Welcome to the Poolesville Presbyterian Church website! My name is David, and I'm absolutely delighted to be able to serve and work with this wonderful and intimate community of faith. Take a look around at the website...we've got a whole bunch going on! You've clicked on the Meet Our Pastor link, and so presumably want to know about me. People seem to like reading lists of things online these days, so here are seven semi-illuminating factoids about me:

• 1. I was born in early 1969, in Washington DC. As the story goes, my newlywed mom and dad were delivering food and supplies to a black church--they were called "black churches," back then--in DC during the riots following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. They encountered tear gas, and it was stressful and intense, and when they got back to their apartment, well, 9 months later I showed up. That's the story, anyway. I'm sticking to it.
• 2. In the Myers-Briggs personality typology, I'm an INFJ. I'm deeply introverted, largely intuitive, split almost evenly between rationality and emotion, and I like closure. Oh, and online Harry Potter sorting hat quizzes put me consistently into Ravenclaw.
• 3. I ride motorcycles. Just one at a time, typically. I ride in the rain and the cold. That means when it rains, I get wet. When it's cold, I feel cold. It's just how I prefer to get around. They are efficient and fun, in equal measure. Why we feel obligated to cart around several tons of excess metal everywhere we go is beyond me.
• 4. I do not eat meat. I have a whole bunch of complex theological reasons for it revolving around minimizing suffering and caring for creation with the diet of Eden, but honestly, I started being vegetarian because my girlfriend/fiance/wife didn't eat meat. Though I've not intentionally ingested flesh in nearly two decades, the smell of burgers on the grill still makes me salivate. We're omnivores by design, after all.
• 5. I grew up in the Presbyterian church, wandered off in my late teens and twenties, and came back because I just had to. I felt called to the ministry, and not in a subtle way. Meaning, it wasn't a "process," or an abstract desire to do something good. It was a call, ferocious and relentless, to do whatever I could to support those who follow Jesus. So. Here I am.
• 6. My faith-influences include many folks, but my first, earliest, and perhaps most influential teacher was C.S. Lewis. When I was a bookish little boy, meaning four or five, I read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We were living in Kenya, and there was no television to speak of, so there was little else for a little boy to do. So I read, but I do not remember the act of reading. What I remember is being in Narnia. The crunch of snow underfoot, a circle of sad little stone creatures, blood on a stone table, and the warm touch of Aslan's fur. Books and words are, as Clive Staples taught me, very Deep Magic indeed.
• 7. I've been blessed with a congregation that supports creativity, and one of my joys in the years I've served here is that I've had time not just to study and get my doctorate, but also to write novels that explore questions of life and faith. Telling stories is, after all, the way Jesus taught all of us.

There's more to know, of course. If you're interested in learning more about the church, or would like to talk, feel free to be in touch with me at belovedspear (at) gmail (dot) com.

Peace of Christ, and Blessings, David