Things slowed down in February but lately a bunch of things I’ve written (some quite a while ago) have been making their way out, so here you go!

Needing My Neighbor– I wrote this one for Plough Magazine, a quarterly dedicated to faith in action, about my struggle with pornography and how my ideals about being a social justice-y Christian were driving me further into addiction. Fortunately, my friends and mentors in Sandtown were there to help me find a way back into healing and along the way I learned some more things about what a more holistic approach to mental health might be.

Building the Virtuous Neighborhood– There’s been some debate lately (and some assumptions for a very long time) about the importance of cultivating virtuous behavior in fighting poverty and reckoning with the sense of victimhood. I wrote about how we can’t assume that virtue and economic self-sufficiency are a closed system and how we can go about promoting the sorts of responsibility and care we want to see flourish.

How the Church Heals– My second Christianity Today column, about the role of the local church in public health.

How The Wingfeather Saga Reshapes Our Imaginations to Love Others– I love the Wingfeather Saga books and I’m thrilled that they’re doing a Kickstarter to bring the stories to the screen. I wrote about how the series slowly builds to a powerful message about loving foreign invaders– yes, even the ones who want to kill us.

Social Justice is Boring– The rhetoric around missions and social justice is often quite charged and exciting, but the work of actually serving and loving others is usually a bit more boring. I wrote about how we can rethink our approach to be more comprehensive and inclusive.