Dr. Ryan Tinetti’s office paints a picture of his personality: A funky brown recliner. Shelves brimming with books. A wall collage of theologians and writers. Duke University swag. And a photograph from his ordination day June 27, 2010, at Faith Lutheran Church in Seaside, Calif., — standing beside his wife, infant son and a young Dr. David Schmitt.
Tinetti settles into the aforementioned recliner. “Did you notice the baby ducks?” he asks, pointing outside his window, towards the Seminary fountain.
I hadn’t. I was scrolling through my phone ahead of beginning this interview.
That small exchange sparks a larger conversation about attention, presence and the quiet war against distraction. For Tinetti and his family, the solution was deliberate: they traded in smartphones for flip phones to create space. To be fully present — to God, to each other, to the world around them.
That posture of presence shapes everything about Tinetti’s life: his family, ministry, teaching — and writing. His forthcoming book, “The Quiet Ambition,” (Intervarsity Press, November 2025) is grounded in this ethos. Drawing from 1 Thess. 4:11 NIV, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life …” the book is a call to embrace a different kind of success. One marked not by noise or notoriety, but one that sees God’s grace in the small and hope in the ordinary.
“Our culture celebrates loud ambition,” he says. “But God often works through quiet lives, small unnoticed acts of faithfulness.”
In addition to being a writer, Tinetti is an assistant professor of Practical Theology at Concordia Seminary. The road that led him here wasn’t linear — but like everything else in his life, it has been marked by the steady, guiding presence of his Savior.
Faith Journey Begins
Tinetti traces the beginning of his faith formation to being raised in a denominationally-split household. His father belonged to a devout Roman Catholic Italian family and his mother was a committed Lutheran. One Sunday, he attended Catholic mass with his father; the next, he was in the pews of a Lutheran church with his mother. The family worshipped together only on major holidays — Christmas and Easter — a spiritual rhythm that shaped Tinetti’s early exposure to the Christian faith.
When he reached middle school, Tinetti’s parents encouraged him to choose. Tinetti ended up being confirmed in his mother’s LCMS church and he stuck with that. Now confirmed, ministry wasn’t really on his radar at all — until college.
With a love for writing and storytelling, Michigan State University (MSU) offered him a canvas to explore those gifts in the area of journalism. But college is often a time of transformation, and for Tinetti, that change came not in a lecture hall but in a Bible study held in his dorm. Through his involvement with a campus ministry (then called Campus Crusade for Christ, now Cru), he began engaging with Scripture in new and deeper ways.
While leading Bible studies and participating in campus ministry events, something stirred within him: a passion for the Word, a hunger for theology and an urge to share that truth with others. Yet at that time, Tinetti was part of a more evangelical, non-denominational environment. It wasn’t until a Christmas break conversation with his Lutheran pastor back home that the theological tug-of-war reached a turning point.
His pastor cut to the heart: “Where are you at theologically? Are you Lutheran?” Tinetti initially brushed it off with a simple response: “I love Jesus.” But the pastor pressed further, challenging him to consider what he truly believed — about the Sacraments, salvation and the role of grace.
To help him reflect, the pastor handed Tinetti a book by Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Kolb titled “Make Disciples, Baptizing: God’s Gift of New Life and Christian Witness.” As he read, Tinetti revisited key biblical texts with fresh eyes. One passage stood out — Titus 3:5 (ESV): “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Until then, Tinetti had understood Baptism as a symbolic act, not a sacramental one. But that verse — and others like 1 Peter 3:21, which declares, “baptism now saves you”— challenged and ultimately transformed his perspective.
Through the lens of Scripture and the clarity of Lutheran theology, Tinetti came to see Baptism not as a human expression of faith, but as a divine means of grace. “It was in that study of Baptism where I recognized Baptism is God’s work, not ours,” he recalls. What followed was a season of intense study, prayer and discernment. By the end, the conclusion was clear: “I realized — I am a Lutheran.”
A Call Abroad, A Call to Ministry
Still unsure about pursuing formal ministry, Tinetti joined LCMS
World Mission to serve in Bangkok, Thailand, for a transformative year teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). While teaching ESL, Tinetti met his future wife, Anne — also serving in the same mission program.
Though he initially delayed proposing, God’s timing prevailed. Anne received a call to serve as a third grade teacher at Grace Chapel Lutheran School in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. Soon after, Tinetti returned to the U.S. and within months, they were engaged. The long-distance leap of faith turned into a lifelong journey together.
“Ministry isn’t a terminus. It’s a trailhead.” – Dr. Ryan Tinetti
By now, Tinetti’s internal compass was pointing firmly toward ministry. Friends and mentors had already begun affirming his gifts in teaching and preaching.
Returning stateside, Tinetti enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis where he graduated in 2010. During his formation, mentors like Professor Emeritus Dr. Jeff Gibbs and Professor of Practical Theology Dr. David Schmitt shaped his thinking and practice.
After five years in the parish, the “itch” for academic inquiry returned. Drawn to the academically rigorous Doctor of Ministry Program at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., Tinetti studied under homiletics legend Dr. Richard Lischer, today the James. T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Duke — also a graduate of Concordia Seminary.
Studying outside the LCMS offered Tinetti valuable perspective. “You realize the things we, as Lutherans, take for granted — like Law and Gospel — are foreign concepts to many Christians,” Tinetti explains. In his cohort, he was one of two students from a denomination that does not ordain women. This challenged Tinetti to better articulate and defend his beliefs with both conviction and humility.
Discipleship and Formation: Theology Lived Out
Tinetti’s academic focus on discipleship, spiritual formation and applied theology comes to life in his role as a Seminary professor. For Tinetti, all theology is practical theology. “Jesus says, ‘Follow me,’ not ‘Sit there while I lecture.’”
Ministry, Tinetti insists, is lived out in the ordinary — walking through the neighborhood, noticing what is on the coffee shop bulletin board, knowing the texture of your place and people.
To those discerning a call to ministry, Tinetti offers a striking metaphor. “Ministry is not a terminus; it’s a trailhead,” he says. In other words, it’s not the final destination, but the start of a lifelong journey. One that may take you across the world or just across town but will always invite you deeper into God’s story.
“God’s going to call you to places you couldn’t imagine,” Tinetti says. “And it’s a joy to be a part of it.”