Central Baptist returns to discipleship live streams with New Flight Studies. These studies will explore Christian spirituality from different angles, offering a different perspective on how Jesus’ disciples can interact with Scripture, the world-at-large, and worship. Our first live stream series is an exploration of Creativity and Spirituality—encouraging disciples to use creative endeavors as a way to work out out faith.
Poetry is an expression of personal experience, and interactions with creation, which encourages both poet and reader to engage with reality from a different vantage point. Sometimes poetry focuses on beauty, other times it can wrestle with darkness and injustice. Poetry allows people to pour out their innermost being before God in ways other forms of creative expression find difficult. Is it any wonder so much of the Bible is, in fact, poetry?
Spend some time with Pastor Wes as he chats with Rev. Calvin Nadir Powell and Poet Heather Dearmon about their shared love of poetry and what impact it has on their Christian journey.
Rev. Calvin Nadir Powell
Calvin Nadir Powell is the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Trenton. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University, a Masters of Divinity from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and is considering further studies in organizational leadership for a Doctor of Ministry. His passion is to empower those whose lives seem hopeless, particularly people who live in communities which suffer from socioeconomic inequality. In addition of serving as a pastor Rev. Powell teaches Biblical Studies as an Adjunct Professor at Pillar College, serves as a Bridge Pastor for the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, and offers pastoral counseling at the Christian Wellness Center.
His first book, Love Supreme, is available on Amazon.
Ms. Heather Deamon
Heather Dearmon’s poetry has appeared in many publications, such as “Fall Lines”, “Garcia Lemos”, “Sheltered”, “Poetry on the Comet” and forthcoming in “Free State Review” and “Kakalak”. She’s the author of “water unto light” (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
She has a page on Facebook, “Heather Dearmon, Poet” should you like to read some of her poetry.
Her first book of poems, Water Unto Light, can be purchased through Finishing Line Press.
The old adage about “great art being born of suffering” holds true. Although I don’t believe that poets necessarily thrive on pain, a great poet has the ability to transform emotions like grief and depression into works of strength and beauty. Proof of this is the collection water unto light by Heather Dearmon. In water unto light, each poem is small victory over grief. “titanium white” opens by asking, “what will you discover in this absence?”