It’s My Party Too.

That was the title of a book written in 2005 by former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman about the direction of the Republican Party and her stand against the far right. It won a lot of praise from many quarters and it led to the creation of a political action committee of the same name which then merged with the dormant Republican Leadership Council. Other GOP luminaries like former Senator John Danforth, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and others. There were hopes it would become an organization that would elect more moderate Republicans to leadership.

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“Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime.” — Mineko Iwasaki

In 2016, I started hearing about this young man that had written an autobiography of his life that was a peek into the lives of the white working class. He talked about growing up with a mother dealing with drug addiction and being raised primarily by his grandmother. Using his experience he offered some insight about this group and the public was fascinated. That book, Hilbilly Elegy, became a best seller. That young man, J.D. Vance became famous. It was the…

I love to tell stories.

Since I was eleven or so, I’ve written fiction, opinion, poems, and the like. I won’t say I am the world’s greatest writer, but I do love to write. I am able to share how I feel about certain issues by writing them down. I tell the world stories from other people, especially those stories that are usually not heard. I write my sermons allowing me to share why faith matters and hopefully introducing them to my Christian faith. Writing is in my bones and it is in blood. I am a writer.

So, why…

I recently purchased a new car. Now, I love car shopping and when you go car shopping, you have a list of items that you want in your car. Does it have heated seats? What about lane keep assist? Front-wheel or all-wheel drive? Once you’ve decided what you want in your car, then you have to decide on the price and once that’s decided, you drive off into the sunset with your brand new car.

Buying a car works… when you're buying a car. A consumer wants to make sure they are getting something for a good value. That doesn’t…

One of the earliest memories that I have growing up is “orange rice.”

My Abuela or grandmother used to make Arroz con Pollo, chicken with rice. The sauce would make the color of the rice orange. She would sometimes add lentils to the mix. It smelled good and the taste was wonderful.

Sometimes she would make pasteles which were made up of mashed plantain and filled with pork, olives, and raisins. She would then put this mixture into plantain leaves. Eating pasteles (or two or three) was a mini holiday for me.

My grandmother moved from her native Puerto Rico…

In the spring and summer of 1994, I had the chance to do some freelancing for Baptist Press, the news agency for the Southern Baptist Convention.

It was an odd match.

Here I was, someone who was to the left of most people in the SBC and was coming to terms with being gay, was writing stories for a denomination that was the opposite of me. That said, the SBC wasn’t a mystery to me. I had been a member of a Baptist congregation in Michigan that was part of the predominantly African American Nation Baptist Convention and the Southern…

Sunday is always hard for me as a pastor.

Maybe that’s unbelievable to some of you. Shouldn’t a pastor love going to church? Isn’t that your job?

It’s hard because I’ve had to learn how to manage my expectations which is incredibly hard, especially as we start to open things back up after a year of not meeting in person.

I’ve been pastor at my congregation now for about 8 years and it feels at times that we have not grown. People come to visit but never stay. It could be the building which is in bad shape. It could…

Several years ago, someone I followed on the internet did something to bother me. They had expressed a very strong opinion on a political issue and then out of nowhere, they changed their position. That in itself is nothing new. What was bothersome to me is that the person never admitted they changed their mind. In fact, they went as far as saying they never had the prior opinion. It drove me crazy because they never wanted to say that he was wrong or that he changed his mind. …