06/02/2026
I got called a “progressive pastor” yesterday.
Which is funny, because I’ve never really thought of myself as progressive.
Or liberal.
Or conservative.
Honestly, every time someone tries to shove me into a label, I start scratching my way out like a trapped raccoon.
Because most people are complex.
Even simpletons like me.
We are more than one thing.
That’s why labels can be so dangerous.
Not because every label is evil.
But because labels can become shortcuts.
They let people avoid listening.
They turn a person into a category.
They make it easier to dismiss the message by attacking the messenger.
That’s how manipulation works.
First, reduce someone to a label.
Then make the label sound dangerous.
Then convince people they don’t have to love, understand, or even listen to “those people” anymore.
That’s not discernment.
That’s intentional conditioning.
And it works because fear is easier to sell than love.
Politicians teach us how to pick sides.
Jesus teaches us how to cross them.
Jesus didn't tell us to fear the stranger. He told us to welcome them.
He did not tell us to defeat our neighbor. He told us to love them.
He did not tell us to obsess over our enemies. He told us to forgive them.
And He did not say the world would know us by our political loyalty, outrage, labels, or ability to win online arguments.
He said they would know us by our love.
So call me whatever you need to call me.
But if caring for the poor, welcoming the stranger, loving my neighbor, forgiving my enemies, confronting religious hypocrisy, and trying to follow Jesus makes me “progressive”…
Then maybe the problem
isn’t the label you put on me.
Maybe the problem is
the filter you have inside you.
Because “Is this progressive or conservative?” is not the question Jesus gave us.
“Is this Christlike or unChristlike?” is.
And the moment we start judging compassion, mercy, justice, humility, truth, and love by whether they sound tribally useful… we are no longer thinking like disciples.
We are thinking exactly how political machines trained us to think.
If a voice teaches you to love less, fear more, defend the corrupt, protect predators, and baptize cruelty as "Christian conviction"… it is not speaking for Jesus.
Don’t debate it.
Don’t excuse it.
Run.
