Who We Are
David and Sarah are a married couple with two young children (Miss Bee and Queen Bee). Their family lives on the West Coast of the USA in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area with a hamster, a cat, and a cat-who-thinks-he’s-a-dog. Sarah is a stay-at-home mom and David is a go-to-work daddy.
The Purpose of the Blog
We’ve been in numerous situations where church leadership acted in ways that disqualified them from leadership and yet were allowed to continue in their roles without repercussions. We have both personally experienced hurt and seen others hurt by such action (and inaction on the part of those theoretically holding leaders accountable).
When we look at Isaiah 58, the inspiration for the theme “Why Have We Fasted,” we see that the whole community has a problem. So this blog is our way of being a voice calling in the desert. And, as our tagline references Micah 7:7, we do so in hope. We intend for this blog to be both an examination of what is going wrong and a sounding board for how we can do better as a church. Our driving motivation is to keep other people from being harmed, both those in the pews and those on staff.
Why “Why Have We Fasted”
Because “Unqualified” was already taken as a domain name.
Our Credentials
On the one hand, we don’t like to flout our credentials, because the only things a believer needs to speak biblical truth in a situation are a willing heart, an open mind, and the workings of the Holy Spirit. But to those who need to see our credentials before listening to us, they are as follows.
David has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and is a solutions architect for a technology company, finding technology solutions to organizational problems. He also has a Masters of Divinity degree from a well respected seminary. He served for two years as bi-vocational pastor at a small Southern Baptist church before he was on the receiving end of a church split. So we approach this with a certain amount of empathy for pastors and church leadership.
Prior to becoming a stay-at-home-mom, Sarah worked at a community college. She actively served there on the College Strategic Planning Committee, on the college’s Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness Committee, and as co-chair of a writing team for the college’s self-study when they underwent the re-accreditation process. In addition, she has a Bachelor’s degree in history, as well as two years each of college-level Greek and Latin. While by no means an organizational psychologist, she is no stranger to research (and source citation) or how large entities can be run.
Who’s Wild Honey?
If you arrived here from a commenter on another blog named “Wild Honey…” In 2007, a friend asked Sarah what a good name would be for a blog dedicated to encouraging new pastors. At the time at church, they were going through a series on the book of Mark, and she was drawn to the image of John the Baptist being sustained in the wilderness by locusts and wild honey. Wild Honey sounded more appealing than locusts. When Sarah started commenting on other blogs (anonymously, because she was asking advice about awkward church situations at the time), she choose this name.