Introducing: Pastor Luke Italiano the Magnificent

He claims no one uses the “Magnificent” part, but we’re pretty sure he’d like it included in his bio. A self-described geek who is happy gazing at his libraries (yes, plural), Luke has been writing for as long as he can remember and succinctly explains,

“Because. Writers write. I write. Therefore I’m a writer.”  

The worlds’ only writer AND pastor to answer a question in under ten words. Okay, we’ll ask another way.

Really, what pulls you in?

This might sound hokey, but story simply grabs me. It doesn’t have to be a particular story at all. There’s a reason that I love Matthew, Mark, and Luke more than I love John. They’re all great biographies of Jesus, but the other three generally focus more on narrative, and that speaks more to me. The stories of grace in the Bible always blow me away, and every time I find new ways that God has shown his love.

So you’re passionate about writing- but you’re also a pastor. How does that happen?

The honest truth is that I started training to become a pastor for some wrong reasons. My senior year of high school I had already been accepted at Brown University for television production. I wanted to get a degree in editing – something I loved doing for the tv show I ran with friends.

My girlfriend at the time went to a church that was very different from mine. The music rocked, and the forty-minute sermon every week touched my life in ways that I didn’t recognize my home church’s sermons doing. However, I knew it taught some things that were wrong, so I wasn’t going to just switch. So most of the way through my senior year I changed my mind and decided to become a pastor and fix my church body.

My first year at college, no one listened to this genius 18-year-old. Go figure.

I left college very angry after This is obviously very important for people of the contraceptive pill or the anticoagulant drug generic tadalafil uk warfarin, which are at risk for stroke. buy generic viagra Kamagra jellies: They can be the most interesting and amazing methods of treating the condition. Tadalafil is online cialis sale an effective medicine for people suffering from depression. If someone needs to buy this medicine over the branded online levitra india http://downtownsault.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Crooked-Music-Sound-Stage-Entertainment.pdf made by Pfizer because the generic drug is not only the reason to buy generic sildenafil and free shipping offers. that first year with no intent to return.

God used the next year to really humble me. It was a hard year that ground me down in a lot of ways. But after that year I decided to return to college in pursuit of serving. I didn’t even care if it was as a pastor; I just wanted to serve. And that’s still my attitude today: I just want to serve.

Tell us about one way you serve.

I want people to see Jesus. Every week, I visit a local rehab hospital where I chaplain. Many of the people I see don’t know the stories of the Bible. When I share the story of the Prodigal Son or Jesus calming the storm or Elijah falling into despair, it connects the Bible to them, and they see that maybe this thing really does speak to their lives. And I get to show them the God who loves sinners like me – and like them.

Do you consider yourself successful?

Successful… in what way? That’s a hard question to answer!

I look at my wife. I don’t deserve a woman that awesome. That’s success! I look at where I serve. I am so blessed here. So there, that’s a success! I look at my writing career… what career? That’s not a success, as I’ve not published any novels or anything like that. However, I write every week, getting to share Jesus, and that’s a success there – how could I not succeed when the goal is pointing to Jesus? So… um, yeah. I guess I consider myself successful when I think about it. I just don’t usually think about it!

Last question, Luke. And this one might lead well into the topic of your blog posts. Tell us why you’re willing to share such deeply personal information with us weekly on Bread for Beggars?

I have seen in many conservative church bodies a reluctance to talk about depression. I hid it for several years. But when I started sharing that I have depression, I not only received support, but found that my sharing encouraged others. I want to be transparent and hope that I can continue encouraging others!