is eligible - to an independent church requiring one to study with the pastor or a lead church official for a few months before approval. I've even seen certain fair fully dedicated parishioners selected for ordination based on commitment/experience alone without any specific course of study.
I don't think there is any reason why we viewers would need to know Jeremy's credentialing unless we planned to join his church, collaborate in ministry or plan to donate. Although, I must admit it would be interesting to know.
Very cool video, thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to say "If we all call ourselves ministers, who will be left sitting in the seats to listen?" She was a wise woman.
ReplyDeleteRemarkable young man! I wish him and his new wife the best!
ReplyDeleteGod gives the calling into ministry. Sometimes He closes one door because He has another for a person to walk through. Being ordained means others around you see the calling on your life and those who the Lord has already called into ministry, see that and bless you to move forward in those areas God is calling you in. Some organizations set up guidelines and require special schooling before a leader is set in. Jesus and the deciples are our only example of what His church should look like. They had 3 years of walking with Jesus and they were released to lead others. They seen givings in others and sent them out to teach others about Jesus - no special schooling required - just a calling from God.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has a different journey on this side of heaven. Our greatest downfall is to compare another's journey with our own (human nature). We are all unique with our own journey.
Think about it.. was Christ "ordained" in one of the rabbinical schools with official man credentials? Nope. His heavenly Father taught him and qualified him to ministry. A pastor doesn't have to first go through the official seminaries of the world to do God's work. Look at the disciples, they were fishermen, but God qualified them after Christ's death. They were hated by the religious leaders, yet God approved of them.
ReplyDeleteThese are not Biblical times. We have places of higher learning for things like this. Barbers used to act as doctors, too, but that changed (thank goodness).
Delete10:36 and others -- you're right. Look at Pastor and Evangelist Greg Laurie, who has led many thousands to Christ with his Harvest church and Harvest Crusade in California. He has two honorary degrees from Biolo and Azusa Pacific U. And look what he has done for the Kingdom.
DeleteI'm glad Jeremy had the experience to play and travel. It helped shape the person he became.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe anyone considered him an incredible player but his committment to the team and friends is a reflection of his personal convictions.
I'm sure his father is providing direction for his future service.
I've seen others with Bachelor degrees having temporary responsibility like he currently has at multiple locations before being considered ordained. The rules vary depending on denomination.
Jesus attended the religious education of the time when He was a child also, but He didn't need to be ordained or authorized to teach and preach because Jesus IS God....He is the second person of the Trinity. Isn't that what Christians believe? I believe that He was the only one so far that didn't need to be educated, trained and qualified...He qualified others. I wouldn't compare anyone on earth who claims they are a preacher with Jesus. Please understand that it's great that Jeremy doesn't want a life of 'sin', but turned to God, but he needs proper education first.
ReplyDeleteThere weren't colleges in Biblical times....
DeleteSo, if someone feels 'called to be a physician', they don't have to go to medical school first and be educated about medicine? They can simply open a physician's office and begin practicing medicine? It's the same thing to me. Being an ordained minister, pastor, preacher, OR anyone who officially tells people the meaning of scripture, who gives instruction on how people are to live needs to be properly schooled FIRST. Thank you for allowing me to post my point of view on this. BTW, I respect all clergy.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree.
DeleteI agree with you l100%. Also, I think there are a lot of people out there confusing the desire to pastor with the actual calling to pastor.
DeleteI don't think being a pastor completely correlates with any other career. It can be very helpful for a pastor to go to Bible college and seminary, but certainly there have been very effective preachers and evangelists who were filled with God's Holy Spirit and yet had no formal education in being a pastor. Living a life close to God and studying His Word can equip you to share God's truth with others. It's not like any other career out there. My husband graduated from seminary and served in a church for a number of years, yet was never "ordained." In the years since he has gone into a business career. He still fills in for pastors on occasion, and I find his sermons far more Spirit-led and meaningful now, not because he's gone back to school and had more education, but because of the time he spends in prayer and Bible study before he preaches. I agree that there are many people who should not be in the ministry and yet are. But I don't think their failure comes from lack of education. I think it comes from lack of being in tune with God.
DeleteWhat are Jeremy's father's credentials to be a pastor/minister. Is there a difference between the two?
ReplyDeleteWhat type of work did he do, if any, before going in to religious type work and was he raised a Catholic?