Michael Coffey

About me

Gender Male
Industry Religion
Occupation Pastor
Location Austin, Texas, United States
Introduction I am the pastor of First English Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. I graduated from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1993. My undergraduate degree is in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana. I am married to Kathryn Coffey, who is an architect with Heimsath Architects. We have two sons, Colin, studying business management at Luther College, and Liam, studying mechanical engineering at Iowa State University.
Interests the contemporary relevance of a theology of the cross, forming cross-cultural relationships, cooking and the way food creates community, developing a catechumenate ministry for spiritual formation of those new or returning to the church, leadership development, Old Testament theology, masculine spirituality and male initiation rites, the ongoing development of liturgy and ritual, exploring spiritual and theological themes in film, playing piano, cooking for family and friends, brewing beer, computers and technology, composing liturgical music and hymns, writing for my blog and for publication, I have a Newfoundland and he is much larger than you can imagine, I watch entirely too much cable news and depend on Stephen Colbert to help keep my sense of humor about it
Favorite Music U2, Peter Gabriel, Future Islands, Death Cab for Cutie, Sting, Taize songs, Guy Forsyth, Samuel Barber, so much more
Favorite Books The Road, The Cross in Our Context, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Hamilton, The Stranger; King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archteypes of the Mature Masculine