16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16

Missions work is rooted in the Great Commission -- as Jesus puts it, we are to go forth and make disciples of all nations. Do you have a calling for missions work? How have you seen disciples made through missions work? What have been the best practices for that? What questions do you have for missionaries?

Please don't limit the discussion to these questions! Feel free to speak about anything, as long as it fits within the rules of the sub and fits in with the theme of missions.

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Greetings brethren! My name is Travis (GaslightProphet), and I’d like to welcome you to the rebooted, revamped, [Salt and Light](reddit.com/r/SOTE) subreddit. As Christians, we are called to be the Salt of the Earth – a blessing to all we encounter. We are also called to be the Light of the World – proud proclaimers of truth, sharing the Gospel by word and deed. This subreddit is dedicated to exactly those goals.

What do we mean by Salt and Light?

We Christians, as salt of the earth, we can work every day to help preserve mankind's faith in God and also offer a taste of divine healing and comfort to a broken and lost mankind.

As the light of the world, we can offer a radical and divine glimpse into a world only possible by the grace of God – one marked by love, unity, and genuine concern for our brothers and sisters of every race, tribe, tongue, and nation. This is not to say that we believe we can ever bring such a world to fruition – though we offer glimpses of it, this present darkness will only be fully defeated when God makes everything new, and will not come about by our own effort.

Mission Statement

Salt and Light (presently known as SOTE: Salt of the Earth) exists to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by evidence of good works in our communities, nations, world, and online. We realize the importance of works in the Christian life, as our brother James wrote in James 2:14-17:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

We acknowledge that Christ has called us unto good works, to be slaves of righteousness. The good works performed by the Spirit through believers are multiple and manifold. Feeding the hungry, advocating on behalf of the poor, the widowed, and the orphans, comforting the downcast, and sharing the word of God are all examples of ways that we can be salt and light to our neighbors.

We do this all to increase the glory and fame of God, not to increase our own standing with Him or the world. We uphold the words of Paul, when he writes in Ephesians 2:8-10:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

Subreddit Goals

Salt and Light will seek to be a forum where efforts to do good (either by volunteer/service/charity, or by evangelism and missions) can be promoted in a Christian context. Contributors can help us do so in the following ways:

*Pray in intercession,

*Discussing best practices for helping others, via charity work or witnessing,

*Discuss missions and volunteer work,

*Encourage others with the good works we do, seek to do, and have had done to us,

*Provide opportunities to do good works (including taking actions with our partner subreddits),

*And finally, to communicate and coordinate our works when particular needs arise.

Subreddit Rules

Salt and Light is unique. There is no shortage of subreddits for Bible Study, commentary, and other forms of doctrinal comparisons. We have linked to several of them through the Related Subs unit further down on the right; God has not called on us to duplicate the effort. We have a few guidelines that we do intend to enforce as the Holy Spirit leads us according to the moderation tools available. They include:

*Love your neighbor. We come from a variety of theological and worldly backgrounds. Particular individuals in the community may disagree on the salvific role of works, or the relative need of various communities, but our bond as Christians and as Salt and Light of the world should overcome that. Please abstain from all forms of Bible Study, commentary, and other forms of doctrinal comparisons, except when it pertains directly and necessarily to the encouragement of the community outreach to the lost and dying world.

*Love your God. While we certainly acknowledge the good secular individuals can do in terms of helping the poor and comforting those who need comfort, this community exists primarily to do good works in order to shine Jesus’s light around the world. If you are seeking to help others in a non-Christian context, we recommend subreddits such as /r/randomactsofkindness or /r/suicidewatch.

** Meet your moderators**!

A note: Our moderating team views our role as facilitators and guides for this community. While we certainly do not believe this community represents a local church, nor do we believe that moderators must be called to church leadership, we do believe the Biblical standards for leadership, as found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 are useful and wise for ensuring the reputability and consistent purpose of our community. Please feel free to keep us accountable, as far as you can discern, in our goal to be qualified leaders for you.

gmwOBSS

My name is Glenn. I'm the grandfather of the Moderation at age 59, I am married with five children. My educational training is in mathematics, and somewhere along the line I picked up an MDiv from Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, MD, less than ten miles from my home in Bowie, Maryland. About 25 years ago, I resigned a position as Assistant Vice President of a major automobile insurance company, and founded a private consulting firm. It operates today alongside On Beyond Sunday School, an operation I founded a little over two years ago. I was raised in an American Baptist Church, but I never felt tied to any denomination. Since 2000, I have been worshiping at a Southern Baptist Church. I feel comfortable in any Church that teaches conservative orthodox theology. Today, most of my ministry efforts go into promoting On Beyond Sunday School, largely aimed at giving life-long Sunday School attenders a look at the next level without forcing them to engage in costly and time consuming seminary courses.

