We all have the ultimate call of sharing God's love, compassion and mercy with every person that we meet. I think it has been misunderstood by many Christians that it is only the pastor's job to preach God's message.  You may have a job that is there for you to pay the bills...but does that mean God can't use you in that office builing or out on your truck route...or for me in my childcare.  Ofcourse not. God will use us everyday to speak boldly the message of Christ.  We need to be aware of the doors he opens in front of us and not miss the oppurtunities. Being a Christian is full time ministry...it may not be soemthingyou get a paycheck for ...but if you are a Christ follower you are called to full time ministry.  Now, some people are called to be preacher, teachers, missionaries, etc and they may get paid for this ministry. But I really don't believe their calling is any different than any other Christians...they are just able to get paid for their ministry and not have to spend time at some other job. For many years I felt that if you were not an officer you were not as important.  God wasn't really using you to do anything. I do not beleive this anymore. We are all in contact with different people everyday and need to make sure you don't miss the chance to share with them  this is what we are all called to do.

Great book to read is "Evangilism for the tongue tied"

@residentofSalem - I agree that all Christians have a basic call.  Also, I agree that calls are not limited to full-time paid ministry.  I also think that God can, and if you let him, will, use you no matter what you're doing.  What I'm curious about is how different people thing that specific calls can be recogonized, in other words, how does a person identify that they are taking part in God's "Plan A" for their lives and not working through God's "contingency plan".

I've heard so many people give me so many different answers that the meaning of the word "call" almost seems to not have a defined meaning.

General John Larsen (R) told this story at the German National Congress last September: A fire was raging. A few blocks away a group of firemen sat drinking coffee. When someone asked why they weren't fighting the fire, they replied, "The Holy Spirit has not told us to."
You can easily overdo that, but there is some truth to it. "The need is the call" has produced some good stuff, but is also the source of some tragedy. Every decision needs to be considered prayerfully, and every major decision (job choice, moving, going to Training) requires a whole lot of prayerful consideration because of the consequences for everyone involved.
But be careful about waiting for signs. In the 80's Phil Yancey wrote a brilliant article for Christianity Today on knowing God's will. In it he points out that Gideon's fleece and Paul's dream of the Macedonian are exceptions to the rule. That's why they are mentioned the way they are. Evidently Paul made his travel plans based on prayerful consideration and the logic of his strategy, expecting God to correct his course, but not reveal all the details in advance.
In short, Chambers could end up drinking coffee while the fire rages. Something between his position and "the need is the call" seems to be appropriate.
The problem is, that is not at all clean cut. And we so dearly love tidy instructions.

Ok, Josh first off, love the excerpt from Oswald Chambers..usually I find his writings to be hard to read and understand but that little bit was profound..to me anyways. Now in regards to your question about what a "call" is, honestly I don't know how to answer that question, all I know is that when you are "called" to do something you'll know..granted I'm not married but its my understanding that when you find the love of your life, the one you want to marry, they say "you'll know" and for me a "call" is the same..you'll know. When people have asked me why I moved all the way out to North Dakota I usually tell them cause I felt God called me here or as I like to say, lead me here. I say that cause everything for me to get here opened up and its my belief that nothing could stop that from happening cause God wanted me here. Therefor if your "called" you'll know and there may be signs and there may not be and sometimes you won't see those signs until later on in life..but you'll know..you'll know that you are meant to do this or that. Ok, thats what I feel.