EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT BOB BAUMAN*

*(BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK)

Bios are interesting things. People want to try and figure out who you are based on what you do. I can tell you that I just finished three and a half years as the Senior Minister at Community Church Congregational in Corona Del Mar, California, and prior to my time out west, I had the honor of spending twenty-eight years with some great congregations in North Carolina – serving as Senior Minister at Edenton Street UMC in Raleigh, Wrightsville UMC in Wrightsville Beach and Grace UMC in Wilmington – as well as serving as District Superintendent for the Harbor District. All the above comprises the vocational competency piece.

What I’d rather tell you, though, is that I endeavor every day to find ways to stay connected to the Vine (John 15) and to be a bearer of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). Every day, I pray the prayer of Samuel: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,’ and I try to pay attention to what I hear. Frederick Buechner, Barbara Brown Taylor, Bob Goff, Donald Miller, Anne Lamott, River Jordan, and Jan Richardson are a few of my literary and spiritual North Stars. I look forward to reading them with you.

I have three adult children and two exceptionally-handsome grandsons who favor me in dashing good looks. winsome personality and humility. I am an above-average bowler, a below-average golfer, an accelerated reader, a fan of driving who loves the accelerator and not the brake, and I love to write. In a past life, I loved southern sweet tea and Sonny’s BBQ; now, in a healthier-but-not-nearly-as-tasty edition of the Bauman Chronicles, I am a connoisseur of Milo’s Zero Calorie Sweet Tea and Atkins Chocolate Break bars.