Fact-checking my own story
Category: Local... Navel Gazing...
Posted Monday, February 14, 2005 at 08:51 AM [GMT-6]

It's a little disconcerting to open the newspaper on Monday morning and find your photo and a half-page of newsprint about yourself at the top of the front page of section two.

It wasn't a surprise, of course; Jimmy Patterson conducted the interview more than a week ago and told me when the article would appear. But there's a big jump between a conversation over the phone, supplemented by a couple of emails, and seeing the results in black and white.

Jimmy does a great job of profiling local residents in his weekly "Person to Person" column, although he's sometimes handicapped by the material he has to work with...me being Exhibit A. I wouldn't want his job (or this aspect of it...this isn't how he makes his living). Trying to paint an accurate and coherent picture of a person based on an hour of conversation is just too much pressure. There's too much room for displeasure when the primary fact-checkers are those who know the interviewee the best. But Jimmy seems to thrive in that environment, and does an excellent job of bringing order out of chaos. In my case, I'm happy with the end result.

But, as he alluded in his article, we're entering a new world of journalism, one where news reports (both hard and soft) are no longer one-way streets. Every article is now a potential discussion, and the subjects of those articles have avenues of response, if not outright rebuttal. Being a blogger himself, Jimmy necessarily understands that fact, and so he won't be surprised that I'm going to do a little "fact-checking" myself, as there were a couple of misstatements and one area that I feel needs clarification. These things aren't significant and won't even be noticed by most readers; they also aren't necessarily the writer's fault, as I suspect that interviewing me is like herding cats.

First, my academic creds are a bit different than described. My undergrad degree is in accounting and my M.S. is in behavioral management. I point that out only to ward off any requests for help with tax returns; it's been a long time since I did any real accounting (and I never worked in tax accounting).

Second, the timing of my descent into the surreal world of web design is a little misleading as described in the article. I actually built my first web page in 1996, and it was shortly thereafter that I built the website for First Baptist Church. For three or four years, I provided website design and maintenance services on a completely pro bono basis to a wide variety of organizations, and I started doing it commercially only in 2000 after leaving ARCO. In fact, of the clients mentioned in the article, I still provide all services at no cost to the church, the Permian Basin Area Foundation, the Nonprofit Management Center (mentioned in the article as the "Non-Profit Resource Center") and Keep Midland Beautiful (and several others that were not mentioned).

The one area that I do want to be sure to clarify was where Jimmy wrote about my faith, and included this rather cryptic statement: He said his born again status was due probably to the time when he wasn't -- born again, that is. He then goes on to describe a period in my life when I felt I wasn't living out my faith.

One possible reading of this section could lead one to believe that I said that I was saved, then not saved, then saved again. While I realize that some Christians believe that it's possible to lose one's salvation, my interpretation of Scripture leads me to understand and embrace the doctrine of "once saved, always saved." Jesus clearly states that He will not lose any of those whom God has entrusted to Him, and that's a great comfort to me as someone who will never be good enough to earn my salvation...or to keep it, if it depends on how holy I can be.

Anyway, to some that might be soteriological nitpicking, but it's a very important distinction for me. What I meant to convey was that even though I was saved, and never had any doubts about it, I found myself living in a way that wasn't pleasing to God nor presenting a good example to those around me. I still struggle with that today, but through the grace of God and the encouragement of good friends and loving family, it gets easier.

[Update (2/14/05): The "360 journalism" continues...Jimmy Patterson just emailed me to say that his intent was to say exactly what I said above. He doesn't believe that people can fall from grace, once saved. So, we're just clarifying the words. But, isn't it cool that we're now able to have discussions like this in almost real time?]

All that aside, I think Jimmy did a fine job of profiling yours truly, and I think my parents will be proud of the article...and they're the ultimate critics we have to please, after all. I just hope he can now move on to someone worthy of the newsprint.

And if you're visiting for the dog pictures, Abbye says "welcome"!