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November 2019

November 13, 2019

Why Isn’t Perfection In Love Good Enough For Wesleyan Theology?

As United Methodism approaches our denominational apocalypse at the May 2020 General Conference, I've come...

September 2019

September 17, 2019

The Bursting Of The Methodist Wineskin

One of the most uncomfortable and least talked about parables of Jesus is his parable...

August 2019

August 20, 2019

Methodism Needs A No Fault Divorce

I'm not the best person at parsing through details. Right now I'm in the thick...

February 2019

February 26, 2019

Practical Holiness Is Wesleyan Orthodoxy

I just spent a three-day Cursillo retreat with mostly older, conservative small-town United Methodists in...

February 19, 2019

Honest Questions For Traditionalist Methodists On The Eve of Our Apocalypse

As United Methodists enter the final week before our called General Conference on queer sexuality,...

January 2019

January 31, 2019

The Evangelism of a Thousand Clergy Trials

I denied Christ, just like Simon Peter when the cock crowed. It was a couple...

November 2018

November 09, 2018

Amicable Separation Or Political Leverage?

Last weekend was the first-ever global legislative assembly for the Wesleyan Covenant Association, the United...

May 2018

May 08, 2018

Another Open Letter to the Wesleyan Covenant Association

Dear Wesleyan Covenant Association and other like-minded United Methodists, I made a fool out of...

April 2018

April 12, 2018

Why I’m Not Freaking Out About the Methodist Apocalypse

In 2019, United Methodism will experience an apocalypse. Representatives from all over the world will...

May 2016

May 26, 2016

What would it look like for love to win in the United Methodist Church?

Love wins. Ever since Rob Bell wrote the book in 2011, it's been the battle...

May 24, 2016

An open letter to Timothy Tennent

Dear Dr. Tennent, Thank you for your open letter and your follow-up post. Three years...

May 20, 2016

When United Methodists behave like Galatians

My fellow Patheos blogger Eric Smith has a provocative blog post pairing the May 29th...

May 19, 2016

The three essentials of the Wesleyan gospel

I came across an article by a woman named Carolyn Moore that puts forward "three non-negotiables for...

May 17, 2016

Three options for the United Methodist Church moving forward

As expected, the conservative evangelicals at General Conference have a solid majority. It is likely that...

May 16, 2016

The one verse the church should have been reading for the past 2000 years

Order. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about Pentecost, the infinite harmony of the...

May 13, 2016

Maybe it’s time to plant a new denomination

I became United Methodist because of Central Avenue United Methodist Church in Toledo, Ohio. I...

May 11, 2016

The contempt for the heart in United Methodism

It's odd that a movement founded when John Wesley "felt [his] heart strangely warmed" has...

May 07, 2016

A prophecy and two visions from Acts for our United Methodist General Conference

The book of Acts is supposed to model for us how the early church engaged...

May 06, 2016

What Romans 1 teaches about sin and why it ironically exonerates LGBT identity

Romans 1:18-32 is one of the most important passages in scripture, because it describes the...

May 02, 2016

On making Jesus answer questions he wasn’t asked

Conservative United Methodist scholar Ben Witherington's recent rant in the United Methodist Clergy group was...

April 2016

April 28, 2016

Should the United Methodist Church be more like McDonald’s?

Last night, I went to a screening of the film "Act of Love" about the trial of...

April 27, 2016

Can we have a scorn-free General Conference?

One of my favorite parishioners at my last church was a Tea Party Republican. He...

April 06, 2016

Queerness, the idolatry of norms, and the “new” morality

I wish that United Theological Seminary president David Watson could have been at lunch with...

August 2013

August 20, 2013

What is the burden of proof in the #Methodist #homosexuality debate?

In the American justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable...

December 2012

December 27, 2012

Looking Back on 2012: April-May

In March, I fasted from blogging for Lent. April and May of 2012 were dominated...

June 2012

June 27, 2012

Did Paul obey his General Conference?

If Peter was the first Pope, then Paul was the first Protestant. In the original...

June 11, 2012

Letter from a gay Christian classmate

This is a letter from a guy named Chase Bannister who went to school with...

May 2012

May 03, 2012

Don’t hate our purple UMC

In 2 Samuel 12, when Bathsheba's first son was dying, David fasted and clamored with...

May 02, 2012

What prevenient grace is and isn’t

"We stand united in declaring our faith that God’s grace is available to all ––...

May 01, 2012

Biblical and inclusive: Methodism wrestles with homosexuality

“No scripture can mean that God is not love and that His mercy is not...