I am a writer and pastor. Of course, I want people to open the paper and read my columns about faith, and I want people to be in the pews when I'm preaching.
While I'm mostly an introvert by nature, I suppose it's human nature that if you're a creative person, you want someone to be there to read or listen to your work.
But for 30 years, I have been on the other side of the work: the one interviewing, the one writing, the one processing his thoughts for later distribution either in a piece of writing or being delivered in a sermon. Therefore, I have not been the one in the spotlight, or in other words the focus of a piece of writing. That is a whole other experience that I find discomforting.
But recently, a fellow faith newspaper column writer took interest in my story of going from longtime journalist to recently ordained pastor, and she asked if she could tell the story in a feature story for our local paper, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.
Admittedly, I was at first hesitant about the offer. After all, there are sometimes in which I already am too far out there in the public; that happens when you write for a newspaper and pastor a church. Both are acts that run contrary to my natural state in which I prefer the background, living out of the limelight and being the one to write the story, so to speak.
But after the initial hesitation, I decided, "Yep, I'm going to to do it." I went through a drawn out process of self-introspection to come to the decision. But ultimately, my thoughts were, if the writer would agree to walk gingerly in the difficult times that both Shelley and I experienced, and that she also tread carefully when it came to discussing our kids, I would do it.
I hoped that by participating in the interview, that I could tell the story of my call. And then maybe, even if one person read it and thought, "Hey, God is calling me too. It's not too late!" Well, then, I justified that I had to get over my own reasons for not wanting to participate in the interview.
In hindsight, I am grateful that I did. The result was a beautiful story that boils down a 47-year-old call story to about 1,000 words. Not an easy task. But Roxane did a marvelous job of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide her writing. And I am humbled by the public response to her beautiful work. Thanks Roxane for your interest in my call story! And thank you for deft writing touch! I am inspired by the end result!
I want to respect both Roxane's writing and The Forum's exclusivity when it comes to this piece. So I am not going to publish it verbatim here on my blog. That would be bad form. But here is a link to the story: https://www.inforum.com/lifestyle/gentle-giant-moorhead-journalist-is-now-a-patient-pastor.
Let me know if you have any trouble reading the story due to the paywall. I may be able to help out!
This experience reminds me that we have to be willing to go tell our call story, my friends! ... It only takes a few seconds of courage to first open up, and you just may inspire someone else to a life of following Christ!
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