A Little About Me
My Interests
I’m a digital marketer by trade, a wordsmith by passion, and an inclusive follower of Jesus Christ by profession.
It’s really easy for me to love beauty, because it’s found in everyone and everything. Despite all the beauty in the world, I never tire of finding it. Every raindrop is as joyful as the one before.
My Influences
Culture / Person
- Five Iron Frenzy (I blame/credit them for starting my journey toward Christian anarchy)
- Shannon E. Greene (the single most influential person in my entire life)
- Elyse Myers (how can anyone not be influenced by how authentic and positive she is???)
- John Oliver (offers biting commentary, but done in a way that feels both obvious and hilarious)
Theology
- James Cone (taught me Jesus was a Black man)
- Rachel Held Evans (revealed the beauty that can remain inside a group of broken people)
- Pete Enns (one of the most significant voices for me as I re-learned how to read the Bible)
- Michael J. Gorman (deeply formative in how I see my life as an alternative to cultural norms)
- Diana Butler Bass (the model of a prophetic storyteller)
- Wil Gafney (embodies faithful perseverance through intense challenges)
- Brian McLaren (showed me it was possible to be both progressive and faithful to Scripture)
- Amy-Jill Levine (forever changed how I read and interpret Jesus’ parables)
- Obery M. Hendricks Jr. (transformed the way I view non-violence and Christian political activism)
Art
- Stephen King (inarguably the greatest storyteller alive today)
- Amanda Gorman (I swear the ground shook as I listened to her at the Presidential Inauguration)
- J.R.R. Tolkien (isn’t everyone influenced by him?)
- Franz Kafka (can I be him when I grow up, please?)
- Danny Boyle (especially his earlier films)
My Publications
Whispers of a Stronger Faith
In Whispers of a Stronger Faith: Stories of Faith and Discovery, I used fiction and poetry to chronicle my spiritual growth as I wrestled out of the fundamentalist faith in which I was raised. This short Kindle book was released in October 2016, and you can pick up a copy for just $0.99 as a Kindle book or for $5.99 in paperback.
Social Media Ecclesiology
This was the thesis I wrote as a completion of my coursework at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. In it, I examined the Apostle Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth and considered how those letters could serve as a foundation to develop a model for church online using social media channels.
Want to read it? Reach out to me through one of my social channels and I’d be happy to send you a free PDF.