ramblings

Entrance Exams The Texas sky threatened an ice storm. My wife and the storm radar confirmed it. However, my entrance exam for the PhD program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was scheduled early in the morning. So I reasoned that I could leave early, stay ahead of the storm, and make it to Fort Worth … Continue reading My PhD Journey at SWBTS

I could come to terms with loss, if good-bye only meant see you next summer; if the cold sting of death's winter was blunted by whispers of spring's tiding. But this past year heaps snow upon snow, loss upon loss; I feel like it is always winter and never Christmas. On April 11 we held … Continue reading Meditating on death: a memorial for 2020

From March of 2019 through October,  I officiated nearly twenty funerals for family, friends, and church members. Some of these dear brothers and sisters were expected passing, most were not. On top of these funerals, a mentor of mine (a spiritual giant to me) died as well. This period of mourning in my life and … Continue reading Do You Believe in Ghosts, Poem

On the heels of the controversial cinedoc, By What Standard?, which was itself a response to Resolution 9, voted upon and affirmed by the Southern Baptist Convention messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, Baptist Press released a “Q&A with the 2019 Resolutions Committee about Resolution 9,” last week. For clarification, that’s just … Continue reading SBC Unity and the Unforced Error that was Resolution 9

Each year, Southern Baptists gather before the annual meeting for the SBC Pastor’s Conference. During this time, Baptists are treated to some of the best preaching the convention (and often, the larger evangelical world) has to offer. This week, Baptist Press released the speaker list for the 2020 SBC Pastor’s Conference scheduled in Orlando. But … Continue reading Like a Broken Cup and SuperGlue

This past month, I had an opportunity to minister in Western Kenya by leading a pastor’s conference alongside my friend, fellow ETBU-alumnus, and fellow two-time SWBTS-alumnus, John Schultz. John leads a non-profit called Equip the Nations, inc and had reached out to me several months ago, asking if I would be interested in helping lead … Continue reading Trusting his Unseen Hand

Nostalgia has a powerful effect on the twenty-first century. Having loosened the moors of Western traditions which long held our culture from drifting, we now find ourselves looking back not to our forefathers but to our fore-child: we ask our childhood to answer the adult questions of our present. Nostalgia cannot answer the hardest questions; … Continue reading Nostalgia and Why We Can’t Even

In a recent article published by the Religion News Service, Tara Isabella Burton introduces the Harry Potter series, writing: It’s a book nearly everybody knows, many of us nearly from birth. We reference it in our daily lives. We use its complicated moral systems to define our social and political stances and to understand ourselves … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Old, Old Story

One October at Oklahoma State University, proud I made it to class early, I walked up to the professor smiling and some students and asked what they were discussing. Food porn. Immediately, I knew I had walked into the wrong conversation. I awkwardly excused myself. At the end of October the situation happened again. I … Continue reading Are You Consuming Food Porn?