Three friends introduced me to the genre of memoir and guided me into imagining that I might be able to write one. Rick Christian, my agent and president of Alive Communications, was the first to suggest it and give me the confidence that I could do it. Ken Gire, a veteran writer and trusted friend, guided me through the initial stages. Jon Stine provided continuous insight and encouragement throughout the writing, from the first paragraph to the final period, testing each word and sentence for truth and accuracy. Memoir is new territory for me. I have always written from a text, mostly a biblical text. To have my vocation as the text felt awkward. I needed a lot of help to get past the awkwardness.
My editor, Michael Maudlin, and his staff at HarperOne gave assuring and expert counsel in revisions and made a better book out of what I handed to them. Don Ottenhoff, director of the Ecumenical Institute at St. John’s Abbey, provided encouragement and direction when he didn’t know he was doing it. David Wood probed my imagination for connections between pastor and writer.
No one achieves and continues the vocation of pastor by himself, herself. These are some of the pastors, writers, artists, and their spouses among whom I have found faithful and prayerful companionship: Tom and Debbie Abbot, Terry and Daphne Anderson, Dan and Anne Baumgartner, Arthur and Lorna Boers, Tim and Nancy Brown, Tracie and Marty Bullis, Matt and Julie Canlis, Kim and CC Crispeno, Michael and Nancy Crowe, Marva Dawn and Myron Sandberg, Peter and Tonya Erickson, Miles and Karen M. Finch, Kevin and Karen P. Finch, Constance FitzGerald, O.C.D., Lu and Peter Gerard, Diane Glancy, Dave and Debbie Hansen, Bill and Mollie Hopper, John and Skip Houdeshel, Trygve and Kristen Johnson, Faith and David Jongewaard, Paul and Rhoda Jones, Andy and Shawna Kennaly, Annemarie Kidder, Peter and Jenny Klenner, Endi and Kati Kovacs, Gisela Kreglinger, Jack and Linda Leax, Tom and Shirley Little, Steve and Laura Lympus, Bill and Valerie Mangrum, Hugh MacKenzie, Terry and Suzette McGonigal, Perry and Betty Monroe, Linda Nepsted, Cuba Dyer Odneal, Virginia and David Owens, Joyce and Ed Peasgood, Eric Peterson, Karen Peterson, Ken and Polly Peterson, Leif and Amy Peterson, Dean and Darlene Pinter, Wayne and Georgia Pris, Steven and Amy Purcell, Murray and Lynda Pura, Richard Shreffler (His Holiness), Alan and Brenda Reynolds, Luci Shaw and John Hoyte, Ray and Joan Sheck, Dan and Grace Ellen Schiel, Tom and Lollie Smith, Paul and Gail Stevens, David and Pheadra Taylor, Jeff and Kris Teeples, John and Lillian Toews, Steve and Bonnie Trotter, Cliff and Christine Warner, Louise Wheatley, Jeffrey Wilson, Ian and Madeleine Wilson, Bill and Mavis Wiseman, David and Jennifer Wood, Fred and Cheryl Wood, Jim and Cathie Wolfe, and Philip and Janet Yancey.
And congregation—the primary context in which the pastoral vocation is practiced. Because so much of my vocational life involves confidences that are privileged, lest I transgress inadvertently, with the exception of my family, I have changed most of the names and some of the circumstances. But I have done my best not to alter or embellish the truth that I am telling. I have told in other places and circumstances a few of the stories included here. At the time of the telling, I was not aware that they were part of a larger story. But in the course of writing this account of my pastoral formation, they surprised me by finding their place in a coherent narrative, a story with plot and texture.