I began my career as church planter in Pamplona, Spain. I then worked in Bible translation, teaching São Tomeans, Lusophone Africans, Brazilians, and Spanish-speaking Latin Americans to translate the Word of God for the first time in history into their local languages. I then came alongside them as a consultant to help their translations be as faithful as possible to the biblical languages.
I’m now the founding and senior pastor of Capital City Church in St. Paul and a Ph.D. candidate in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I’m ordained in the Evangelical Free Church of America.
My calling is to spend and be spent in forming, discipling, and teaching others as God conforms them to his image.
Research Interests:
- Western bias in global Bible translation. How missionary Bible translators’ hermeneutics affect global Christian belief.
- The Nazareth Manifesto (Luke 4:16-30) and its missiological usage, from Liberation Theologians to spiritualizers, and everything in between. Just what role does liberation for the oppressed, good news for the poor, and release for the captives take in Jesus’s mission and thus, our mission(s)?
- Missionary calling(s) and the often-unbiblical cultural forces that drive them.
- The rise of the city and its implications for missions, both at home and abroad.
- Missionary psychology, health, and retention/burnout on the field.
Publications:
- Christianity Today - “The Woman Who Gave The World a Thousand Names for God: How a British linguist and a failed Nigerian coup changed everything about Bible translation.” Cover Story, October 2022.
- Evangelical Missions Quarterly - "Silence, by Shūsako Endō: Reappraising its Relevance in Global Missions Today." January 2022.
- Christianity Today - “The Devil is (and isn’t) in the Details.” Online title: “When a Word is Worth a Thousand Complaints (and When it Isn’t.)” Print Cover. Jan/Feb 2021.
- Star Tribune - "From Lisbon to Minneapolis, with Love." Online title: “I live in Portugal now – but all I do is long for Minnesota.” Variety cover. Feb 1st, 2017.
- Christianity Today - "Curiosity Propels My Toddler to Learn. Will Computers Ever Compare?" Online cover. Jan 9, 2019.
- Desiring God - numerous articles 2014-present.
- "The Crisis of Youth: The Upcoming Drought of Bible Translation Consultants." Bible Translation Conference papers. Dallas, 2018.
- "Satan and God do not Make Bets: The Nature of Haśāṭān In Job 1:6-12." Bible Translation Conference papers. Dallas, 2016.
- Christ and Pop Culture - "Do Christians Have Poor Cultural Taste?" July 2014.
- Relevant Magazine - "Do Missions Destroy Culture?" December 2011.