Interests and Passions:

I love to teach. My goal in teaching is student transformation—intellectually, socially and spiritually. Of course, transformation comes from God’s Spirit, not from professors, but schools and professors can help create an environment where transformation can take place. Such deep-rooted change normally does not happen when students sit passively in classes of several hundred, listening to a professor they may never meet personally. Instead, transformation requires mentoring relationships, where professors and students meet regularly and talk one-on-one. So please come see me in my office. I want to talk to you about your studies, or just about anything else that is important to you.

Social and spiritual transformation comes from relationships with professors, staff and other students who care about your wellbeing. I expect you will find such relationships here at Crandall. For those Christian students interested in graduate school, I created the Future
Scholar’s program, where we meet in faculty members’ homes to eat together and discuss topics such as integrating your faith with your academic discipline. It is a program that creates mentoring opportunities.

Intellectual transformation means that I will invest in helping you think, write and speak at a much higher level than when you came. Sociology at Crandall is academically rigorous. Our high academic standards lead to graduates that are well prepared for the most prestigious graduate schools, and for the demands of the work world.

In Sociology, we also want to transform the way you think and act. We try to teach you to care about the world, and seek to make it a better place. Our concentration in social justice is based on the hope that you will better understand the plight of the less fortunate, and then
do something about it. We know that such changes are not gained solely from the classroom. Rather, they require transformative experiences like the cross cultural certificate program, which includes spending a month in another country, usually in the developing world. Join the Sociology Society as we regularly plan events that reach out into our city. We encourage those who want to make the world a better place to come study Sociology with us here at Crandall. You may never be the same. In fact, you may be transformed.

Classes I teach:

• Research Methods and Advanced Research Methods
• Social Theory I and II
• Population and World Hunger
• Modern Life and Personal Identity
• Sociology of Education
• Sociology of Religion
• Evangelicalism in Canada
• Cross Cultural Internship
• Christian Spirituality

Recent Publications:

Most of my scholarship is in the sociology of religion, including Evangelicalism, Canada/U.S. comparisons, Christian churches; as well as religion and social class, diversity and education.

Books:

Evangelicals and the Continental Divide: The evangelical subculture in Canada and the United States. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003.

Evangelical Congregations in Canada (book manuscript under review).

Journal Articles:

“Orthodoxy Niches: Diversity in Congregational Orthodoxy among three Protestant denominations in the U.S.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 50(4):763-79 (December 2011).

“Higher education and theological liberalism: Revisiting the old issue.” Sociology of Religion, 71(4)393-408 (Winter 2010).

“Class and Congregations: Class and Religious Affiliation at the Congregational Level of Analysis.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46(4):583-594 (December 2007).

Book Chapters:

“Mennonite Brethren in Canada: Findings from the 2009 Canadian Evangelical Churches Study.” In Heidebrecht, Doug, Abe Dueck and Bruce Guenther (eds.), Renewing Identity and Mission: Mennonite Brethren Reflections after 150 Years. Kindred Productions, 2011.

“Civility without Compromise”: Evangelical attitudes toward same-sex issues in comparative context.” In David Rayside and Clyde Wilcox (eds.), Faith, Politics and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, pp.71-86. UBC Press, 2011.

“Sect Appeal: Rethinking the Class-sect link.” In Sean McCloud and William A. Mirola (eds.), Religion and Class in America: Culture, History and Politics, pp. 69-89. Brill, 2009.

“Does Religion Matter? Canadian Religious Traditions and Attitudes toward Diversity.” In Lori G. Beaman and Peter Beyer (eds.), Religion and Diversity in Canada, pp. 105-125. 2008. Brill. (Religion and Social Life Series, vol. 16).

“A Look at Cultural Effects on Religiosity: A Comparison Between the United States and Canada.” Reprinted in Beaman, Lori (ed.), 2006. Religion and Canadian Society, pp. 54-70. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.

Online Articles:

“Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’s Congregations: Vitality, Diversity, Identity and Equity.” Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity 3:1 (2012): 41-69.

“Congregational vitality among Evangelical Churches in Canada.” Church and Faith Trends 5:1 (June, 2012), 17 pp.

“A demographic look at Evangelical Congregations.” Church and Faith Trends 3:2 (August, 2010). 21pp.

“Pastoral Well-being: Findings from the Canadian Evangelical Churches Study.” Church and Faith Trends 3:2 (August 2010). 17pp.

“Evangelical congregational income during the first 4 months of 2009” Church and Faith Trends 3:1 (Feb. 2010).