So after four and a half years of blogging through the Text (and Church History), many people have asked me, “What’s next?” Luckily I work alongside some pretty great people here at Impact Campus Ministries. They helped me take my decent ideas and make them into great ones. If you are a reader of my blog, I want to introduce you to the ideas for what’s coming in 2018.
What about before 2018? A well-deserved break from my online voice. I will be posting once a month to give you a glimpse of what is on the way.
For every month of 2018, I will be working with a four-week rotation. There will be one post each week on the rotating topic that is up, and we’ll see where it goes from there.
For the first week of each month, I want to take a look at the top twelve posts from my blog. I will be linking to those posts and having a fun conversation around why I think that post has resonated more (or been Googled more) than the others. It should be an enjoyable time of looking back, enjoying some of the best conversations we have had since 2013, and keeping those posts alive for future conversations.
Some have asked if I’ll be taking down those old posts. The answer is no way! I worked hard on putting all of that content out there and I did it because I believe those things should be accessible to all people. Like I’ve said in the ‘my sources’ section of this blog, I am certainly not the authority on these issues for anyone needing a quote; but I have given my life to reading the sources that should be quoted and I love to repackage the things I learn and share them with other people. I did this so anybody can access my thoughts on “this book (of the Bible)” or “that passage” whenever they want.
The reason God put me here on this earth is to be a teacher — that is my gift set. Part of my job is to help the college students I work with begin to discern what their own gift sets are. As we spoke of in David and Goliath, we all have a stone to throw and it’s important that people know what it is. Once you do know what it is, you have a reason to get up every morning and be determined about what God has called you to do. It’s that determination that won’t let anything get in the way of that calling; and living according to that God-given design is where you find your identity and fulfillment.
Simply put, teaching is the thing I could do for all eternity — it's my stone to throw. I have been unbelievably blessed to have found places where I get to do that every day. Whether it’s having the opportunity to lead others through history in Israel and Turkey, preaching on Sunday mornings with the community of faith I belong to, or creating my podcast with Brent Billings and the work of BEMA Discipleship — I love, love, love to do what I do!
And as a teacher, over the years, I have created a body of work I am able to share in all those forms. Years ago, I sought to put a large part of that body of work online on my blog. Now it is all there in a form that can be (somewhat) easily navigated. My blog started in February 2013 and you can find the first post of that series here. You can then follow those posts chronologically or quickly navigate the series by using the archives in the right side bar to find the post you’re looking for.
I found that when I wrapped up the series this summer, it had been more of an emotional journey than I realized. This wasn’t in a taxing way, but I had poured so much of myself — my heart, my mind, and my body — into this project. I am lucky that I haven’t had to answer for all sorts of criticism and attacks about the things I’ve written (maybe that means I didn’t push hard enough?) and I love that I get to share it with all of you.
So I look forward to 2018. In the first week of every month, I will be counting down the twelve most-viewed blog posts on Covered in His Dust.
