Earlier this summer, my wife and I celebrated ten years of marriage. It’s almost too shocking to believe — a full decade with Shannon. Since 2016, we’ve moved states, changed jobs, traveled the world, and become parents. Along the way, we’ve learned a great deal about sex, conflict, intimacy, communication, and what it takes to…
A couple of years ago, I noticed something happening to my social media feeds. For starters, it began to feel like everyone was trying to sell me something. If it wasn’t a straight-up ad, it was a newsletter opt-in, a monetized meme page, or some personality trying to get me behind their paywall. Then came…
Continue reading ➞ No, It’s Not Just You. Social Media Really Has Gotten Worse.
I read too many books in 2024. This may sound like a rather surprising admission, especially when one considers that my wife and I welcomed our first child this year. But it turns out that attempting to bottlefeed a fussy baby at one in the morning is the perfect time to queue up an audiobook.…
The best advice someone gave me for the first few weeks with a newborn was simple: Survive. Forget about all of your expectations. Your goal — your only goal — is to keep your baby alive and you and your partner sane. That's it. It's going to be hard and there's nothing you can do…
Continue reading ➞ The First Four Months: Confessions of a Reluctant Parent
From the invention of the printing press to the advent of the internet, the church has a pretty decent track record of leveraging new technology to further the mission of the church. However, the past five decades have seen more technological advancement than in the previous five centuries. As the rapidity of innovation continues to…
Every year on our wedding anniversary, I write an article documenting the discoveries we’ve made in the past year about our relationship and each other. I’ve written six of these articles thus far, and with the seventh, I decided to try something a little different. Instead of grouping the article into pre-determined categories, I opened…
In September 2022, Pew Research Center released a startling report that claimed - in rather stark terms - "Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades." With headlines like "America's Christian majority is on track to end" and "America's Christian majority could end by 2070," the report's findings…
It’s worse than you think. Much worse. Before we begin, however, I want to apologize for the inflammatory nature of this article’s title. I’m not, typically, an alarmist or prone to hyperbole. I’d charitably describe my disposition as “cautious optimism.” Many may dismiss the central idea in this article as “irresponsible,” “needlessly inflammatory,” and “implausible.”…
Continue reading ➞ 3 Ways the Church Can Help Prevent a Second American Civil War
Let’s say you invented a time machine. But this time machine can only move in one direction through time: Backwards. Therefore, if you use the machine, there’s no coming back. So, here’s the question: Where would you go? When would you choose to live? This inquiry is more complex than it initially appears. Strip the romanticism…
You have a secret you’ve never shared with anybody: You’ve always felt like an imposter at church. At praise and worship services, you’d stand when you were expected to stand, sing along with the words on the projection screen, and sometimes even raise your hands with your eyes closed (most often during the key change…
Continue reading ➞ The Quiet Ones: How (and Why) Introverts Will Help Save the Church From Itself
Instrument of Mercy 