In a few sentences, describe your post-Biola work/life journey.

After I graduated in 2002, I worked as a sportswriter for the Antelope Valley Press, then as a high school English teacher in South Central LA, and now as a pastor. I’ve studied at Concordia Seminary and The University of Cambridge (so if you get rejected for the Biola England program, like I did, there’s still hope for you. Not that I’m still bitter or anything, Dr. Pickett :)). During that time, I’ve lived in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cambridge, San Francisco, Columbus, Ohio, and now Monterey, CA. My wife Becca and I got married in 2007 and we have two kids, June (6) and Sam (3).

What's your current occupation, and in what ways did getting a degree in English prepare you for the job?

I’m a Lutheran pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Seaside, California. Honestly, I never wanted to be a pastor. Far from it. The thought never crossed my mind. I really backed into this whole thing. I’d grown up as a Christian, attending a different church every few years, but I grew disenchanted with much of what I was seen and heard. I felt like I could never measure up. I attended various churches sporadically after college. Then, when I was 25, my girlfriend invited me to her church. I didn’t really know what a Lutheran was. The pastor wore robes and bowed and chanted. People kneeled and made the sign of the cross. It was all very strange to me.

After a few weeks, I sat down with the pastor. He gave me books to read and I devoured them. The theology was meaty. Substantive. There was a depth in the doctrine, liturgy, and hymnody that I had found lacking in my past church experiences. Best of all, the gospel was clear. Yes, I didn’t measure up. I could never measure up. But Christ has forgiven my sins and given me his righteousness through his death and resurrection. I mean, it’s the basic gospel, but it was so clear. And it was everywhere in Lutheran theology. I couldn’t get enough. I became a full-fledged theology nerd. Back in 2006, when my pastor first suggested that I consider going into the ministry, I laughed at him. But I started thinking about it. It wasn’t like a lightning bolt and clouds parting and a booming Sean Connery voice coming from the sky telling me to be a pastor, though. I realized that I wanted to do it and that I might be suited for it. I like to study and read books. I kind of like people, sometimes, if I’m in the right mood. So I went for it.

It turns out that I am constantly reading, studying, and researching. There are many aspects to my job—administration, counseling, teaching, praying, visiting the sick, engaging the community—but every week I’ve always got a 1500–2000 word sermon to deliver. That doesn’t change. I’ll be run out of town if I show up Sunday morning with nothing. Paul Buchanan taught me how to write and how to edit. I remember he told our creative writing class about a short story he submitted. In the response he got back, the first 6 or 7 pages of his story were crossed out with red ink. Only the last page was left intact, with a note that said, “Here’s your story.” That’s always stuck with me. There’s always stuff in sermons that must be cut. Always, always. Often they are my favorite parts. But there must be cohesiveness. Clarity. Flow. Order.

I don’t just get up in the pulpit and start talking. As one of my profs at seminary told me, “The Holy Spirit works just as well in your study on a Tuesday afternoon as you write and edit as he does in the pulpit on Sunday morning.”

It’s important to do your prep work: your reading, your research, your praying, and yes, your editing.

What was a favorite class or experience you had while a Biola English major?

I really liked the Brothers Karamazov class I had with Dr. Pickett. That book still informs my life and ministry. But the creative writing classes I had with Professor Buchanan were incredible; the non-fiction writing class in particular. I wrote an article about my experience selling peanuts at Angel games that got published. I got to brag to everyone that I was a published author.

What about life after college was most surprising to you?

I had no idea that my job would consist of so much reading and writing. I love it. I mean, my goal in college was to be an author or screenwriter or to find some way to just sit on a beach a read books all day.

But I never thought I’d actually be working with words so much. I use ancient languages on a daily basis—translating from the original biblical Greek and Hebrew. I plumb the depth of words and phrases and then work to communicate the context and substance in new and fresh ways that are still rooted in the ancient, unchanging Word.

Also, my all-time favorite book is Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and I can now ride my bike there. It blows my mind.

What advice would you give to a current Biolan majoring in English? Or what's something you did in college that later helped you professionally?

You’re an English major. Good choice! Take it all in. Be a sponge. Absorb it all. One of my professors at the seminary often tells high school students who want to go into the ministry, “Don’t study theology for your undergrad.” One of his recommendations is to major in English. I would suggest the same.

Much of what I do on a day-to-day basis finds its foundation in my time as an English major at Biola. Writing and reading poetry in Professor Davidson’s class taught me to appreciate the beauty of the English language. I love how words sound. I love reading out loud. I need my words as a pastor to be both precise and beautiful as I communicate God’s truth to others.

What are you reading?

Stacks of books. My long-suffering wife puts up with my little piles which constantly appear on the bedside table and the coffee table and elsewhere.

I read about six or seven books at a time, not counting the Bible and all the various commentaries and reference books I’m constantly using for Bible study and sermon prep. My wife is homeschooling our kids so I’m trying to get a head start on the classics. Just finished The Iliad and The Inferno and now I’m on The Odyssey and Plato’s dialogues. I’m also teaching a homeschool co-op class on Hamlet. I’ve usually got some social science-y book in the mix. Now it’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle. I’ve always got a few theology “leisure reading” books in the stack (what can I say, I’m a theology nerd). Currently it's The History of the Church by Eusebius and The Babylonian Captivity of the Church by Luther, and there’s often some baseball book—Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball by John Feinstein. Also, an old Biola friend recently gave me a really nice six-volume hardcover readers' edition of the ESV Bible. No chapter or verse indicators. No footnotes. It’s been such an enjoyable reading experience.