Upfront

Am I Practicing an Integrated Faith?

After the George Floyd video hit the internet, racial tensions in the U.S. began to rise—and the Body of Christ was not excluded from this tension. People from all sides voiced their opinions, and as a Christian Black man, I found myself in many conversations about race and racism within

Don’t Question the Expert

For as far back as I can recall, being right has been important to me. You might say it has formed a significant part of my identity. I can remember being 10 or 11 and showing a friend how to pop popcorn (in those long-ago days before air poppers and

Position Mixtapes

How do we know what we know? How do we determine our position, or what we believe, on various issues? We all combine different sources of knowledge in different ways, resulting in a highly personalized position mixtape. The four sources of knowledge are Scripture, personal experience, reason, and tradition. How

Gentle and Right

“Why do you want to do this now?” my business partner asked. “it’s not the right time.” I sulked for a moment, then retaliated. “I’ve been doing most of the work all on my own for the past month. What does it matter to you when we decide to do

What I Said and How I Said It

“Pastor, I don’t know what to think. A loving God can’t possibly think this about me, can He?” The voice on the recording belonged to a young woman who described herself as bisexual (attracted to men and women). She had been building trust with our community over the last few

What I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety

For years, and I’m ashamed of this, I was the guy in the room thinking, “Oh man, not another emotional staff mess to deal with.” I was 38 years old and just as stressed out and tired as anyone else (that seemed to be a pre-req for EDGE Corps at

Naming Our Fears, Reclaiming Our Hope

When I was a young father, my wife Cathy, and I moved from our settled hometown to our dream counseling graduate program in Denver. We felt thrilled and in the center of God’s will. However, our then 10-year-old son, Seth, was struggling. His loneliness, isolation, and new school left him

The Unexpected Companion

 I will never forget my first meeting with the psychiatrist. His office was in a mental health hospital, and it was straight out of a movie… complete with a creaky gate, old brick buildings, and zombie-like patients walking the grounds in hospital gowns.  After a litany of questions, the doctor

Unflappable: Flying by Faith in the Face of Fear

“You’re so unflappable,” people tell me sometimes. And I laugh. Every time I choose to use my voice to say something that’s hard, I always have a level of anxiety internally before I say it. I don’t know if my anxiety will ever go away, but as a child and

Anxiety: An Invitation to Slow Down

“Parang malalim yata ang iniisip mo?” (English: “Looks like you’re thinking about something deep.”)  As a child, my anxiety was perceived as deep thinking. When anxiety takes hold of me, it consumes my thoughts, and often blinds me to the promise of God’s tender and infinite care for me.  When