When I was married in 2007, my father read Matthew 6:21 during the ceremony: “Where your treasure is there your heart shall be also.” In the Moravian tradition, Scripture texts are often assigned at major life events as a watchword, functioning something like a touchstone. And so, I think that Matthew 6:21 is a good lens to view my life. As much as we like to say that we have faith, it is probably more true to say that our faith has us. In other words, we are treasured.
I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina as a pastor’s son. I was nurtured by this church and have felt at home there for as long as I can remember. When I was starting the sixth grade, my mother went back to school full-time to earn her graduate degree. Overnight, life changed dramatically for my younger brother and me, but the value of education was indelibly pressed upon us. I learned that education was a treasure.
I began my career in youth ministry. I have since earned two graduate degrees from my desire to deepen my theological understanding and assume more leadership responsibility; but I have maintained a love for cultivating pastoral relationships that I initially discovered while working with teenagers. I now serve as pastor for a fascinating group of people who live in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. New Dublin Presbyterian Church is made up of farmers and policemen, college professors and public school science teachers; we have Republicans and Democrats, wealthy retirees and young couples who are just starting out. Treasure, then, takes on many different meanings and it is a joy to explore these matters of the heart with people of faith through preaching, teaching, and prayer.
I hope you will explore these treasures with me in Take My Hand: A Theological Memoir. It was a joy to write and continues to be life-giving for me. I am grateful that you have come across this website and hope that you would share something of your journey with me.
Publications
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology: Book review of Becoming the Pastor you Hope to Be: Four Practices for Improving Ministry
Thesis, University of Virginia (2011) - Waiting for good and waiting for justice; reading the Epistle of James alongside David Walker’s, Appeal
Guest blog for Bruce Reyes-Chow: http://reyes-chow.com/2012/02/guest-blogger-andrew-taylor-troutman-sabbath-refreshments/
Between Text and Sermon, “Nehemiah 8:1-12.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (coming January 2013).
The Presbyterian Outlook: “Hearing Silent Voices” (October 2006), “Whom Shall I Send to New Orleans” (March 2007), “No Split Pea Soup for Church” (February 2008), “Ruach” (November 2008)
Join the Feast: Union-PSCE’s Online Lectionary Exegetical and Commentary Series: founder and general editor, 2008 – 2009; “I John 3:1 – 7” (April 26th, 2009), “Psalm 51” (August 2nd, 2009)
Next Journal: Volume IV: “Jump at De Sun! A reading of the Book of Ruth alongside a womanist reading of Zora Neale Hurston” (Spring, 2011)
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology: Book review of Claiming Abraham: Reading the Bible and the Qur’an Side by Side
Links
New Dublin Presbyterian Church: www.newdublinpres.org