I started posting to TikTok way back in November of 2020, when my then senior pastor suggested I not be so ‘political’ from the pulpit.

This is a long story, so don’t feel any need to read it. It’s messy.

I was drawn to Christianity because of the radical nature of Christ, a deity who came to earth and proclaimed a gospel of liberation, especially for the marginalized. So the idea of saying nothing after the murder of George Floyd, in the midst of a pandemic that President Trump made worse, while wealth inequality spiraled out of control was anathema to me.

So I bit my tongue in the pulpit, and turned to TikTok as an outlet. It was a place where I could freely talk about the liberation that we Christians are invited into, beyond the ever watching eyes of the conservative members of my congregation. So I made a few silly videos, then had a video I made about an editing fiasco blow up, hitting a million views. I posted some more videos, and had another video I made about candles hit a million views. In-between these two hits, I was posting about LGBTQ+ acceptance and anti-racism. I was able to stay under the radar of the senior pastor & council for a while, until a video I posted on Roe v. Wade hit 150k views. My personal belief that abortion is health care deeply offended some of the conservative members, who started agitating to get me in trouble. Over the last few months, the Council President (Larry Thielen) & Senior Pastor (Mark Manning) insisted that they owned all the content I created, because it was on the premises of Granite Falls Lutheran Church (though on my own time). I contested this, but agreed to stop posting from inside the church.

Eight days before Anna and I were going to marry at Granite Falls Lutheran, Larry alongside the Mark & the executive committee demanded my resignation. I asked to know the details of the severance, Larry stated I know the details after I resigned. I asked for this to be delayed until after our wedding, but again Larry refused. I declined to resign, then Larry stated I was fired.

Side note: Within the constitution of Granite Falls Lutheran Church and the broader ELCA, the only way to forcibly remove a pastor is to get a 2/3s vote from the congregation. We had a moment of constitutional crisis following this, but thankfully the Bishop informed them terminating me without said vote was not allowed. Anna and I were married at Granite Falls Lutheran, but as you can imagine the attempted firing and wedding are bound together in my mind.

I served at Granite Falls Lutheran Church for another three months after this, and then took an interim position with the lovely folks at Danebod Lutheran in Tyler, MN. I definitely made mistakes along the way, and have learned quite a bit about how to preach Jesus’ radical message. While it was profoundly painful, I’m glad God has guided me through those experiences to where I am now.

I give thanks to God for Her guidance through this whole ordeal, and the healing she’s provided me. I pray that I might continue to be a faithful witness to Christ, regardless of the platform.