almanac of captivity

Well, Laura and I are on out here on the west coast (”going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali”…), enjoying some post-Christmas fellowship with family and friends. This morning we were talking about the future of the (younger) Slavich family — what, where, when and all that jazz. It’s a stressful point, for me especially. Because my wife’s wonderful and awesome family lives in south Florida. And my wonderful and awesome family lives in northern California.

So, the question quickly becomes, where are we going to live?

Of course, it’s easy to say, “Where the Lord takes us.” That only, however, helps sometimes in an abstract sense, because the Lord is going to take us somewhere. Where? Is the question.

I’ve thought seriously about doctorate work at Southern, thereby delaying the inevitable “Where?” for another four years, staying in Louisville, and not having to choose a side (of the country). It’s amazing how cop-outs and escapes can manifest themselves when you get older — I realized this past week that the Ph.D. thing was just that — an escape from having to make a decision. The Lord, however, has been tugging at me. I’m not satisfied in the ivory halls of theological education. Sure, you can minister while in school. But it is not the same (at least for me).

We have been praying about ministry after December 2008, when I will, Lord willing, graduate. SBC ministry is likely, though not certain.

All of this is background to the main point of what I am wanting to say. While we were talking about all of this with my parents this morning, my dad made a point about my theological conviction. He is an elder at a Calvary Chapel (see the sidebar for a link). Calvary churches are fairly notoriously antagonistic to Calvinism. My dad (though not a Calvinist) chafes against this mentality within the denomination, partially because his son is a Calvinist and partially because he knows it isn’t healthy to be so vehemently against anything that is not outside the pale of orthodoxy.

He, however, had some advice for me.

“Don’t label yourself,” he said. “People get misconceptions about you when you identify yourself with a buzzword like ‘Calvinist’. They might think something completely different than you mean by it.”

I told him: “If someone who was interviewing me for a ministry position asked me, ‘Are you a Calvinist?’, I would say, ‘What do you mean by that?’” I told him that I don’t need the label so much. I think it is a helpful way to encapsulate my theology, but if it becomes unhelpful — or even untrue — then I would willingly get rid of it.

This goes against many SBC higher-ups’ recommendation.  (See this post).

But I think my dad is right.

What do you think?