For the last four years I have the pleasure of overseeing a grant project that seeks to help seminaries train pastors to better equip their people to recognize God’s calling in everyday life. The grant arose, in part, because of a peculiar and somewhat troubling inconsistency in two groups of research. In the first survey, we discovered that the graduates of five seminaries from five different Christian traditions all highly value vocation and name it as a central theological category in their preaching and teaching. In a second study, composed of surveys and literature reviews, we discovered that most of the people in congregations served...

It’s taken me a little over a week to read through and digest (or at least begin to digest) all the comments and fabulous conversation about baptism. Which is why I title this post, “What I am learning about baptism,” rather than “learned” or even “believe,” let alone “know for sure.” What you all have shared keeps teaching me about baptism and for that I am grateful. So, several things: 1) We don’t talk about Baptism enough! Goodness gracious, but there were enough marvelous questions, great insights, strong opinions, and wonderfully open invitations to dialogue that we could fill who knows how many Sunday mornings with...

“I’ve got a problem with orthodoxy!” So began a recent and really enjoyable conversation with some of the congregational leaders in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod (ELCA). The pastor who made this declaration went on to explain that he finds theological doctrines regularly stifling to the kind of vibrant questions and conversations about the life of faith he encourages his congregation to have. Which led to an extended discussion about the possibly of thinking about the history of theology itself actually as an extended conversation, a conversation that began long before we arrived on the scene and that will continue...

Three weeks from today voters all over the country will take to the polls to elect a new President and a host of other public officials. In Minnesota, along with close to another dozen states, we will also have the opportunity to vote in a public referendum to change the constitution of our state so that it defines marriage as an estate solely between one man and one woman. Not surprisingly, this has occasioned impassioned rhetoric on both sides. This debate echoes, emulates, and informs similar conversations occurring in the church. I understand the passion in these conversations, knowing they stem from deep convictions about the Bible,...