William E. Flippin Jr. shares his ‘My LSTC story’

Although my father and maternal grandfather were preachers, I never thought I would be. My vocational goal was to be a public defender and Baptist deacon.

I felt the call to ministry before my senior year at Morehouse College, but resisted. I ran as far away as I could—to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, on a Peace Corps internship, believing that building water latrines in a remote village would satisfy the calling I was wrestling with.

But I left the internship early and enrolled in seminary. The urban context of LSTC and the emphasis of engagement in such an ecumenical laboratory as Chicago in the setting of Hyde Park made the decision quite easy.

“My goal and hope for Public Church Fellows is continuing the training of public theologians and urban practitioners who can be the headlights of social change and praxis.”

William is pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Atlanta, Ga.