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Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several people ask me some version of this question: “Pastor, someone I care about, someone I’ve been at odds with for a long time, is suddenly questioning or shifting their hard position. How do I engage without telling them, ‘I told you so’?” I admire such honest questions and the care for another person in them, but I’ll admit there is a small, self-satisfied part of us that wants to win the moment. We have carried conviction. We have endured disagreement. We have sometimes felt dismissed. And now, suddenly, the ground is moving. So, what do we doRead More →

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Back in seminary, I was pretty focused. I wanted to finish in the standard three years, which meant electives were precious. I only had space for one elective in the New Testament and one in the Old Testament. So, when a new professor, Dr. Gambrell, offered his first class on the Psalms, my friends were excited. Dr. Gamble was just a few years older than we were. He helped lead chapel, wrote prayers, designed worship, and had that rare combination of intellect and creativity that made him, well, kind of cool. A few friends encouraged me to take the class with them. I remember thinking,Read More →

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Our 2026 Confirmation journey is officially underway, and already our time together is being shaped by patient community-building, exploration, and service. This year’s class includes twelve students from across our Fox Valley United Methodist connection, with four of those confirmands coming from UMCG (Cameron, Ella, Katie, & Nate). Students bring with them different churches, schools, experiences, and perspectives and while that variety doesn’t instantly turn into easy conversation, it is becoming opportunity to learn one another’s names, stories, and begin building community. Part of our early work together is simply helping students feel comfortable enough to talk (sometimes with a little encouragement), listen well, laugh together, and begin toRead More →

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Last week I blogged about some of my internal struggles. (I promise I don’t want this space to become my public therapy journal). But I’ve also been noticing a tension through pastoral conversations that many of us seem to be living in lately.  It’s that strange in-between season. The betwixt and between. The moment when you get bad news… and then still laugh to the point of tears in conversation with a friend. When you’re crying over the world and still manage to stand in awe at nature.  Sometimes the ache is personal, like a diagnosis, a loss, and a hard decision. Other times, it’s the kind of ache we absorb just by reading the news: war, disaster, political chaos, injustice. And yet, not everything is terrible. That’s part of the tension, too.  We live inRead More →