About

About Me

I’m currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary where I focus on youth and young adult formation. My research interests include the intersection of faith and technology, faith and adolescent brain development, and youth and spiritual practices. Prior to arriving at Princeton in 2004 I served in full-time youth and college ministry for eight years at Nazarene churches in Idaho. Since coming to seminary I’ve served in youth ministry positions at Presbyterian (PCUSA) and Christian and Missionary Alliance churches. I’m ordained in the Church of the Nazarene. In a former life I was a coffee barista (twice, but only once for Starbucks) and an award-winning newspaper reporter and graphic designer. Dig deep enough on the web and you’ll find evidence of both. I’m the husband of Kristina, and the father of Evan (4) and Anna (on the way).

What is Faithd?

Maybe not what you think. Faithd happens to be a BSD/UNIX translation service charged with the task of interpreting IPv6 into the older IPv4 Internet protocol. Say what? In other words, it translates new signals for old structures. As such, it’s a perfect metaphor for what I hope to be about in my research and ministry.

But faithd also refers to the curious nature of the Christian context. Christians like to invent words. Missional is one. Faithed is another. In the English language, faith is a noun unless you’re in church where it can just as easily become a verb as in, “Abraham faithed.” (Yes, I’ve heard this from the pulpit.) Overall, what’s fun about faithed is that it’s a word that derives from a particular context and the discrete language game of church life. Using faithed (or ‘missional’ for that matter) in conversation means that you’ve been steeped (and probably overbrewed) in a religious context. But I particularly like to employ the word in a passive sense. Have you been faith’d? What happens to people when they’ve been brewed and stewed in a faith community? What does it look like? What happens? You can think of it like a Jeff Foxworthy joke, “If you own a pew, and even God knows its yours, you might have been faith’d.” Now, there’s plenty to be cynical about, but that’s not the ultimate purpose of faith’d. It’s more about the recognition that we’re all contextual creatures who have been formed in a community and who live inside a particular plausibility structure. So the title of this blog suggests an attempt to explore the idiosyncratic nature of American Christianity. As such it’s also the successor to my original blog, NakedChurch (2003-2005).