Friendsgiving Every year since moving to our current home in Arlington, Texas we have hosted a Friendsgiving Feast. What started as a gathering of friends who are connected through a Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ life group has expanded to include others. The first year, 20222, 15 folks gathered for a potluck style meal. To begin, we gathered in a circle so each person could share words of thanks or gratitude for the year passed then I offered a modified version of a Read More …
2025 in Exactly 100 Words (#2272)
After decades of decline in sending and receiving Christmas cards often containing Christmas letters, I longed for something new. Recognizing there is no real replacement, my alternative expression is simply one way to reflect on the year gone by and briefly share with others what has happened. In 2016 I started writing an annual year in review note consisting of exactly 100 words. In 2023, I started sharing those notes here on So What Faith (2023, 2024). 2025 in Review Next Read More …
My Visit to Covenant Presbyterian Church (#2271)
This morning I was a first time visitor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. About Covenant Formally organized in 1955, the congregation initially gathered in a dance studio at Casady Shopping Center. They moved to their permanent campus in 1972, which was then updated in 2005. As Covenant celebrates 70 years of ministry in Oklahoma City they gather on Sundays for worship at 10:30am and are shepherded by Rev. Kathleen Luke, Interim Pastor. Welcome I arrived Read More …
Picture-Perfect Plates: The Best Dishes & Best Restaurants (#2270)
Welcome to my fourth annual list of favorite food experiences! It all started back in 2022, when Thanksgiving was approaching and I couldn’t stop thinking about food. That year, I decided to switch things up here at So What Faith and write a post all about picture-perfect plates of food. More specifically, I shared the ten most popular food pictures - based on view counts - that I had shared as part of my restaurant reviews on Google. In 2023, the annual exploration expanded to feature two Read More …
Giving Thanks – Top 10 Experiences in 2025 (#2269)
November is the season of gratitude, a time to celebrate the good that has shaped the year. As I look back on 2025, I’m grateful for so many experiences. Today, I’m sharing my Top 10. Top 10 This is the fifth edition of what has become an annual tradition: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021. Read More …
Worship in the Food Pantry (#2268)
I have worshipped in nearly any and every place imaginable. I have participated in formal communal worship services in places far beyond the walls of church campuses. Today, I worshipped in a food pantry for the first time in my life. Hope Pantry White Rock Center of Hope started in 1988 as a Food Pantry serving a single zip code in East Dallas. This 501(c)3 launched in a space offered as an in-kind donation by a Presbyterian church. Over the last 37 years Hope transitioned from Read More …
Celebrating My Ordiversary: Reflections on Another Year of Ministry (#2267)
While I have been in ministry for more than 25 years, I have only been an ordained United Church of Christ minister since 2023. Two years ago today I was ordained to ministry in the United Church of Christ and installed as the CEO of White Rock Center of Hope (for more on that experience see My Ordination and Installation). On the occasion of the first anniversary of my ordination, I wrote this reflection. Today, I offer an update on what has happened in the Read More …
Great New Books for November 2025 (#2266)
The best new books I’ve read in the last month are Migrant God Isaac Samuel Villegas writes with pastoral sensitivity and prophetic courage about what he knows best: the lives and struggles of migrants. As an immigrant justice community organizer, an ordained Mennonite minister, and a PhD student in religion at Duke University, Villegas crafts a work that educates, encourages, and empowers. While many Christians are moved to act by Scripture’s clear and consistent call to Read More …
Inspired by The Rev. Dr. Bill Tillman: My 25-Year Writing Journey (#2265)
I first met the Rev. Dr. Bill Tillman 25 years ago, shortly after transferring to Hardin-Simmons University to complete my Master of Divinity degree at Logsdon Seminary. From Meeting to Mentorship: My Earliest Encounters with Dr. Tillman I was fortunate to arrive while he was serving as the T. B. Maston Professor of Christian Ethics. Taking nearly every graduate course he offered, I found him to be both a gifted teacher and a generous mentor. Dr. Tillman's insight, integrity, and Read More …
Global Decline in Religious Identity (#2264)
Conrad Hackett is associate director of research and senior demographer at Pew Research Center and a contributing author to an academic paper written by an international team of scholars that explores the three stages of religious decline. A few weeks after its publication, Hackett penned a Pew Research article that summarizes the paper. While variations of secularization theories have long explained the decline of religious identity in Western Christian nations, this work suggests the global Read More …