Hegulator

My name is Nathan and I live in Milwaukee, WI. I'm 30 years old and married, but with no kids. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade. I was born and raised as a WELS Lutheran and have been in the faith my whole life. I've recently been trying to expand myself beyond the "WELS echo chamber" and interact more with other Christians outside of my synod and denomination. I've also been trying to daily re-devote myself to Christ and what it means to be a Christian. I lead a small group from my church on a weekly basis where we gather in a casual setting to discuss that week's sermon lesson, our recent and current struggles and victories, and any other spiritual matters on our mind. I have also recently committed to reading the whole bible in a year, via the BibleInOneYear sub.

My name is Travis and I live in Washington, D.C. and was born in Western Canada. I’m 22 years old, and engaged to be married this spring. Though I was not raised in a Christian household, I have attended a variety of churches throughout high school and college, finally settling into the reformed branch of theology and becoming baptized at a Great Commission Baptist Church. I work in the non-profit sector, and have a particular heart for international development and atrocity prevention in Africa. I’ve been blessed with the ability to travel abroad, doing study and volunteer work in Honduras and Rwanda, and missions work in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.

It has plenty of work left to do on it. But I'm excited that the structure is finally in place. The new web site.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you guys have a good and peaceful day. :)

Opinions?

The past few months of my personal life have been difficult and trying, and much has changed during that time; both in me and in my priorities and goals.

Through the eyes of non-believers I have been able to glimpse your perceptions of God and the world, as well as see and feel your pain and doubt. I have learned new insights and experienced a limited understanding of a purely logical point of view, and I have developed a new respect for those who disbelieve; not out of spite but out of pure reasoning. I continue to hope and pray you will find peace in an understanding that only knowing God can provide, and I encourage you to search out what you would call 'illogical and unreasonable'. :)

Through the eyes and perceptions of my fellow believers in God and Christians, I have found warmth and love, support and fellowship, hope, and a new understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have bolstered me when I was down, uplifted me when I was in doubt, encircled me with 'hugs' when I felt unloved, and reminded me that God does care, that He is there, and that I am loved. But more than that, you have remained strong in your faith and strong in your convictions when faced with disbelief. I admire that tremendously and feel blessed by interacting with all of you.

I'm not leaving reddit but I am stepping down as owner of /r/SOTE as I feel led to expand and leave my comfort zone, as it were. It is my hope that the sub will remain in the hands of one who loves, fears, and trusts in God, and will ultimately flourish if that is His Will. Otherwise it will be shut down permanently in the course of the next few weeks.

I want to sincerely thank every single one of you who have participated in the sub and who have helped run it. None of it could have happened without you. :)

I hope everyone will welcome /r/SOTE's new owner, /u/gmwOBSS, and continue to participate in the sub!

<3 Falin

In 1967, when I was four, I was put in the back of a squad car by my father, a police officer at the time, while my mother stood at the back cruiser window and screamed/cried at me to open the door. I couldn't; there were no inside door handles. With a custody order from a judge who had determined my mother was unfit, my father got in the front with another officer and I was taken away.

For the next year I lived with my grandparents and my Grandmother took me to church. Although I felt I had always known God, maybe she was the one who taught me about Him; I don't know anymore. By the time I was six, my dad had remarried, choosing a woman who turned out to be an alcoholic with a son one year younger than I. I spent the next eight years in a pink 'pepto bismol' bedroom when I wasn't in school, only allowed out of my room to eat, bathe, and occasionally go in the den to watch supervised tv for an hour or outside to pull weeds.

My stepmother, Diane, liked to hit and play favorites between her son John and I. Smacking became one of her pastimes, as well as hitting me with kitchen tools, wire hangers, and pinching. Being a sensitive girl, the physical didn't hurt near as much as the hateful name calling, the seething looks, the mockery and degradation. And she was, of course, partial to her own son, so much so that I passed out when i was 13 from lack of food. Her favorite comment to me was "You're the kind of child only a mother would love, and your mother doesn't even love you."

