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Hi, my name is Tim Nichols. I started out as an upwardly-mobile professional theologian, but along the way I encountered an ancient teacher, one Jesus of Nazareth. (Duh, right? But meeting Jesus is less common than you’d think among theologians.) Long story short, He utterly ruined my professional ambitions.
In exchange, He gave me a vibrant relationship with Him, a deep (and deepening) shared life with His Body, and entirely new vistas of His Creation to explore. I’d love to say I was wise enough to go along with His plan meekly, but the truth is that I loved being a professional theology geek, and God had to break a few of my fingers to get me to let go. I’m so glad He did. He’s taken me all kinds of unexpected places, from homeless camps to city hall, from respectable red-state churches to the kind of parties Christians “shouldn’t” go to (but Jesus did). Along the way, I fell in love with real pastoral ministry, which may be one of the worst things that’s ever happened to my bank account.
Today, the four corners of my life are minister, teacher, bodyworker, and martial arts instructor. I can and do practice those specialties independently, but in the work I love best, it all comes together. I’m still a writer, exegete, and theologian, but I’m a practitioner above all. You’ll find me more often in the studio, the soup kitchen, the classroom with my middle-schoolers, or making a pastoral house call (frequently with a disciple in tow) than in a graduate seminar or academic conference. I still mentor and teach at the academic level, but I’m not interested in making theoreticians. I’m building practitioners who can think deeply.
Thinking deeply helps us to expose blind spots and question underlying assumptions. In service of that aim, we can get pretty deep into the ivory-tower side of things, but we’re aiming for high-concept praxis. Beard-stroking “What an interesting idea” sentiment is fruitless unless the next step is “So if that’s true, then maybe we could….” and trying it. High-concept thought process is a tool, not an an end in itself. It opens up new vistas for obedience, and the obedience is the point. If we’re not skinning our knuckles experimenting, we’re probably not playing hard enough.
On that note, I should mention that this blog is very much a side project for me. I set aside some time every couple weeks to maintain it, but that’s really all the time I commit to it at this point. So your comments are welcome on recent posts, but if something gets hung up in the moderation algorithm or you’re waiting on a response from me, know that it may be a couple weeks before I get to it.
I can’t, and don’t, do my work alone. God guides and guards. My wife is an invaluable source of wisdom and support. Beyond them, I’m part of the best teams I’ve ever served with anywhere. If you’re joining up, we’ll train you. If you’re skeptical, that’s fine; we’re not looking for admirers. We’re looking for partners. The harvest is plentiful, and we need the help.
On the teams, my focus is discipleship and pastoral development, and I really only teach five things: how to pray, how to read, the Story of our People, fruitful living, and Christian physicality. If that sounds too simple…come try it. We’ll see if you still think it’s too simple when you’re doing it.
Thanks for looking in! I hope my work is helpful to you.
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