Substack

Now onto things I’ve actually written…
Publication Archives
I write for Christianity Today most frequently, but occasionally for other outlets as well, including the New York Times and The Atlantic and The Free Press.
Education Series
Right now, I’m writing an education series for Christianity Today, exploring nationwide challenges and trends that affect all of us through the lens of what I see happening in my own community, Midland, Texas. I’ll add links here as I complete pieces; but I invite you to join the conversation. Write to me at education@christianitytoday.com and share what you see in your communities, both glimmers of hope and causes for concern.
- Intro: Are the Public Schools Falling Apart?
“Last month, on opening weekend at a new Bass Pro Shops store about 15 minutes from my home, a group of men started fighting, reportedly because one of them had taken too long in the bathroom. Viral videos that spread in the aftermath show at least five or six men throwing punches and pushing each other down underneath the mounted heads of bison and bears and other wild beasts.” Keep Reading - EdTech: The School Tech Situation is Worse Than You Think
“When my youngest was in early elementary and just learning to read, she’d rarely come home with books. Instead, I’d find her clicking randomly on words in a reading practice game. Once, I asked what she was doing. “Oh,” she said, “after you click the wrong word three times, it tells you the answer and then lets you play the game!” Keep Reading (Part 1 of 3) - EdTech: Death By a Thousand Error Messages
“According to some older students I know, coolmathgames.com easily sneaks past the program though it’s more arcade than algebra. Meanwhile, these students tell me, GoGuardian blocks TED Talks they’ve been assigned to watch for English class (flagged: possible entertainment) and articles their health teacher assigned them to read (flagged: sensitive content). As one student told me, and demonstrated with a screen recording, “They can’t seem to block slime videos, but they block videos about trade relations with China.” Keep Reading (Part 2 of 3) - EdTech: Turn Toward Each Other and Away From the Screen
“We implemented tech-forward education with little thought for the consequences, dreaming about what could be possible instead of carefully discerning what would be wise. Now we solve each tech problem with a new tech solution, layering program on program and screen on screen and disregarding how poorly many of these solutions play out in real life, at real schools, for real children.” Keep Reading (Part 3 of 3)
Other Work
Here are some of my other personal favorites essays and reported pieces through the years:
- Christianity Today | October 6, 2025 | The CDC Listened to Vaccine-Hesitant Moms in My Living Room
- Christianity Today | August 11, 2025 | Parched for Political Wisdom
- Christianity Today | April 16, 2025 | The Model Immigrants in Legal Limbo
- The New York Times | March 31, 2025 | I Vaccinated My Children. But Here’s Why My Neighbors Don’t | Download PDF
- Christianity Today | March 26, 2025 | Immigration’s Complicated Costs for My Town — And My Soul
- The Free Press | March 18, 2025 | The Illegal Immigrants Who Love Trump
- Christianity Today | October 31, 2024 | The Antidote to Election Anxiety
- Christianity Today | October 10, 2024 | We Have Never Been Deplorable (Book review)
- Christianity Today | August 30, 2023 | My Pastor Friend Likes Trump’s Border Policy. He Also Shelters Migrants.
- The Atlantic | November 23, 2022 | My Family Oversimplified My Brother’s Adoption Story (This essay was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which Atlantic editors recommend a single must-read article.)
- The Atlantic | January 27, 2022 | First, You Decide That Kids Belong in School
- Texas Monthly | November 29, 2021 | How Refugees From Myanmar Have Embraced Midland – And Its Conservative Politics | Download PDF
- New York Times | May 12, 2021 | Are We Following The Science Or Our Tribes? (This essay also appeared in the May 13, 2021 print edition.) | Download PDF
- New York Times | April 30, 2020 | This ‘Big Oil’ Bust Is Killing My Town | Download PDF
And finally an index of pretty much all my other work that only I would ever find useful…
- The Free Press | August 18, 2025 | The Confederacy Is Great Again at This Texas School | PDF
- Christianity Today | February 11, 2025 | Church in the Antisocial Century
- Christianity Today | Nov/Dec Print Issue | I’m Estranged from My Parents. I Still Love Them.
- Christianity Today | November 22, 2024 | Christ Our King, Come What May
- Christianity Today | August 13, 2024 | An Anxious Generation–of Parents
- Christianity Today | April 22, 2024 | Panic Won’t Protect the Planet
- Christianity Today | May 15, 2024 | The Miracle of the Ear
- Christianity Today | April 16, 2024 | What We Can Offer if We Uncircle the Wagons
- Christianity Today | March 14, 2024 | Bad News May Be a Burning Bush (In honor of my friend Ramon Billhimer.)
- Christianity Today | February 22, 2024 | Like-Minded, Not Like Me
- Christianity Today | December 19, 2023 | Filthy Night, Fetid Night
- Christianity Today | November 21, 2023 | My Unlikely, Cross-Cultural Friendsgiving
- Midland Reporter-Telegram | November 4, 2023 | Midland Needs Healthy Public Schools; Midland Needs this Bond | Download PDF
- Christianity Today | October 24, 2023 | You Can Only Break the News of War so Gently
- Texas Monthly | May 25, 2022 | Amid the Baby Formula Shortage in Midland, Community and Conspiracies
- The Week | March 23, 2022 | Why people fighting for their lives would stop to save a statue
- The Week | March 5, 2022 | On parenting as history starts up again
- Reason | July 11, 2022 | Keeping Americans in the Dark
- The Week | December 25, 2021 | The absurdity and necessity of hope in another COVID Christmas | Download PDF
- Midland Reporter-Telegram | December 31, 2020 | We Were Left With Just Enough
- Texas Monthly | October 20, 2020 | Midland School Discards Its Confederate Name | Download PDF
- Midland Reporter-Telegram | August 9, 2020 | Not Opening Schools Will Be Devastating For Vulnerable Kids