One Small Step

I have been flooded with memories since hearing of the death of Neil Armstrong this weekend. I so vividly remember the first moonwalk, when I heard for the first time the words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” These words, along with his very name, are now etched in the annals of history. The experience defined a generation and spoke a pervasive word to humanity.

To remember the first walk on the moon, you have to be about my age or older. I was four! My mother sat me down in front of the old black and white TV with the rabbit ear antennas and said, “Stephen, you need to watch this, it’s a day you will always remember.” I certainly do, and I remember it vividly.

I am humored by memories of our housekeeper, who came in and told me it was all a hoax, that it wasn’t real, just like the radio show about Martians had been fake (when I got older, I realized she was talking about the infamous “War of the Worlds”). I was confused, but my parents told me later that yes, it was indeed true, and I had been watching history in the making.

Throughout my life, my mind has floated back to that day in front of the television watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. When so often our lives are defined by our limitations (our abilities or lack thereof, our circumstances, our decisions), the first moonwalk reminds me that there is another way to look at life. Life is defined by our infinite possibilities.

What step are you called to take? Wherever you are in your life, one small step might lead to your own spiritual moonwalk on a whole new world of possibilities. It takes one small step to embark on this new path, this new walk, this new adventure.

Are you willing to take it? Perhaps you have spent much time and energy preparing to take that one step, and you know very well what it is but you are caught in fear. Or perhaps God has not shown you what step it is that you might be called to take. Wherever you are in life, I pray that you might have both clarity and courage to step off the ladder.

"We walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7

It's Not Enough to Be Honest

We value honesty, and rightly so. It's a pretty good thing.

But I'm fascinated that though the scriptures compel us to speak the truth (after all, "bearing false witness" made it to the top ten "no no's"), speaking the truth is not just about being honest. Not really. 

You can learn a lot not only by what's in the scripture, but by what's NOT. Here's the astounding thing. When Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Ephesians, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control," honesty is conspicuously not included. Why? It's not enough to be honest.

I'm going to say something radical, perhaps even controversial. Honesty is not a uniquely Christian value.

I'm certainly not encouraging you to lie. George Burns said, "You've got to be honest; if you can fake that, you've got it made!" I'm not suggesting you be dishonest, but I am saying it is not ENOUGH to be honest.

Maybe we should watch out when we find ourselves saying "I'm just being honest!" Do we hear what we say? JUST being honest? If we are only being honest, we haven't gone far enough.

The call of the gospel is not to speak the truth ... period, end of sentence. The call is to speak the truth in LOVE. That's a bigger commitment than just being honest.

In Ephesians 4, where Paul writes of our call to speak the truth in love, he begins "I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling ... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Honestly, how can we ever be brutally honest?

Season your speech with salt. Spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere you go. Speak the truth, and often a deeply profound truth. But always speak the truth in love.

Meditation on My Broken Gourd Instrument

This morning, during my morning prayer, I felt an unexpected urge to spend time with my broken  gourd instrument. I didn't know why, really. It has sat on my shelf for a whole year, ever since I broke it moving here from my last ministry appointment.

A couple of times over the year, I have rummaged through my desk to find superglue, only to squeeze the tube and have nothing come out. Rather than fool with it further, I had tossed the glue back in my drawer and gone on with life. So there the gourd sat.

It's a beautiful, fully rounded brown gourd shaker that was a gift for use as hand percussion at the Academy and other worship experiences I lead. It's also in my study just for fun! It's from Cameroon. I can shake, thump, or rub it to make different sounds. People who look around in my study often reach for it, it's a natural hand magnet. I have missed shaking my gourd, but still it has sat there all year in two pieces, laying bare its brokenness.

But today, I was drawn to my broken gourd. I went to my desk and found the superglue again, and once again I routinely squeezed it and remembered I had been through this before. But this time, I did not give up so easily. I examined the glue, taking the top off. To my surprise, I found the reason glue had not been forthcoming is that I had not punctured the necessary opening in the first place. You know how it works, one has to take the top off and use the pointed end to get the whole thing started.

I thought, "really?" What does that say that it has taken me a year?

