PASSIONS
Discipleship
To me, discipleship means "the process of becoming more like Jesus." This is my greatest priority as a pastor. Discipleship holds together everything we do within congregations. It is the reason we worship. It is the reason we seek out Christian friendship. It is the reason we are committed to expressing God's hope, mercy, love, and justice in the world. Each of these have less meaning when isolated from one another. Discipleship holds them all together and shows how each flows from and into one another. Helping people through the process of discipleship can happen in a counseling session, in a one-on-one meeting over coffee, in a pastoral visit to a home or hospital room, in the classroom, or from the pulpit.
Leadership
Development
The growth of leaders within the Church is vital to its health, and creating a culture within congregations that prioritizes leadership growth is important in my own pastoral leadership. Creating a culture of leadership growth happens in formal ways, such as maintaining a leadership development group. In my church, I founded and facilitate a leadership development group that has been highly successful. I have also taught my method for growing leaders to others in my Presbytery. Creating a culture of leadership growth also happens in less formal ways, such as casting vision for leadership in conversations and in meetings. Most importantly, it occurs by personally modeling a desire and effort to grow as a leader.
Mission
Mission involves all of the ways that congregations are sent by God out of their borders and into the world to carry out God's love and justice. Without mission, the Church cannot live out its fullest potential. Mission keeps the Church connected to its broader purpose: that it does not exist for its own sake but for the sake of the world. This is one reason mission is essential for creating congregational health. In my church, I saw this when I led the initiative to begin a weekend hungry relief ministry for local students. In just two years, the ministry nearly tripled in size. The reason for this is because it is effectively meeting a real need in the community, and because the congregation sees how integral it is to the authentic living out of their faith.
Preaching
and
Teaching
My first love in ministry was preaching and teaching. I preached my first sermon when I was fifteen years old in the United Methodist Church of my childhood. Ever since then, I have preached in many different contexts, within many different Christian traditions, and incorporating many different styles. Whether it is in the pulpit or in the classroom, I love exploring a passage of the Bible or a topic of theology and inviting people into it to see God's love.