launched in recent years. All those elements seemed to be begging for the kinds of gifts and vision that define me. As that assessment became more and more compelling and the committee’s enthusiasm for my candidacy grew, Barbie and I opened ourselves to the unimaginable possibility that this Lehigh Valley church may overtake our desire to live near our Texas children and grandchildren. We prayed and prayed. Our children gave us their blessing to follow as God leads. Finally, when the PNC asked me to be their candidate, we knew that this was God’s call. After a few more days of prayer, we gave a hearty, “Yea” and “Amen” to FPC Allentown!


Your most recent book (2016) is titled It’s Complicated: A Guide to Faithful Decision Making. What would you say is its main point, and how do you anticipate that point influencing life at FPCA?


Te thesis: Te more seriously you read the Scriptures as God’s Word, the more nuanced your ethics become. Most folks think of the Bible as a collection of commandments, where every life decision boils down to following the rules. But the real Bible is so much more complicated, because the infinitely complex Creator created life on this planet to be lived out in infinitely complicated ways. Sure, it commands us to love God and each other, and it calls us to aspire to goodness and holiness—and it provides benchmarks by which we may assess our options—but it also raises the possibility of approximating and adapting its guidance to our context. Published 50 years after Joseph Fletcher’s “Situation Ethics,” I take his questions seriously while offering an alternative set of answers.


As for its impact on FPCA, I hope I will hear my favorite compliment to receive from folks after listening to one of my sermons or lectures or reading one of my articles or books: “Well, that was obvious. How come I never heard it before?” I hope to hear often “I have been operating this way for years, I just never thought to formulate it this way.” In the end, I hope it will help you all to better preach what you practice.


What role do you see FPCA playing in your overall journey of faith?


A few pastors have peaked in their 40s and 50s and then geared down for an easy landing in their 60s. I can’t imagine that. I still see myself ascending. I look ahead to the next decade to be one that will allow me to bring together all the pieces of 30-plus years of pastoral experience to the service of one of the greatest congregations in my denomination. Kind of like a two-term president, without the hassle of needing to run for reelection.


You served on the PC(USA)’s Theological Task Force on Peace,


Unity, and Purity of the Church. What was the purpose of that body, and what are your views on the key issues it addressed?


Te big question we tried to address: “How can we hold on to one another while still holding to our differing convictions?” Over five years’ effort, we formulated a restatement of our faith that was thoroughly 21st


century and thoroughly


biblical. It introduced the practice of communal discernment of God’s will via consensus building rather than always taking up-down votes. And it began to open the door to ordaining folks previously prohibited—without demonizing or coercing those whose consciences considered such ordinations inappropriate. Te full inclusion of LGBTQ persons into ordained ministry took a few more years to reach—but the TTFPUP’s efforts proved to be the major turning point en route to that conclusion. Tanks be to God.


You’ve said you hoped to serve a church that would “honor liturgical forms and classical stylings.” What do you mean by that?


We all use the cliché “Different strokes for different folks.” Well, that expression finds no better place of connection than when people worship God. Just as we all want to worship in the language in which we first heard the name “Jesus,” so too we all want to express our hearts to God in the liturgical formats and musical genres that most stir our hearts. After a brief hiatus in a traditional-only congregation, I count myself doubly blessed to serve a church that will stir my heart via both grand old hymns and great new praise songs. I also look forward to adding Chin Burmese and Arabic to my liturgical vocabulary. Cliché #2: “Vive la différence.”


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