I mended my wonderful gourd and laid it on my small altar on the corner of my desk altar by the candle. And I meditated about my own journey of spiritual healing and the healing so many others desperately need in a world of distrust, competition, and unhealthy dynamics. How often do we lay in our brokenness when healing is so readily available? How often have I let something lie that needed mending, getting accustomed to seeing it in pieces rather than pursue the grace God has for me so closeby? How often have I just gotten so used to things being broken that I don't notice?

I think God has given each of us just what we need to find wholeness again. But we don't always approach the gift creatively. We rummage through the drawer looking for hope, some scripture or prayer or holy place, some relationship or conversation or means of grace ... but we throw it back when we find it doesn't work fast enough or without a little more effort. We get comfortable with leaving things broken and laying around, whether they are outer relationships or inner rhythms. And so we don't make the music we would love to make with life.

I'm glad I listened to the Spirit's nudge and glued my gourd today. And I'm glad it formed some great morning prayer time. I look forward to shaking things up now that I've got it together.

Don't Ask Yourself What the World Needs

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do it, because the world needs more people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

This week, I am living with this powerful quote in my heart and spirit from Christian spiritualist Howard Thurman, pictured to the left.

In today's culture of consumerism ("I am what I can have"), functionalism ("I am what I do") and rugged individualism ("I am whoever I want to be"), it is so counter-cultural to truly live with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in me. I have also spent so much of my life and energy doing, accomplishing, achieving, and building. Even in Christian work, which I have committed my life to, I can become lost in a swirl of getting it done.

During the second half of my life, I'm entering the journey of rediscovering what makes me come alive. I want to live from my center and be who God crafted me to be!

Lord Jesus, help me to let go of everything I want to do, and seek to let your life come alive in me. Let my doing flow freely from my being.

Update of My "Crowd of Witnesses"

I don't know why I've been so blessed with passionate and faithful preaching blood. Most of the 30 pastors on my family tree (yes, that's right, 30, and that doesn't count the ones that are still alive!) are Methodist though there are those of other faith traditions as well.


It's deep in my bones to love sharing the gospel. After a couple of years of continued research, I have updated my "Crowd of Witnesses" including those pastors that are on my family tree.


I keep this list handy in my Bible and look over it when I need encouragement or when my spirit is nourished by feeling grounded in their spirits.

Steve’s “Crowd” of Witnesses

Some of the communion of saints surrounding Stephen Pierce West.

They are pastors I am related to.

Rev. Isaac Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider in Alabama, Mississippi, 3^rd Great Grandfather on Hamby side, accused of murdering wife, name cleared when found she had left him and children for Texas

Rev. Harris Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider, 3^rd Great Grand Uncle on Hamby side, story of shaft of light appearing on grave at funeral

Rev. William Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider, 3^rd Great Grand Uncle on Hamby side, founder of Taylor Memorial UMC with prominent gravestone

Rev. Nathaniel Henderson Self

1st cousin 4x removed (descended from Isaac's sister Catherine), Methodist pastor

Rev. Gordon Ware

Cousin on Granny Hamby’s Taylor side, Methodist pastor, my Candidacy Mentor when I didn’t know we were related (had dinner several times)

Rev. William Blackburn

Husband of 1^st cousin 4x removed, Methodist pastor, married Isaac Taylor’s niece after clearing his name

Rev. William Thomas HambyGreat Grand Uncle, brother of Grandpa Charles P. Hamby, Methodist pastor

Rev. Gene Malcolm “Mack” Hamby

1^st cousin once removed on Mom’s side, Methodist pastor and evangelist who traveled world

Rev. Charlie P. Hamby, Sr.

Grandfather on mother’s side, Methodist pastor and “pistol packing” evangelist, husband of poet and painter Louie Ann Williams

Rev. Warren Hamby, Sr.

Uncle, Methodist pastor, brother of my mom, pastor of Trinity UMC in Huntsvilleand Gallaway Memorial in Jackson, after being a DS he raised local church capital funds with GBGM

Rev. J. Pierce West, Sr.

