It’s time for a personal update. I haven’t done one of these for a while, and there’s been a lot of cool things going on I’m excited to share.
Family
First up, the family is doing great. Laura and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary this past June! And as our kids are getting older, we know the days of doing a family vacation with all six of us may be drawing to a close. But we did get away to the beach this year and had a great time.
Apart from knowing the Lord, my family is the greatest blessing of my life. In the Lord’s kindness, all my children profess faith in Christ and we enjoy each others’ company. We’ve come a long way since the early days when the kids seemed to fight non-stop.
Reese (21) expects to graduate from college this December, a semester early. Isaiah (20) is loving his career in the trades, following in his grandfather’s footsteps as an electrician. Owen (17, the one with the beard) is in his senior year of HS and deciding now about his future. He’s a star athlete as a linebacker for his football team and went to state last year for shot put and discus. Judah (15) is a sophomore and getting lots of driving reps this summer.
Church
Outside of knowing Christ and the blessing of my family, the other great blessing is my church, Christ the King Church. As you may know, our church was originally planted in the inner city of Cincinnati in 2010. In January, 2025, we purchased a new building just across the river in Fort Thomas, KY and relocated our congregation there. It’s been a lot of working making this transition, but well worth the effort.
We have grown steadily in the past year and a half and making good progress getting acclimated to the new neighborhood. Fort Thomas does a big July 4th parade each year. For our church’s float, we strapped an actual piano to a trailer and had a mobile choir sing patriotic songs. It was a huge hit. The Fort Thomas city council awarded us third place for “most patriotic” float.
I’ve been preaching through Romans the past year and we’ll be wrapping it up at the end of September. It’s been awesome and I’ve learned a lot along the way. My plan is to switch it up after that and preach through Ruth before doing a topical series on the Holy Spirit for advent.
School of Ministry
One thing I’m particularly excited about is the launch of our church’s School of Ministry.
Our church’s vision is to plant four churches in the greater Cincinnati/Northern KY area by the year 2040. To that end, we established the school of ministry to equip men to be future church planters, elders, deacons, group leaders, teachers, fathers, and husbands. In other words, healthy churches need strong men leading in all areas of ministry, from the home to the pulpit. It’s a three year program that is meant to provide men with seminary level education.
I was praying for 8 men to join our School of Ministry. We ended up with 23! I was floored. I’m teaching the inaugural class on Baptist Identity. Our desire is for the School of Ministry to attract men to our church who want ministry training in the context of a healthy, local church and would be interested in helping plant more churches in our area.
Increased Public Profile
With the launch of my second book, Loser Theology: Why the Weak Will Not Inherit the Earth, I’ve stepped into a larger public platform.
This was intentional. I suppose you could say I feel a sense of duty. I’m 51 years old and have been in full time ministry for 25 years, the last 18 as a church planter and pastor. I’m old enough to have worked out a lot of the “bugs” of inexperience and immaturity, but young enough to have the energy and motivation to handle a little more public ministry, and the scrutiny that comes with it. And besides, there’s a need for trusted, pastor theologians in public right now.
Personally, I’m not a fan of men in their 30s having large ministry platforms. And there’s been no shortage of famous pastors and Christian leaders crashing out or disqualifying themselves through scandal. No man is immune to these things, and I pray regularly for the Lord’s protection from sin, temptation, pride, and all the rest.
And yet, by God’s grace, I do believe the Lord has led me to take a more public leadership role in the evangelical world. I hear good feedback about my writing, especially from Christian leaders who tell me I have given them a voice. That’s gratifying. I want help and encourage Christians who feel embattled and alone—these are the men I hear from most often.
That said, I’d appreciate prayer in this regard. Particularly, please pray (1) that God would give me wisdom to steward a growing public ministry well, (2) that God will give me the right opportunities and discernment about opportunities to reject, and (3) that God would protect me from sin and temptation, particularly against the sin of pride.
