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Incarnational Evangelism

I used to work at a farm that sold sheep and goats to ethnic Muslim immigrants from all over the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. One day, as I was working on some chores, several young Mauritanian men walked in the door and asked me to help them choose a … Read More

This Is Not AI Generated

AI is everywhere, it seems. Newscasters are talking about it, tech companies are hyping it, and students are cheating in English class with it. Some people are worried that their jobs will be replaced by AI, others are scared it’ll take over the whole world. But today I’d like to … Read More

Why Don’t We Like Evangelism?

It was a sweltering summer afternoon in Columbus, Ohio. I stood on the sidewalk, staring into the irate eyes of a woman who had been passing by. I, along with some folks from church, had left my secluded house in the country to hold signs and pass out tracts outside … Read More

Longing for Home

Recently, Elijah and I and our baby son packed up our home in a Pennsylvania city and moved ourselves to the land of our ancestors. We now live on the edge of a little village nestled in the Taunus mountains and are slowly discovering what it means to call this … Read More

Bully Pulpit: On Spiritual Abuse

In the last several years, our society has become increasingly attuned to the prevalence of abuses of power and the incredible damage that is all-too-often inflicted by the powerful. Since some of this movement has been accompanied by our culture’s allergic reaction to some legitimate authority, we may be tempted … Read More

Reason Enough: Art and Creating

I am a theatre-maker by training. As I write this essay I am planning costumes and scheduling rehearsals for a production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Anabaptist communities, as I understand, are generally averse to the theatre, so I may be setting myself at odds with my audience by … Read More

Learning from the Prohibition Failure

America had a drinking problem in the late 1800s. If you look through old Baptist and Methodist hymnals (I’ve done this myself), you’ll find a slew of odd songs about drunkards, playing cards, praying moms and the evils of “booze.” Additionally, children’s story books from the turn of the century … Read More