Reinhold Neibuhr once said, adapting a line from humorist Finley Peter Donne, that the job of a pastor was to “Comfort the Afflicted, and Afflict the Comfortable.”
I am daily humbled and honored to be able to do that sort of work.
Since 2005 I have been a Teaching Elder and Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), when I was ordained and installed as the Associate Pastor at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. I was the Lead Pastor of the The Kirk in southern Kansas City, Missouri, from 2013 to 2022.
Beyond the congregation, I’ve worked in Heartland Presbytery to promote our common ministry, and served as Moderator of the Presbytery in 2010 and of the Presbytery Council in 2011. In 2012 I was a commissioner to our national church meeting, the 220th General Assembly, and chaired its committee on Church Growth.
That assembly also elected me as a board member of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. This is one of the six division of the national church, and does incredible work: feeds the hungry, responds to people in crisis and in the midst of disasters, serves the needs of people and communities around the world, seeks to nurture the calling of children, youth, college students, and young adults, promotes theological reflection and new church development, and articulates a vision of peace, justice, and hope for the world (among many other things). It is the heart and the hands of the denomination. The Mission Agency seeks to inspire, equip, and connect congregations so that we can do the work God calls us to do together.