Loser Theology Book
Loser Theology is now available from the publisher in hardback, on Amazon Kindle, and audio on their streaming platform, Canon+. The hardback is currently backordered on Amazon, but expected to ship September 8th.
The promotional media blitz has been great. I’ve been eager to get the message of the book out there and begin engaging people with the content.
So far, the book’s reception has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m sure criticism will come, and when it does, I’ll be ready.
In the meantime, I’m encouraged by the personal messages I’ve received from readers telling me how it has emboldened them to be more courageous for Christ.
I’m hearing good things from big platform names, too. I did an appearance on the Steve Deace show and the pre-orders went through the roof after that. I looked in my calendar yesterday to count up all the media appearances I’ve done in the last two months and realized I’ve done 27 different interviews! All of them are different and bring some new angle into the conversation.
Some people don’t like the book’s title. I address this in the first chapter of the book:
Some readers may object to my use of the term Loser Theology. Since few would apply this label to themselves, why use it? I use the term because it’s a theology that advocates for losing as the way to be faithful to God. Loser Theology can refer to theological perspectives and movements that emphasize passivity, retreat, and defeat, often conflating suffering and loss with humility. In other words, the Loser Theology label is not about petty name-calling, but about calling Christians to break free from the prison of Loser Theology that’s holding them captive.
My first book, God’s Good Design, is only available in paperback. It was published through an independent publisher. When I got my copy of Loser Theology in the mail, I was blown away by how well designed and constructed the book was. The dust cover has a nice feel and the pages are made with quality paper. A few people have asked me to send them signed copies, and I’ve been happy to oblige.
Currently, it has a 4.8 average with 7 ratings and 4.73 average with 11 ratings. Good reviews help get the algorithm magic working so it can reach more people. Loser Theology also received a positive review from World Magazine.
New Founders Book
Speaking of books, and this hasn’t been announced publicly yet, Zachary Garris and I have submitted a manuscript to Founders Press for a book on women in the church. This is a needed and timely book, since the PCA (Garris’ denomination) and the SBC (my denomination) are both facing battles over the ordination of women. This short book is organized in question and answer format, addressing what we believe are the top nine questions people ask about women in ministry. Of course, we take a conservative position on each question and argue our points biblically.
I’ll leave further details about this book for a future post.
Grimke Seminary
Finally, I’ve decided that if I’m ever to pursue my doctorate, it’s now or never. I’m a pastor and public theologian at heart; I don’t really regard myself as an academic. And yet, I try to bring an intellectual rigor to what I do. Now that my children are grown or mostly grown, I have a little more flexibility to tackle something like this.
Beginning early next year, Lord willing, I’ll begin work on a Doctor of Ministry degree (DMin, which is different from a PhD). A DMin is a doctorate for ministry practitioners, not academics, whose primary work is in the local church. Grimke seminary is a church based seminary that I trust to provide the kind of training I need at this stage of my ministry. It is designed to complement and enhance my local church ministry, not compete with it.
In other words, my doctoral work should help me be a better pastor for my local church. Given our church planting goals and launch of the School of Ministry, I’ll need all the equipping I can get!
If you’ve made it this far, all the way to the end of this newsletter, I’d like to simply say a word of “thanks” to you. I can’t control who reads my essays, but I have a little dashboard on this website that gives me metrics that indicate a consistent and loyal readership. I’ve got nearly 2500 subscribers, and my essays are read by many thousands of people. I’m honored by the fact that anyone would read my ramblings. I pray that means I’ve earned your trust, at least enough to be regarded as a faithful man of God who’s trying to provide help in these crazy times.
May the Lord bless you, wherever you are, and lead you into greater Christlikeness in all your endeavors!
We loved being one of those 27 interviews when you came on the Flyover Conservatives Podcast. With over 3,000 interviews under our belt, you can tell the impact you and your book had because I read every word of your post.
You’re a great man and a breath of fresh air!
Lord have mercy,
Grace and peace to you Amigo.