Reverend Leslie D. Callahan, Ph.D., was the featured speaker at Howard's "A Call to Chapel" on Sunday, September 21, 2025, and didn't waste the opportunity to provide Biblical context for the challenges we face in our time. She married Jaws, the original summer blockbuster movie celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, with the Biblical story of Jonah. Her message: there are sharks in the water, but we are nevertheless obligated to confront them as God has directed us. 

She noted that God directed Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell its residents how they were at odds with the will of God. Nineveh was considered a great city, but God nevertheless commissioned Jonah to go and speak truth to power. In fact, Jonah was the son of Amittai, whose name translates to "truthfulness" in Hebrew. Jonah, however, did not want to go to Nineveh and instead booked passage on a boat to Tarshish. During the trip, a great storm arose, which Jonah understood to be an outcome of God's displeasure with Jonah's attempt to travel in a direction opposite God's desire. He told the crew to throw him overboard, which they did, and the storm disappeared. Jonah was saved when a large fish appeared to eat him, but which in instead protected him from drowning before depositing him on the shore near Nineveh. 

Rev. Dr. Callahan made the case that we seem to have conveniently forgotten that there are "sharks" in many areas of society, from the government to the church, because acknowledging their existence would serve to disrupt our jobs, standards of living, feelings of security, and favor with those in power. This, she posited, is akin to those in power in Jaws, who didn't want to admit that a shark lurked in the waters near a beach town for fear of losing tourism dollars. Only a scholar and a public servant who was committed to the safety of those he served were willing to uncover the truth. This is reminiscent of members of the Howard family, who are committed to "truth and service." The Howard family, she said, has to get past its fear of retribution in order to follow the direction that God has set forth for each of us, instead of running from our calling as did Jonah.