David Sunde

David Sunde was diagnosed early with an insatiable appetite for the interesting, which is how a kid from a working-class San Francisco church ended up pastoring four congregations, starting a fifth, and earning a doctorate on semiotics — the study of how signs and stories shape us. He's the author of "Homegrown Disciples" and "Small-Batch Disciplemaking" (NavPress), books that frame faith as something to be played more than worked — practiced alongside others willing to fumble through the song together.

The son of an immigrant, he was raised in a small church where the Body of Christ looked quietly miraculous. He's been married to Laurel — choral director turned nurse practitioner — for thirty years. Their grown kids, Bjorn and Annika, live close in Austin, along with their daughter-in-law, Clara. Two dogs patrol the premises with more enthusiasm than strategy.