We aim to offer family to men called to vocational singleness in Nashville.
We hope that by (1) modeling vocational singleness in our churches and the city of Nashville at large, (2) teaching our churches about the theology of vocational singleness found in Scripture, and (3) helping Christians in Nashville discern whether they are called to vocational singleness or marriage with someone of the opposite sex, we will see the following: Boys and girls will grow up believing that the vocation of singleness could be good and beautiful for them so that when the time comes to discern their relational vocation, they look on both the gift of vocational singlness and marriage fondly and gladly welcome whichever God calls them to.
Pieter studied at Vanderbilt University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Lipscomb University. One day a week, he uses his Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling to serve undergraduate students navigating questions of faith, sexuality, and identity. The rest of the week, Pieter runs EQUIP, a team of missionary consultants committed to equipping the Church to love sexual minorities. He is a member of Church of the Redeemer Anglican. In his free time Pieter may be found running, playing the bassoon, cooking for friends, cuddling with his dog, hosting a board game nights, and snuggling with his friends’ babies. You can reach him at pieter.locke.valk@gmail.com.
Jim studied History at Wheaton College. His biological family lives in New Jersey and North Carolina, and he’s constantly trying to get his two sisters to visit (and move to) Nashville. He works at SmileDirectClub, an invisible aligners company, in downtown Nashville, TN where he is a trainer. Before this, he taught seventh grade English reading and writing. He attends Church of the Redeemer, an Anglican Church. In his free time, Jim likes to try new Nashville restaurants, play the piano, attend the Symphony, and play board games. He enjoys eating brunch and getting work done in coffeeshops on rainy days. You can reach him at jimhtablazon@gmail.com.
On Monday, March 26th, 2018, 8 men gathered for dinner, prayer, and to consider if God was calling us to start an ecumenical Christian monastery in Nashville. Over the next year 14 different guys joined us for weekly dinner, discussion of books about discernment or theology, and prayer about God’s call on our lives. In between dinners we performed miserably at Trivia, enjoyed the Nashville Symphony, and vacationed in Charleston, South Carolina together.
…weekly dinner, discussion of books about discernment or theology, and prayer about God’s call on our lives.
A year later, on Saturday, February 23rd, 2019, Jim Tablazon and Pieter Valk made one-year promises to the Nashville Family of Brothers, beginning their formal processes of discerning whether God was calling them to make the Family their family. We continue to meet weekly with brothers in Christ at different stages of their discernment with great anticipation of what God might do in Nashville through this Family.
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