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Beck A. Taylor Faith Essay

I am a sinner saved by grace. I claim redemption and salvation through my faith in Jesus Christ, son of God. I am set free from the bondage of sin by the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and his subsequent resurrection from the dead. I am imbued with the Holy Spirit, who graciously convicts me toward righteousness and empowers me to do good works in the name of God. I will spend eternity in the presence of the triune God in heaven and with all of the saints who respond in faith to the Good News. I turn daily to God's special gift of scripture as I seek to understand the nature and character of God, and to know more fully his unifying narrative of covenant relationship, perfect justice, unmerited grace, unconditional love, and ultimate victory.

My faith is the most important aspect of my life. My relationship with Jesus Christ animates all that I do as husband, father, friend, congregant, and professional. Not only have I answered the general call of Jesus Christ to repentance and salvation, but I am also called specifically to many other roles, each of which contributes significantly, I pray, to the Kingdom of God. For example, I take my vocation as a scholar, teacher, and university leader very seriously because I consider it to be a divine calling that brings together my gifts, abilities, experiences, and passions. I am committed to Christian higher education because it fills a unique and (unfortunately) growing void in the landscape of higher education. I enthusiastically embrace the notion that my simultaneous identities as Christian and scholar can be integrated in ways that make me better at both, and I enjoy serving and leading institutions that encourage others to integrate their faith and academic pursuits.

Although I hold to orthodox views and beliefs, I do not fit easily into any one denomination. I am broadly ecumenical in my experiences and preferences, and I prefer to identify myself with Christianity more transcendently than any affiliation with a specific church or congregation might prescribe, although I take church membership, accountability, and service very seriously. I attended Baptist churches during much of my youth, but I attended a Presbyterian church for four years while in high school. During my adulthood, I have attended Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and non-denominational churches. I attended a Presbyterian church all four years of graduate school. My family and I currently hold membership at a Baptist church, where I teach an adult Sunday school class and serve as a director of the church's foundation. My family and I are drawn to many aspects of Presbyterianism, and I would be perfectly comfortable worshipping once again in a Presbyterian church. I will wholeheartedly defend and support Whitworth's commitments to the Reformed tradition, as well as its desire to create a diverse community of other Christian faith traditions.