My vocation (or calling in life): Husband, neighbor, mission-minded pastor on leave.
My congregation: St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Worthington, Minn.
My favorite person in the Bible: Peter — try and fail, repeat.
My favorite liturgical season: Lent — intensity, story and mystery — it resonates with the people’s real gut-wrenching experiences of the world.
My favorite movie: “The King’s Speech” — it humanizes people we often put on pedestals.
I prefer to sit here during worship: in the middle. (I love worship that happens in the evening. Night church has an amazing vibe.)
The TV show I’d never watch: “South Park” — I just don’t get it.
What’s playing on my iPod right now: Martin Sexton, The Civil Wars, Ryan Adams and Rob Bell’s latest podcast.
My perfect day: anything with my beautiful wife, and if it involves something outside, a trip to Chipotle and a few minutes to read, then life is good.
The hymn I want played at my funeral: “Abide with Me.” You could spend a lifetime of following Jesus just learning to know what “abiding” could mean.
The best thing I learned in Sunday school: how to look up a verse in the Bible.
I am most frustrated with my congregation when: people turn over their shoulder and give dirty looks at new or young people who make noise during church. They may never come back.
I feel most Lutheran when: the worship bores me, or when I hear the pastor tell me I’m forgiven, because otherwise I wouldn’t believe it myself.
What “living Lutheran” means to me: the courage to daily follow Jesus into the world, startled and joyful to meet him there already, and grateful he invites me into God’s unfolding, healing work.
I’m doing God’s work with my hands when: I pray, spend time with my wife, make a donation to a booster club or church, talk to my neighbors.
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