I teach Christian spirituality and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. That’s what a PhD in theology from Duke University and eight years of pastoral ministry in North Carolina prepared me to do.

But it’s also what my marriage of sixteen years to my wife Ginger, raising with her three rascally children, and washing a lot of dishes prepared me to do. Because you don’t learn spirituality just from the books. You learn it in the midst of life.

I’ve written and edited several books. I write for regular people: parents, teachers, one professor of computer science I know of. And for leaders: pastors, church leaders, the occasional retired bishop. Whether you are trying to discern the movement of God in your own life, or lead a community to do that, the resources of Christian spirituality are for you.

I’ve lectured, taught, and preached in every region of the country (though I grew up in the Midwest, feel most at home in the South, and live now in the frigid, gray Northeast).

My articles have appeared in The Christian Century, Weavings, Faith & Leadership, and other journals, magazines, and online outlets.

Most mornings I slide out of bed before the rest of the family awakens, shuffle into the kitchen to get my coffee, and slink down the stairs into the basement to sit a spell in my green La-Z-Boy, to spend time with God, to practice what I preach.

Other mornings I stay in bed until it’s time to make my kids’ school lunches. I trust God understands. Making lunches is a kind of prayer too.