A couple Tuesdays ago, August 26th, was my dear friend Tyler’s 30th birthday, and though I’m (characteristically) a little late to post this, it’s a great chance to publicly celebrate him as a person and as my friend. So without further ado, here are some of the reasons I love and celebrate Tyler:
- Tyler and I have had a storied and many-chaptered friendship, and through it all I’ve found him to be the person in my life most deeply committed to their friends and friendships. And because of this, I think I’ve similarly become someone who deeply commits to and loves my friends (or at least tries hard to!).
- Tyler and I share several niche life experiences that make him easy and familiar to relate to and make me feel seen in specific ways that can be hard for others to understand.
- Tyler is a man of many diverse and niche interests. We’ve bonded (and occasionally quibbled) over things as wide-ranging as:
- food and cooking—how to make a truly spectacular grilled cheese sandwich, or a delightful goat cheese hors d’oeuvre, or why sometimes Thanksgiving casseroles slap and aren’t just a white person ruining an already perfect Thanksgiving dish (though there are times when it is that, to be sure);
- lots and lots of music, both as a listener and creator—including a quibble over what octave Bruce Springsteen is actually singing in at 3:41 of Born in the U.S.A. (you be the judge);
- hand puppets;
- drum corps, and why a certain drum corps is so impressive;
- films, especially those of Terrence Malick;
- the book of Leviticus (the man has some points!);
- the pronunciation of certain words (a good deal of quibbling here, on which I’ve usually been wrong);
- the meanings of certain words of which I was confident and also, it turns out, wrong.
- Among his many loves is Black gospel music (there is evidently White gospel music—not that), which, on account of his infectious love for it, I have also fallen madly in love with. This isn’t hard to do with something Tyler loves, because his love for things is not just personal, but usually eminently sensible. One of his greatest contributions in the realm of gospel music is his iconic Spotify playlist entitled Prepare Ye the Way of the Bops, a collection of gospel bops which as of writing has 48 saves on Spotify (no small feat!).
- Tyler is a prolific—and often hilarious—storyteller. His ability to draw a crowd and spellbind a room is uncanny, and only outdone by the actual story he’s telling.
- Tyler is brilliant, and he frequently uses his brilliance to think deeply about all manner of things in his friends’ lives and his own life, all in an effort to help people live well.
- Tyler overflows with love, compassion, and curiosity toward others, often expressed via his deeply thoughtful, curious, and attentive questions in a conversation.
- Relatedly, Tyler is perhaps the most thoughtful and attentive listener I know.
- Tyler is a patient and long-suffering person.
- Tyler might keep in regular contact with more people than anyone in the world.
- Tyler is someone who more than anything else loves Jesus and perpetually wants to love him more, and has oriented his whole life toward that end.
- Tyler is an inspiring leader and has the ability to stir people’s hearts and rouse them to action.
- Tyler is humble and would probably never volunteer certain impressive or credential-building or ego-boosting information about himself, like the fact that a prominent and world-renowned Bible scholar (I won’t name-drop, but you’ve heard of him) once asked Tyler in a conversation which seminary/divinity school he’d attended (Tyler has not in fact attended seminary or divinity school—see aforementioned brilliance and thoughtfulness).
- Relatedly, Tyler is very thoughtfully and earnestly doing some of the critically important practical theological work on Side B—and doing it well I might add, and as a layperson no less. He’s now been on one of the primary podcasts in this space, New Kinship, two (and soon to be three) times, and he just co-led a breakout session at Revoice 2025 with Revoice founder and president Nate Collins entitled Sacred Integration: A Holistic Vision for Sexual Minorities.
- Tyler is a tremendously fun person to spend time with.
- Finally (though I could certainly say more, but this post is already nearly two weeks late), Tyler loves art, especially films and music, and has introduced me (and I can only assume many others) to truly countless films, filmmakers, songs, albums, and artists. Because of this, and in appreciation for how much music has played a role in our friendship, and out of gratitude for this particular part of who Tyler is, I offer in closing this birthday gift to him of a celebratory playlist: