Thredj
Quote
And I think my hang up has been that I don't want to be called a Calvinist because, to me, it would be following a man so to speak. However, my desire is to be true to God's word, have a right understanding of Scripture and ultimately, if God pleases to place me in ministry, to correctly handle the Word of Truth...what a heavy responsibility.

I can relate to what you are saying here, nobody wants to be a follower of a man. I believe it was Pilgrim that has said on many occasions something to the effect of: "Calvinism is a rather unfortunate nickname."
I know quite a few Christians that choose to call themselves other things that take away from the stigma of the nickname Calvinist. The bottom line however, is what Calvinism truly represents. It represents the true biblical doctrines of soteriology.

Tom