I am a Licensed Local Pastor in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. I am currently serving the Monacan Trail Cooperative Parish on the Three Notch’d District. I began my 10th year under appointment on July 1, 2024.

I attended Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. My theology is decidedly Wesleyan, that is that salvation is a gift freely offered by God’s grace. It cannot be earned, nor can we ever repay the cost of it.- that theology is “tempered” by my Mennonite friend’s peace loving nature and pacifism. I love reading the journals of Francis Asbury, the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America.

I prefer the NRSV Bible translation, but find the NIV best understood by most congregants. Each week, I generally read my texts for the sermon from 5 different translations.

I’m still uncertain why I have begun this blog, except that I think I have some things to say. You can expect that posts will be randomly timed, and may be infrequent.

While I fully support the United Methodist Church, the Virginia Annual Conference and the District in which I serve… I am not beyond expressing points of dismay with any of them. I may address politics from time to time – especially when a platform proves to be the antithesis of Jesus’ teachings (which is most of the time).

I have weathered the Pandemic, where two of my three churches remained closed for over a year. I have also weathered the ugliness of Disaffiliation and find it difficult to offer grace to any fellow UMC clergy who actively worked to encourage their appointed churches to disaffiliate. They are guilty of professional misconduct, and should have been stripped of their credentials and ejected from the Connection. All three of my churches chose to become Bridge Churches – that is, they have committed to remain UMC, regardless of what happens at future General Conferences.

Since this is my blog… I will speak as I please. Most likely, someone will be offended by my words. This is not because I set out to offend… but mostly because we live in a society that seeks out offence, rather than meaningful conversation.