Ministry Statement

This is the statement included as part of my Ministerial Profile for the United Church of Christ.

I believe in the power of storytelling: the stories of individuals, the stories of communities, the great faith stories of our Christian tradition as handed down in the Scriptures. We receive images of God in stories – the compassion and tenderness that the Creator shows toward the created, the beauty and tragedy of human existence. Our stories bind us together and express a part of our very souls. Our stories give us frameworks of justice, faith, action, and understanding.

When I was five years old I would set up church in my family’s living room. Our pets and my stuffed animals made up that first parish. As I became more industrious the worship setting expanded to include a homemade pulpit, my renditions of church hymns on an electronic keyboard, and handmade bulletins to distribute. “When I grow up,” I confidently declared, “I want to be a pastor.”

That early vocational direction changed, however, and on the journey in between I declared with equal confidence my passion for being a meteorologist, news broadcaster, radio deejay, lawyer, social worker, teacher, writer, journalist, and politician. I held jobs as a newspaper courier, lifeguard, various retail posts, office worker, newspaper reporter and editor, and communications director, before finally answering the call to seminary.

Some have said my first call to ministry clearly manifested as I was a child, donning a bathrobe and scarf as vestments and preaching to a congregation of cotton stuffing. I do not identify it in that way, but instead as the development of a young child raised in the church who discovered a love of God and God’s children through his involvement. My first internal call to ministry as I understand it came on the other side of the planet while on a study abroad experience in New Delhi, India, at the Baha’i House of Prayer. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart to live my life in service to God’s creation as a leader in Christ’s church.

A couple of years later, one of my college classmates was airlifted to the regional trauma center in Milwaukee, where I lived following graduation, after he had a life-threatening stroke while playing basketball. He was only 21 at the time. A group of friends and acquaintances developed around him to show support, and I opened my apartment to house and feed those who had traveled to keep vigil at the hospital. As our classmate recovered and the immediate crisis passed our community remained jolted to its core. At the end of the summer on a late-evening walk one of my best friends told me that I should become a pastor. He is not a religious person, and in fact his prophetic words meant more to me because of that reason. We talked for hours that night and I began my journey toward seminary and ordained ministry.

My story is shaped by the stories of other people and it is in that intersection that community is formed. If my story is shaped by my religious tradition and my experience of the Holy Spirit’s movement, it is also shaped by my frustration at the perceived lack of movement in areas where gross injustices are committed and persons are marginalized for others’ benefit. These are the stories that teach and challenge me, that ignite the action of my faith and my belief in the powerful words of the Savior’s Prayer: God’s will be done on earth as in heaven.

I think of a young man, Jay, who used to beg on the corners around State and Washington in downtown Chicago. His family had moved out-of-state and things started spiraling downward for him when he was laid off in 2008. Eventually money ran out, he was evicted from his apartment, and had no other choice but to work the streets of the city. He would sleep at night on the L trains and so when I saw him I would give him transit passes so he would be warm. Once I watched as he helped a woman in a wheelchair get across the street to the next store so she could rest her arms; I frequently saw him giving travelers directions to the various sights of the city. Jay always had a smile on his face and a friendly, approachable personality.

Miss Hattie was a regular at one church’s mid-week meal. A former schoolteacher in the segregated black schools of Mississippi, she moved to Wisconsin in the 1970’s. Elderly and alone, she is grateful for the community at church and to have a reliable meal each week. Miss Hattie is a wealth of stories – of the Jim Crow-era south, to the race riots in Milwaukee, to the pride at seeing the first African American man elected President of the United States during her lifetime. Her stories taught me more about social justice and racial dynamics in the U.S. than I could imagine.

I love working with people. In my work as a campus minister at DePaul University nothing inspires me more than helping young women and men discover their talents and abilities, to move toward their dreams and recognize God’s work in their lives. I am humbled to journey alongside those who grieve, to be a conduit of Christ’s mercy and compassion in their time of loss. I enjoy using my administrative and organizational skills to further the prophetic mission and work of the church, working collaboratively and strategically with partners in an authentically Christian, intentionally ecumenical and interfaith way.

The center of my week is worship, engaging heart, soul, and mind in a timeless ritual of Christian community expressing its understanding of God through music, preaching, and sacrament. In worship we express our continued hope in Jesus Christ’s radical message of abundant grace, extravagant inclusion, and transformational living. We are gathered to be scattered, renewed by our stories to act as agents of God’s justice empowered by the Holy Spirit, loving all with the same love our Creator has for us.

The center of Christian community is the local assembly of people establishing a caring, life-giving environment open to spiritual development and formation, education, and discipleship. As local church pastor I see my role as preacher, teacher, and caregiver, exploring questions of theology and spirituality as they intersect with the various communities of our everyday lives. I hope to serve in a setting that is open to faithful risk-taking, receptive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, firmly committed to a mission of engagement and partnership, and informed by a passion for Christian social justice. As the United Church of Christ our efforts ought to be guided by intentional accompaniment with our ecumenical and interfaith partners, witnessing to the power of faithful unity with diversity. As a pastor I seek a future hope that is better than the present. May it be so.