: About Me

I am an Episcopal Priest pastoring an ELCA Lutheran congregation. I have over 30 years experience in the ordained ministry. I have pastored churches in New York, Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.

The biggest accomplishment of my writing career is a 600 plus page dissertation entitled Personality Type as a Road Map for Spirituality.

As Manager for the Christianity Channel I bring a long history of ecumenical experience. My Masters level degree was earned at a school which included many other denominations, from Baptist to Roman Catholic, including Methodist, Presbyterians,AME Zion and others. For the past nine years I have participated in KAIROS and ecumenical Prison Ministry. I am a Chaplain in The Order of St.Luke (OSL) that promotes Healing Ministry.  My Doctoral Studies was also with an ecumenical school. There were 25 students in my class including Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptist, Methodist, Assembly of God, and Church of God. The focus of our studies was on Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to the Present and on issues of Conversion. 

I come from a family of writers. Most notably my Aunt, Gladys Schmitt, wrote Historical Biblical Novels. Many of them made it to the Times Best Seller list in the 1950s- and 60s. She taught at Carnegie-Mellon where a department is named in her honor. 

I've also composed about 1000 songs and written 50 guided meditations. I've given approximately 50 sermons a year and written church newsletter articles monthly. I love photography, origami, and chess. My wife and I are building our own content rich site theschmitthouse.net and writing online for several other sites.

Education includes:
Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell 1995 with distinction
Masters of Divinity from Bexley Hall 1978
B.S. in Recreation Education from SUNY at Cortland 1971

My passion is ...

bringing friends, new and old to the refining fire of God's love

I know too much about ...

eating out

My parents always told me ...

there's always room for improvement

My childhood ambition ...

to know what I want to be when I grow up

My favorite memory ...

my honeymoon

Why I write ...

I love to teach

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series

My first job ...

mowing lawns

My best moment ...

Singing The Lord's Prayer at Caesarea Philippi

My inspiration ...

The Holy Spirit

Religion & Spirituality > Christian Doctrine & Issues Is drinking a sin for Christians?

1 of 45

There are denominations who believe drinking any form of alcohol at any time is a sin. It is important to be respectful of other Christian’s traditions and beliefs. However, the Bible clearly indicates that some use of alcohol, mostly wine, is perfectly acceptable. The Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus' first miracle. He turns water into wine. It would seem obvious that if Jesus turned water into wine and drank some himself it must be alright for us to do likewise.  Jesus' used a common example of wine in his parable of the wine skin. In the parable it is not wrong to drin...

More..

Writing:

Rating:

• Marketplace Premier Writer
• Creative Writing Gold
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• 10Marketplace Articles Sold
• Channel Manager Christianity
• Helium Charter Member