Ph.D. Student
Lutheran School of Theology
Pastor & Mission Redeveloper
Formerly called to South Loop Campus Ministry and First Lutheran Church of the Trinity, Bridgeport
Co-Founder
Bridgeport Alliance
Projects and Work
Bridgeport Alliance and Political Action
Bridgeport Alliance is an organization that, in coalition, shut down two dirty coal-fired power plants on Chicago’s Southside. More recently they won a battle to gain a 31st Street bus. Tom is also a leader in Moral Mondays IL and Resist Trump Tuesdays, and co-chair of the Faith Liberation Table of the People’s Lobby. He loves direct actions and civil disobedience. He loves bringing the crises we feel each day to the doorsteps of the powerful who would choose to ignore them—with our demands.
Scholar in Public Theology
Tom is currently Auxiliary Faculty, teaching Public Church 2 at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where he enjoys engaging students in imagining the work of the Church and their place-to-be in it. He loves connecting future pastors with those who are in the streets, already leading in creative and meaningful ways. Tom loves the theologian Rubem Alves and his theopoetics, and after field exams will be focusing his writing on the church as it takes place as a community of hope and solidarity in the midst of a heavily territorialized world.
Press Coverage
CTA 31st Street Bus
"Bridgeport Activists Call for 31st St Bus Route" (Chicago Tribune)
"After 18 Years, CTA Bringing Back 31st Street Bus" (DNAinfo)
"CTA On 31st Street Bus: 'We Don't Want This To Fail'" (DNAinfo)
"Rest Run of of 31st Street Bus Extended for 6 Months" (Chicago Tribune)
Closing Coal Plant
"Residents Unveil Exhibit on Human Costs of Deadly Coal-fired Plants" (HuffPo)
"2 SW Side Coal Plants Agree to Shut Down Early" (CBS2)
"Emanuel Taking Too Much Credit for Power Plant Closings" (Chicago Tribune)
"Chicagoans Deliver Clean Air Petition to City Hall" (Sierra Club)
Other Issues
"Assessing the Moral Values of the State Budget" (Chicago Public Radio)
"Protestors Take Refuge at Bridgeport Church" (Chicago Tribune)
"Weekly Trump Protests Aimed at More Than 100 Days" (Chicago Tribune)
"Bridgeport: Residents Rebuilding Reputation" (Chicagoly)
Interview: Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers
"Chicago OccuMinister Planning Break-in of Vacant Home" (Marathon Pundit)
Available for
Comment or Consultation on
Chicago politics
Christian political action
Theology