I am an ordained minister and certified secondary teacher currently working as Minister to College at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Before this, I worked as a missionary and teacher at Black Forest Academy, an international school for missionary kids located in southwest Germany. Through it all, I continue to submit to the call to ministry through writing as well.
I have been blogging for seven years, beginning with sites on Xanga and Blogger before transitioning a few years ago to WordPress. I am avidly engaged in the craft of writing, and most of the time I spend writing is not on my blog but rather hard at work on various short stories, preparing them for submission. However, Wonderstuff has been an outlet like no other for me over the past half decade. It is here that I have found complete freedom to expound, without any pretense, upon the ideas and issues, situations and struggles, that I have experienced in my life. While I try my best to keep my posts approachable and straight-forward, I am committed to allowing my honesty to bear forth. Gerard Manley Hopkins famously wrote, “Christ plays in ten thousand places,” and I interpret this to mean that there is the stuff of wonder – of beauty and struggle and redemption – all around us, in the natural creation to the little creations of us humans. Life is sacramental, infused with the mystery of the Holy, and I only hope I can honor it well on this blog. So, as the simple prayer goes, “Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder…”
I am always willing to continue in the Great Conversation with anyone who is interested. Please leave a comment on the blog or contact me by e-mail - bovernon@me.com
GETTING TO KNOW A LITTLE MORE ABOUT ME
Top 20 Favorite Movies… Wonder Boys, Dead Poets Society, The Insider, The Lord of the Rings, The Village, Jurassic Park, Field of Dreams, Ride With the Devil, O Brother Where Art Thou, Garden State, There Will Be Blood, Fargo, Munich, Magnolia, The Hurt Locker, the Harry Potter films, Glory, Stranger than Fiction, the Back to the Future trilogy, Jaws
Top 20 Fiction Books… Gilead, The Brothers K, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Road, the Harry Potter series, The Complete Stories (Flannery O’Connor), The Power and the Glory, The Moviegoer, The Lord of the Rings, In the Loyal Mountains, Peace Like a River, Where the Sea Used to Be, Wonder Boys, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Home, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Oath, Free Bird, Close Range, the Dark Tower series
Top 10 Non-Fiction Books… The Ragamuffin Gospel, Wishful Thinking: A Doubter’s Dictionary, Home: The World as Best as I Remember It, Blue Like Jazz, The Seven-Storey Mountain, Crossing Myself, Everything Belongs, How the Irish Saved Civilization, I Asked for Wonder, Traveling Mercies
Top 15 Contemporary Writers… Frederick Buechner, Rich Mullins, Rick Bass, Brennan Manning, David James Duncan, Marilynne Robinson, Anne Lamott, Greg Garrett, Stephen King, Michael Chabon, Thomas Cahill, Cormac McCarthy, J.K. Rowling, E. Annie Proulx, Scott Cairns
Top 10 Classic Writers… Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Merton, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, George MacDonald, Karl Barth
Top 20 Musicians/Songwriters/Bands… Bill Mallonee, Rich Mullins, Andrew Peterson, David Wilcox, Patty Griffin, Pierce Pettis, Five Iron Frenzy, Switchfoot, Over the Rhine, Son Volt, Stephen Delopolous, Iron and Wine, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Amos Lee, Derek Webb, The Avett Brothers, Satellite Soul, Nickel Creek, Mumford and Sons, The Civil Wars
Top 5 Songs… “Parting Shot” by Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love, “You Move Me” by Susan Ashton (written by Pierce Pettis), “Hands in the Air” by The Waiting, “Canaan Bound“ by Andrew Peterson, “Single Moment” by Satellite Soul
Top 5 T.V. Shows… Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Community, Parks and Recreation, Game of Thrones
Top 5 T.V. Shows of Yesteryear… Seinfeld, Ed, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing, Arrested Development
Top 10 Things to Do When I’m Not Doing This… Work on a short story, read, hang out with my wife and daughter, watch movies, discuss theological and spiritual issues, play soccer, exercise, eat, nap, sit in silence
Top 10 Random Things… Red Sox baseball, stand-up comedy, European football, monasteries, road trips, overcast/windy/cold days, things that are deep-fried, staying up late, Dr Pepper, Ireland
updated April 2012
I am an ordained minister, teacher and writer who's been blogging almost seven years.
March 29th, 2010 at 6:33 PM
I just came across your blog through some tag surfing and I really liked your post on “The Sin of Christianity” and you hit it right on the money. I browsed here for a little bit and I really like what I see. I will be visiting again I am sure.
January 4th, 2012 at 1:09 AM
Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
January 4th, 2012 at 6:17 PM
I like this post, enjoyed this one thankyou for posting .