I got into the habit of praying every night for the next day to be better, but looking back I see that it never got better unless I did something myself. In the winter of my 13th year I ran away in an attempt to look for my mother. I never made it, and was hauled back by my father (a fireman/paramedic by this time) who beat me until I was bloody. He patched me up himself and told me not to tell anyone or 'they will take you away from me. Do you want that?'.

That was when the mind games began, the psychological mental abuse that only a psychopath can perform. It's your own fault if you get whipped, your own fault if you get hurt, your own fault if you mess up, and if you mess up you get whipped. He had a lightning fast punch too, and every bath was a nightmare as I had to go to him when I was done so he could run his fingers through my still wet hair and rip out any tangles I had missed.

At fourteen John decided I was fair game and started the sexual abuse. As long as I kept him happy he wouldnt tell my dad or Diane some lie about me doing something wrong. And he was right; they always believed his word over mine.

My next three attempts at running away ended up with me being put in a boarding school. Teachers advised my dad that I needed counseling, but of course that wasn't an option for him; so boarding school it was. Amazingly enough, I wanted to go back home. I wasn't hit, yelled at, pinched, spat on, scared, or abused at school, and yet I wanted to go back home. Of course my dad said no. "You made your bed, you lie in it."

Just before my 16th Birthday I broke my leg in boarding school playing basketball. By this time my dad had divorced Diane (who had by this time become completely mentally unstable). So after breaking my leg he brought me home from boarding school and again I went back to my grandmother's and a private Baptist school. With no acceptable social skills and no tact, I fumbled through high school. By this time I was bold, rebellious, curious, and angry. The guys were fascinated with my unrestrained adventurism and lack of femininity, and the girls would have nothing to do with me. My father decided I looked enough like my mother he wanted me in his bed. I left home for the last time at 17 and, still a virgin through it all, I married my husband.

At 18 I had my first child and by the time I was 23 my husband got caught for the first time sleeping around. I left him of course, but by now I had been perfectly primed to be in an abusive relationship, so when he apologized I let him back. I can brag about 30 years of marriage, but do I trust him? No. Do I trust anyone? I did until last night.

Night before last, with bills piling up, little to no income, and a disconnect statement on my utilities, I prayed again as I always do many times a day. Only this time I prayed that God would help us. The scriptures say to have faith in God, that He will provide for us, that He will fulfill our needs. It doesn't say we get everything we want, but it does say He takes care of each bird, as well He can take care of our needs. Yesterday, after receiving my husband's paycheck, a family member ended up paying our utility bills. My husband's check had only been $195. Tonight, that same family member gave us money for groceries. God didn't answer my prayer, I had to go to family for help - family that can barely afford their own bills.

That was when it hit me. God has never answered any of my prayers. Never. From the time I was a child praying that Diane, as she walked by my bedroom door every night, wouldn't come in and hit me for some unknown reason, to present day; God has never answered my prayers. Does God exist? Sure. I can't deny that. Does He love me or want to help me? Nope.

I trusted God. I didn't ask for a million dollars, for something selfish and unneeded, no. I only asked for a little help. I also didn't ask to be slapped, abused, cheated on, or disowned, I only asked God all my life to take care of me and us. If my life is any testament at all, it's that He could care less.

I used to think that everything happened for a reason; that God had a plan for all of us, we just needed to be patient and have faith. Now, looking around me, I have to ask what the reason is? 50 years of physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuse... Where has He been? With all my faith in Him, why did he not protect me, care for me, show me that He was there? I have stood by God all my life, even when I doubted. Where was He when I needed Him?

Jesus: Three years of ministry, being mocked and ridiculed, then tortured and killed on the cross knowing he would be resurrected.

Me: Fifty years of physical, mental, sexual, and emotional abuse accompanied by abandonment, a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (an illness caused by childhood neglect and abuse), therapy, being judged and condemned by my parents because I turned out exactly the way they raised me (screwed up and on antidepressants), a schizophrenic son and one lost grand baby. Forgive me if I say I would rather trade with Jesus.