Grandfather on father’s side, Methodist pastor who died when I was 4, descended from Garrisons on his grandmother’s Hagood side

Rev. Thomas Maxwell

Early American Anglican-turned-Baptist pastor, ancestor of Dad’s mother, persecuted and jailed, defended by Patrick Henry, historical figure

Rev. Charles Higginbotham

7th great grandfather, first missionary to Barbados, ancestor of Jane Higginbotham Maxwell, Gene Maxwell's grandmother

Rev. Robert Hill Thompson

1st cousin 4x removed, grandson of ancestor Joseph Robert Thompson of the Thompsons and Wills buried at Midway UMC

Rev. Jedediah Garrison

5^th Great Grandfather, helped found the Mt. Pleasant society in Georgia, revolutionary war soldier, ordained deacon with a number of pastor descendants

Rev. Levi Garrison

4^th Great Grandfather, ancestor of Dad’s father, early American Methodist pastor in SC, son of the older Jedediah

Rev. David Garrison

4^th Great Grand Uncle, brother of Levi and son of Jedediah, ordained by Frances Asbury, pastor in GA

Rev. Thomas Coke Prickett

Husband of 2^nd cousin 4x removed, married Louisa E. Garrison, daughter of direct ancestors Levi and Nancy Garrison, twin of Rev. Asbury Pope Prickett

Rev. Asbury Pope Prickett

Brother of husband of 2^nd cousin 5x removed, twin brother of Rev. Thomas Coke Prickett above

Rev. Jedediah Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, grandson of Jedediah through Caleb Capias Garrison, buried Damascas Road near Mt. Pleasant

Rev. Michael Box Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, grandson of Jedediah and son of Caleb Capias also,trustee Mt. Pleasant

Rev. Thomas Wesley Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, also grandson of Jedediah but through James Caleb Garrison, founded Wesley Chapel in Cobb Co. and donated the 4.5 acres of land for it and the school, Civil War

Rev. Levi B. Garrison

1^st Cousin 5x removed, son of David (nephew of my ancestor Levi), Methodist local pastor in GA

Rev. Levi Garrison

2^nd Cousin 5x removed, cousin of my ancestor Levi Garrison and child of Jedediah’s brother or half-brother Ebenezer, Methodist pastor, opposed slavery, freed 12 slaves from wife’s dowry once they married

Rev. David Garrison

2^nd Cousin 5x removed, cousin of my ancestor Levi Garrison, also son of Ebenezer, Methodist pastor, disagreed with brother Levi over slavery, started Corner Greek Church near Dothan, AL

Rev. Jedediah Asbury Meaders

1^st Cousin 5x removed, nephew of my ancestor Levi, Methodist pastor in GA, farmer and wagon shop owner

Rev. Andrew Jackson “Bud” Latham

Married to 2^nd Cousin 4x removed, private and ambulance driver in Civil War, Methodist pastor in GA

Rev. Jeremiah Winster

Father-in-law of 3rd great grand uncle Henry Garrison (painter, confederate private), London

Rev. Jim McKay

Uncle who was licensed as a local pastor and served for a short time, from Guin,AL

Rev. Howard Erwin

Uncle who was licensed as a local pastor and served the Philadelphia church inGuin, AL

Living relatives that will join the crowd one day are Rev. C.P. Hamby (uncle), Rev. Ed Self (cousin on Taylor side), Rev. J.P. “Pete” West, Jr. (father), Jonathan Todd (husband of Williams cousin, Susan), and my beloved wife, Rev. Sandra O’Quinn West. My wife has ancestry in the clergy, too, including her 3^rd great grandfather, John G. Jones, Mississippi church historian.

Shaped by Andy Griffith

Last week, one of my heroes died. I know it’s unusual for me to comment on entertainment on my blog. But Andy Griffith has shaped a generation of people who, in the midst of social change, longed for a solid rock of values and a sense of being at home in our world. It’s not that I want to go backward into “the good old days” with nostalgic sentiment. I don’t believe in moving backward. But as we move forward, Andy has always reminded me to claim what’s truly good and important.

I was born in the middle of the years “The Andy Griffith Show” was airing, so most of my memories are of watching reruns after school. I can’t say I’ve been an Andy Griffith nut (I don’t own the episodes and definitely haven’t seen them all), but at the same time I am grateful that he is one of the influences that shaped me. I love the comedy, the warmth, and the wholesome themes of what it means to be family and to be a responsible part of your community. Who can forget Barney’s craziness, and all the other characters and their idiosyncrasies? I’ve seen the lakehouse on Logan Martin that once belonged to Jim “Gomer” Nabors. Rarely does a month go by without some fleeting reference to an episode in a conversation with a friend or parishioner.

