EVER THE ROAD GOES ON

Living the questions and trying to think theologically... and practically. Learning that these things are more synonymous than I once thought.

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Location: Dallas, TX

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

And the Winner is E, Sorry I Made You Wait for Days

Due to the thickness of my accent and my deep southern roots that probably manifest themselves in most areas of my life, people are constantly asking me if I’ll move back to Mississippi after seminary. Honestly this question offends me slightly because it makes me assume that people think I could only flourish in a poor, rural, and uneducated place. Yes, I am aware of the old adage about assumptions, and I concede that I am probably rather asinine on this matter as well as many others. However, it’s a feeling that I get nonetheless. It does seem that the commonly held belief is that Mississippi is backwards both intellectually and culturally. Our history is tattered with racism and hatred. Sometimes it makes me sick at my stomach. However there is as much or more to love about our heritage. The blues, the grove which is the tailgating hotspot at Ole Miss, Elvis, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, John Grisham, hospitality, the teddy bear, and I could go on and on.

For a long time, outsiders had me buying into the backwards belief. I felt as if there would be no room for me or my ideas or my ministry there. Well, now I’m learning that maybe that isn’t so. There’s something going on in Jackson. An acquaintance of mine named Stacy Andrews has started an emerging church in the Fondren District of Jackson. That’s where my former place of employment, The Mississippi Gift Co., is located, and I must say that I love the area. There was a rather lengthy article in the Clarion Ledger that profiles the church. The reporter also interviewed Doug Padgitt for it. It was really good, so I’ll paste it here.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041127/FEAT05/411270310&SearchID=73191459314294

I joked with my friend Adam who sent me the article that this could be my ticket back to Mississippi, but you know what they say, there is a little truth in every joke. Maybe there are people in Mississippi who are more ready for the kind of ministry I want to do than I imagined.









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