This past Friday, I added another item to my list of Things They Didn't Teach Me in Seminary: Gardening.
Here at Mt. Nebo, we have a lot of property. The church was built in 1838, back when Ohio Township was mostly farmland. We have a cemetery, a manse, and a large triangle across the street from the church. In the back corner of our parking lot, we have a playground surrounded by trees and a hillside. No...
*picture taken from Pittsburgh Presbytery website.
Yesterday I made my way to the Pittsburgh Presbytery office for our 2017 ACT retreat. ACT stands for Administrative Commission for Transformation. It is a commission of the Pittsburgh Presbytery. Which is a fancy way of saying that presbytery tasked us with carrying out the work of transforming under-resourced worshipping communities.
Since returning from Russia, a lot of people have asked me, "What was your favorite part of your trip." My favorite part of visiting Russia was visiting the Butovo Firing Range.
Let me back up for a second and share with you that I am a huge history nerd. I am especially a huge history nerd about Communist Russia. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit Russia and see some of the places I have read...
When I travelled to Russia, I learned that Orthodox Christians focus on three things during Lent: body, soul, and spirit. When I was in Russia I learned a lot about these three things. Today I'm going to talk about what I learned about bodies. About my body in general, but also about the Church as the body of Christ.
On Sunday morning I will get on a plane and travel to Moscow, Russia, to participate in a World Mission Initiative (WMI) Short Term Mission Experience.
This week as I prepare for my trip a lot of people have inquired about my mental state. Aren't you scared to travel to Russia during the Trump administration? Isn't it the dead of winter in Russia right now, how will you stay warm? Why would you go to Russ...
I received several Facebook messages from concerned friends and colleagues this week telling me that they are "praying for me." Confused, I inquired what the additional prayers were for. "Well, you have to preach this week," they responded "and this is your week to speak truth to power. To use your prophetic preaching voice!"
After reading their responses, I was even more confused. Here I thought I w...
