Dr. Michael Sherr, Chair of the Cedarville University Department of Social Work, grew up in a conservative Jewish home and attended Hebrew school. He even has a Hebrew name – Mordecai – like the caretaker of Esther in the Old Testament. But throughout his childhood, he had questions prompted by conflicts at home and in his extended family.

After he married his wife, Stacey, he faced one of the most difficult challenges for any child at any age — the loss of a parent. At 23 years old, after the death of his grandfather, several months after his mother’s passing from colon cancer, the big questions began to rise in his heart and mind: Is there a God? What’s the purpose of life? 

“I just decided one day to open up a Bible, and I prayed, “Lord, teach me what you want me to learn. And honestly, I’ve been doing that every day since,” Michael explains in the podcast.

From that day forward, the Gospel and the Word of God have been the lenses through which he evaluates and interprets everything, from the impact of the current COVID pandemic on social interactions to how he teaches and conducts research in his discipline. “Yes, I am Jewish, but Jesus is the Messiah. If there’s one thing I know in this world, that honestly is the only thing I would say is completely and utterly true,” Michael affirmed. “That and the authority of Scripture.”

……

Michael and his colleague and brother in Christ, Dr. Christson Adedoyin, are looking at the way social distancing is impacting human interactions.

Michael is one of the founders of the recently formed Association of Christians in Health and Human Services.