I'm guessing if you're reading this you've thought about some kind of faith sharing in the past, but have shrunk back from taking action.  The first thing I want to mention is that it's not your fault.  There are a lot of bad examples out there.  I can remember being accosted in a hospital waiting room one time and despite saying no thank you several times the fellow wouldn't leave me alone.  Please Dear Lord anything but that! If in the past you've been afraid that sharing requires you to be a kind of pushy sales person, locked in a struggle of who's right and who's wrong, I want to put those fears to rest.  You can do it with the right mindset and the right models.  Done in the right way, you'll be neither pushy nor obnoxious. See, the real pushy evangelists think that making someone believe their theology is the  only way to share faith.  Nothing else counts to them.  I've come to realize they're wrong.  Those little moments of goodne...

 We've all had that fear right?  If I share with my friends and family they will pull away, or even might not want to spend time with me.  I've had those experiences myself.  I can remember as a teenager being so excited about my new faith that I wanted everyone to know about it.  As I shared what I thought were brilliant insights and theology I watched people's eyes glaze over, and some even told me to cut it out. The biggest mistake I made was jumping to the end of my journey.  I was trying to talk theology while neglecting all of the important stories that brought me to that point.  At the time I didn't appreciate the impact of all those little experiences, like my friend's Advent Calendar , or another friend's First Communion class.  Those experiences were the sparks that set me on my journey, and it is so important that they keep getting shared. When I started recognizing the impact that Jacob's Ladder can have, I realized that sharing huge...

For many years I kept my mouth glued shut.  I was more than happy to share my thoughts from the pulpit, but ask me to share something one on one with another person, and my palms would get all clammy and my mouth would dry up. Winessing, Faith Sharing, whatever you want to call it, was not taught in seminary.  There were probably even little comments like, "We just don't do that in the Episcopal Church." Another line is, "Our theology is too complex and nuanced." And finally, "I don't want to look like one of those fundamentalists!" We hoped that the beauty of the liturgy, or the Episcopal Church's progressive reputation would bring people in.  And for a few years it did, until those vehicles stopped working. At the same time, those big, unhelpful ideas about being too complex, or looking like a fundamentalist, or being distasteful were holding me back. After I moved to New Jersey and had some time on my hands, my heart stirred to create this s...

 Sleepovers were great as a child. We would stay up late, tell jokes, eat delicious snacks, and have a great time. One of my good friends, Dale, would have me over from time to time.  But the part I wasn't anticipating was how active his family was at Church. Whenever I spent the night on a Saturday we'd pile in the car the next day and I saw things I had never seen before. The first thing was Dale putting a quarter in a little offering envelope.  I was shocked that he was giving away his money. Then we'd be at Church and I saw boys around my age wearing colorful robes and carrying candles.  I was sure they were doing something really important. When I visited in December, Dale showed me his Advent Calendar.  Those chocolates looked delicious but he told me there was only one per day. I share this today because these little moments shaped my faith - even though I had no clue what any of them meant.  If Theology is Faith Seeking Understand, faith comes first...

 Hello Clarice ... Actually my story is even crazier than the Silence of the Lambs.  I was six years old, and my parents just dropped me off at the babysitter's before school.  Normally we would watch TV until it was time to catch the bus.  But today was different. My best friend caught my eye as soon as I walked through the door.  "Hey guess what," he said, "I get to eat a body and drink blood!"  As a small child I was intrigued.  My friend was going through his First Communion classes in the Catholic Church, and that's what he got out of it.  It was enough for me though.  He was a year older so I would look up to him - whatever he did, I wanted to do it too. But I had a problem ... I was not baptized.  I arranged to go to the classes - many of my other friends were there too.  But I was told that you have to baptized before you have First Communion.  But that wasn't the biggest disappointment.   You see, everyone el...

