A Tribute to Ellsworth Kalas
By: Dr. Kenneth Cain Kinghorn J. Ellsworth Kalas was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on 14 February 1923, the same year that Henry Clay Morrison began Asbury Theological Seminary. The members of the Kalas household went to church twice weekly, and the family attended church every night during its frequent revival meetings. Father and Mother […]
Flashback February- Kalas, the Man Born on Valentine’s Day
This article was originally published in the elink in May of 2014. This month we remember a great man who was filled with love and has changed the hearts of many. God’s Answer by J. Ellsworth Kalas I have mixed feelings about the times in which we live. I’m a deep-dyed optimist but I’m also […]
Singing Our Way Home
by: Rev. Jessica LaGrone, Dean of Chapel, Asbury Theological Seminary If you knew Ellsworth Kalas, you weren’t surprised at the amount of singing we’re doing here today. You may even have warmed up your voice in the car on the way here, knowing that he loved music, and that you’d be called on to be […]
Watch the Gate of Your Soul
by J. Ellsworth Kalas In some ways I lived a charmed life as a pastor. I made a full share of mistakes, spoke unwisely a painful number of times, and in spite of my best efforts I sometimes failed in pastoral responsibilities. But in all of those 38 years, serving in four very different […]
God’s Answer
by J. Ellsworth Kalas I have mixed feelings about the times in which we live. I’m a deep-dyed optimist but I’m also an honest man. I have seen despair at its ugliest and hope at its beautifully absurd. I grew up during the Great Depression; I remember the family friend who hung […]
On Computers and Applesauce
by J. Ellsworth Kalas The computer and I have a tentative sort of relationship. I realize that I’m at a disadvantage because I had reached a more advanced age before the computer and I met, and computers are prejudiced toward those who meet it when they’re still prekindergarten. I think […]
The Right Posture
by J. Ellsworth Kalas On a February day in 1996 I treated some black ice without due respect and broke the ball in my right hip. An excellent orthopedic surgeon treated me very well indeed. I walk, though not as fast as I used to. I can‘t play tennis but I couldn’t […]
Flunking Lent
by J. Ellsworth Kalas Fleming Rutledge, who gave our Beeson Lectures on Preaching several years ago, is true to her Anglican heritage in her faithfulness to the Lenten season. But in a Lenten service several years ago she announced to the congregation, “I don’t know about you, but I have flunked Lent. I […]
When I Became a Holiness Preacher
by J. Ellsworth Kalas During this past fall term I had an exciting time teaching an elective course titled, “Homiletical Holiness.” The course is intended to prepare Asbury students to develop and deliver sermons on holiness. I’m sorry to tell you that this course hadn’t been offered in many […]
Soul Journey
by J. Ellsworth Kalas Even after more than fifty years I remember so many conversations from the several occasions when I was host to E. Stanley Jones. This is partly because Dr. Jones had a gift for saying things in a memorable way, and partly because I said little and listened much when we were […]