A new blog worth checking out

Rev. Tom Parkinson

My friend Tom Parkinson recently graduated from Duke Divinity School and took his first appointment in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. Tom was the student associate pastor at Duke's Chapel UMC here in Durham during the three years he was in divinity school. During that time, I was fortunate to get to know him. He's an excellent preacher and pastor who is going to be a real gift to his annual conference in the years ahead.

Tom and I were on a short term mission trip to Chincha, Peru, last October. He seemed as struck with the way God is at work among the Methodists in Peru as I was the first time I traveled there in 2001. We hope to join together in another mission with our friends in Peru sometime in the future.

I wanted to highlight Tom's new blog that he started in late July. In addition to serving as the pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, Tom is going to be writing online as a way to reflect on his ministry and the Christian life. His first post gives a little background - in addition to offering some great thoughts on the phrase that makes up his blog's title: Credo ut Intelligam - "I believe so that I may understand."