PA-01 - About Paul Appleby

Paul is an enthusiastic, and ardent student of God, the way of Christ, and the world around him. He is convinced that what the Church needs most is to be a loving, informed, engaged and authentic people. He is devoted to a ministry that empowers individuals and communities to model their love for their brothers and sisters, and their God in thought, word, and deed. He is an advocate for understanding, humility, and respectful authenticity in the classroom and in life. Finally he understands his calling to be of a two-fold nature. Within a community of God's people and within the larger family that is the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) he is led to love, to encourage, and to build up through a ministry of learning, instruction, and empathy.

Paul's lifelong love of learning took hold at an early age, particularly as it related to the things of God. This led him to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree from Malone University (a Quaker school) in Theology and Biblical Studies, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2004, and was given the honor of being named "Outstanding Graduating Student from the School of Theology" in 2004. During this time Paul, though brought up in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) actively participated in the Episcopal (becoming a Licensed Eucharistic Minister), and Charismatic traditions. Following his graduation he felt called to further his education and attended the Candler School of Theology at Emory University where he was awarded his MDiv (as well as being nominated for the Claude H. Thompson Award for Justice and Theology) in 2008, as well as his ThM (where he studied the intersection between popular culture and theology) in 2009. He intends to continue to pursue his own education but is currently in discernment as to where and how that should happen.

During his time at Malone University and throughout his education at Emory, Paul worked for fifteen years for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. His career took him through sales, basic automotive work, and eventually into retail management in the Atlanta Metro market. Here he gained an appreciation for the cares, and concerns of "real people" and an understanding of the demands of "the retail life". As a result, his work has tended to attempt to find concrete, workable applications for any and all areas of theological inquiry.

Paul is happily married and has three children. He and his wife, Sage, live in Columbus, Georgia where he serves as the pastor of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He loves bad movies and worse music. He is a member of the Columbus Christian Professionals Association, the Pastoral Relations Advisory Committee of the Pastoral Institute, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Academy of Religion.