Yes, I am a Millenial.
But unlike my younger peers, I’m not a digital native. I’m what they call an “elder Millennial.” I’m young enough to be digitally fluent, but old enough that I grew up without being constantly connected. My family didn’t get a computer until I was 10, and didn’t have internet until after I left for college. I remember using VCRs, cassette players, phonographs, and rotary phones.
Despite not being a true digital native, I learned to navigate technology early.
At twelve, I tried a software hack on our family computer and broke it so badly it wouldn’t boot. Mortified, I called the service technician, who walked me through fixing it over the phone. I learned that while technology can be finicky, with patience and the right help, almost anything is fixable. That experience taught me not to fear the machines.
In high school, we needed TI-83 graphing calculators for math. Beyond math, they ran basic programs. As my friends and I swapped calculator games, I studied the code to see how they worked. After seeing enough code, I could program basic scripts and games myself—without ever “officially” learning how.
I’m a pastor first.
I attended the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (now United Lutheran Seminary), graduating in 2010. Ordained in 2012, I’ve served as a parish pastor ever since, first in Minnesota, now in Southwestern Washington. This background makes me adept at both working with both computers and with people who aren’t tech-savvy. I understand how congregations work, what they need, and how to relate to the staff and volunteers who keep them running.
Parish pastors have enough on their plates: planning worship, visiting the sick, performing marriages and funerals, walking alongside congregational leadership. I bring a pastoral mindset to an area where many pastors can’t devote the necessary time, or lack the skill set because they weren’t trained for it.