I have served within pastoral and academic contexts for over almost 50 years. I pastored churches both in the United States and Canada serving within the United Methodist Church, North American Baptist Conference, and Mennonite Church USA. I have also served in academic and church consulting contexts as Associate Dean of Extension and Affiliated Education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Director of the Doctor of Ministry program and Assistant Professor of Education and Ministry at Northern Seminary, and Director of Educational Initiatives for the Center for Parish Development, all in the Chicago area, as well as teaching adjunctly in graduate schools all over the United States and Canada.
A little of my journey will help you understand how I am wired. In graduate school I was expecting to continue pursuing doctoral work in New Testament studies. Yet as I completed my Masters work, I realized that I was not merely interested in understanding the New Testament, I was interested in applying biblical understanding to everyday life, exploring questions that required biblical perspectives and so I applied to a Ph.D. program in Systematic Theology. Yet, as my mentor and I tried to nail down a dissertation focus I realized that I was still largely unaware of the key questions that the church was facing and so I took a leave of absence and pastored churches for 10 years post seminary. After ten years, I realized my perspective had changed and rather than focusing on Systematic theology, I was interested in combining my biblical and theological focus to guide people to live out their discipleship in the world, to integrate biblical and theological worldviews into their daily praxis. This shift in perspective led me to apply to a Ph.D. program in education, with a focus on adult education, in which I would apply approaches to teaching and learning to integrate faith with life. I found that doing my Ph.D. in Education Studies at a Christian university enabled me to integrate all that was important in my life so that I might effectively guide learners in all walks of life to grow into the people God has created them to be so that they might make a difference in the world.
In this second rendition of my web presence, I seek to reflect on different themes from biblical, theological, and missional perspectives drawing on my passions which focus on speaking life into others’ lives, leading through a posture of servantship, living incarnationally and missionally, being disciples of Jesus (not merely identifying as “Christian,” while seeking to live authentically within the cultures we inhabit.
On a personal note, I have been married over 45 years, have two adult daughters, one serving overseas with YWAM and the other serving an ER Trauma nurse. I am an avid cyclist, hiker, and enjoy canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing (though becoming more challenging as I age), reading. Most of all I enjoy hanging out with people in coffee shops, drinking great coffee, and engaging in conversation exploring life in the way of Jesus among those who are done with church, but still open to God and perhaps being able to guide others in being open to the life that the Spirit of God keeps unfolding everyday in all of us.
Musings 