Ministry

I served as an Associate Pastor for two small churches in the Nashville, Tennessee area around 2013-14, then as Senior Pastor for a church just north of Dallas, Texas from about 2014 to 2023. After being on sabbatical for a while, I’ve returned to preaching and teaching. Below are some of the ways I continue to participate in Jesus’ ministry. If you'd like to join any of the groups you see below, use my contact form to let me know you're interested.

Scheduled Meetings

The Chosen Watch Parties

On Sunday evenings, a group of us get together on Zoom and watch episodes of Dallas Jenkins’ The Chosen TV series. It's a very interactive group; we pause at the end of every scene and discuss what we noticed about the portrayal of Jesus, the disciples, and the religious and political leaders of the first century. We typically only make it about 20 minutes through each episode because we have such rich discussions. Open to new members.

OIC International Prayer Meetings

Several years ago, my friends at Odyssey in Christ began a weekly series of meetings on Friday mornings where people from all over the globe could get together and pray for one another, encourage each other, and listen to a brief message about walking closer with God. Two of us rotate leading the sessions throughout the year. The meetings are like an online “small group” with an emphasis on spiritual formation practices and intercessory prayer. Open to new members.

The Midweek Encounter

Every two weeks, a group of us meets online to engage in one of the many spiritual practices that have been essential to the spiritual development of Christ-followers for centuries. Examples of these practices could include Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Examen, Visio Divina, Iconography, and Practicing the Presence. A typical meeting includes some background information and instructions for that week's practice, then we each spend some silent time with God with our cameras and microphones off. At the end, we share what it was like for us. Open to new members.

Blogs and Videos

I write about several topics over on Substack. I write about the dire need for church reformation here, talk about various spiritual formation practices here, and plan to post full-length sermons here very soon. I’ll also have a YouTube channel up and running in the coming weeks.

One-on-one Services

Spiritual Direction / Spiritual Companionship

Spiritual Direction is the art of prayerfully listening to another person share their walk with Christ. It can easily be mistaken for “counseling,” but with spiritual direction/companionship the director doesn’t do a lot of talking. We try to avoid fixing, teaching, preaching, exhorting, convincing, convicting, or any of the other activities we might be otherwise tempted to undertake when listening to a friend. Instead, we listen for repeated phrases and key words, watch body language, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us as we ask probing questions that help the directee consider more deeply whatever is on their heart and mind. Instead of giving advice, we try to ask clarifying questions and invite the directee to bring their concerns directly to God as we walk together in conversation with him. I like to say we walk with the directee as they walk with God, and sometimes we help them back on the path when they get distracted and wander off of it. Helpful guardrails for divine dialogue, if you will.

Biblical and Theological Question & Response

Some friends of mine in the spiritual formation community like to offer “Q&R” instead of “Q&A” because when it comes to Christianity, it makes more sense to offer thoughtful Responses than claim to have definitive Answers. Sometimes people have questions about a particular doctrine, passage of Scripture, theological concept, or worship practice and I’m happy to help them explore it. These are things that were part of the job as a pastor, so I’m happy to continue to talk about these things with anyone who asks.