Bob’s Articles

I serve as part-time chaplain to people who are in jail. Twice a week I make my way through five thick steel doors into the dreary center of Skagit County’s high security facility. Guards let men who are interested in my Spanish Bible study out of their cells and pods, escorting them into the jail [...]

I exercise my ministry as executive director of Tierra Nueva in part through my role as chaplain to inmates in a county jail and pastor to immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. I also lead retreats and teach seminars to leaders who work with people on the margins in different parts of the world. As [...]

I am amazed by how the Holy Spirit is at work actualizing Jesus’ work of breaking down the “barrier of the dividing wall” (Eph 1:14) through the gift of prophesy. Prophetic words bridge divides between God and humans, the past and present, believers and unbelievers, people of diverse ethnicities, nationalities, theological traditions, political ideologies, bringing [...]

For over 28 years I have pursued a Gospel that has potency to change lives and mobilize people as agents of transformation. I long to see transformation from below, and regularly anticipate seeing this happen among peasants in rural Honduras, Mexican immigrant farm workers in migrant labor camps in Washington State and with inmates in [...]

For over 28 years I have pursued a Gospel with power to change lives and mobilize people as agents of transformation. I long to see transformation from below as the Good News of Jesus Christ impacts the poorest of the poor in every area of their lives and society. I have ministered among peasants in [...]

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain Introduction There persists a rather [...]

Chris Hoke, Assistant Jail Chaplain During the months Daniel was in Skagit County Jail, he dreamt of oceans and oceans. He would be swimming, he tells me, with whales and his family. Daniel has never been to the ocean; the closest this recently released, 19-year-old local gang affiliate gets to the Pacific is when we [...]

Thousands of migrant farm workers have moved into Skagit County’s ten labor camps this summer with hopes of plentiful work harvesting strawberries and other local crops. Many have found work. At the same time workers complain that more laborers and increased machine harvesting has meant far less work than expected. “Yesterday we only worked two [...]

Contextual encounters at the well with Latino inmates in US jails Intercultural reading of the Bible demonstrates that reading strategies and interpretations vary widely and are relevant to reading communities to the extent that they are faithful to the text, the social context of the group, and the daily lives and concerns of individual readers. [...]

Today we are facing an unprecedented assault on both the world’s poor and the natural world.   Marginalized people and wildlife all need refuge or the planet’s most vulnerable and beautiful life will become extinguished.   Those of us in solidarity with people at the edges of society and with nature feel the pain and [...]