An Inward-Outward Witness: Suffering’s Role in Forming Faithful Preachers
In this auto-ethnographic or narrative study, published in 2022, I argue that Christians suffer and so, of course, those who preach the Gospel also suffer. Therefore, we need preachers to come face and process their own suffering well to then be capable of helping hurting people. The cruciform life in Christ is a nonnegotiable element that speaks to the very core of Jesus’ unjust, horrible death and resurrection three days later. If we aren’t preaching and living that, we are representing something other than a biblical witness. Watch this video for more insight about my take on preaching, or this one on suffering.
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil: Stories about the Challenges of Young Pastor
Published in 2015, I edited this book and also contributed an essay to it. It is a collection of forthright, first-person essays from pastors, mostly under the age of 35, sharing accounts of their hardest moments in ministry. The contributors come from a wide variety of theological roots: Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, United Methodist, Assemblies of God, Foursquare, United Church of Christ, Wesleyan, Church of Brethren, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Situated in the genre of pastoral theology/leadership, this anthology contains 21 essays mostly from pastoral leaders under the age of 35, sharing some of the darkest encounters they have endured in ministry. To be clear, not every perspective in the anthology reflects my own, but I hope it serves as a resource to help Christians more maturely understand lived and reasoned differences, while in the process learning to deepen their own biblical convictions.
Published Articles
April 10, 2023
Preaching Is Beautiful and Burdensome
Preaching is not for the faint of heart. Doing it faithfully requires an unique combination of focus, sacrifice, and even sometimes suffering. But don’t cry a river just yet. It is also full of joy and fulfillment not easily described. Both accompany the call… read more
February 16, 2023
When Inclusion Becomes Exclusive
Fundamentally, inclusion cannot be true to its definition by excluding anyone who disagrees with you. This approach, however, is unfortunately increasingly popular, especially around gender and sexuality… read more
February 3, 2023
The Truth about Police Brutality
On January 7, 2023, five Memphis police officers assaulted Tyre Nichols. Thankfully, they were fired and brought up on charges in light of his subsequent death, but there is much more work that must be done… read more
November 21, 2022
Interview: The Gift of a Cruciform Life
Some believe the Christian life should be one of ease. You won’t, however, find evidence towards this end in the Bible. It was a joy to speak with Dr. Mark Bauerlein of First Things about this theme in my book… listen here
June 9, 2020
I’m So Weary of Hearing ‘I’m Sorry’ from White People
I need to say something. It won’t be anything new for black people, having been voiced often in our homes, beauty shops and holy church huddles for only God knows how long… read more
May 15, 2020
A Lowdown, Dirty Shame
In the wake of what many have rightly called the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery on Feb. 23 in Brunswick, Georgia, I have turned again to the Apostle Paul’s assurance that sometimes the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26-27)… read more
March 25, 2020
Social Distancing in Jesus’ Name
Let me be clear from the get-go: Social distancing isn’t suffering. There, I said it. Surely, like a veteran burglar roaming about under the cover of darkness, COVID-19 snuck up on nearly everybody, whether or not there are valid arguments to be made that our government… read more
August 19, 2019
Called to ‘Go Hard in the Paint’ for Jesus: Trump Isn’t Our Biggest Problem; We Are
I find myself troubled by Christians in America today who seem to live in a state of incapacitated outrage. Many say they are livid about the state of our country and our churches. Yet these same people … read more
March 6, 2019
Why I Love the Church Most on Ash Wednesday
I was reared as far from the Church as one can imagine. No Easter, Christmas, or Mother’s Day services for me, so this business about ashes seemed strange and at first a bit silly to me upon surrendering… read more
August 21, 2017
Change is Gonna Come
I could be...no, correction, I probably should be working on a doctoral paper, but it will peek judgmentally over my shoulder soon enough. Life is a rocky road whose unsavory erraticism has taken… read more
October 17, 2016
iStruggle
Even before moving from the pressurized studios of multimedia journalism production in my former career on yonder to work of the cloth, I felt obligated to help others, to esteem, equip, and protect those who… read more
April 30, 2015
Responding to the Unrest in Baltimore
I am tired of all of the uproar and unrest in Baltimore. I understand how layer upon layer of unaddressed injustice over time can make people frustrated enough to behave irrationally. Sustained neglect to this degree is easier to dismiss… read more
February 13, 2015
Freedom Isn’t Free
Maybe more than ever the cry for freedom is a common, reoccurring refrain everywhere you go today. We fiercely advocate for sexual freedom, arguing that whatever is done between the sheets is… read more
April 22, 2014
Time to Exercise a Theology of Physical Fitness
Standing on the opposite side of what early Christians called “acedia” or sloth is the workaholic whose mind at the very least, and body often move compulsively. They function differently and, therefore, have unique individual and societal… read more
December 9, 2013
God’s Antibiotics
Give me a pill or shot any day and it won’t bother me one bit, but try giving me the liquid form of any medicinal relief and you are in for a fight. I absolutely abhor the stuff. Always have, probably always will. Some of my most vivid… read more
June 3, 2013
Adults Honoring Their Parents
In certain circles a big fuss is made about the relationship between parents and their children, and rightfully so. Although at times in what I have found to be a cursory way, even in our purportedly postmodern society, we are all too… read more
May 9, 2013
Is God a Minimalist?
For a long time now I have deliberated if perchance God is a minimalist, a proponent of the principles of minimalism entrenched in simplicity. Like any other, the concept is taken in different directions by people, but… read more
February 24, 2013
Agreeing to Disagree about Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage
“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Recounted in Mark 7:8, these are the prophet Isaiah’s words, which Jesus repeated to the Pharisees as they challenged him over ceremonial law. Christianity has always… read more
January 1, 2013
Looking Forward to the Past
You will be shocked to know that we are full citizens now, no longer chattel or debased as three-fifths of a person. Also, we’ve had the right to vote for a number of years, and in a constantly growing country more multicultural and racially… read more
June 29, 2012
Church Clothes
Church can be awfully intimidating and frustrating, easily more insane asylum than peaceful, grace-filled space of redemptive conversion. For all of the good that it represents — and to be clear, there is a lot — church is not… read more