Go to Berkeley. Become a Christian. That might sound like a joke, but that’s my faith story. I became a follower of Christ during my first year at the University of California at Berkeley. It was then that I heard that one excellent reason not to believe in God was science. As a newly minted Christian sitting in the pews of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, I also heard that “the Gospel is not fragile.” The Gospel’s strength to connect with culture, including science, was something I desperately needed to hear — and is something Presbyterians believe.
As a seminary student I heard a constant refrain from our professors: Jesus came to preach and teach. It was the pretext underlying our whole seminary education as they trained us to preach and teach.
Over two mornings at the 2016 ARMSS/POAMN conference the Rev. Dr. John T. Carroll shared his wisdom in a comprehensive, two-part keynote address with broad implications for his audience of pastors, educators, and others engaged in ministry with older adults.
