About
My given name is Michael Taylor Bradfield, though if you spend any time here, you’ll quickly discover that most people know me as “Terry.” Over the years I’ve answered to a wide range of names—some honorable, some questionable—but the ones that matter most are Dad, Pappy, and Terry B.
After a couple of false starts, I now find myself happily retired—proof, I suppose, that persistence eventually counts for something.
I grew up in the hills of West Virginia, in Patterson Creek, the eldest of four. My life since then has taken me well beyond those hills, but they have never quite left me. I’ve spent most of my adult life in ministry and service—first (and always) as a United Methodist minister, then as an Army chaplain, and later in leadership roles within the broader church. Along the way, I picked up a few degrees, a few responsibilities, and more than a few stories.
For nearly 23 years, I served as a chaplain in the United States Army, working with soldiers and their families in the United States and Europe. That work ranged from direct pastoral care to leadership, policy, and resource management at the highest levels of the Army. After retiring from military service, I continued my work with The United Methodist Church and Wesley Theological Seminary, focusing on administration, development, and the shaping of institutional life.
That’s what I’ve done.
Who I am is something a bit simpler—and, I think, more important.
I understand myself first as a person who has been given more grace than I can account for. I didn’t earn it, and I certainly didn’t deserve it, but I’ve spent a lifetime trying to live in response to it. That conviction shapes how I see other people as well: not as problems to be solved or positions to be managed, but as persons of inherent worth and value. It’s a perspective that tends to make me both an optimist and, at times, a stubborn one.
At the same time, I am a realist. I value clarity, honesty, responsibility, and getting things done. I have little patience for manipulation and a healthy appreciation for a good argument—especially one conducted with mutual respect. I’ve spent enough years in both church and institutional settings to know that most disagreements can be worked through if people are willing to listen, speak plainly, and stay at the table.
And yes—humor helps. A lot.
If you’d like a fuller biographical sketch, you can find it here →
About This Site
This website exists as a place to gather and share the work that has grown out of that life.
Some of what you’ll find here is reflective—essays that explore questions of faith, identity, and meaning. Some of it is practical—work shaped by years of leadership, administration, and institutional problem-solving. And some of it sits at the intersection of public life and personal conviction, where questions of trust, responsibility, and community tend to surface.
If there is a common thread, it is this: I tend to follow ideas where they lead.
That means some pieces begin with a story and unfold into something larger. Others start with a problem and work toward clarity. Still others are simply reflections—moments noticed and held long enough to see what they might reveal.
This is not a platform for quick takes or easy answers. It is, instead, a working space—a kind of open table—where thoughts are explored, tested, and sometimes refined in public view.
You are welcome here as a reader, a conversation partner, or simply a passerby who found something worth lingering over.
A Final Word
I’ve had the privilege of serving both church and country, and I’m grateful for every chapter of that journey. But if I’m being honest, the role I value most now is the simplest one: being “Pappy.”
Everything else, as meaningful as it has been, finds its proper place around that.