When once asked what he did for a living, Shane Claiborne responded that he was a pastor. In his high school’s alumni directory he is listed as a “professional lover.” When he opened his mouth at Thursday morning’s adult worship, speaking with an eastern Tennessee twang that seemed somehow at odds with his dreadlocked, urban appearance, Claiborne’s audience learned that he is just as interesting as he sounds.

An activist and author as well as one of the founding partners of a Philadelphia-based faith community known as The Simple Way, Claiborne told the crowd Thursday that he is not, technically, a Mennonite. “But it’s probably the best thing I’ve been mistaken for this week,” he said.

Claiborne urged individuals to live out Christian faith by using their unique gifts to follow God — even if it means creating a new path in the world. He told a story about a friend who held a doctoral degree in the sciences who developed a think tank to help people in poor communities who were becoming deathly ill from unclean water. Another example was that of a robotics engineer whom Claiborne met during his travels. This acquaintance told Claiborne about his project to build robotics to defuse bombs — specifically those in Afghanistan that need to be neutralized so as not to pose a safety risk for children playing outdoors. Claiborne also talked about homeless people he’d met throughout his travels. Throughout his storytelling, crowd members were laughing, clapping and shouting “amen.”

Claiborne challenged audience members to consider how to use their own gifts and interests in service to humanity and to God. “What does it mean to be a radical nonconformist in the world today?” he asked.

This is Claiborne’s first visit to a Mennonite Church USA gathering. “My favorite thing [about this convention],” said Claiborne, “is the imagination from the older generation to rethink things. [The Mennonite faith] is counter-culture at its best.”