Category: Uncategorized

Since attending seminary, I’ve spent more time than usual on introspection, on examining my inner self. I’ve sat through many lectures where we were asked to ponder why we believe what we believe, respond in the ways that we do and relate to the world as we do. I’ve also been asked to contemplate questions…

“Wade in the waterWade in the water, childrenWade in the waterGod’s gonna trouble the water” Last week and into the weekend I had the opportunity to speak at the Leadership Institute which was held at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. This gathering of 2,500 UMs from roughly 1,500 UM churches…

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the chance to sit down, breathe, and contemplate writing a blog post. Over the past 3.5 months, I’ve visited 32 different worshipping communities in ten different states. It’s been a marathon (and if you’d like to keep more constantly up to date, just text the word “FORWARD”…

I’ll never forget walking around general conference and meeting a white-haired elderly woman. She looked at me and said, “I’ve been fighting for this since I was your age.“ Her entire lifetime was spent seeking to make the church a safe space not just for herself, but for me and future generations who would hope…

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Since last Friday, I have flown roughly 2,890 miles, taken countless selfies, and fluctuated emotionally between awe, despair and hope. Throughout the last five days and two conferences, two things are clearer for me than ever: the Spirit…

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take my Forward Together tour to Hope Church in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. Next week I’ll travel to Oneonta NY, followed by Wisconsin, and then my undergrad graduation, followed by four months of twenty-first century John Wesley style circuit riding via cars, planes, busses, and trains. I am continually…

We are in a time of great division and pain. To have a global denomination in countries where same-sex acts are still illegal—and with countries like Brunei which just recently codified their condemnation of homosexual people to death by stoning—to be a Church in all of these places, and to expect us all to agree…

Yesterday many Christians around the world attended an Ash Wednesday service to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday, though not formally practiced in the books of the Bible, is steeped in a rich tradition of meaning–both biblically and scientifically–and carries great significance for us today. “You are dust, and to the dust…

As the Church around the world wrestles with the uncertain impacts of this special General Conference, it feels as though we have just left the mountain top. Like the disciples, we followed Jesus to the precipice of a mountain and the results were not what many of us expected. Peter, John, and James saw three…

I am currently sitting at gate B39 in JFK airport. It’s 7:30 a.m. As I look beyond the glass windows at the constant clockwork of planes taking off and landing, I wonder how many people know what’s going on in our Church. How many of these travelers are aware that the second-largest protestant denomination might…