On March 1, I stepped into a new role as Executive Director of the West Virginia Council of Churches. In many ways, it feels less like beginning something entirely new and more like stepping into a story that has been unfolding for a long time—one that I’m now invited to help carry forward.
Whenever I enter a new place of ministry, I try to begin the same way: by listening.
Churches, communities, and regions all carry stories. Some are joyful stories of faithfulness and resilience. Others are harder stories—of struggle, change, or uncertainty. But together they form the living testimony of God’s people in a particular place. Over the coming months, my hope is to spend a great deal of time listening to those stories across West Virginia—hearing from pastors, congregations, community leaders, and the many partners who share in the work of the Church here.
That instinct to listen first probably goes back to my childhood. I grew up as the son of a United Methodist pastor, which meant church basements, fellowship halls, and potluck dinners were part of the rhythm of everyday life. From an early age I learned that ministry isn’t just about sermons and programs. It’s about people—their lives, their hopes, their struggles, and the ways faith takes root in the soil of a particular community.
Over the years, my own ministry has taken me through a wide range of contexts—rural towns, suburban congregations, and urban ministries throughout Appalachia and the Mid-Atlantic. I have served in several denominational settings, including the United Methodist Church, the Salvation Army, independent Reformed communities, and most recently the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Each of those experiences reinforced something I have long believed: the Church is far larger than any one denomination, and our witness becomes stronger when we learn to walk together.
Most recently, I served as Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Revitalization in the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA. That work placed me alongside many small-town and rural congregations seeking new ways to live faithfully in changing times. Again and again I saw that renewal rarely begins with big strategies or sweeping plans. More often, it begins with relationships—with people willing to listen to their neighbors, honor the culture of their community, and rediscover the quiet but powerful ways God is already at work among them.
Those lessons shape how I approach this new role.
The West Virginia Council of Churches has a long history of bringing Christians together across theological, racial, and cultural differences. That kind of work matters deeply in a time when so much of our broader culture seems defined by division. My hope is that the Council can continue to serve as a place where churches find not only partnership, but also encouragement, shared wisdom, and a renewed sense of common calling.
Part of that work will involve strengthening the Council’s role as a convener—helping churches and leaders build relationships that might not otherwise exist. Part of it will involve nurturing the next generation of ecumenical leadership so that the work of cooperation and shared witness continues well into the future.
My own academic journey has reflected these same interests. I studied psychology at Thomas Edison State College, earned a Master of Divinity with a specialization in Church Revitalization and Renewal from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree at United Lutheran Seminary focused on new expressions of Christian community and contextual ministry in rural and Appalachian settings.
But if there is one thing ministry has taught me, it is that the most important learning often happens outside the classroom—sitting across the table from someone’s story, walking alongside communities through both celebration and grief, and discovering together where God’s Spirit is moving next.
My wife Linda and I are grateful to begin this new chapter together. Our life at home—with a large blended family of biological and adopted children—has taught us much about hospitality, patience, and the grace that grows when people share life together. Those same values continue to shape how I see the Church.
And so, as this new chapter begins, my prayer is a simple one: that together we might listen well, walk faithfully, and discover the ways God is already at work in the hills and communities of West Virginia.