Life is an adventure in becoming. And although it often goes unnoticed, literally everything about our lives changes all the time! From moment to moment, our human experience often reflects the same patterns of flux that we see in the ocean's shifting tides, the movement of a vineyard from cultivation to harvest, or the rising and setting of the sun. This constant motion can be disorienting at times, and many of us never stop to ask, who am I becoming in all this change? Or better yet, who are we collectively becoming as a civilization? When we begin to ask these kinds of big questions, we often turn to religion. It is here where our great wisdom traditions are there waiting to provide us with symbols, stories, and sacraments that should be great resources for the journey. But, in the 21st century, many of us who are seeking true connection, intensity, urgency, depth, and passion for our lives are running into a wall. Religion, especially Western Christianity, can be stifling, irrelevant, and downright coercive when the focus moves from a culture of transformation to one of institutional self-preservation. I think it's time for things to change. It's time for us to move to a sort of religion after Religion where we can embrace the gifts of spirituality anew for the postmodern world.

This is where my passion lies: in helping communities shift their cultures and innovators begin to actualize their potential. Whether you're an artist, businesswoman, community organizer, pastor, or stay-at-home dad, we all long to find our voice and create more beauty and good in the world. Utilizing the wisdom of philosophy, theology, contemplative teaching, and strategic leadership, I love to help draw conversations forward and bring life out of what might be stagnant in your life or community. I am the founder and core curator of the Way Collective, a spiritual community of shared practices and values in the Jesus way in Santa Barbara, CA. I'm also a freelance writer, process philosopher and theologian, Disciples of Christ pastor, and contemplative teacher with an emphasis in the Christian mystical tradition. I host a podcast sponsored by ARC called the Theopoetics Podcast. My doctorate focused on creating a relational, holistic, embodied, aesthetic, and pragmatic process approach to reality, the human soul, and contemplative practice. I believe that we can work to help our society achieve liberation toward the common good through these lenses. I'm also a partner, father, poet, and musician who agrees with Vonnegut that: "You can see all kinds of things from the edge that you can’t see from the center." Although, sometimes it's nice to be centered out on the edge as well. I am always up to something new. Let's conspire together!