God's Sovereignty

A statistic of Lifeways Ministries is that there is a 95% drop-off rate of ministers in the USA (i.e. 95% quit or are fired -- see this article at http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Nov/18/il/FP611180330.html/). How may ministers survive? Someone said it is ministers who believe in the sovereignty of God who survive. I think this could be true, in the right context. But surely, this would be just as true for the average Christian who faces adversity. Tonight, in my Bible study group, I dealt with God’s sovereignty: “There is no attribute more comforting to His children than God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all” (Charles Spurgeon). OBSERVATION: Sometimes people believe that Sovereignty contradicts free will. This need not be so -- depending on the theology.