Why "the rev"

I am frequently asked if I am really a reverend, the answer is yes and no.

I am a lisenced minister, currently with the Churches of Christ in Australia. Previously I was lisenced by a conservative baptist church called New Song, and before that by Open Bible Standard Churches. So I am a minister. However some denominations have special titles of reverend for certain people who have a certain level of ordination that is above just a regular minister. I am not a reverend in this sense. I am also not asking to be revered.

In the USA I actually did weddings, funerals, baptisms and baby dedications. I often preached at church, and did counseling and what not, so I did behave as a reverend. I also fought professionally in Mixed Martial Arts cage matches, so I guess I didn't behave as a reverend sometimes as well.

When I was growing up, I hung out with a group of punk rockers called the Crown Town Punks. They were your typical group of punk rockers, did things mom and dad didn't need to know about. They were actually the only white gang on the Corona police departments gang files. I started going to a Catholic high school, got involved in Portugese bullfighting, and drifted away from them a bit. Then I found Jesus, and my life really changed. I moved away from Corona, began training to be a minister, and when I came back to town, I was needed to perform weddings and sadly funerals for some of these friends of mine. They started calling me reverend, it was an insult, but in the way you insult your friends. The nickname stuck. I have been know since as the rev, and many people call me rev even in person.

I was training with some catholic guys from wisconsin, they called me father john. I am glad that one didn't stick.

the rev