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Pastor Lisa Petty finds God in dive bars
Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Lisa Perry
First United Methodist Church of Escondido
Contact: 341 S. Kalmia St, Escondido 760-745-5100 www.fumcescondido.org
Membership: 500 (Attendance: 250)
Pastor: Lisa Petty
Age: 45
Born: Poway
Formation: California State University-Fullerton; Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO
Years Ordained: 10
San Diego Reader: Why did you become a minister?
Pastor Lisa Petty: I’m a fourth-generation United Methodist pastor. Initially, that’s what called me. My father and grandfather were ordained in the United Methodist Church, and my great-grandmother was one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Church. But also I felt it was a calling from God, not feeling fulfilled doing anything else in life but ministry… After I finished my master of divinity degree, I thought maybe I could do ministry as a side gig. But I had a moment where I sat in the sanctuary of Breckenridge United Methodist Church in Colorado and asked God: Are you going to sustain me and fulfill me? Are you going to be on this journey with me? I needed to know I wasn’t going to walk this road alone. Very clearly, a voice said, “I am.” At that moment, I thought, yes, this is the great I AM. God. From there on, I was 100 percent here.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PP: To live out Christ’s love in our community. We do that through mission, community outreach, Bible study, serving lunches to underserved populations — lots of ways. We’re called into community by various commandments by God. Love God and love your neighbor. You can boil down all the commandments down to those two.
SDR: What one book has had an important influence on your ministry?
PP: Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans. The author relates things that others have experienced being hurt from the church… It helped me recognize others who have had these experiences.
SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?
PP: I have found God several times in dive bars. Dive bars are my favorite. I have a full slate of tattoos and I can sit down at any bar and have anyone ask me about them. It allows me to share what I do, and people are surprised about it. Then I have lovely conversations about God’s grace in people’s lives, which they didn’t know they needed to hear about—and I also found that I didn’t know that I needed to hear their story. It’s a beautiful thing.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PP: I don’t think heaven is a place, but a timeframe after this. I hope that we get to be with God, and I don’t know or care what that looks like, or care about being reunited with loved ones. My deepest hope is that when I am done with this physical body, my spirit will remain with the divine in a way that nothing else will matter. The Methodist Church does believe in a hell, but what they believe about it not so clear. I struggle with the concept of hell insofar as we are given choice. But I believe God can reconcile everyone through God. I also don’t know what it looks like if you choose not to be reconciled. I don’t know that God forces us to reconcile with God, but my hope is that God has a way to reconcile with us in our deepest, darkest despair and death. Because we want deeply to be reconciled with God, there is no need for hell.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Pastor Lisa Petty finds God in dive bars
Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Pastor Lisa Petty finds God in dive bars
Conversations about tattoos turn into conversations about grace
Lisa Perry
First United Methodist Church of Escondido
Contact: 341 S. Kalmia St, Escondido 760-745-5100 www.fumcescondido.org
Membership: 500 (Attendance: 250)
Pastor: Lisa Petty
Age: 45
Born: Poway
Formation: California State University-Fullerton; Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO
Years Ordained: 10
San Diego Reader: Why did you become a minister?
Pastor Lisa Petty: I’m a fourth-generation United Methodist pastor. Initially, that’s what called me. My father and grandfather were ordained in the United Methodist Church, and my great-grandmother was one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Church. But also I felt it was a calling from God, not feeling fulfilled doing anything else in life but ministry… After I finished my master of divinity degree, I thought maybe I could do ministry as a side gig. But I had a moment where I sat in the sanctuary of Breckenridge United Methodist Church in Colorado and asked God: Are you going to sustain me and fulfill me? Are you going to be on this journey with me? I needed to know I wasn’t going to walk this road alone. Very clearly, a voice said, “I am.” At that moment, I thought, yes, this is the great I AM. God. From there on, I was 100 percent here.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PP: To live out Christ’s love in our community. We do that through mission, community outreach, Bible study, serving lunches to underserved populations — lots of ways. We’re called into community by various commandments by God. Love God and love your neighbor. You can boil down all the commandments down to those two.
SDR: What one book has had an important influence on your ministry?
PP: Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans. The author relates things that others have experienced being hurt from the church… It helped me recognize others who have had these experiences.
SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?
PP: I have found God several times in dive bars. Dive bars are my favorite. I have a full slate of tattoos and I can sit down at any bar and have anyone ask me about them. It allows me to share what I do, and people are surprised about it. Then I have lovely conversations about God’s grace in people’s lives, which they didn’t know they needed to hear about—and I also found that I didn’t know that I needed to hear their story. It’s a beautiful thing.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PP: I don’t think heaven is a place, but a timeframe after this. I hope that we get to be with God, and I don’t know or care what that looks like, or care about being reunited with loved ones. My deepest hope is that when I am done with this physical body, my spirit will remain with the divine in a way that nothing else will matter. The Methodist Church does believe in a hell, but what they believe about it not so clear. I struggle with the concept of hell insofar as we are given choice. But I believe God can reconcile everyone through God. I also don’t know what it looks like if you choose not to be reconciled. I don’t know that God forces us to reconcile with God, but my hope is that God has a way to reconcile with us in our deepest, darkest despair and death. Because we want deeply to be reconciled with God, there is no need for hell.
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