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Paul, The Man

Posted Oct 10, 05:36 PM | 0 comments | by Editor | Link

By Tim Keel, cross-posted from ReclaimingPaul.org:

I am really excited for the Reclaiming Paul conference (Oct. 22-24).

I am excited to interact with theologians who have made it their life’s work to interact with Paul’s writings and share with others the riches they have found there.

I love theology and think we need to have some important conversations about how we have understood the gospel and salvation and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I love conferences and the space that is created to meet and interact with people who I might not otherwise have the chance to know and be influenced by. I think Reclaiming Paul is going to be one such space.

But I am not excited about this conference just so I can have more theologically stimulating conversations with a group of smart people. I am not excited for this conference so that I can fill my head with some new or interesting tidbits of Pauline trivia, no matter how creative or surprising they may be.

I am excited for a different reason.

I am excited because I am a pastor and a church planter. As such, I am always on the lookout for people who can inspire me in my calling to serve Christ and his church. In this instance I am not talking about the practitioners that I know I am going to meet at the conference, though I am sure those kinds of people will be there, too. I am talking about sitting at the feet of the Apostle and growing in my understanding of how this extraordinary and yet broken man understood and related to Jesus and how that impacted everything else.

When I read Paul’s letters I am amazed by the man that is revealed there. I marvel at his willingness and passion to abandon anything that might get in the way of his knowing and serving Jesus and his people. I am struck by a person who on one hand is the paradigmatic theological egghead but on the other demonstrates an enormous capacity to incarnate the gospel for communities on the ground. Did I mention tough? Paul survived severe beatings, a stoning, three shipwrecks, and a day and night adrift at sea. Talk about a “Survivor.” And that doesn’t even account for the emotional and relational side of this man. His willingness to get into the trenches and deal with the messy pastoral realities of the people under his care in a tough, yet tender way arrests me. Mostly I am blown away by Paul’s enormous heart and the capacity that he demonstrates to both love and be loved by God and people.

I am excited and hopeful that by talking about Paul and what he believed and what he said we might be infected by the same Spirit that animated and generated such a remarkable life. I am hopeful that the power that flowed from Christ through him and into his world might in some small way empower us in our short time together to go and do likewise.

Paul wrote, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” That is what I want and I am hopeful and excited that “Reclaiming Paul” will be an opportunity to do just that.

Learn more about the Reclaiming Paul event in Kansas City, October 22-24.

Tim Keel is the founding pastor of Jacob’s Well Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Tim also serves on the board of directors for Emergent Village.