My Journey (so far)

I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, received a B.A. in religion from a Southern Baptist university, received an M. Div. with Languages from a Southern Baptist seminary and was ordained as a Southern Baptist pastor.  For over thirty years, I served as a pastor in Southern and American Baptist churches in Virginia, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

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Six years ago, I stepped away from all of it and have no plans to ever return.

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What brought this about?

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There is no single factor I can point to that brought about my shift away from conservative life, both politically and spiritually.  The change was sparked by a combination of several influences:

• The outpouring of hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community from the church.

• The zealous support of a political party in general - and a presidential candidate in particular - that is 180 degrees out of phase with the way of love taught by Jesus, coming from those who claim to be devoted followers of Jesus.

• A first-time realization of my own need to truly listen to people with different views regarding politics, religion, ethnicity, economy, sexual orientation, and so on, with no close-minded approach that was simply bent on showing how "they" are wrong.

• My inability to reconcile my own spiritual experiences with the conservative doctrine I had been raised to accept, and - as a pastor - to teach others to accept.

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As a result of these various elements, I have gradually found new freedom to question and challenge the supposed truths I had previously taken to be absolute.  Day by day, I am becoming more comfortable accepting change as an ongoing and necessary reality.