Just before 2017 ended, I managed to squeeze in one last book: God Told Me by local pastor Jim Samra. It’s about how to listen for God’s direction in your life day to day. This is a subject that has come up numerous times in recent years, and one that has also played a big role in my life thus far. I first became aware of the book after visiting his church this past summer at the invitation of some friends who attend there. The sermon he delivered on Esther was one of the best I’d ever heard, and I was surprised to find out that he’s a fellow DTS graduate,…

This past summer I went through a change in the way I think about my career. For my entire adult life, and honestly much of my childhood, I dreamed of ways to expand my influence—to get bigger. I created an entertainment company as a 12 year old in 1995. (Note: my dad feels that without filing the proper documents it wasn’t a real company. But I know better.) I created a GeoCities site a few years later, when getting listed on Yahoo! was still a big deal. Decisions about majors and schools and career paths always depended on what doors they would open or close. I thought if I could…

A few months ago I was listening to an interview with Seth Godin on The Moment with Brian Koppelman. (I discovered The Moment through Russell Moore’s podcast.) Godin is a well-regarded author and speaker on the subject of marketing in the 21st century. I got a lot out of the interviews I’ve heard with him, but there was one thing in particular that really struck me. In fact, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. He said, “I need to tell myself something true in public every day.” I’m not entirely sure why this resonated with me the way it has. But I do know that…

I’m not a preacher; I’m a theologian. But now that I’ve graduated seminary I sometimes have the honor of preaching. And as someone who just barely passed the two required preaching courses while he was focused on other things, I’ve had to go back and really develop a theology and strategy of preaching. It should go without saying that it’s a work in progress, but I’m at a place now where I’m comfortable with my system—which means the next step is to share it. Maybe someone out there can benefit from what I’ve learned, but either way there’s always room for improvement and maybe you can help me see where.…

Last week I made my usual pilgrimage to the place where all the evangelical seminary geeks converge: the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. This year was the second time Atlanta has hosted since I began attending, and it was fun reliving early autumn just before the snow arrived back home. Over the years I developed a strategy: make plans to attend nonstop papers, then throw out those plans when relational opportunities arise. This year the program was a bit light, but thankfully the people made up for what was lacking. When reflecting on the meeting I was reminded of just how good last year’s meeting had been. This…