John Pavlovitz (born June 1, 1969) is an American former youth pastor and author, known for his social and political writings from a liberal Christian perspective.[1][2]
Early life and education
Pavlovitz was born in Syracuse, New York, to a middle-class family of Italian and Russian descent,[3] and was raised as a member of the Catholic Church.[1][2] He studied graphic design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.[1][4]
Ministry
After college, Pavlovitz joined a Methodist church, where he married his wife Jennifer.[1][5] He attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and became a youth minister at the church.[6] Pavlovitz later worked for nearly a decade as youth pastor, in a program serving several hundred students[4] at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, a "megachurch"[4] in Charlotte, North Carolina, before being fired. In 2022, he launched Empathetic People Network, a private paid social media network for "kind humans".[7]
Writing
Pavlovitz began a blog Stuff That Needs To Be Said in 2012,[8] and was fired from a Raleigh, North Carolina, church in 2013 in response to "provocative" articles he had posted.[4][1][9] He later became a youth minister at North Raleigh Community Church.[1]
His blog has gained a large following[10] and media attention for articles he has written on the subjects of acceptance of homosexuality ("If I Have Gay Children", 2014),[1][11][9][2] attitudes about rape ("To Brock Turner's Father, from Another Father", 2016),[1][2][12][13] the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton ("Thank You, Hillary", 2016),[14] and the character of Donald Trump ("It's time we stopped calling Donald Trump a Christian", 2017).[15][16][17]
In 2017, Westminster John Knox Press published his first book A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community,[6] which describes what he sees as the four foundations of the Christian church, and argues for creating a more inclusive society and church community.[2][18][19] His second book Hope and Other Superpowers: A Life-Affirming, Love-Defending, Butt-Kicking, World-Saving Manifesto offers advice for individuals seeking to counter "the highly partisan cultural climate", and was published by Simon & Schuster in November 2018.[20]
Personal life
Pavlovitz and his wife, Jennifer, have two children.[21]
In October 2021, Pavlovitz underwent surgery to have a noncancerous pituitary tumor removed from the base of his brain.[22]
