While waiting to get back on schedule with the R12 lessons, I figured now was a good time to introduce myself to those of you who have stumbled onto this study.
About me: I’ve been a disciple of Jesus for ten years, having been converted in a campus ministry. I grew up religious and dedicated, but lacking in direction and at crucial times, conviction. I have a young family- married almost seven years with two young children (2 and 5). I try and balance my personal ministry, reflected somewhat in this blog, with my professional and family life. So you’ll see times like last week where business travel or family struggles derail my best intentions on this blog. My personal ministry is putting my faith into practice in every aspect of my life- public and private. Often we consider religion to be a private affair, but I have the strong conviction that the “culture war” is fought publicly and we are not to put our light under a bowl. Hence, the title of this blog. I struggle with application at times though. I want to be philanthropic, but often fail to follow through. My ministry consistently includes Bible study by leading a small group, mentoring a teen, and volunteering to teach 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School. I also help lead a ministry for recovering addicts. In the past ten years, I’ve also led Singles and Teen ministries and have had the joy of leading many to Christ and the sorrow of watching many leave.
About this blog: It’s been a few years since I started here and I’d like to think I’ve matured and learned a little along the way. While this started with a more political bent, I think there are other, more effective, means of demonstrating our faith publicly. The title of this blog, Public Christianity, is dual-layered. On one hand it is living your faith in every part of your life, including the “public” part. Here I intend to provide tools for you to think through doing that like I’m doing now with R12. On the other hand I talk about the interplay between current events, media and ideas — public things — and Christianity. (many thanks to my sister who put this more eloquently than I ever could) While I’m grinding through a specific study now, if you browse my archives you’ll see that I cover everything. I go from writing about things heavy on my heart to headlines that catch my attention. The ultimate goal through all of this is to help all of us to develop a comprehensive Biblical Worldview, where we view all things through the eyes of Christ. Oh yeah, this is also a proving ground for my desire to write a book or two (or three or four…).
About my links: You’ll notice if you’ve been around a while, I recently removed the “resources” links and have added a ton of other bloggers. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Peter Pollock who introduced me to Bridget Chumbley and their blog carnival. There, I’ve “met” several gifted bloggers who all approach their faith uniquely (as they should!) and therefore add their own perspectives to their relationships with God. You’ll find all of these blogs linked under “Blog Carnies”. “B.I.C. Blogs” are for “brothers in Christ blogs”. This isn’t meant to be exclusionary, but instead reflect either other bloggers from the same family of churches as myself or that I’ve met or corresponded enough with that I feel comfortable calling them “brother” (or sister as the case will ultimately be). So “brother” is both doctrinal and affectionate. There are a few carnies that I need to “promote” but I haven’t gotten to that yet. There’s a couple other sets of blog links that I haven’t had time to compile yet, but that will only add to the clutter. I removed “resources” to clean my links up and have made a bigger mess with my blog roll. Oh well.
Anyway, I thank you for stopping by. I hope we can grow together as I continue with R12 next week. And I hope you find enough here worthwhile to come back often.