Education

PhD | Concordia Seminary – Saint Louis, MO. | Doctrinal Theology | 2023

MA | Michigan State University – East Lansing, MI. | Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures – Digital Rhetoric and Professional Writing | 2017

M.Div. | Concordia Seminary – Saint Louis, MO. | 2012

BA | Concordia University – Ann Arbor, MI. | English + Pre-Seminary Program | 2008

Positions

St. Luke Lutheran Church | Meridian Township and Lansing, MI. | Senior Pastor | 2012-Present

Acton Institute | Affiliate Scholar 

Concordia University (Irvine, CA) | Professor – Christ College 

Books

Technology & Vocation (Working Title) | Forthcoming from Lexham Press (2025)

Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits

Co-Authored with Dr. Brian Smith, MD | Concordia Publishing House (2021)

Clearly Christian: Following Jesus in this Age of Confusion

Concordia Publishing House (2018)

Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Post-Modern World

Co-Authored with Dr. Gene Veith | Concordia Publishing House (2017)

Being Lutheran: Living in the Faith You Have Received

Concordia Publishing House (2016)

Why Should I Trust the Bible?

Concordia Publishing House (2016)

Book Chapters

Lutheranism 101 -3rd Edition | Conclusion Chapter

Concordia Publishing House (2021)

Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications | Excursus: Virtual Christianity

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology | Reformation 2023 | Eyes, Ears, and All My Senses: Digital Ecclesiology, Worship and the Body

Journal of Lutheran Ethics | October 2022 | Volume 22 Issue 5 | To be Online or Not to Be Online: Uncovering the Roots of the Debates Concerning Online Worship

Concordia Journal | Winter 2019 | Inclined to Boast: Social Media and Self-Justification

Featured on The Gospel Coalition (Social Media and the Snare of Self-Justification, February 2019)

Concordia Journal | Fall 2014 | Christ Coming to Us: Luther’s Rhetoric of Location

Teaching Experience

Concordia University – Irvine, California | THL573 Systematic Doctrinal Theology | Graduate Course (Spring 2025)

Lutheran Theological Seminary (Pretoria, South Africa) | Digital Ecclesiology: The Church and Technology | Intensive Course (Summer 2023)

Concordia University – Ann Arbor | DH590 Technology, Faith and Culture | Digital Humanities Graduate Course (Fall 2022)

Concordia Seminary – St. Louis, Missouri | Teaching Assistant for SYS415 – Lutheran Confessions of Faith

Concordia Theological Seminary – Fort Wayne, Indiana | Teaching Apologetics in the Congregation (Winter 2017)

Grant Writing and Other Projects

Capital Region Community Foundation

Awarded $80,000 Grant for St. Luke Lutheran Church Community Kitchen (2017)

The New Jersey District – LCMS

Writer for Digital Catechism Grant Project in conjunction with Dr. Tony Cook & Dr. Charles Arand

Articles (Selected)

The Christian Century (August 2024) | Can We Build Our Own Future?

Christianity Today (January 2024) | Neural Implants: Should We Become One with AI?

Christianity Today (June 2023) | Pastors: Lead Not Your Church into Fear of AI

Duke Divinity School (March 2023) | Faith and Leadership | Hurting and Healing: What My Church did after a mass shooting

Christianity Today (April 2023) | In Times of Tragedy, I Find Solace in Scriptural Art

Religion & Liberty (October 2022) | Volume 32, Number 4 | Worship in the Metaverse

The Gospel Coalition (February 2022) | Bringing Common Sense to the Online Worship Debate

The Gospel Coalition (February 2020) | Tough Questions Don’t Deserve Trivial Answers

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (January 2020) | Kanye, Flame, and Augustine: Hip-Hop and the Conversion Narrative (Syndicated in Religion News Service)

The Conversation (January 2020) | Silicon Valley’s latest fade is dopamine fasting – and that may not be as crazy as it sounds (Syndicated in The Washington Post)

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (December 2019) | Dopamine Fasting: Silicon Valley’s Not-So-New Trend

Valparaiso University – The Cresset (Michaelmas 2019) | Liminal Links: Church in a Digital Age

The Gospel Coalition (October 2019) | The Reformation’s African Roots

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (July 2019) | Theologizing Virtual Reality

The Gospel Coalition (July 2019) | Three Ways Young Pastors Can Survive Ageism

The Gospel Coalition (June 2019) | Is Our Visual Age Making You Blind?

