The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/13/07 Last Updated: 11/17/07

A 1997 Whitworth alumna began what she described as an impossible task at Tuesday’s Chapel service. She was asked to speak for 15-18 minutes about what Jesus has done in her life.

“Hopefully my Whitworth education has prepared me for this impossible task,” said Amy McNelly, co-pastor of Pullman Presbyterian Church in Pullman, Wash.

McNelly said while she was at Whitworth, she was a leader of Hosanna and felt called to the ministry after graduation.  

To describe her experience with Jesus, McNelly drew a parallel to the life of Jonah.

“Jonah threw a tantrum and God gave him a time out,” she said.

According to the Biblical story, Jonah was a prophet called by God to approach the city of Ninevah and encourage the citizens to repent. Jonah tried to flee from God, but a violent storm at sea led the crew of his getaway ship to cast him overboard, where he was swallowed by a large whale, according to the NIV.

McNelly said in her version of the story, she ran away from her call to the ministry. 

At Princeton Seminary, McNelly received a "B-" in her class on Christian Ethics, a class she really wanted to succeed in to escape her call to the ministry, she said.

“I was in the belly of the whale,” McNelly said.

Before she knew it, McNelly enrolled in a preaching class and was a teacher’s assistant for a speech class and received positive feedback from students and faculty, she said.

“His power was made perfect in my weakness,” McNelly said. 

God’s love is there even when we are dead in our trespasses, she said.

“God never gave up on reluctant Jonah,” McNelly said. “He helps to free me from my own self-centered prison.”

McNelly said God enables us to look beyond ourselves.

“I wonder how Jesus may be calling you to extend to the world the grace you have received,” she said.

 Contact Grady Locklear at grady.locklear@whitworthian.com.

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