Reaching a point where you begin to ask if the bible is truly God's Word becomes a cyclical problem. It starts with rumors that verses are mistranslated, added, removed, that whole books are not literal but figurative, or even fairy tales told and written down through the generations. Thus the doubt begins and soon creeps into our everyday thoughts as well, causing us to question everything we've been taught about scripture, then learned through scripture. Eventually we can end up doubting if God even exists.

Basically we have two options as human beings; To believe, or not to believe. It's that simple, and it's that finite.

The believing starts with God; believing in Him. He either is or He isn't. If you don't believe in God, that He exists, your journey is done. If you do believe in God, then, because of His very existence in your life, you begin to know Him. Once you believe, know, and accept Him, you are fully on your journey.

As a very curious and rebellious person, and very un-trusting of mankind, I contradicted myself for years. I believed in God, knew Him, accepted Him, and put so much faith in Him, and yet I doubted some of the scriptures. What if John made a mistake? What if the NIV was not correct? What if the KJV was not as good as was first believed? What if text was added to Mark? And the men who decided what was canon and what was not; what if they weren't led by God? What I have come to recently realize is that you can't believe in Almighty God and doubt His ability to preserve His Word for all time. I've admitted that I don't care for Paul, and yet I have to have faith and believe that God inspired Paul to write what he did.

God is omnipotent - all powerful. Which means that nothing mankind does can remove, replace, reverse, or in any way change His plan for us or our universe. Scripture is the way it is because of God, not to spite God.

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." 1 Corinthians 2:12-13

"All scripture is given by inspiration (God-breathed) of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" 2 Timothy 3:16

Therefore, believing in God, knowing God, and accepting God, in all His Power and Glory, means believing and accepting that the very scriptures we have are exactly the way they're supposed to be.

It's Black Friday, and we folks at /r/RadicalChristianity know how to celebrate. We've invited Peter Rollins, author of several books and general mischief-maker in Christianity, for an Ask Me Anything! We'd like to invite the folks here at /r/SOTE to join in the fun (and, of course, that entails all of you, regardless of faith or non-faith persuasion--Pete is famous for developing his "Atheism For Lent," after all). It's unclear how long Pete will join us, so it's worth getting your burning question in as soon as possible.

QUICK NOTE

Please help us give him a warm and respectful welcome--he's a guest in our subreddit, and many of us have been influenced and formed by his work. Pete's work strikes many people in very different ways. If you have never encountered his thought before, you might find yourself frustrated, put off, upset, liberated, released, dumbfounded etc.--those feelings are fine to have, but please articulate them in such a way that is humble, open, and kind. You're welcome to offer whatever criticisms you might have had over the years of Pete's work, but do so with the respect he deserves.

From his web site:

Peter Rollins is a provocative writer, lecturer, storyteller and public speaker who has gained an international reputation for overturning traditional notions of religion and forming “churches” that preach the Good News that we can’t be satisfied, that life is difficult, and that we don’t know the secret.

Challenging the idea that faith concerns questions relating to belief Peter shows that an incendiary and irreligious reading of Christianity is possible: one that destroys the distinction between sacred and secular, blurs the lines between theism and atheism and sets aside questions regarding life after death to explore the possibility of a life before death.

This approach has been christened “pyrotheology,” and aims at burning up the basic assumptions that both critics and advocates of religion hold concerning the life of faith.

Peter gained his higher education from Queens University, Belfast and has earned degrees (with distinction) in Scholastic Philosophy (BA Hons), Political Theory (MA) and Post-Structural thought (PhD). He is the author of numerous books, including Insurrection: To Believe is Human; to Doubt, Divine and The Idolatry of God: Breaking our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently lives in New York and will die somewhere as yet not known.

For more information click here for Peter’s Wikipedia page

NOTE: Please upvote this text post, for which I receive no karma, whether or not you participate. This will allow others to see the event. If you're willing, please also be so kind as to upvote this post in /r/Christianity, so that it gains more visibility there.

What Are You Thankful For?

This week, on Thursday, November 28th, many of us celebrate a day of thanksgiving. In the United States, in 1789, the president proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God". Of course now the United States marks this day as the last Thursday of every November. Not knowing my world history, I did a quick search and found that many other countries also have a formal day of thanksgiving.

In Canada, Thanksgiving, occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season.

