{"id":6286,"date":"2013-04-02T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/?p=6286"},"modified":"2013-04-01T21:32:58","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T04:32:58","slug":"interview-kings-river-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will check it out. \u00a0A big thanks to Lorie Lewis Ham<\/a> for interviewing me\u2026 a huge honor! Here\u2019s an excerpt and I encourage you to read the rest of it (and all the other great content) at Kings River Life Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Lorie: Can you give us a brief over view of your background?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt:<\/strong>\u00a0I was born in Reedley, CA and raised in the Dinuba\/Kingsburg area. I went to Lincoln and Grandview Elementary Schools and Immanuel Jr\/High School. My home church is Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church.<\/p>\n

Lorie: How and when did you first feel called into the ministry?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt:<\/strong>\u00a0After flirting with a bit of lifestyle choices that didn\u2019t line up with the Way of Jesus, I had a \u201cturn around\u201d experience on a mission trip to Mexico during the Spring Break of my sophomore year. Must have demonstrated a real change because that summer I was invited by my youth pastor to do my first act of ministry: counseling kids at summer camp. This experience made it clear that I enjoyed serving. Then, a couple of weeks later, I went to Hartland Camp as a \u201ccamper.\u201d On the final night, I had a clear experience with God where I sensed a call to vocational Christian ministry. It was a night filled with tears of joy, visions, and affirmation. My life direction has never been the same. God continues to affirm this call, even through some difficulties in the journey.<\/p>\n

Lorie: How\/when did you get involved in blogging?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt:<\/strong>I fell into blogging. I literally didn\u2019t even know that \u201cblogging\u201d was a big thing. In 2008, shortly after beginning my seminary studies (Fresno Pacific), a friend told me that \u201canybody who\u2019s anybody writes a blog\u2026my dad just started one\u2026you should start a blog!\u201d Well, I didn\u2019t take it too seriously and started out by copy\/pasting seminary papers and using them as blogs. Eventually it took off, even after several significant breaks in writing (sometimes up to six months). I\u2019m so blessed to have a platform for sharing my ideas with folks around the world and learning from so many of them through the dialogue the blog creates.<\/p>\n

Lorie: Who would you consider your biggest influences theology wise?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt:<\/strong>I would say that I have several theological influences. But, I can narrow that group to a few (for the sake of brevity). My greatest influence is N.T. Wright. His understanding of the New Testament as rooted in a specific historical context and his emphasis on the Christian hope as \u201cnew creation\u201d rather than ending in some disembodied place in the sky called \u201cheaven\u201d changed my life. The final hope of all things is the bringing of heaven to earth when Christ returns to resurrect, judge, purge, and restore creation to its intended glory. The Bible often calls this \u201cnew creation\u201d or \u201cnew heavens and new earth.\u201d The ramifications of this are huge (but, I will leave the readers to explore this rather than get too into preacher mode). I would also add Greg Boyd to the list. He has been a great encouragement as I\u2019ve embraced my Anabaptist roots of radical enemy love, social justice, nonviolence, and the subversion of empire. He has also given me the courage to remain thoroughly committed to charismatic spirituality and orthodox Christian faith. Add to this list: Richard Hays, Peter Enns, Walter Wink, Mark Baker, Tim Geddert, Walter Brueggemann, John Howard Yoder, and an endless list of others.<\/p>\n

Lorie: Any plans for a book?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kurt:<\/strong>Yes. This has been a long journey. At the moment, I\u2019m waiting to hear back from several publishers about my book proposal. I\u2019m hoping for some good news in the next several weeks. It will be based on many of the \u201cbig themes\u201d on my blog. Regular readers will not be surprised when I finally leak the theme of this book. I can\u2019t wait!<\/p>\n

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW AT KINGS RIVER LIFE MAGAZINE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will check it out. \u00a0A big thanks to Lorie Lewis Ham for interviewing me\u2026 a huge honor! Here\u2019s an excerpt and I encourage you to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pangea Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/kurtwillems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-02T13:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-02T04:32:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kurt Willems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kurtwillems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kurt Willems\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/\",\"name\":\"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-02T13:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-02T04:32:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/ea663ed0aee4001add7b994865d3fc6b\"},\"description\":\"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/\",\"name\":\"The Pangea Blog\",\"description\":\"Kurt Willems' Blog at Patheos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/ea663ed0aee4001add7b994865d3fc6b\",\"name\":\"Kurt Willems\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa14bf226877b601bf31497c397d615a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa14bf226877b601bf31497c397d615a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kurt Willems\"},\"description\":\"Kurt Willems\u00a0(M.Div.,\u00a0Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary)\u00a0is the founding lead pastor of\u00a0Pangea Church in Seattle. He is also the curator of The Paulcast: A Podcast All About the Apostle Paul which has been featured on iTunes as \u201cnew and noteworthy.\u201d Kurt is a graduate student at the University of Washington focusing on early Christianity, Greco-Roman Religions, and Classical Languages. He writes for various print and online publications including his site\u00a0The Pangea Blog\u00a0and is also on\u00a0Twitter,\u00a0Facebook, and\u00a0Google+.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/\",\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/kurtwillems\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kurtwillems\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/author\/kurtwillems\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)","description":"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)","og_description":"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/","og_site_name":"The Pangea Blog","article_author":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/kurtwillems","article_published_time":"2013-04-02T13:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-04-02T04:32:58+00:00","author":"Kurt Willems","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@kurtwillems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kurt Willems","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/","name":"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-02T13:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-02T04:32:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/ea663ed0aee4001add7b994865d3fc6b"},"description":"What I share below is part of an interview with a local web magazine from where I grew up. I share about my life, passions, and future. I hope you will","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/2013\/04\/02\/interview-kings-river-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The past, present, and future of Kurt Willems (Comprehensive Enough???)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/","name":"The Pangea Blog","description":"Kurt Willems' Blog at Patheos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/ea663ed0aee4001add7b994865d3fc6b","name":"Kurt Willems","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa14bf226877b601bf31497c397d615a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa14bf226877b601bf31497c397d615a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kurt Willems"},"description":"Kurt Willems\u00a0(M.Div.,\u00a0Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary)\u00a0is the founding lead pastor of\u00a0Pangea Church in Seattle. He is also the curator of The Paulcast: A Podcast All About the Apostle Paul which has been featured on iTunes as \u201cnew and noteworthy.\u201d Kurt is a graduate student at the University of Washington focusing on early Christianity, Greco-Roman Religions, and Classical Languages. He writes for various print and online publications including his site\u00a0The Pangea Blog\u00a0and is also on\u00a0Twitter,\u00a0Facebook, and\u00a0Google+.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/","http:\/\/facebook.com\/kurtwillems","https:\/\/twitter.com\/kurtwillems"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/author\/kurtwillems\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepangeablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}