Hi! I'm Rev. Nate Craddock and I am a writer, composer, pastor, and public theologian in the Ohio River Valley, where I pastor Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Cincinnati, drink a lot of Diet Coke, and write about spiritual formation in the context of my own journey to integration. Or I try to, at least.

I h*cking love the Eucharist and the Church and wish more people were able to experience what Church at its bestcan be. At the same time, I totally get that people need to leave for one reason or another, and so in my work I want to provide snacks for anyone’s ongoing spiritual journey—for the “Care of the Soul,” to use Thomas Moore’s phrase.

I completed my MDiv at Asbury Theological Seminary, [most of] my MA in historical musicology at the University of Kentucky, and a BA in music composition at Asbury University. After finishing seminary, I worked in human services for several years while figuring out where to land within the Church, and eventually found my way to the United Church of Christ after orbiting the world of Old Catholicism for a while.

Because of that, I'm church mutt and, for better or for worse, a terrible Protestant, but I absolutely and utterly adore the United Church of Christ. I'm beyond thrilled to have found a home that takes seriously its covenant to welcome all and work for justice.

I also completed a CPE unit in the psychiatric unit of a community hospital, and previously served as a pastoral assistant at Hope United Church of Christ in Alexandria, VA while working as a residential care provider, a foster care worker, a job coach for folks with different abilities, and a church planter for a spell. I was ordained in the Old Catholic tradition and am now licensed in the United Church of Christ while completing the Privilege of Call process.

I lifts weights, write music, and read dead languages for fun when not working. I live with my husband Michael and our Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Calvin, in Lexington, KY, where Michael will be going to the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2017 to pursue his PhD in School Psychology.