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (April 2019) | One-on-One Pastoral Accountability Groups

The Gospel Coalition (April 2019) \ What Luther Would Say to Silicon Valley

The Gospel Coalition (April 2019) \ The Brave New World of Bible Reading

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (February 2019) | Mr. Zuckerberg, Meet Mr. Luther

The Conversation (January 2019) | Three Ways to be Smart on Social Media | Syndicated via the Associated Press: San Francisco Chronicle

The Conversation (November 2018) | Why Twitter’s Heart-shaped ‘Like’ Button is Not so Harmless | Syndicated via the Associated Press: San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Mail (UK), and Salon.com

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (November 2018) | Twitter’s “Like” Problem

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (July 2018) | How Facebook is Transforming Religion

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (June 2018) | How a Small Congregation Changed a Larger One

The University of Chicago Divinity School | Sightings (April 2018) | Social Media and Sin

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (September 2017) | Here’s What I have Learned from my Mentors

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (March 2017) | How Do You Keep Great Leaders

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (September 2016) | Don’t Wait Until You Need a Leader to Find One

Duke Divinity School – Faith & Leadership (September 2015) | Why Should We Care If Faith and Science Conflict?

Lutheran Quarterly (Winter 2014) | Review of Inviting Community

Valparaiso University – The Cresset (Advent 2014) | Mercy for the Least of These

Duke Divinity – Faith & Leadership (December 2014) | Running Out the Clock

Valparaiso University – The Cresset (Michaelmas 2013) | Saint Timothy: Patron Saint of Peach-Fuzzed Pastors

Valparaiso University – The Cresset (Advent 2011) | Seuss, Serapion, and Scripture

Relief Journal: A Christian Literary Expression (Vol. 3, Issue 1) | Modern Love: The Findings of a Sorority Chaplain

Speaking (Selected)

Acton University | AI Maps: Mental Models for Making Sense of AI (June 2025)

Acton Lecture Series | What Should We Do with Online Worship? (March 2024)

Concordia Deaconess Conference | Ft. Wayne, IN | Technology and Our Brain (June 2023)

Concordia University – Ann Arbor | Spring Commencement Address Speaker (May 2023)

Lutheran High School Association | Teacher Inservice | What’s Really Behind Popular Slang (February 2023)

LCMS – National Youth Gathering | Houston, TX | Breakout speaker – Technology and Culture (July 2022)

Church Extension Fund | Keynote Speaker | The Modern Appian Way: Technology as an Outreach Tool (September 2021)

Michigan District – LCMS | All Pastors’ Conference Keynote Speaker (October 2019)

Texas District – LCMS | Circuit Visitors Conference (September 2019)

Ohio District – LCMS | Theological Convocation – Toledo (August 2019)

LCMS – National Youth Gathering | Breakout Speaker (July 2019)

Lutheran Prayer Breakfast – St. Louis, MO | Future of Lutheran Theology (October 2017)

South Dakota District – LCMS | Being Lutheran Today (August 2017)

Michigan District – LCMS | Re-Engaging Our Community (May 2017)

Wyoming District – LCMS | Evangelism Convocation – Why Are You Lutheran? (January 2017)

LCMS – National Youth Gathering | Faith & Science: Moving Beyond Debates / Going Green: Brief Trend or Biblical Truth? (July 2016)

Calvin College | Rhetorical & Theological Analysis of Evangelical Statement on Animals (September 2015)

Concordia Seminary | Theological Symposium – Luther’s Rhetoric of Location (September 2014)

University of Louisville – PhD in Humanities | Re: Conference – Early Christian Church Visual Rhetoric (March 2012)

Westminster College – Salt Lake City, UT | Generative Anthropology Summer Conference – Generative Scapegoat Mechanism (June 2010)

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference | Generative Scapegoat Mechanism (April 2010)