my wife and I at E’s baptism!
i’m glad you’ve found your way to my site! this is a space where i occasionally share more personally about my own journey as well my reflections on faith and life in the 21st century.
i am an ordained minister in the united church of christ currently serving as the pastor of the federated church of sycamore. i received my master of divinity in 2017 from harvard divinity school and am also a proud badger, having graduated from the university of wisconsin-madison in 2011.
i spent the first 18 years of my life growing up in a family of nine in rural wisconsin “where the cows outnumber the people;” the next 12 years living in urban areas and working with community partnerships in Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, Israel-Palestine and the US-Mexico border; and since 2019, I have pastored the federated church in sycamore, il. i am passionate about forming interfaith coalitions and community partnerships to advocate and work for social justice.
for me, this important work begins at home with my wife, shrestha singh–whose life and work also exist at the intersections of the arts, social justice, and community healing–our fun-loving toddler, and our playful rescue kitty, clooney.
a few random things about me:
i love fall. and good coffee. and reading. growing up, i primarily spent my time playing sports, but now i am most content to spend a slow morning reading (see what i’ve been reading here). i have a particular interest in and love for the people and land of palestine-israel. i enjoy a glass of dry red wine, whiskey, or a hoppy ipa. i prefer to listen to soul, gospel and more melancholic/lyrically probing folk music. which is also the style of music i write and play. unless i’m at a wedding, where you will find me dancing the night away. i prefer the tension of paradox to the comfort of certainty. i am on a lifelong journey, ever in search of good–and then better–questions. i get excited about studying biblical history. i am unashamedly a follower of a radical peasant preacher from nazareth. and i am thankful for grace because i’m not always the greatest follower. as a minister, i seek to bear witness to the radical, subversive, and counter-cultural love, forgiveness, hospitality and way of life that i find in the one i call christ.