Speaking

I’m available to speak at colleges, conferences, churches, retreats, bookstores or bagel shops.  I believe we were created to wrestle with big ideas together, in community, so my favorite environments are those in which I have the opportunity to really interact with participants.

To inquire about availability, just send me an email via the contact page.

Some of my favorite topics include:

• Living the Questions: How Doubt Can Strengthen Your Faith—Doubt has become a bit of a dirty word in religious circles, and yet a lot of Christians secretly struggle with it. I share honestly about my own crisis of faith and explain how doubt—when properly understood—can actually make faith stronger.

• Faith in the Real World: A Spiritual Survival Guide for the Next Step—This talk is perfect for high school or college seniors who are about the leave the safety and security of their current faith community to encounter a barrage of new ideas in the “real world.” Using my own experience with doubt as an example, I provide practical tips for surviving a faith crisis, and I encourage students to take comfort in the fact that faith is resilient enough to withstand change.

• Generation Why: Understanding the Doubts and Questions of Today’s Young Adults—Everyone’s talking about how church attendance rates are in serious decline among young adults, but as a lot of parents know, encouraging their kids to stick with the faith is about much more than just getting them through the church doors. Twenty-somethings are asking tough questions about Christianity right now, and sometimes it’s hard to know exactly how to respond without making their doubts even worse. I share candidly about some of the questions I’ve struggled with over the past few years, and based on the positive interactions I’ve had with my own believing parents, provide practical tips for parents and church leaders who want to help a new generation of Christ-followers thrive in today’s world.

• New Creatures: The Evolution of a New Generation of Evangelicals—From politics to pluralism, science to salvation, biblical interpretation to cultural relevance—young evangelicals in America have a different take on things than their parents. I weigh in on how my generation is changing the Church.

In addition to these topics, I love to talk about blogging, social networking, writing, fundamentalism, faith & science, social justice, women in the church, and the kingdom message of Jesus.

Also, I think panels are fun.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.