Leadership Roles:
Church Anew Advisory Board

Served in leadership roles as, pastor, nonprofit director, middle school chaplain, boarding school dean, college dean for diversity and director for Youth Ministries for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, advisor to Bishop for Minneapolis Area Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Church Affiliation:
Executive Director, for Redeemer Center for Life, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Executive Director, Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Advisor to Bishop for Minneapolis Area Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Minnesota
Board Member, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota
Advisory Board, Collaboration Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia

Past/Other Church Affiliations:
Pastor, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Pastor, Augusta Lutheran Church, Portland, Oregon
Board member, Aeon Affordable Housing Development, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Board Member, Harrison Neighborhood Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Board Member, Youthprise, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Education:
Bachelor of Science, Concordia Senior College, Ft Wayne, Indiana
Master of Divinity, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Google me!
A former member gifted me with a recorded interview on Inherited Stories

Church finds new life focusing on “congregation” outside the walls.  Faith and Leadership, A learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

Lutherans work to shed stuffy image and kick-start change. Star Tribune. July 3, 2017.

Why are you motivated to serve church leaders through Church Anew?
I believe the church is the most powerful institution in the world. No other institution has the power to say, it does not matter who you are, where you come from, what you difference, you are welcome in the church. The church offers three-time honored promises. 1) When we gather, we extend God’s message of welcome and belonging (worship). 2) When we teach, we learn, explore, and experience the reality and presence of God (catechesis). Learning about God is both intellectual and experiential and is not limited to cognitive knowledge. We welcome, equip, and invite leaders to fulfill their potential (witness) in their congregations and local contexts.

What pain points are your seeing/hearing for church leaders today?
I will not speak for other leaders, but I sure can tell you my pain. The church has done a lousy job when it comes to sharing the wild and crazy gift God has given to us in the gospel. Too many churches have become comfortable with being comfortable. It pains me, knowing the amazing blessing the church can be when building and worship is more than a system of entitlement. Too many churches limit who has access to the kitchen, whose hymns get sung, communicate that children and youth belong in the church, if they are quiet and remain in their place. Oh, and I have not begun to talk pain concerning race, ethnicity, and orientation.

How are you living out your faith in daily life?
I aspire to live my faith by living and experiencing the transformative power of the gospel to transcend the boundaries of race, class, and culture. My call as a pastor is simple, to love God and love people. Everything else is secondary.

Describe your spiritual gifts.
My gift is vision. I believe the kingdom of God is accessible and embodied in the church as an everyday reality. I believe my spiritual gift best translates into faith. I can see possibilities other may see as impossible. I believe in people others have been conditioned not to see for their God given potential. This spiritual gift of faith and vision blesses me to see results in places where other people see impossibility.

Share one fun fact about you that makes you a unique member of this team.
I have been actively engaged in the church since middle school when I wandered into a church after hearing a new classmate describe how pretty the girls were in his church. I got the directions wrong and found myself in a church where no one else looked anything like me. Before I could exit, two Sunday school teachers had me stand in the front of the entire Sunday school while the they began to sing a song, “There’s a welcome here, there’s a welcome here, there’s a Christian welcome here.” In that moment I experienced a reality I had not imagined existing. That welcome I experienced through children and Sunday school teachers inspired and equipped me to serve a church of radical welcome to others, in and outside of our church walls.