CURRENT MISSION

Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.- John Wesley

ABOUT ME

I'm a runner, a reader, a writer, a preacher, an ally, and a vegetarian. Every time I watch it I consider dropping out of graduate school and auditioning for Glee (a musical TV show in the states.) I have a love/hate relationship with the Christian faith and Church. I believe in the sacredness of tradition as a foundation for mature decision making and sustained pursuit of social justice. I believe same-sex marriage should be protected under the law and blessed by the Church. I believe that intellectual laziness is contemptuous of religion. I think when you read him in context you begin to see that St. Paul was ahead of his time on social equality and remains ahead of ours. I don't think anybody could study St. Francis and harbor a complete resentment of Christianity. I will never write anything as important as "Beloved" by Toni Morrison. For some strange reason Emory University admitted me to and continues to enroll me in their Masters of Divinity program. In fact they're even currently helping me study this year at the Universität Göttingen.

PHILOSOPHY

Love has two opposites: hate and fear.

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.” - John Wesley

What is "familiarly known" is not properly known, just for the reason that it is 'familiar.' When engaged in the process of knowing, it is the commonest form of self deception...to assume something to be familiar, and to let it pass on that very account. Knowledge of that sort, with all its talking around, never gets from the spot, but has no idea that this is the case....To display an idea in its original elements means returning upon its moments. - G.W.F. Hegel

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Looking to make friends in Rome.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am looking to get more involved in Couch Surfing. I live in a strong community here in Goettingen, but none of my friends have couch surfing profiles.

I was once hosted by two people who are now friends when my car broke down in Vernal, Utah. Thanks, Alexander and Muhammad.

Interests

religion, medieval theology, homiletics, hermeneutics, prayer, ministry of reconciliation, social justice, the working poor, race, lgbtq activism, scripture, the African American church, preaching, RUNNING, writing, classics, Cormack McCarthy, photography, saints, sacraments, hip-hop, dance, the Colbert Report.

• humanities
• writing
• folklore
• photography
• concerts
• dancing
• vegetarian
• running
• tv
• opera
• surfing
• christian
• divinity
• law
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Fargo; Murderball; Citizen Kane; Terminator 2; No Country for Old Men; Alien; Pulp Fiction; Ghost in the Shell; The Fantastic Mr. Fox; Beetlejuice; Water; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Volver; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; The Empire Strikes Back; Blood Simple; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Judgment at Nuremberg.

Plays: Proof; Shadowlands; King Lear; No Exit

J.S. Bach; Maroon 5; Paris Combo; Kanye; Jay-Z; Gorillaz; Jordan Sparks; Michael Jackson; Coldplay; David Bowie; Solas; Keane; Lupe Fiasco; Stephen Sondheim; Gilbert and Sullivan; Charlotte Martin; John Digweed; DJ Shadow; Johny Cash.

Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Blood Meridian, by Cormack McCarthy
Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie
War and Peace (I promise I'm not a tool) by Leo Tolstoy
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami
Dubliners, by James Joyce
Extravaria, by Pablo Neruda
The Songs of Robert Burns, by Robert Burns
The book of Job
The book of Ecclesiastes
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Got to attend worship at Ebenezer Baptist (Martin Luther King Jr.'s Church) in downtown Atlanta the Sunday after Obama won the election, and shortly thereafter met Jimmy Carter.

Got stand in the very middle of the front row in the Phillips Arena to see Coldplay on the Viva la Vida tour in Atlanta, GA because Katie, my concert buddy and Opera singer extraordinaire, met their camera crew in a downtown bar the night Obama won the election.

Jumped into the Hamburg harbor last February (I think the proper word is "gesprungen")--thanks to Ryan for the help out.

Got to work as a mentor with Candler School of Theology's Youth Theological Initiative. Read about us at:
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-27/living/almost.christian_1_teens-share-moralistic-therapeutic-deism-dean-talks?_s=PM:LIVING

That's all more than one thing. My bad, CS.

Teach, Learn, Share

Tanners in Göttingen has 2 Euro Paulaner on Wednesday nights. It gets pretty crowded, though.
Buy tram tickets off of scalpers to save a few Euros.
Be wary of people making loud clicking sounds around Berlin.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Fiji, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States

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