These past months I’ve been so grateful for the overwhelming support I’ve received - thank you to everyone who joined the team to flip this seat. Together, I can know we will win!

My town, Dubuque, getting some love from the WSJ. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...

With the departure of TEDS, Wisconsin will have one fewer seminary. But there's still www.madisonseminary.org!

I get that politicians in Washington are afraid of the repercussions they'd face if they stood up to Trump. But, look, that's the oath. That's the job. We need the bravery and sacrifice we demand of people in uniform. We need love of neighbor over self-preservation. Be a hero or a disgrace.

Every pastor: "We don't know where you're going, Jesus, how are we supposed to know the way to get there?" Jesus: It's me. I'm the way. No strategic plan or 3-step process will take the church where I intend. Follow me into the unknown.

Remember that time when a bishop told an emperor, if you don't repent you won't be forgiven? That was rad. #ambrose

In case you missed it (or your preacher did): Sunday's lectionary reading about a falling tower that killed some people & repentance, and with the parable about a fruitless fig tree given one more year to bear fruit, wasn't about how individuals need to stop sinning and be better, or else...

St. Patrick was not Irish. First, he was in Ireland as an enslaved person, and later as an immigrant.

The steadfast love of the Lord is like the decimals of pi. It is irrational.

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do study history are doomed to watch others repeat it.

reposting the Georgetown letter o.p. @joshchafetz.bsky.social with #AltText. this is how you do it. do not obey in advance, and outsmart them at every turn. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

For us, "gods" are spiritual beings, separate from earthly powers. But in the worlds of the Bible, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar & Caesar all claimed divinity & demanded worship. "Have no other gods before me" meant not only monotheism but also denying the principalities & powers what they craved.

What protections do recent religious freedom rulings provide for Christian universities who celebrate diversity, seek equity, and practice inclusion as part of their religious mission? #law #legal #religiousfreedom #dearcolleague

Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, friends.

"This isn't very entertaining," I said to a friend. "I think there's something deep going on and we might be missing most of it," he said. "Oh," I said. So, I leaned in to learn more. Like most art and wisdom, it's out in the open, but only understood by those willing and prepared to listen.

To believe that God is near is to anticipate the possibility brushing up against the divine. To anticipate it is to becomes sensitized. Trading stories about such brushes with the Spirit generates further faith and heightened anticipation. Attention and perception are intimately connected.

Christians can't approach immigration as just a question of statecraft because it is a basic dimension of who they are. They are called "foreigners & exiles" in this world (1 Ptr 2:11), permanent "foreigners & strangers on earth" (Heb 11:13) because their "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil 3:20).

Jesus almost got killed after his first sermon. The crowd was loving it until he suggested that God loved people of other nations, too. Luke 4, look it up.

It was beautiful & powerful act of Christian witness. To be clear, though, she didn't "call him out to his face;" she pleaded for mercy in the name of the God he invokes. It was not an act of condemnation. Calling him to repentance was an act of mercy. Also, the hard heart seals its own fate.

Important contrast. Former evangelicals used to mostly be mainline Protestants now they're mostly non-religious.

Help us honor a Distinguished Book in the social science of religion. Nominations (from friends, publishers, or authors) must be received by Jan 20! Details at sssreligion.org/awards-grant...

Proud to know two of the leaders quoted in this article who are providing hope in the midst of such pain and grief.

The thing about Christian hope is you can simultaneously say: "Socio-politically, 2025 is going to be the worst year of my lifetime to date-and precursor to far worse" and "My hope is not disturbed for it is placed in a crucified and risen Christ, firstborn of the new creation."

The worst idols are the ones that demand child sacrifice.

Forgiveness doesn't require forgetting. In fact, it is precisely a peculiar type of remembering.

Children of Men is THE most relevant Christmas movie for 2024. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VT2...

Fact: Children of Men is a Christmas movie.

A few thoughts on why part-time clergy are happier than their full-time colleagues from yours truly included.

If I have achieved anything in this life, it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God. – Dorothy Day

Wonder if I'll live to see the orange and pink lines cross.

Where sacred storytelling is missing from the life of a church—from the lives of the ordinary people of the church, not just the staff or elders—there you’re going to find a church running short on hope.

There's no better way to study scripture than in the company of followers of Jesus from other traditions and experiences! And there's no better time than when the world is reeling. Madison Learning Community is something special. www.madisonseminary.org

“Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” ― David Augsburger

It's dangerous to ask "What is the goal of God's mission?" if you don't also ask "How does Christ reveal God's way of mission?"

The best people ask questions.

Having a pet is ethical formation.

There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. - Jesus

The boys are not OK.

The other day someone was musing about how we look back on American slavery and say "How could people have done this?" and asked: "I wonder what they'll sayin the future about us." "There's no mystery." I said. "They'll ask how we could have knowingly destroyed the planet."

What is the tipping point for the number of TV personality appointments that officially makes the USA a reality TV show?

Just deactivated 3 Twitter accounts, so I guess that's cutting ties. Grateful for the folks who have made it a soft landing with a follow!

Can new churches take root in post-Christian places? global.oup.com/academic/pro...

It is regrettable how rarely spiritual formation talk centers on the practice of hospitality. It is too often seen only through the lens of mission strategy but it is one of the most transformative spiritual practices.

"Beauty is simply reality seen through the eyes of love." -Evelyn Underhill

"Conversion is, in the most basic of terms, the gift of a new way to live." -Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

"the Church is not to be defined by what it is, but by that End to which it moves." -LesslieNewbigin

About me: practical theologian, missiologist, professor, and author engaged with church planting, ecumenism, ecclesial ecologies, cities, common good, and theological education. Also, my Bernedoodle is named Theophilus Monk.

The Ecclesiology & Ethnography Network is a terrific group of scholars interested in understanding #congregations. They meet both in the UK and in North America - this year at Emory University in April. CFP due Feb 1. www.ecclesiologyandethnography.net/event/north-...

Looks like the grass is greener.