There's been a request for my background, so I might as well get started. Today: the Presbyterian years.

I got my head wet as a baby in First Presbyterian Church in Midland, Texas, the city of my birth. I don't remember it and don't think it took. I do remember that my Grandma called it a "christening." I think normal people call it "baptism," of the infant variety. So began my volatile Presbyterian phase.

Now I know that some might think "volatile" and "Presbyterian" don't belong in the same sentence. But anyway . . .

My childhood church experiences are significant, but I'll skip those for now and come back to them someday. I became a Christian (loaded words, I know) at Casa Linda Presbyterian in Dallas shortly before I turned 14. In fact, my first communion was on Maundy Thursday, March 27th, 1975 -- my 14th birthday.

I was happy with my church during my teen years. I put more effort and priority, however, into my personal time with God. I read the Bible and prayed every day. No one told me to do that or even suggested it beforehand. I just wanted to. It was like instinct. Then, of course, was school, homework, and running. (I was quite the distance runner.) That took up most of my time.

I was, at for the most part, blissfully unaware of any difficulties Casa Linda was having with the denomination. But I found out later that, after high school and moving on to Duke, the local presbytery and like-minded people in the congregation (a minority if I recall rightly) took over the church building and drove off most of the Christians (Yes, I am using that word pointedly.). There was ugliness -- locked doors and the like.

Once at Duke, I fell in easily with InterVarsity on campus and Blacknall Presbyterian off campus. I don't remember any big search. I think new friends led me to them, and the two groups seemed to be a good fit, so I went with it. My focus was on campus, so, for a while, my involvement at Blacknall was pretty much just attending on Sundays. InterVarsity was more important to me. And I still don't recall denominational issues being much on my radar screen.

I guess I should stop here and address why I was Presbyterian. I really don't have a profound answer. I wasn't very denominationally minded at all. Once I trusted in Christ, I thought of myself as a Christian, not a Presbyterian. But it's what I grew up with, was comfortable with, and I saw no reason to go elsewhere.

I did find other Christian traditions interesting, but more on that in due time.

Now, I did reject my infant baptism. So when I was 18, I accepted the late Brother Eldred Thomas's (president of KVTT-FM, where I interned) invitation for him to baptize me. So he baptized me in a swimming pool with a couple witnesses. Yeah, not very churchy.

Baptism is not a big issue with me. But for me, believer's baptism was, and is, in line with my beliefs and the thing to do. I wish I had invited a bunch of friends and had it be more of a ceremony. But other than that, I still think I did the right thing.

After Duke, denominational issues and church politics became much more important in my experience and made my later Presbyterian years volatile indeed. But this post is long already. So I'll save it for later.

I might be snowed in tomorrow. Yes, here in Texas. If so, I'll probably post tomorrow.

And remember, tomorrow is Valentines Day -- wear black.