Life Well Done will make the argument men sitting at tables in meaningful ways is positioned to shape spiritually healthy men. Inspired from a Lilly funded sabbatical leave, I developed a table ministry for men in faith and food. Men have learned barbecue techniques, eaten on paper plates in garages, staying long into the evening swatting mosquitos because of long satisfying talks about spiritual matters. Guys leave Life Well Done choosing to make male friendships a ritual. But I have unfinished work with Life Well Done. I propose the way C.S. Lewis and his associates in the literary club, the Inklings, interacted at sacred tables provides a model for Life Well Done that fosters community, nurtures imagination, cultivates virtue and engages social concern. With that focus I will be staying at the Kilns, home of C.S. Lewis, interacting with A Rocha and attending cookery classes. In a time of great interest in all things barbecue, I am motivated to publish a men’s mentoring guide that exploits the theological virtues of grilling. As Adrian Miller observes “food writers liken pit masters to preachers and barbecue pits to pulpits where the holy “word” is served”[1] lets unleash the power of the grill to bring young men together.

[1] Adrian Miller, “Toward a Theology of Barbecue” from Faith and Leadership a Duke Divinity publication, June 16, 2015