WelcomeIt’s our final week of the Screen Time series! We’ve discussed lots of topics, including binge-streaming and tuning out the world, social media and unhealthy comparisons, dualistic thinking (believing that things can only be black or white), and the impact of each of these things on our mental health, relationships, and faith. This week, we’ll talk about how we can decipher between the “tru...  Read More

I am in Charlotte, NC at the United Methodist Church’s long delayed General Conference. This is the legislative body that gathers every 4 years (except for COVID) and decides church law in our denomination. I am one of 6 clergy delegates from Missouri and joining about 750 delegates from all over the world. The last several years have been difficult for our denomination. More conservative churches...  Read More

WelcomeTechnology has made our world more connected today than it has ever been in the history of civilization. The pandemic helped us improve and embrace the ways we can communicate virtually. If your job suddenly became completely remote or you were supervising a kid in Zoom school, you also experienced the shortcomings of virtual interactions. There are both tangible and intangible parts of in-...  Read More

This weekend, I am traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2024 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. General Conference only happens once every 4 years and it is the only body that can change United Methodist Church law and policies. There will be nearly 900 elected delegates from all over the world coming together for nearly two weeks to make decisions for the future of our d...  Read More

WelcomeYou can’t do a sermon series on Screen Time without talking about social media. “Doom scrolling” – spending too much time endlessly scrolling and focusing on the negative things you see on social media – has become an epidemic in our culture today. It’s so easy to get lost in a feed of entertaining videos, products you HAVE to buy, photos of peoples’ “perfect” lives, distressing news from a...  Read More

Earlier this week, there was heavy rain overnight. The next morning when I woke up to walk the dogs, there was an incredible vibrance to the spring colors. The grass was bright green, the irises in my front yard were a deep shade of purple. The reds, pinks, and blues of our emerging flowers almost seemed to be lit in neon. The gloomy and windy rainstorm the night before dissipated and was replaced...  Read More