Eric Hoke

Thanks to all who subscribed to my substack this past week. Because of your generosity, I have more space to do work like this at no cost to churches.

Thanks to everyone who supported my Substack Launch Today.

Stop and smell the flowers.

This Ignatian Practice transformed my soul and how I relate to people. The Daiy Examen, typically done before going to bed has made me, a type A, enneagram 3 and entrepreneurial / scattered brain guy into a more thoughtful person. Let me explain:

St Ignatius likely didn’t know this (or didn’t have language for it) but when you sit alone in silence and reflect, you’re rewiring your brain to be more reflective, even when you don’t want to be. Like a guy who takes up jogging, he may not notice the increased capacity til he needs to chase down a bus before it leaves the station, contemplative prayer provides benefits not realized til the heat of the moment.

I recently had an experience where I was annoyed the actions of someone else and stopped, took a breath and said, “why am I annoyed?” Maybe this person was an idiot, or didn’t think, or just was having a bad day but why did my response outpace the stimuli?

I was able to share with this person my thoughts in a non-judgmental and non-confrontational manner and we had a good talk. These were skills I didn’t have prior to this practice, I would suppress til I exploded, which wasn’t good for me or the other person.

Even if you’re not religious, to take a few minutes every night to look back on your day and ask yourself if you’re living the values you’d like to can be transformative, especially in a world than expects knee jerk reactions. I’m glad I found this model of prayer and hope this helps someone.

Wednesday Workshop

I know more about cockroach behavior than the average Joe, and I’m helping educate my coworkers. Just out here doing the Lord’s work.

Every Friday is popcorn, m&ms and movie. Make space for intentional fun. Highlight of the week.

It’s Friday. Leave work early. Take your kid to the park. Eat pizza and ice cream. It’s Friday.

Yesterday I opened the springtime prayer book. Here’s to warmer weather, longer days and new beginnings.

This was in the hotel gym that I stayed at and holy smokes, this thing is fun (and addictive). Anyone else ever try peloton?

Had the pleasure to visit Rock Lititz today, a one of a kind production community that supports innovative creativity within the live event industry. Anyone remember this album from back in the day?

There are so many things I love about the ihelppastorsgetjobs.com community and this is one. The generosity and love. We were able to pay it forward and help more pastors. Let’s get it!

Luis von Ahn, founder of Duolingo decided early on he never wanted cost to be a barrier for someone to learn a language. As a result, 97% of Duolingo users have never paid a penny.

Taking a page from his book, i never want cost to be a barrier to someone getting the tools they need to find a new job, and as a result the vast majority of our users never pay a penny.

Emails like this are common, and we celebrate every win at ihelppastorsgetjobs.com

25 years from now: “what was your dads parenting style?”
My kids: “let me show you this photo.”

One thing about living in Central PA is that the food sucks. For real. So many people are like “dude this restaurant is killer” I’ve had better food out of a truck in the Bronx. But I will say this. When it comes to baked goods, they do it right out there. They don’t know how to season meat and I think spices are against their religion but these bakeries are on point. Except for bagels. Bagels here are trash.

Forget your Stanley Tumblers. Get a Nalgene tallboy. Been drinking room temperature water out of this puppy since the mid 2000s.

Happy new year

Merry Christmas, Christ is born. May your 2024 involve more slow walks with people you love to no place in particular.

One of the best pieces of career advice I’ve ever heard was “the more focused you are, the faster you will find a job.”

Some people think, I’ll apply to anything and everything and surely someone will call back and it’s a bust, but those who get really into the weeds find a new job quick.

I explain how in this post, “Stop calling yourself a consultant.”

https://www.ihelppastorsgetjobs.com/post/stop-calling-yourself-a-consultant

When you turn on the oldies station expecting to hear Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Rolling Stones and it’s Foo Fighters, Third Eye Blind and Green Day.

“Let me do a Turkish coffee.”
“Do you even know what that is?”
“Yes. I’ve been to Turkey.”

Meeting the new neigh-bors.

Profoundly grateful to be featured on one of the most prominent Christian based podcasts out there.

Why Pastors Consider Leaving Churches for a Marketplace Job | Church Answers There is a growing trend of pastors seeking a marketplace job outside of ministry. What's happening? Eric Hoke joins Josh and Sam to discuss the implications. More pastors are finding it difficult to make ends meet financially, while at the same time, ministry is becoming more stressful. You can lea...

Sometimes the best thing for your ministry could be a marketplace sabbatical.

https://www.ihelppastorsgetjobs.com/post/the-marketplace-sabbatical