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February 2020

February 01, 2020

Resisting Harm Is What Holiness Is For

One way to talk about the tragic division in contemporary American Christianity is to say...

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...

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...

October 2018

October 31, 2018

Can Wesleyanism Evolve Or Does It Belong To The 18th Century?

The continuous meta-debate within the United Methodist debate is to ask: what are we really...

June 2018

June 16, 2018

What Does Church Unity Look Like?

I'm currently at the Virginia annual conference, the yearly gathering where United Methodist laity and...

June 12, 2018

Accepting Carolyn Moore’s Invitation to Higher Conversation

Carolyn Moore is probably my favorite conservative United Methodist leader. What I see in her...

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...

June 2017

June 20, 2017

I want to be a compatibilist when I grow up

In the United Methodist Church sexuality debate, one way to talk about the various constituencies...

June 19, 2017

My bishop whoops when she preaches

I just got back from my home annual conference of Virginia. We've got a new...

June 12, 2017

When Bishop Harvey flipped the script on bold imagination

The book of Numbers was the source text of the message this year at Louisiana's United...

May 2017

May 03, 2017

No, there aren’t two United Methodisms

It's always easiest to imagine humanity existing in a single dualistic contrast. I do this...

May 01, 2017

Jesus is illegal

I'm going to be marching today with a group of immigrants whom some people call "illegal...

April 2017

April 27, 2017

The narrative that’s destroying United Methodism

There’s a narrative circulating around United Methodism. It goes something like this: if preachers would...

October 2016

October 31, 2016

Which Holy Spirit will show up to the United Methodist commission?

I wish I could have been at the Wesleyan Covenant Association gathering in Chicago earlier...

October 16, 2016

Just remember that Dubya and Hillary belong to the same church

They're both United Methodist: Dubya and Hillary, two of the most hated politicians in America....

September 2016

September 12, 2016

An open letter with 12 honest questions for the Wesleyan Covenant Association

Dear Wesleyan Covenantal Association, First of all, I'm not afraid of you. I don't think...

July 2016

July 21, 2016

Sarah Heath’s contagious love

If you're a super nerdy Methodist and you know about the production Chuck Knows Church, you...

July 20, 2016

So your local church can’t do ministry because there’s a gay bishop out there?

Good News magazine recently published an open letter to the United Methodist Council of Bishops...

July 17, 2016

Is the Holy Spirit a respecter of institutions?

Some United Methodists are overjoyed about the election of Karen Oliveto, our first openly queer...

July 16, 2016

Could a queer bishop restore Wesleyan holiness to the United Methodist Church?

Last night, the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church elected our first openly-queer bishop,...

June 2016

June 02, 2016

A response to Billy Abraham regarding United Methodism’s orthodox rebirth

Dear Dr. Abraham, This week, I read your essay "The Birth Pangs of United Methodism...

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 18, 2016

Two ways of being moderate: bridge-building and equal opportunity scorn

Moderate United Methodists are having a tough time right now. People on both the left...

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...