About


Welcome to Hot Orthodoxy!  It’s good to have you visit.  
I hope you find grace and truth in these webpages, as well as, both heat and light.

About Me

I am Heather’s hubby, and Daddy to Robin, Andrew, Peter, and Isaac.  We live in the woods of Central Pennsylvania with a flock of free range chickens.  We do the “homeschool adventure” thing, cut firewood for our outdoor furnace, love to read great books together, and go for long hikes as a family. 

I get to pastor the terrific folks of Lanse Evangelical Free Church, a 120+year-old church parked along Interstate 80. They’ve put up with me since I was a rookie pastor back in 1998, and it’s a joy to shepherd them. 

Before that, I graduated from Moody Bible Institute and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In 2012, I received my Doctor of Ministry degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in biblical counseling under the leadership of the faculty of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF). My doctoral project included writing my first book–Resisting Gossip. I feel blessed to be influenced by these great institutions. 

I am active in our association of churches, the EFCA, serving our awesome Allegheny District as the chairman of the Constitutions and Credentials Board, and as the book review coordinator for EFCA Today.  My greatest joy in serving Jesus is passionately communicating scriptural truth and seeing lives changed! 

About Hot Orthodoxy

My blog is about passion (hot) and truth (orthodoxy) wedded together.  

We’ve heard of “cold orthodoxy,” and that’s no good.  Neither is a content-less emotionalism.  We need both heat and light. 

So, this weblog is a mixture of scriptural theology, links to helpful places, glimpses into family life (including my Heather's joyful nature photography), and personal reflections along the journey of following the Lord Jesus Christ with both “head” and “heart.” In these pages, you’ll find almost a decade of full sermon manuscripts, thoughts on pastoral ministry, biblical counseling, book reviews, and as much wisdom as I have to offer (which is not half as much as I wish I had). Thanks for reading!

About What to Read Next

A few of my favorite and most popular posts through the years: