First Presbyterian Church members are living God’s love in all kinds of ways. One of them is Bill White, who believes he found his calling as a newspaper columnist. Here is his story, in his own words.


My wife, Jane, and I joined First Presbyterian just after our son, Andrew, was born in 1982. He and our daughter, Kelsey, both benefited from FPCA’s great programs for children and youth.


I attended worship regularly, but becoming a deacon changed my outlook on the church, helping me to understand how much work took place behind the scenes and all the ways I could contribute. I particularly enjoyed Dial-a-Ride, where I could help older church members attend worship after they stopped driving, and I’m still a regular driver. I also serve on two usher teams and on a flower delivery team.


I served three terms altogether as a deacon and two on Session, where I chaired our church communications committee and have continued to serve as a member. I’ve also served on several other committees, including our Vibrant Faith team that is charged with helping FPCA create a culture of calling. We were one of 24 churches nationwide chosen to receive three- year grants from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop and test new ministry models.


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Much as I’ve enjoyed serving my church as an officer and worker, I’ve always felt my real calling was found in my work as a columnist and blogger at Te Morning Call. Writing a newspaper column was a job I had wanted since I was a teenager with a sports column for my high school paper. I’ve found it tremendously rewarding to be in a position to help people in all kinds of ways by delivering positive messages about good people and important work in the community and by advocating for good government, better schools, and other causes.


And I’ve tried to have fun along the way by creating Christmas Light Tours, Eating My Way Trough Musikfest, Grammar Police, and other recurring features that I’ve hoped readers enjoyed. I’m convinced we all need more laughter in our lives, and I’ve tried to inject humor into whatever I’m writing.


Tere have been some tangible results, including almost $225,000 raised over the years for Second Harvest Food Bank through my Christmas tours, and other significant charitable donations inspired by my columns, most notably two years of anonymous $100,000


donations that made it possible for a homeless warming station to open this winter at the Allentown YMCA.


Although I don’t write directly about religion very often, I’ve made no secret of my Christian faith and the way it has been an underlying motivation for many things I’ve written. It’s not unusual for the words and music I’ve heard in worship to inspire my columns.


Te challenge for me now will be finding new calls. I retired from Te Morning Call at the end of November, and although I expect to continue teaching as an adjunct professor at Lehigh University, I’ll need to redirect my energies in new directions, some of which I haven’t discovered yet. I’m sure writing will be involved.


Te one calling I know I’ll be embracing is the opportunity to contribute more as a babysitter for our two grandsons, Luke and Brett. I can’t wait until they’re old enough to start attending Sunday school and running up front for children’s time.


I pray that they’ll have the opportunity to grow in faith as part of the same kind of vibrant church family that has been nurturing me for 36 years.


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