A Profound Promise Kept: Pastor Aich Finds His Calling In Clinton

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When he was 17 years old, Benjamin Aich had a “Laying out a Fleece” experience.
It was when he was on a mission trip with his church youth group to a fishing village in Colombia, South America, that he got sick after drinking some watermelon juice. After several days, he prayed that if God saved his life, he would serve him every day of his life.
Benjamin is now starting that life of service as a pastor at Clinton Methodist Church, 601 S. 4th St., where he will join Pastor Monty Stratton. Benjamin will preach his first official sermon on Jan. 19 at all three services — the traditional service in the sanctuary at 8:15a.m., and the modern services in the Backroom at 9:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. All are welcome. Come between services for coffee and doughnuts in the fellowship area.
Benjamin’s text: the gospel of John, chapter 2, when Jesus turns water into wine. He will also talk about Epiphany, the revelation of Christ as the incarnation.
Reading the Bible theologically is the subject of Benjamin’s doctoral dissertation, which he will present and defend next March at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.
Benjamin does not come from a line of ministers, he said, but is from a religious family. He grew up in Corydon, Indiana, an historic town which was the first capital of Indiana. Corydon is near Louisville, Kentucky, about a three and half hours from St. Louis, making an eight-hour drive to Clinton for his parents and his in-laws, who visited briefly before the storm hit. Benjamin’s father teaches choir at a high school and is involved in the music program at their church. Benjamin has two sisters, one older and one younger, who also live in the Corydon area. The town was named for a hymn, “The Pastoral Elegy,” from the Old Missouri Harmony Songbook, mourning the death of a shepherd named Corydon, a standard name for a shepherd in ancient Greek and Latin pastoral poems.
Benjamin attended Hobe Sound Bible College in southeast Florida, mostly online, then moved to Kentucky and enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at Asbury Theological Seminary, near Lexington. Originally called Kentucky Holiness College, Asbury College was founded in 1890 by John Wesley Hughes to fulfill a promise he made as a student at Vanderbilt University. It was renamed to honor Francis Asbury, a circuit rider in the Appalachian Mountains. Asbury, known as the founder of Methodism in America, is often depicted on horseback, as he logged thousands of miles in the saddle to minister to people on the frontier in the 18th century.
John Wesley Hughes was also a circuit-riding evangelist who started Asbury College with just three students. Asbury Theological Seminary is now the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, with more than 1,700 students and extension sites in Memphis, Tulsa, Colorado Springs, Orlando and Tampa. Known as a “community called,” it prepares men and women to serve in ministry around the globe, fulfilling its mission statement, The Whole Bible for the Whole World.
With a growing family, however, Benjamin wanted to stay closer to home. There were no openings for ministers in Indiana, however, so when he saw the pastor job in Clinton Methodist Church listed on the Asbury online job board, he decided to check it out. He visited Clinton last summer.
“I felt the hunger that people here have for God,” he said.
Benjamin played football and basketball in high school and looks forward to going to high-school games in Clinton. He follows soccer rather than major league football, and is musical like his father — Benjamin plays the drums and guitar. Now that he and his family aren’t in a small apartment, he can get the drum set out more often without bothering the neighbors. He and spouse Bethany fill the four-bedroom Methodist parsonage — they have four children, three boys, 8, 7 and 3, and a girl, 5. Bethany edits books for fiction authors as well as home-schooling the Aich offspring, currently shepherding the older three through a grade-school curriculum, and the youngest through a study of “Thomas the Train Engine.”
Pastor Benjamin is writing the conclusion of his doctoral dissertation and continues his study of languages — he taught Greek at Asbury, and has more than a passing acquaintance with Hebrew. He may teach a Bible class in Clinton at some point, he said, but now, is getting his bearings and meeting people in the church, which is a hub of activity even with the snow. He’s also gotten to know his neighbor, Father Tim, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, and is looking forward to meeting other pastors and making friends in his new hometown.
Ben is now an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church as well as a candidate for a doctoral degree. There are many lenses to read the Bible through, he said. One way is to study the verses in their historic context. Another is to appreciate the writing as literature. Reading the Bible theologically combines both study and spirituality, focusing on what scriptures reveal about the nature of God, (theology being the study of God), and placing that understanding in the context of God’s revelation. It also seeks to ascertain what the writers were seeking to explain.
One way to hear the word of God is to read the Bible aloud in community, and respond to it in faith. “Laying out a Fleece” refers to an Old Testament encounter that Gideon had with God, as recorded in Judges, Chapter 6. God commanded Gideon to lead the Israelites, outnumbered 135,000 to 32,000, into battle, but Gideon was insecure and wanted a sign. Putting a sheep’s fleece on the threshing floor, he told God, “If there is dew on the fleece only, but dry on the ground in the morning, then I shall know that You will save Israel.”
The fleece was so damp in the morning, Gideon had to wring it out. God fulfilled his promise, and the Israelites prevailed over their enemies.
Benjamin recovered from food poisoning in Colombia, and fulfilled his promise to devote his life to God, although he said he is still not able to abide the taste of watermelon.