Josh grew up in the Midwest before completing a B.A. in Theatre at Northwestern College [IA] and a Masters of Divinity [M.Div.] at Princeton Theological Seminary [NJ]. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ [UCC], Josh has lived and worked in the Midwest, East Coast, Hawai’i, and Mexico. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Welcome Project PA, host of the Bucks-Mont PRIDE Festival, and he is Pastor of Love In Action UCC, an open and affirming congregation featured in a Vox Media episode of Divided States of Women with Liz Plank and in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Josh has 20+ years of nonprofit experience, including leading workshops and training in corporate, medical, and academic settings, focused on diversity & inclusion, grant writing, fund raising, and program management. Josh is a fellow of Interfaith Philadelphia, and designs and coordinates HS and University student groups for interfaith immersion service-learning weeks. Josh also co-facilitates Ally trainings for LGBTQIA+ inclusion and interfaith cooperation. He is a founding member of The Society for Faith & Justice, and a Collaborator for Nurturing Justice, and a member of the Driving PA Forward team via New Sanctuary Movement. He also performs regularly with the dinner theatre company, Without a Cue Productions, and has developed theatre arts curriculum for use in religious and secular settings. Josh also enjoys running, singing, traveling, learning languages, or making strange and funny faces. He lives in Center City Philly.
Hello, friends! I’m excited to tell you that I’m producing and acting in a hilarious, smart, and wonderful parody of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, this September, as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. I know not all of you who follow my blog are in the Philly area, but if you are, I would LOVE […]
Luke 8:26-39 In the Killer’s song, Human, the group seemingly uses incorrect grammar when they ask: are we human, or are we dancer with the singular form of “dancer”. But there’s a point to it. It calls our attention to the word. And then, we dig deeper. See, the Killers are not singing about you […]
John 14:8-12; 15-17; 25-27 It happens to me a lot. I’m performing in a show, a theatrical production, for the company I work for, called Without a Cue Productions. In our shows, unknowing audience members walk into a situation they probably didn’t expect. That is, if they don’t read the fine print. Our shows […]
John 20:19-31 Let’s engage in a creative exercise, shall we? If you’re willing, join with me. Do you remember the first time you ever heard the story about Jesus of Nazareth dying on a cross and then rising to life? Were you a kid? A youth? An adult? Who told you the story? Did you […]
John 20:1-18 Well, well, here we are. It’s the Easter/Resurrection story. Now I don’t know how you interpret this, or how it makes you feel. If you’re someone who thinks it’s BS, stay with me; your insight is needed in this conversation. If you’re someone who isn’t sure what it means, keep at it; your […]
For the last few months, I have been involved with the Civil Conversations project in partnership with Interfaith Philadelphia. The main idea behind this is to create safe spaces where people can learn about and discuss important and controversial social issues related to identity and living, not avoiding conflict but seeking understanding. I’ve been fortunate […]
Our week came to an amazing close on Friday. We started with a visit to Bait-ul-Aafiyat Mosque – Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a dynamic, fast growing international revival movement within Islam. Founded in 1889, it spans over 206 countries with membership exceeding tens of millions. Its current headquarters are in the […]
On a rainy Wednesday, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Repair the World, Wepac, and W. C. Longstreth School. WePAC’s mission is to promote childhood literacy by engaging volunteers in Philadelphia public schools through re-opening and staffing libraries and academic mentoring. In their vision, every Philadelphia student will be empowered with […]
Our day began with outdoor gardening work at the aptly-named urban oasis, Girarden, so named because of its location on Girard Ave. in West Philly. Muneerah and Sue, our two wonderful hosts, walked us through the work to be done–weeding, trash detail, prep for planting. The group got a lot done and we enjoyed the […]