Mission

I have been a Christian all my life, first as a child of active Christian parents, and then as one who walked down the aisle at Soldier's and Sailor's Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and dedicated my life to Christ, my Savior. That began a journey in which, for the most part, I have been an active faithful participant. But, we'll see what God says in the end.

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I went off to Bethel College thinking I might have a call to mission. I went off into Anthropology because good missionaries learn language and culture in order to speak and do the Gospel. I taught a large adult Sunday School class at Central Evangelical Free Church in Minneapolis in the 1970s. In the 1980s I taught Sunday School at Olive Chapel United Methodist Church in southwestern Indiana, and served as a lay preacher substituting for pastors on vacation. Then, in August 1986 I got a call to serve as a lay pastor at St. John's UMC. In 1991 my District Superintendent asked me to quit my job, take another church, St. Peter's UMC, and go to seminary. In 1994 I was graduated from Asbury Seminary with a a Master of Divinity degree. 

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In 1997, the General Board of Global Ministries sent me and my family to the Melanesian Institute in Goroka, Papua New Guinea to serve as a missionary-anthropologist. The Institute taught cultural awareness classes to incoming missionaries and conducted social science research on issues that the supporting churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and United Church [Methodist]) wanted to know about. They had done projects such as Marriage and the Family in contemporary PNG. While I was there, I directed a four year project to understand the emerging dissatisfaction with the land agreements that the early churches (around 1900) had struck with people's ancestors to have land for churches, schools, clinics, and plantations. Suspecting unfair treatment, their descendants wanted to revisit the agreements, or they wanted their land back. In the process, I edited three books (Politics in Melanesia, Churches and Land volume 1, and Churches and Land volume 2). I also had many opportunities to preach and teach. I once preached 14 sermons in 4 days during Holy Week leading up to Easter. 

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Finally, I taught Anthropology for Christian Mission at Asbury Theological Seminary from 2002 to 2010 when I retired. There I had the privilege of working with many Native Americans and International students who were or were planning on serving as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Very rewarding and an appropriate cap to my journey in Anthropology and Mission.