 This morning I had a nice phone call with a friend from seminary.  Both of us are taking our ministries into the online world - he's a little farther ahead than I am.  We were both remarking on what ministry looks like when you're a priest and don't have a traditional call in a parish. Traditionally that was the only option for a priest.  You went to seminary, got ordained, and went to work in a parish.  When it was time to move on, typically someone would move from a smaller parish to a larger one.  To seek out employment elsewhere was unthinkable - so much so that there's a rule for it in the disciplinary canons. But here we are in the 21st Century, looking at a Church that has been contracting for decades.  Where once there was a parish with two on staff, now it only has one.  Full time parishes have contracted to part-time status.  This has made it more difficult to find gainful employment - something I need in order to provide for my fa...

In the summer of 2023 my wife received a phone call, offering her a job as rector of Christ Church Philadelphia.  I was excited as the prospect of moving closer to family, it was a great opportunity for her, so we made the decision to accept.  After the goodbye tears at our old congregations we watched all of our belongings being packed into a moving van and made the trek up to the Northeast.  When we arrived and settled in to our new home I began looking for a call myself so we both could exercise our priestly ministries.  Then the responses started coming in.  “No, no, no thank you, no, heck no, this isn’t a good fit, no, no, no, and no.”  In between fits of rage and general despair I started to pray, “Okay God, here I am.  I want to serve and add value.  What would you have me do?” As one does when pondering, I distracted myself with Facebook.   An ad came up offering a free masterclass on how to earn a living online as a musician.   ...

 Other than schedule some new content my work today was mostly behind the scenes - developing some new stories for my half day workshop.  In the past I've jumped right into the content, expecting my audience to be dazzled by my brilliance - which rarely happened.  I can remember a few years ago I taught a four week course on Lectio Divina, and at the end I asked the class who felt ready to go out and do this type of prayer on their own.  Not a single hand went up.  I felt deflated like a latex balloon when you let go of it before the knot is tied.  Pfffffffffffft.  I also got curious.  Why was it after all that effort that I didn't achieve my desired goal - equipping the participants to pray Lectio Divina on their own. As I read through Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson, he shared how he had a similar problem, and that was because he was leading with the content.  It wasn't until one day he said to his participants, "Look do you know what I w...

Yesterday I received a phone call I had been waiting anxiously for. It was about a job I had put in for - and I didn’t get it. The person delivering the news was kind, and even encouraged me to apply for another position that, in her opinion, was a better fit for me. It is a different kind of job, would require a decent commute, and I’m not sure I have it in me to enter another process right now.  This morning I got myself showered and dressed and put on my clericals. Even though I was home all day I wanted to shoot a video and hence the outfit. Somehow just dressing up had me feeling less dejected - like I still could do something I was proud of. I remember years ago when my dad was looking for work. Each day he put on a shirt and tie before filling out job applications.  After the video I scheduled some more content, opened up my notebook, and started working on my plan. The ideas began to flow, time seemed to flow by, and before I knew it I had a pretty great outline for a ...

 It seems like every ten years I get the itch to sell things online.  In 2003 I had big dreams of writing service music, selling the lead sheets, and getting royalties from CCLI.  I put everything together and then ... crickets.  I knew nothing about marketing and promoting, so my efforts fell flat.  But I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.  Now I can tell people that I started a very unsuccessful music label, and ran it into the ground.  I started with nothing, and I have most of it left. About ten years ago I tried out Clickbank.  Again I put together a music program.  This time it was a six month program for learning the guitar fingerboard, developing speed, and strengthening your ear.  I followed their marketing plan, and managed to sell a few copies.  Still nothing huge to write home about, but I did enjoy the process.  Now I knew a little about marketing, and did slightly better with email lists and such.  ...

 I've begun a new chapter in my life.  A few months ago my family moved to Cherry Hill, NJ after living in Norfolk, VA for over sixteen years.  My wife got a great call in Philadelphia, and I'm currently looking for my next call.  In the mean time I'm keeping busy. I decided to take my skills in Congregational Development and bring them to the online world.  I launched a Facebook page called Ministry Development , and I'm following Russell Brunson's model in Expert Secrets to reach as wide an audience as possible. My goal for this phase is to dedicate 2024 to learning, developing, and teaching the art of storytelling as a vehicle for sharing faith.  This is remarkably different from the idea that many people have in their heads.  In some quick Facebook polls, I found that many people fear sharing their faith for one of two reasons.  The first is that they have had bad experiences with evangelists in the past - the kind where someone would get in y...