Writing has always been very therapeutic for me. Over the years I’ve thought through, and wrestled with, political, cultural and spiritual issues in my own heart and mind. Putting pen to paper has been one of the ways that the Lord has helped me get clarity. Much of that clarity has found its way into my books, social media posts and various media publications.
For the last 5+ years now, the Lord has led Amy and I to delve into an area previously unexplored by either of us – church history, the early church and the church fathers. That has led to two manuscripts we’ve written, that will be published in 2026 which will coincide with my retirement from full-time ministry at the end of this year. The Final Pieces is a memoir and apologetic combo, largely about our spiritual journey the last few years. Synergistic Is a biblical road map to salvation through the eyes of the early church.
Which begs the question, why as Christians, is it important to study the early church and read scripture alongside the church fathers? Because if we want to know what God is trying to convey to us through his Word, not only do we need to pray for wisdom and discernment, but we need to study it and read it through the eyes of those who, through the Holy Spirit, translated and compiled the scriptures into the Bible we have today. Through the eyes of those who wrote in that language, lived in that culture, and either walked directly among the apostles or were direct descendants of those who came in the early generations succeeding, the apostolic age.
The Bible isn’t one book, written by one author, in English ten years ago. It’s dozens of books, written in a language not easily translatable to ours, in a culture not easily translatable to ours; by dozens of authors over a period of a 1,000+ years. It’s an ancient text canonized 1600 years ago, that’s been handed to us across multiple centuries, multiple cultures and multiple translations. So we have to recognize that we all bring an interpretive lens to how we view scripture that’s distorted by our own biases and the limitations of our own worldview – even by the most salt of the earth, godly people among us.
But any historian will tell you, the closer you get to the primary source, the more accuracy you have. Any investigator will tell you if you want get the facts straight, get to the primary witnesses. That’s why we need to study the early church. Who better to study and discern scripture and doctrine from, than those who were handed the scriptures directly from the apostles themselves?
Reading scripture alongside the church fathers, and understanding doctrine through the eyes of the early church, has brought both Amy and I closer to the Lord than we could ever have imagined. As a result, and addition to the two books, I’m launching this blog, which will contain posts that may end up as a third book and cover topics that we received clarity and enlightenment on from the early church.
If you read these posts, and before you read them, please hear my heart because I’m not trying to be ugly or divisive. There’s no shortage of evangelicals and Protestants, as well as evangelical and Protestant churches having a TREMENDOUS IMPACT for the Kingdom of God in reaching the world around them. Churches led by, and filled with, mighty servants who’ve given their lives to the Lord. The Lord in His infinite love, grace and mercy works through the unbiblical division in his body. But how much more effective can we be if, even through our disagreements, we were working together?
I’ve just seen too many instances of churches, even some from the same denomination, that won’t work with other churches down the street or across town, for one reason or another, to serve, to minister and reach people for the Gospel. Part of the reason, I’m writing two books and why I launched this site is to help educate myself, and hopefully others that are interested in learning about church history, the early Church and the Church Fathers.
The hope and prayer being for those that join us on the journey is to at least develop a healthy understanding of the foundational roots of the Christian faith, and the ONLY two Christian churches and traditions — Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox – that actually trace all their roots back to the apostles and Jesus. This would go a long way in fostering unity as divided Christians, even among those of us who disagree, in dispelling so much of the misinformation and erroneous teachings about those two foundational Christian traditions that’s led to so much ignorance, ugliness and divisiveness among brothers and sisters in Christ. Only then in unity can we truly hope to have the deep impact upon the culture that we’re called to have in The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. An impact we’re too fragmented and divided to have now.
I truly believe this is possible, if and only if, we’re able to recognize our own biases and look objectively upon the historical evidence that we have access to in reading scripture through the eyes of the Church Fathers.
Echoes of the Fathers 