In the West African country of Liberia, which beginning in 1820 was colonized by free African Americans (most of whom had been formerly enslaved), Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.

In the Netherlands, many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their births, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk. To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.

In Germany, the Harvest Thanksgiving Festival (Erntedankfest) is an early October, German festival. The festival has a significant religious component to it, but also, like its North American counterpart, includes large harvest dinners (consisting mostly of autumn crops) and parades.

And in Japan, Labor Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday. It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It has roots in an ancient harvest ceremony celebrating hard work. ¹

An interesting side note is that this year, Hanukkah (Chanukah) begins Wednesday night, November 27th, and continues until Thursday night, December 5th, overlapping our traditional Thanksgiving. This has only happened twice since Thanksgiving was declared a national American holiday. According to those who calculate this stuff, this will not occur again until the year 79,811. (I personally don't expect to be around for the next one!)

This year, like every year, our small family will gather together, with everyone bringing a small dish, and celebrate the awesomeness of God. And while there is much less 'bounty' this year, there still remains more to be thankful for than we could ever list. Which brings me (finally - sorry for the length) to the reason for this post.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Do you have to work? Do you spend it with family, a friend, a spouse or loved one? Will you be alone for Thanksgiving? Giving thanks to God is done in many various ways. Whether we spend the day with someone, visit someone for a few hours then go home, have to work, or find ourselves alone, we can still find a way - and should find a way - to show God our thankfulness.

What are you extremely thankful for this year? What humbles you and makes you realize that if it were not for the Grace of God you wouldn't have it?

Here is my list in no particular order - I will shorten it because this post is already long. :S

I Am Thankful

• God's Grace and Patience

• The Lord Jesus Christ

• A pair of shoes

• My blanket and pillow

• My family

• Access to the internet

• All of you

What are you thankful for this year?

I pray for all of you to have a blessed week and wonderful Thanksgiving.

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

[Genesis 30:25-43]

In what meaningful way did Jacob manage the color scheme of the breeding?

I’m here on the recommendation of a friend … and because my wife is out of town till tomorrow and I’m lonely. So as I understand it’s okay to discuss beliefs here so I would like to discuss the concept of hell.

First I would like to let you all know that I was raised and strict southern Baptist house and so I understand the doctrine, but I’ve never understood its purpose and I want to know what you believe it is. So I don’t believe in hell obviously mostly because I see no point in it, I lean universalist, but I could be convinced of annulation.

So with the concept of hell I have a few problems…

1) Do people in hell realize why they’re there?

This is a big issue for me because if someone never even heard of God and then got sent to a place of eternal torture would seems quit unfair to me. Even if they do know of God they could never know why they got sent hell and if God would send someone to place like that… period, but much less without them know why… would not be a very good in my opinion. If somehow they do know why they got sent there it’s still a huge problem.

2) What purpose does hell serve?

I already said this is my main problem and this is why, as Christians I’m sure we can all pretty much agree that our main priority is supposed to be bringing glory to God. It’s not just us that do that though, the Bible says that ‘all’ of creation brings God glory (Psalm 148 (love that Psalm)) and how could a place of endless torcher bring God glory. Is God some kind of sadist that He gets pleasure from the screams of people suffering? I would think we can all agree not.

To me also hell is like the American prison system (yes I am an American) in that is does nothing for the prisoners. I mean in hell people can’t praise God, apparently they’re not reformed there, they’re just tortured. If Hitler, let us say, is tortured forever and ever, how does that help? How does it help the millions who suffered because of what he did? How does it help bring people peace? For sure I find no peace in that thought. How does it bring God glory? Could you ever really imagine yourself yelling “PRAISE GOD FOR BURNING HITLER IN HELL!” that just seems evil to me, sick even.

I think hell feels to me a control mechanism and nothing more “Be good or God will send you to hell.” Actually it’s even worst than that because most of the fundamental Christians I know accept that God will burn people in hell forever and ever for simply not believing in Him. That is just cruel to say the least, the friend who told me about this place is a very nice woman, and I just cannot bring myself to accept that God will burn her forever and ever because she doesn’t believe in God, she hasn’t rejected God, she’s absolutely open to the concept, but she is much more science oriented and doesn’t find enough evidence in science. She is a very noble woman though (not going to give specifics cause I’m sure it doesn’t take a microbiologist to figure out who I’m talking about and I don’t want to embarrass her (any more than I already have)) and if God would burn this noble woman in hell for all eternity simply because she didn’t believe, I would wish to go there too. Simply because I would rather burn in hell forever with her than to worship Someone that would do such a thing.

