Relatively little is known about the ongoing development of pastors as leaders. This study focused on learning agility, the combination of personal strategies and situational factors that pastors rely on to capture the lessons their experiences teach them. Interviews with 100 senior pastors indicated that the situational factors associated with learning for pastors were those that pushed them to step to the edge of their comfort zones, requiring them to draw on God and others, manage significant change, manage the ministry in all its complexity, and to extract lessons from positive and especially negative results. The personal strategies that pastors leveraged to navigate through and learn from key experiences included adopting a learning focus, relying on personal character and values, establishing and managing relationships, relying on their faith and calling, and using their expertise and knowledge. Implications for lifelong pastoral leadership development are explored.

Meaning plays an important role in many people's lives and work. A significant source of meaning derives from a greater sense of fulfilling one's calling, or purpose in work. This study examined the specific life experiences that shape people's perceptions of their calling and the characteristics of those experiences that make them so powerful. Fifty-eight people who self-identified as leaders responded to a questionnaire about the relevant experiences that shaped their perceptions of their work as a calling. Participants' responses were contentanalyzed to generate a taxonomy of themes in 4 overarching categories: (a) content of the event, (b) context of the event, (c) confirmation of one's call, and (d) the continuing effect that the event has had on the individual's life. By increasing knowledge about events that affect perceptions about one's calling, counselors may be more equipped to shed light on the potential, unexamined trajectories of a client's work and life.Keywords: calling, critical events, meaning, purpose, vocation "Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life." (Frankl, 2006, p. 99).Meaning plays an important role in human life and, when attributed to work, has the potential for positive outcomes (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007;Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997). For some individuals, a significant source of meaning is their calling in life because it provides a greater sense of purpose. Although important events, people, and beliefs may come together to shape a calling, little is known about the details of how people hear and understand a calling in their lives.With more information about the events and episodes that shape a sense of calling, we may learn how to assist people in experiencing meaning in their lives and help others interpret instinctual feelings that may be an indication of something they should do in the world. Our study aimed to increase the understanding of the specific episodes and events that shape the calling that people perceive and to present a model for understanding the combination of factors that explain these experiences. Definitions of CallingOriginally used solely in a religious context, the term calling has been defined in a variety of ways and is currently found both in religious and secular settings (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009;Hardy, 1990;Placher, 2005). Around the time of the Protestant Reformation, God was specifically identified as the source of a calling (Hardy, 1990;Placher, 2005 The definition for vocation is almost identical, except the first component of a transcendent summons is not included. For many people, this summons is from God. Although they may not be able to pinpoint God actually speaking to them directly, a variety of things make these callings significant in each of their lives. Calling RelationshipsHuman beings naturally seek meaning and purpose (Dreher et al., 2007;Frankl, 2006 (Duffy, Dik, & Steger, 2011), and work engagement (Hirschi, 2012). Additionally, those with a higher sense of calling are less likely to endure...

While much work has been done in understanding the developmental journey of leaders in secular organizations, there is limited empirical research investigating the key experiences in the pastoral leader's journey and the associated lessons emerging from these events. One hundred pastors were interviewed about the key events in their development as leaders. Content analysis was used to develop detailed taxonomies of the key developmental events in their careers and of the lessons that emerged from each of these events. The results indicated that, consistent with past research on business leaders, the preponderance of developmental experiences occurred in-the-trenches (32%), during times of significant transition (27%), or in personal relationships (23%), indicating that pastors develop as they are doing their work and leading on the edge of their comfort zones. Results also indicated that events were tied to predictable sets of lessons. Implications for pastors, denominational leadership, and seminaries are discussed.

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Business School. Before entering academia, she was an Associate Director in the Corporate Finance department of one of the UK's largest accountancy and consultancy houses. Her research interests reflect her specialist commercial knowledge and include strategic management in the hospitality industry, pricing strategies for the hotel industry and the development of tourism and hospitality SMEs.