What is this?
I'm consolidating information about myself that calling churches, pastor nominating commitees, committees on ministry, or executive presbyters in the PC(USA) might be interested in while considering whether I might be called to serve God in their context.
Why is this?
The Pastor Information Form in the PC(USA)'s jobs database allows for more information via hyperlinks. I am consildating all that information in one place to make it simple.
We've considered and we're interested--how do we contact you?
My contact information is available in my PIF. Go to the PC(USA) Church Leadership Connection and look me up as PIF ID# 100030903.
Who is this?
I am Chas Gowing. I received my Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology in May of 2020. I spent the Fall of 2020 as a CPE intern in the Emory University Hospital. I am now a candidate for ministry in the PC(USA), "Certified Ready to Receive a Call," and searching for a congregation with whom I can pursue God's work and God's glory. I am a cradle Presbyterian. While this is a second career for me, it is a continuation of my first and lifelong call as part of the priesthood of all believers. See also my one page bigraphical sketch.
Do you have interests and hobbies apart from church? Family?
Music has always been a part of my life. I sang in the children's choir, played clarinet in elementary-, middle-, and high-school. I tried Baritone Saxophone in the college jazz band. I have played guitar since middle-school youth group. I sang in the church choir until Mary and I had kids. Now I play upright bass in bluegrass bands and jams. To be totally honest, except for jazz, performing music has always meant more to me than listening to it. Many great pieces of choral music have stuck with me, and participating in worship leadership has meant a great deal to me. Performing music meets both intellectual and emotional needs of all sorts.
I took a contemporary American poetry class and fell in love with many of those poets. Since I don't intentionally indulge in poetry regularly, I would call it an interest more than a hobby. I love Wallace Stevens and Richard Wilbur and Anne Sexton and Robert Hayden and Elizabeth Bishop and Erica Dawson and many many more. I've recently been re-reading poets of the Harlem Rennaisance.
I love puzzles and games. I particularly like manipulative puzzles of the bent-nail variety that involve doing things with my hands in a spatial way, though I also like logic puzzles, cryptography, word puzzles and crosswords. I enjoy chess (even when I lose). I like games, but not board games as much as role playing games. I have played a Dungeons and Dragons variant called Pathfinder Society.
I was an Eagle Scout and enjoy camping and hiking, though in recent years, my lower back has given me trouble. I would much rather be under the canopy in the forests than at any beach. I enjoy lashing and knot tying and all those woodsy skills that go along with camping.
My wife of 31 years is my best friend. We have two grown-and-adulting children. One has married into a son, so we're grandparents, too.
Do you have any old blogs?
Years ago I tried setting up a few Blogs. There's not much here, but I've preserved them for posterity:
- PreparePage was an experiment. There are only four short devotional-style posts here.
- PreparePageNews was meta info about the PreparePage blog.