I believe all of us are shaped in life. My spirituality has embraced the truth that I am shaped and formed not only by the Bible and worship, but by how and with whom I spend my time. Spirituality is not divorced, somehow, from regular life and relegated only to what happens on Sunday or during morning prayer time. So I’m glad that for at least part of my life, Andy Griffith was part of that shaping.

I believe that all people are spiritual beings, shaped by the influences they give themselves to. Even the most profound atheist is actually on a spiritual journey, whether he or she knows it. Sometimes anger with or disbelief in God is not the opposite of relationship with God, it’s just the chosen stance within that relationship. Thankfully, God’s side of the relationship is always one of grace. A life of spiritual maturity is one that integrates all the shaping influences into one whole, one sense of who we really are and what it means to follow God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. I’m glad I let myself be shaped by Andy Griffith.

Earlier this year, Andy’s companion George “Goober” Lindsey from right here in Jasper, Alabama, also died. In light of these deaths, I’m feeling led to have a bit of fun for my Pastor’s Study during Wonderful Wednesdays this Fall. I’ll do my rendition of the “Andy Griffith Bible Study” that has been a rave among churches and small groups for the past several years. We’ll watch a 27 minute episode and have a 45 minute Bible study. I’ll even tweak the study materials I have seen online for more depth.

Sunday, I got a Facebook message from a friend in church, who said I really nailed my sermon, and “That's one subject you just can't talk enough about: sin.” He and I have talked about good old Andy. I knew immediately the episode, “The Sermon for Today,” he was quoting (Barney really hadn’t heard the sermon but was making something up to say to the preacher after church). Thanks for the laugh. And thanks, Barney and Andy and the gang, for being part of my life.

My Fourth Great Grandfather's Fight for Freedom of Religion

As we approach Independence Day, I share a story from my family heritage that I told on Sunday. I hope it bears repeating. Six of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. One of them also made a mark on our religious history. My fourth great grandfather was Rev. Thomas Maxwell. Though I have multiple Methodist circuit riders in my family background, it is the Baptist preacher who made it into the history books!

After Thomas Maxwell fought in the Revolutionary War, he began preaching the Baptist faith he believed. He was imprisoned for this, since his teaching did not reflect orthodox Anglican beliefs. The story goes that he continued to preach through the bars of the prison, so that his protruding nose was rubbed raw. Patrick Henry defended his religious liberty and sought his release. In time, Patrick Henry went on to support and help shape the writing of the first amendment, guaranteeing freedom of religion.

Just imagine for a moment the period of time, after the Revolutionary War was over, when the persecuted became persecutors. So my fourth great grandfather was part of the movement to truly claim freedom of religion. His persecution became a catalyst. It spoke of something that we’ve had to say many times, whether the issue was slavery, child labor, women’s rights to vote, or the civil rights movement. His persecution said “wait a minute, do we believe in freedom, or not?”

Sometimes I get frustrated with American religion, with all the completing groups and independent churches, the crazies on TV, watered down Christianity that resembles self-help, and theological challenges to Biblical faith such as fundamentalism, unbridled Pentecostalism, and prosperity teaching. We also live in a time when dialogue with other religions has been rendered difficult because of politics and world events. But whenever I get frustrated, I remember my fourth great grandfather. I remember that if we value freedom of religious expression, we have to trust that the truth will work itself out in God’s time.

This Wednesday, I encourage you to celebrate the two essential freedoms our nation was founded on: Freedom from tyranny of foreign rule and freedom for religious expression. Let’s not confuse these essential freedoms with other things we so easily call freedom, for the essential nature of what it means to be human is not that we are independent individuals, free agents who can do whatever we want with no rules or social responsibility. Rugged individualism goes against the grain of our core identity as part of the body of Christ, and our Christian identity must trump any manufactured concept of patriotic identity. Freedom has never meant everybody is on their own, with no regard for our neighbor. For Americans, it has always meant we are free to take responsibility for our own destiny as a nation and free to follow God however we feel led.

My father's mother was Doris Maxwell West, daughter of the Maxwells of Gainesville, Georgia, descendants of Rev. Thomas Maxwell.