I’m so grateful that the Midwest Presbytery is taking on pastoral burnout head on. Sean Nemecek of Anchor Ministries is here providing important insight into how to protect against burnout and identify it.
Currently reading: The Ragamuffin Gospel Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out by Brennan Manning 📚
Our resistance to the furious love of God may be traced to the church, our parents and pastors, and life itself. They have hidden the face of a compassionate God, we protest, and favored a God of holiness, justice, and wrath.
There they are. There we are-the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to the faith.My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace. - Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel
“For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”
- bell hooks, essayist / critic
This really hits.
As I prepare to preach John 18 & 19 this Sunday, I am blown away by how timely it is for our moment. Particularly, the parallel of the religious leaders in the first century and the religious leaders of today.
“We have no king but Caesar!”
Whew.
Finished reading: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman 📚
I cannot wait for the next installment to hit my Libby. The story is starting to really get good beyond the humor and action.
Coffee and a laptop at Black Iron Coffee, what kind of trouble can I get up to? Probably more than I should.
I think one of the easiest things to do is critique. It’s a low bar. In what I write, preach, and record I endeavor to state what I am for. When critique is required in that context, I don’t shy away.
I got weary of many who simply complain.
Chart the path forward. Give us a vision of what it looks like for all things to be made new.
2.6 A Faith to Carry Forward
What does faith look like on the other side of deconstruction? In the season finale of The Pastor Next Door, we explore the characteristics of a mature, resilient faith—one defined not by rigid certainty or heroic arrogance, but by humility, deep love, and a steady hope that holds room for mystery and doubt.
When we let go of the need for easy answers, we discover that what truly survives deconstruction is Christ at the center.
I know it’s officially fall when I’m in the gym instead of the golf course first thing in the morning. 😂
Unveiled Glory
For the full unabridged audio listen here: Believing is Seeing and Believing is Life - Unveiled Glory
The world has a pretty fixed idea of what glory looks like. Glory is wealth. Glory is crowns. Glory is military power and self-promotion. We glorify ourselves.
But when Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven in John 17, he pulls back the curtain on the true heart of God. He unveils a glory revealed not in a palace but on a cross — not in self-preservation but in self-giving love, not in worldly dominance but in a united, protected church that reflects the eternal love of the Father and the Son.
Glory, from the perspective of Jesus, is so different from how we think of glory in the world. So let me try to give you a snapshot of what it actually looks like.
Apparently, I was dreaming about Sunday worship. Woke up thinking it was Sunday. Turned on the coffee pot and was getting ready to do Sunday stuff and then realized today is Saturday. #PastorLife
Watched: The Transformers: The Movie 🍿
Seeing this in the theater again at 50 after seeing it when I was 10 was remarkable. The emotions still hit. The soundtrack still hit.
The Prologue with Peter Cullen? 🔥
The Epilogue? Man. That was redemptive for 10 year old me.
🎙️ New episode: “Community After Deconstruction”
Naming church wounds honestly. Why isolation feels safe after deconstruction — and what it costs. Four questions to ask of any community.
Boundaries aren’t bitterness. Caution isn’t cynicism.
2.5 Community After Deconstruction
For many people, deconstruction isn’t just theological — it’s relational. It involves the church, people, community, and sometimes deep wounds. This week, I talk honestly about church wounds, the pull toward isolation, and how to discern and slowly re-enter healthy community after deconstruction. Restoration, like Peter’s on the shore in John 21, happens in relationship — not apart from it.