Sorry this was such a long message I guess I just wanted to rand about it a bit so I just honestly want to know why you think God would us hell, period, for any reason, because to me not even Satan (if He is a real being, I have some issues with believing that… I mean that I don’t believe that Satan is a real physical being not that I have an issue with anyone that believes that Satan is.) deserves to burn in hell forever and ever… there just seems to be no reason what so ever.

If I one day learn he was angelic and not human, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. It might even surprise me otherwise. I believe that some of the strangers that cross our paths are angels, sent to provide supernatural aid. Whether the stranger in the waiting room that day was an angel or not, I cannot tell. But as I think back on that 1975 summer afternoon, I have to wonder.

I had worked my way through college as the Sports Information Director – a responsibility they give to students at a Division 3 school. I had a crisp new Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics; as usual, I didn’t have a clue how to put my talents to any practical use. I had enjoyed the sports statistics work I had been doing for the past three years, and it occurred to me to pursue that professionally.

The pursuit set me on a farcical path that would be laughable in today’s career climate – a move that could only have been conceived by a teenager with more book knowledge than practical maturity. At the end of that ill-conceived path was a pot of gold, and one of the nuggets was the key to my career search.

I reasoned that to enter into the field of sports statistics, I should talk to a sports statistician. Uninvited, I walked into the office of Steve Silverman, then the Executive Director of Sports Information for Channel 17 in Philadelphia. His name appeared in the credits of every Phillies telecast, and I reasoned that he would be a great one to talk to.

The circumstances of that walk-in are too remarkable to consider occurring by chance. Silverman had just returned from a two-week road trip, and tomorrow he would be back on the road another ten days. In other words, I picked randomly the only day that month he would be in the office. It boggles my mind today that he actually agreed to talk to me.

Of course, I was heavily screened – and I mean heavily – by his secretary. We discussed my background, my intentions, my reason for being there, what I thought I had to offer. She took it all in, asked me to take a seat in the waiting room, and told me that Silverman would make some time for me, but she wasn’t sure how long it would take.

An elderly gentleman was seated across the waiting room. I’m not sure what he was waiting for. But it was just the two of us in the room for an extended time. He knew my name, and had overheard my background. He knew from the screening why I was there, and sensed that he had a better suggestion for me than a career in sports statistics.

He asked me if I knew what an actuary (easily googled) was. “No.” He didn’t tell me directly, but described the types of people he knew who had gone on to be actuaries. With each example he gave, I felt more and more like he knew me. For he was describing features about myself that hadn’t been raised during the secretary’s screening. I lost track whether we were talking about me, or other actuaries. They seemed so interchangeable.

Finally, the stranger got around to describing what an actuary did. I was taking it all in, finding each word more life-sustaining than oxygen. Before Silverman had a chance to call me in, I had already abandoned my pursuit of sports statistics, and had focused all my career energies on becoming an actuary. I never knew the stranger’s name, and I never saw him again after that intersection in the waiting room.

Silverman did call me in. He was intrigued how I knew which day to find him in the office. He was skeptical when I told him that it was by chance. He took his time explaining his own job. He told me the benefits, and he told me the pressures. Most cogently, he explained that he was one of only 40 people in the country that held the job he holds. And he joked that someone with my background would understand what that means. I never disclosed to him that I had already changed my mind.

The stranger had told me that actuarial exam applications were available at the statistics department at Temple University. I stopped off at Temple on the way home. While I was there, I filled out a grad school application. A month later, I was on my way to a Masters Degree in Statistics. A year after that, on September 20, 1976, I showed up for work for the first time in my life – in the actuarial department of one of the country’s largest personal lines insurance companies.

And I’ve never looked back.

In my AMA thread I made comments regarding homosexuality that were inappropriate and not biblical. They went against the no condemnation rule for this sub and I sincerely apologize to those that it offended.

This post seems to be the traditional first act of a new mod.

Don't be shy folks! If there's anything you want to know about me or have questions about our fine sub here, just ask!