I am a native North Carolinian, born and raised in the Triangle area of central North Carolina. I currently live in Durham, NC with my wife, Casey, and our kiddos, Ezra, Pax, and Lovewell. I am a Duke alum, completing my undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral training there.

I serve as Director of Music and Worship at Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, where I work with a great team of musicians, A/V engineers, and liturgists in crafting our liturgies and supporting the worship life of our congregation. I have previously served as a worship director at St. Peter’s Anglican Church (Birmingham, AL), All Saints Anglican Church (Durham, NC), and Christ Community Church (Chapel Hill, NC).

I taught at Samford University, where I served as a Visiting Professor of Worship and as Associate Director for the Center for Worship and the Arts. I now occasionally teach as Consulting Professor of Worship at Duke Divinity School. I also teach workshops on worship leading, songwriting, and audio production for the church at various conferences. 

As a singer/songwriter and producer, I've produced eight of my own albums and contributed several songs to Cardiphonia, a national network of songwriters who write new songs and retune old ones for the benefit of the church. I have also produced a few albums for a student and faculty-led recording initiative at Samford. And I serve as founder and director of Blacknall Arts, a songwriting and recording initiative of songwriters who call Blacknall Church home. As a writer, I research and write on contemporary worship music and occasionally contribute to academic publications and popular publications like Christianity Today.

My research interests have taken me beyond Christian worship and church history over the years. For three years, I served as a clinical researcher in the ICU at Duke University Hospital. Our studies revolved around improving goals of care, decision making, and psycho-social interventions for ICU survivors and their families. I also briefly served as the Project Manager for the Visual Faith Project at Vibrant Faith Ministries, a Christian non-profit that provides coaching, consulting, and resources for developing vibrant, intergenerational ministries in local congregations.