Our Open Letter to the LGBTQ+ Community

March 17, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Let me pause for a brief moment and reflect on this day when 177 of my clergy siblings here in North Texas have signed on to an open letter addressed to the LGBTQ community that appears in today’s Dallas Morning News. Let me tell you what I remember… I remember a “Day of Listening” in […]

The Height of Hypocrisy

March 16, 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

This week, the New York Times ran a story that proves corruption and cheating among African delegates to the recent General Conference of the United Methodist Church. The story promised follow-up stories to come. I hope they do follow up. Because there are a host of issues that have needed to be addressed for at […]

“We Know What We Know” About Methodism

March 2, 2019.Reading time 20 minutes.

“Demography is Destiny” — Auguste Comte Thursday afternoon a United Methodist clergy colleague called me while I was driving to church. I spend a lot of time in the car these days. We talked for about 25 minutes. He was pretty amped up. He told me he’d stayed up until 3 am the night before, […]

Methodism: Post-Mortem and Pre-Vitae

February 26, 2019.Reading time 16 minutes.

This week’s General Conference #gc2019 is the result of a slow-moving train wreck that’s been happening in the United Methodist Church for some thirty years. Most centered in my mind today are all those who are experiencing pain, most especially of all, my dear Methodist LGBTQ friends across the denomination, and all of those who […]

Straightsplaining in the UMC

February 21, 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

For three years, the United Methodist Church has been engaged in a denomination-wide process of “straightsplaining” to the LGBTQ community. Actually, you could make a strong case that we’ve been straightsplaining since 1972. What is “straightsplaining?” Go ahead, Google it. It’s exactly what you think it is. It’s the rainbow flag community’s version of “Mansplaining.” […]

My Speech from the Black Tie Dinner

December 16, 2017.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I was honored to receive the “Humanitarian of the Year” Award from the Black Tie Dinner. The complete video is now up. Thanks again to the board for this truly amazing honor. 2017 Black Tie Dinner – Kuchling Humanitarian Award from Black Tie Dinner on Vimeo.

Signs That Are More Than Ink On Paper

June 16, 2016.Reading time 25 minutes.

When I was a kid, there was a program called “Helping Hands” that was supposed to help kids feel safe. The idea was that families would put a paper sign inside the front windows of their house. The sign was a very simple hand print. The theory was that if a kid was ever walking […]

The Greater Tragedy

June 14, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

“The greater tragedy is that these deaths are being politicized by those who have an agenda…” During the past two days, I’ve heard this statement on social media, from writers right, left, and center. This kind of empty rhetoric gets tossed out at a time like this. And sometimes it gets embraced as a moderate, […]

Written Down in Blood and Ink

May 23, 2016.Reading time 12 minutes.

“Place these words I’m speaking on your heart and in your very being. Tie them on your hand as a sign.” Deuteronomy 11:16 I pulled the trigger. I got my tattoo. As I’ve been threatening to do for months now, I got the words “Fear Not” in Biblical Greek inked on my left inside forearm. […]