When God Calls: Temporality in Southern Baptist Calls to Missions

Researchers studying religious experience have identified callings as a particularly salient context in which believers describe God’s presence. They noted standard elements that make up call narratives, along with variation how recipients articulate both the vertical call, intervention believer’s life, and horizontal community’s response. However, these are combined to produce culturally resonant narratives remains underexplored. Drawing on semi-structured interviews Southern Baptist missionaries, paper describes arbiters evaluate calls. In (de)legitimating prospective missionaries’ vocational claims, local pastors administrative staff prospectively anticipate success tether prior experience. Turning missionaries construct I identify two distinct modes of narrating one’s calling. further argue narratives’ temporal organization offers lens through explain characterize call. Missionaries marshal their experiences social influence either accentuate connectedness previous or disjuncture. The findings extend research by suggesting claims-making is key strategy for actors legitimate private otherwise unverifiable