Much appreciation to Dr. Alfonse Javed, pastor First Baptist Church, Metuchen, New Jersey, for having me on Our Urban Voices. If you have not checked out his ministry and this podcast, I encourage you to take a moment and click on the links.
Here is the link to our conversation. We talked about family, calling, pastoral ministry, and church planting. He asked great questions–some of which I have never been asked before on a podcast.
Having had (finally!) time to listen to the interview, I congratulate you. I keep saying this: you are a very down-to-earth professor, and, please, never change!
I also converted when I was a teenager, which gives us a very different perspective. We were not theologians before the time God revealed himself to us, so we did not make any assumptions or presumptions. For us, it is really “sola scriptura” – what is revealed in Scriptures, I can state as true, what is not, is part of God’s economy, not mine. But, on the other hand, the personal experiences with His power and the intimacy with the Holy Spirit will reflect in our deeds and even our personality.
Your comment on the new approaches in evaluating tendencies as gifts of the Holy Spirit is right on. Your view is biblically perfect: by reading the scriptures and immersing ourselves in serving, the Lord shows us clearly where he wants us. For example, Isaiah and Amos did not feel fit for their calls to be prophets, yet they had to do it. Or else, as you said, they could end up in a fish’s belly. (:-). I guess everyone who has been called to serve God in whatever manner had a “Jonah-moment,” if not several.
Thank you.
Thank you, sister, for your kind post. Keep up the great Kingdom work as you serve Him!