Staff Reports
GREENFIELD — Phil Baisley remembers the time when he was pastoring a church a few blocks away from a doughnut shop.
He was a regular there, a couple of times a week. He’d work on a sermon, perhaps writing on his phone, but often someone would stop by his table and talk — and he loved that.
“Everybody knew that’s where I was,” he said. “I just love those kinds of conversations.”
Baisley hopes to have that kind of approach as pastor of Greenfield Friends Meeting. He becomes pastor of the church this weekend, succeeding the Rev. Rex Jones, who is retiring.
Baisley will commute from the Richmond area, where he’s been for the past 21 years. The Brooklyn, New York, native teaches pastoral ministry at Earlham School of Religion and is active in the local theater and music scenes.
He lives west of Richmond with his wife, Jennifer Brokamp; their son, Thomas; and “a menagerie of horses, dogs, cats, reptiles and spiders.”
He is author of “The Same, But Different: Ministry and the Quaker Pastor” and a memoir, “Tales of a Canarsie Boy,” published serially on his blog, www.philbaisley.com/talesofacanarsieboy.
Current writing projects include a chapter on Quaker preaching, to be included in an anthology, as well as a historical crime trilogy set in the first three decades of the 20th century.
He wants to spend some of his weekday time in Greenfield, reacquainting himself with the Hancock County community. He was pastor of Westland Friends Church from 1989-93.
He’s hoping to find some local establishments where he can do some writing and have some conversations. So if you see him, don’t think you’re bothering him.
“I don’t mind being interuppted,” he said. “That’s where I feel ministry happens.”
