I’m not quite sure what label best describes me, but I’ve spent much of my life in the Evangelical world, interrupted by Mainline Christianity during most of the Reagan years. Right now I’m a sort of apatheist – I’m not sure if I care if I know – who’s more of a fade-away than walk-away, but still interested in issues of Evangelicals and Politics. I’m not interested in proselytizing or being an apologist for Evangelicalism, aside from trying to clarify some misconceptions. I’m more interested in trying to figure out how to reach out to “Persuadable Evangelicals”, which currently includes some family. Arthritis and several years of unemployement have given me way too much time to spend in cyberspace, and I enjoy seeing parts of people’s lives and their beliefs I might not otherwise see. Here’s a not-so-quick bio:
I was born in Nebraska and grew up in rural Iowa, where my family attended a small Evangelical church. This gives me the impeccable credentials of a Stupid Right-Winger and Dumb Fundie. But wait, there’s more! Little House on the Cornfield – just an acre, not a farm – was near Walnut Grove and Lake Wobegon, but also just down the road from Big State U., where my Dad was a professor in the sciences. Our small church, part of the Upper Midwest Small Denomination corner of Evangelicalism, was a sort of crossroads of the world, so I was knew a lot of people from all over the US, as well as many international students. My parents were very involved in church leadership, and Dad even preached occasionally. At 8 I made a born-again decision on my own at a church camp, and started listening carefully to sermons and reading Christianity Today when I was quite young. I attended college at Big State U., and was involved in Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship for several years (IVCF is British grown, imported through Canada). Towards the end of my extensive college years – I was a senior for almost as long as most folks are college students – I stopped attending church for a while and then went to a Mainline church for year. At about 25, it was time to seek my fortune in the big city of Chicago. An invitation from a former college roommate led to my joining a larger-than-average urban Mainline church in the first year. There I was invited to join an Evangelical-leaning home bible study & fellowship group. Near the end of the Reagan era, job and housing opportunities took me to the suburbs, where I joined an even-larger-but-very-sub-mega church pastored by a former pastor of my home church. It was fairly traditional, with stained glass windows, pipe organ, and an orchestra. I was very involved with music and the Singles Ministry. After 6 years, I joined a church plant project with a group of over 200 people, meeting in a high school auditorium. After several years of intensive involvement with music and worship planning, arthritis fatigue and work burnout took its toll, and I gradually faded away.
My current passions are classical music – I lean towards the heavy metal stuff like Mahler and Shostakovich – and soaking up as much information from the intertubes as I can get through a slow dialup. Coffee and Chocolate are sacramental substances in my household. Desperately waiting for summer and wondering why I’m still in the midwest are other primary activities currently, along with a little physical therapy and trying to figure out how to put back together some sort of life.
Politically, I’ve leaned a little to the right, but after recent years will be a Yellow Dog Democrat, most likely forever. I’ve voted since 1972 (yes, I’m older than some dirt), and too often I’ve been resigned to voting against the other guy. The privilege of voting for Barak Obama for Senate and Democratic nominee was a welcome exception. Being a hopelessly unapologetic Common Grounding Beyondist, I’m naturally thrilled to see the rest of the country recognize the Coming of The Obamessiah.
That’s all for now. I’ll probably add more soon.
Any questions?
