Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself
Meet Sean Dreher
“Allow me to reintroduce myself.”—Jay-Z
For a long time, I tried to be just one thing.
In my defense, I thought that was the way it was supposed to be.
Where I’m from, you had to be this or that; you couldn’t be this and that.
So, I kept searching for a lane, thinking that narrowing myself down would make me more effective or at least more acceptable.
But that doesn’t work for me anymore, and I want to tell you why.
I’ve been in ministry since my teenage years, which has been both a blessing and a burden. A blessing in that I got reps in early, so now I’m in a season where I’m young enough to still have my legs but old enough to know how to play the game.
I love that part. It makes me feel LeBronesque.
But with most blessings also come a burden. For me, the burden of being in ministry since my teenage years is that I’m in a season where I’ve been in ministry longer than I haven’t, and to put it bluntly, it has been a challenge learning to define myself outside of it.
People have come to see me as “the preacher,” and I have come to see myself that way.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it did, at least early on, place me in a box that I’ve struggled to get out of.
Put another way, I got comfortable in Saul’s armor.
And like Saul’s armor, it looked right to other people. It fit the expectations. It got nods from the crowd. But deep down, it wasn’t mine. And over time, the weight of someone else’s image, someone else’s definition of what I should be, started to feel less like a calling and more like a costume.
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. Ministry has shaped me in the best ways. It taught me discipline. It gave me purpose. It put me in rooms I didn’t think I’d ever be in. But it also taught me how to perform and show up in the ways people expected, even when that version of me was incomplete.
What I didn’t know then that I know now is that I’m not just what people know me for.
There were years when I thought I had to hide that. Or downplay it. Or delay it until I had enough credibility to be taken seriously in other areas. But the more I tried to flatten myself into one thing, the more I felt like I was betraying the full story God was writing.
So allow me to reintroduce myself.
I’m a pastor. I care deeply about the local church. I believe in the power of preaching, the beauty of community, and the slow work of formation.
I’m a thinker. I refuse to leave my brain at home. I am a Christian who is both intellectually curious and emotionally honest. I want to love the Lord with all my mind.
I’m a theologian. I’ve given my life to asking better questions about God, about people, and about the way the two meet in ordinary life. I want to translate what’s been locked in ivory towers into something street-level and soul-deep.
And this space, with Sean Dreher, is the integration of it all.
This is a space for people who are hungry for more than hot takes.
A space where we can wrestle with complexity without losing our conviction.
A space that makes room for nuance and truth.
If you’re tired of choosing between faith and thoughtfulness, between the church and the culture, between reverence and relevance, you’re not alone.
I’ve been there too, and I believe there’s a better way.
So if you’re willing to slow down, to think deeply, and to follow Jesus in the busy modern world, you’re in the right place.
I’m glad you’re here, and I can’t wait to serve you in this new season.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Here with Sean Dreher, you'll find two ongoing newsletters:
Work These Words—reflections on the teachings of Jesus and how they show up in the modern world. It's formation-focused and rooted in the red letters.
Against the Grain—cultural curiosity and commentary through a missional lens. Thoughtful. Honest. Sometimes disruptive, always hopeful.
I'm also hosting a short podcast exclusively here on Substack called The Cutting Floor, where I'll share thoughts, stories, and insights that didn't make it into the newsletters, but still needed to be said.
Subscribe (free or paid) to get it all delivered straight to your inbox.