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Meet Our Pastor
John Callahan's Bio
The Reverend Dr. John Callahan is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Princeton Theological and Pittsburgh Theological Seminaries. He served as associate pastor in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and as pastor of the Clinton United Presbyterian Church in Saxonburg, PA. He began his ministry with Morrow Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 4, 2008.
John served on an administrative commission of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta and the Good Shepherd Clinic Board of Directors of Morrow, GA. He also served for six years on the Examinations Committee of the Presbytery, which admits pastors into membership of the Presbytery. He currently serves on the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta and occasionally as a Pastor Nominations Committee Liaison for the Presbytery.
John’s wife, Tamara, is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and served as Sunday School Superintendent and Moderator of the Presbyterian Women of Morrow Church. She currently serves as the organist of the church. She and John have two children, Parker and Amanda. Parker graduated from Union Grove High School and the University of Maryland with a focus on architecture. He is earning his Masters in Architecture from the Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD). Amanda also graduated from Union Grove and recently graduated from Valdosta State University with a degree in organizational leadership. She shares her talent of singing in our church. She joined the Children’s Choir of Spivey Hall for five years and sang and danced for her high school through the Advanced Women’s Chorus and Union Groove.
The Pastor's Pen
April 2024
“Woe to those who call EVIL good and good EVIL, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). I came across this verse in my reading, and I found it interesting how topsy-turvy the world was. It isn’t any different today.
For some people yesterday and today, up is down and wrong is right. They do what feels good even though it isn’t good for them. They post whatever they want, say whatever they want, believe whatever they want, and all the EVIL done is labeled as good. It makes us wonder if anything is EVIL at all.
EVIL causes us to do VILE things. When EVIL is twisted around, just as I twisted around the words, many VILE things can come out of our words and actions. Isaiah 5 talks about people who buy up property for selfish gain, leaving no place for anyone to live. It mentions people waking up in the morning with a beer in one hand and a scotch and soda in the other, thinking life is a constant, irresponsible party (Isaiah 5:8-13). When EVIL gets a hold of us, all we can do are VILE things. We call people vicious names out of anger. We hurt people’s feelings out of spite. We fail to forgive out of pride. Those VILE things destroy so much within others and even within ourselves.
However, there is hope. If we come to our senses and realize how we might call EVIL good, we can refuse to do what is VILE. We can twist around EVIL once more and have the VEIL removed from our eyes. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says that Moses had to VEIL his face from the Israelites, because they couldn’t handle how it glowed with the glory of the Lord (see Exodus 34). They were too stiff-necked to handle it, easily calling EVIL good and performing all sorts of VILE things that upset God. So, as Moses placed a VEIL on his face, Paul says that he placed a VEIL on God’s word. It had to be done, since God’s word pointed out how EVIL the people were. Paul then says that we who have Christ do not have to wear a VEIL, because under Christ God’s word doesn’t condemn us. God’s word doesn’t speak of death but of life. The VEIL is removed from God’s word, and thus the VEIL is removed from our faces. “[When] one turns to the Lord, the VEIL is removed... And all of us, with unVEILed faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:16, 18).
With the VEIL gone, we cannot call EVIL good. We no longer want to carry out VILE acts or to say VILE things. With our eyes and ears and hearts and minds clear, we now can LIVE. In fact, the word EVIL spelled backwards, turned 180 degrees, is LIVE. This is what we do when we repent of our sin: we turn the other direction. Metanoia is the Greek word, and it literally means turning one’s back on something or someone, so that one cannot see it anymore. We turn our backs on EVIL because we want to LIVE. We face our God with unVEILed faces, and not a VILE thing is on our hearts or in our minds.
Good is good. Light is light. Sweet is sweet. Through Christ, we LIVE as forgiven and restored children of God. As children of God, co-heir to Christ in salvation, we shall LIVE forever.
Peace in Christ,
Rev. Dr. John