Pastoral Intern
I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, but moved eastward after high school to attend college at Virginia Tech. After graduating with a degree in urban planning, I began a long, circuitous, but wonderful ten-year journey to Durham. Those years included time working for both public and private community planning agencies in Virginia, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Albania, and obtaining a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Virginia. In and around those activities, I also spent six months working on a small permaculture farm, two years living in a tiny town in a beautiful but remote corner of the Allegheny Mountains, and made many trips to the Mississippi Delta to spend time with my now-fiancé Camille Loomis.
In 2017, Camille and I both moved to Durham to enter into the Master of Divinity program at Duke. I was led here by voices like Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, and E.F. Schumacher. Each inspired me to consider the ways that Christian theology could help us challenge and rethink our strategies of community and economic development by using the radical message of the Gospel to transform our understanding of human life and the world in which we live. Within those efforts, I am especially interested in exploring the many ways that churches can actively serve as catalysts within their towns and neighborhoods to bring Christ’s atoning and sustaining life into the daily reality of their communities. Outside of the classroom, my time at Duke Divinity has also been deeply shaped by the opportunity to sing in Duke Chapel’s wonderful Evensong Choir.
I am very excited and grateful to be able to continue this journey alongside the community at Oak Church. I look forward to spending time learning, sharing, worshipping, and growing with you all.
