I’ve started my own website, because it was time — Hello readers, I hope you are doing well! I’m writing to you with some bittersweet news. A few months ago, I began to sense that Medium was no longer the best place for me. I still love the platform. I’ve met awesome writers and readers. And I’ve become a better…

When real people are hurt in real ways, and no one cares — Several years ago, I was speaking to a political science course about US foreign policy, independent humanitarian work, and the messiness of both. Talking with students is one of my favorite parts of my job. This particular group of college students walked into class full of questions and ideas. Near…

Thoughts for those who are considering trying church, again — I grew up in a time when most people were part of a church. Many of our neighbors and most of my peers at the public high school I attended had churches to call home. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are rooted at my childhood church. Such was…

History is complicated. Maybe that’s okay. — It’s always been this way is a statement I have heard too many times to count. The certainty behind those words in white American evangelical spaces has proven to be problematic. When we look to church history, we learn that things have not always been this way. Other times, we…

We live in challenging times, but we all face the same choice — Hello readers, In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I wanted to take a moment and write this short piece that I hope you will find some encouragement in. We live in a challenging and frightening time. It’s easy to believe that the world is coming apart at the…

And why the strongest believers are walking out of churches — Just ten years ago, most of us would see a story or statistic every now and then that stopped us in our tracks. It now feels like we are confronted by such disruptions almost weekly amidst the social upheaval, change, and unveiling of truth around us. Another shocking story slammed…

Some were paradigm-shifting, others were uplifting — I set out to read six books this year. Between running a nonprofit, family, and settling into a new church home, I wanted to avoid being overly ambitious. I ended up reading thirteen books. Many are theological or critically examine American Christian culture and history. One of my favorite things…

A conversation about how faith informs our perspective and unites people from various backgrounds — I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bishop Phoebe Roaf of The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee for a wide-ranging conversation about work in Sudan, how church teaching and culture impacts us in ways we don’t understand, the shattering of American evangelicalism, and more. You can listen to…

Confronting false binaries, understanding cultural bubbles, and being responsible with suffering — When writing online about complex and sensitive subjects, one will inevitably see their words be taken out of context. Like most writers, I don’t respond to every single criticism, especially disingenuous ones. Over the past year, I have responded to quite a few good-faith critiques and found those conversations to…