About Rev. Ken Collins…
Who is Ken Collins?
I am an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which is a member denomination of the Churches Uniting in Christ and Christian Churches Together in the USA. I am the pastor of Garfield Memorial Christian Church in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. I’m also in the Disciples of Christ search-and-call process, looking to pastor a church somewhere in the US or Canada. (My congregation is aware of this.)
You can read about my ordination process.
I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, which was the home of George Washington, the first president of the United States, and of George Mason, the author of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Since then, we haven’t done much, but I’m not going to apologize. We’re not lazy, we’re just stuck in rush-hour traffic. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and my Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.
Do not allow my persuasive writing style to overcome your skepticism: weigh my words, check my facts, and accept only what passes muster. Don’t agree with me without first putting me to the test, which is your duty according to 1 John 4:1-3.
I affirm that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that we are saved in order to serve (Ephesians 2:8-10). I affirm the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and Jesus’ lordship over all things. I look forward to the resurrection on the last day.
In my web site, I attempt to represent the Universal Church rather than my denomination. Accordingly, the material that you find on this web site is ecumenically broad and historically deep. I have tried my best to make sure that the material is well-researched, accurate, compelling, and accessible to everyone. Nevertheless, if you believe you have found a mistake, please let me know right away.
Please feel free to correspond with me; I’ll give you the best response I can as promptly as possible.
Thank you for visiting my web site!
If you want to reprint essays from this web site…
You can make copies of the essays in my web site for your personal use. For instance, you can print them out for future reference or to show them to someone. Some browsers will only print out the first page. If you have problems, there is a work-around. First, open your word processor and create a new, blank document. Then switch back to the browser, press CONTROL+A to highlight all the text on the page (or you can just highlight the portion you want), CONTROL+C to copy it, then switch to the document and press CONTROL+V. Then you can save it and print it. If you use a Macintosh, as I do, follow those instructions, but use the Command key instead of the Control key.
The following provisions deal with public use.
I hereby grant you a copyright license to reprint the essays you find on Ken Collins’ Web Site. (For this purpose, the term ‘essay’ includes the fictional stories.) You can read them to a group, you can reprint them, or you can print out and distribute as many copies as you like, as long as you honor all the following conditions and restrictions:
- You must not make any substantive changes in the text.
- You must cite me as author and include the copyright notice whenever
you read it out loud to a group. Here is a sample copyright notice you
can use:
Copyright ©1995-2008 by the Rev. Kenneth W. Collins. Reprinted with permission.
- You must cite me as author and include the copyright notice on each printed copy or reprint.
- Because I constantly revise and correct essays on my web site, it is not a good idea to post an electronic copy on your web site or blog, though you can do that if you meet all the other requirements. It’s much better just to post a quote and a link to my page.
- If you reprint an essay in a publication that does not pay its contributors, such as a local church newsletter, you may reprint it for free.
- If you reprint an essay in a publication that pays its contributors, such as a denominational magazine, I expect to be paid the normal rate.
Ideas cannot be copyrighted. This means that if you get an idea from one of my essays, you can develop it in your own words in an essay or a sermon without any restrictions or obligations.
This license includes only text, not graphics. You can reproduce the pictures on this page and any picture in which I appear personally, but not any others, because they are Copyright ©Hemera Technologies, Inc., 1997-1999.
If you have any questions, or this license doesn’t cover your situation, please send email to ken@kencollins.com. I would also enjoy receiving a copy of any publication that reprints my essays (but that is not required).
Has anyone else reprinted essays from your web site?
Reprints:
- February 1998
- St. Martins Messenger, St. Martins Church, Gospel Oak, London, England UK
- December 1998
- Communiqué, New Covenant Fellowship, Manassas, Virginia USA
- February 2000
- The Chimes, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Elgin, Illinois USA
- April 2000
- Looking Up, Apostolic Lutheran Church, Vancouver, Washington USA
- December 2000
- Stream Lines, First Presbyterian Church, Avenel, New Jersey USA
- February 2001
- a bulletin insert, Turkey United Methodist Church, Turkey, Texas USA
- February and March 2001
- The Good News Newsletter, Trinity Episcopal Church, New Philadelphia, Ohio USA
- March 2001
- The Spiritual Trainer, First United Methodist Church, Durand, Michigan USA
- 19 December 2004
- The Post-Standard, page C-1, daily newspaper, Syracuse, New York USA
- March 2006
- Chatter, Irving Bible Church, Irving, Texas USA
- April 2006
- Concord, East Didsbury Methodist Church, Manchester, England UK
Newspaper Interviews:
(Newspaper interviews don’t necessarily result in articles)
- 24 February 1998
- Interviewed about Lent by a reporter from the local newspaper in Medford, Oregon USA.
- 6 February 2002
- Interviewed about Lent and Ash Wednesday by a reporter for USA Today.
- 2 June 2004
- Interviewed about church architecture by the religion reporter for the Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota USA.
- 24 February 2006
- Interviewed about Lent by the religion reporter for the Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota USA
Others have consulted materials in this web site in planning worship services or classes. Among them are a Presbyterian church in Tasmania (Australia), and a Methodist church in Namibia.
More information about www.KenCollins.com—serving you since 1995!
Ken Collins’ Web Site was born on 5 December 1995, and it received its domain name (www.KenCollins.com) on 10 September 1996.
Ken Collins’ Web Site contains over 940 files. If you want to print them all out, you’ll need about four reams of paper. I update my web site several times each week. Not all updates consist of new articles. Quite often I revise the articles that I have already posted, to correct errors and typos, to expand upon unclear points, to include more details, or just to make the text more readable.
Ken Collins’ Web Site is designed to look and work the same in any twenty-first century version of any browser, such as Camino, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Konqueror, Mozilla, Opera, or Safari.
Why didn’t you answer my email?
There are several possibilities:
- Your message had a virus in it, and my software deleted it before I could read it.
- Your email program isn’t configured with the correct email address for replies.
- Your message got lost. (Yes, it happens!)
- I was lazy. (Hard to believe, but that happens too!)
If your message had a virus in it
I receive about 20-30 emails a day that are infected with various viruses. My software is set to delete them automatically—there’s nothing else I can do. If you innocently sent me a message with a virus in it, I was unable to read it at all. Therefore, make sure that you have anti-virus software and that it is up to date.
If your email program isn't properly configured
I try to answer all my email. However, sometimes when I respond, my response comes back as undeliverable. This can happen if you haven’t configured your email correctly.
Here’s how to find out if you’ve configured your email correctly:
- Compose a message to yourself, using your full Internet address.
- Send the message, then after a few seconds, check for new messages.
- After you receive the message, reply to it, just as if it came from someone else.
- Send the reply, then after a few seconds, check for new messages.
- If you get your reply, everything is okay. If you get an error message, your email is not configured correctly. Contact your Internet service provider (or your local computer nerd) for assistance.
If I get a message from someone whose email is not properly configured, I try to guess their email address. If I run out of guesses, I try to send email to the Internet service provider and ask them to help. Some Internet service providers are helpful, but others are suspicious and don’t cooperate.
If the message got lost or I got lazy
If you don’t get a reply, try again!
You can send
a message with any complaints, compliments, or suggestions.
You can read an allegorical poem about my life.
You can go to the starting page of Ken Collins’
Web Site.