On March 11th, this blog’s first article was published. For the next 6 months, my entire life would slowly start to mold around producing articles that would encourage and challenge my brothers and sisters in Christ. I began to see the world through the eyes of someone always looking for inspiration, always hungry for a creative new way to give my readers something they would enjoy. Today, I’d like to give you all a peek at the past 6 months I’ve spent as a blogger.
Beginnings
I’ve always wanted to have a teaching ministry. I was originally co-teaching a theology program at my church, but with great sorrow and frustration I had to give it up once my chronic pain made me unreliable. From there a friend and I tried starting a podcast named “Onward in the Faith,” but that likewise fell apart when my symptoms and medication made it difficult to me to be reliable and, sometimes, able to speak coherently.
I was frustrated, unable to serve in the way I felt God had gifted me. Over the years I’d had people comment that I should do more writing – I’d written some articles for my church’s blog that had gone well, and I greatly enjoyed being able to teach through writing. However, I just couldn’t see myself doing it with any regularity.
I mean really, who would want to read anything I had to say? There are people far more knowledgeable to learn from, and people considerably more talented at writing to capture people’s attention. I didn’t see anything particularly noteworthy about myself that would be worth putting in front of the world.
However, God doesn’t need someone capable. He needs someone obedient. As I look back, there are dozens of small ways He was preparing me for this ministry, but two stand out as the tipping points that made me submit to Him in humility.
First, my friend shared an article by one of my favorite bloggers, Tim Challies. Although Tim doesn’t know me, I felt personally attacked. Titled “A Call for Plodding Bloggers,” he simply lays out why we don’t need people who can write these earth-shattering articles that people share around the internet. Instead, Christianity needs more people who are willing to simply keep writing, no matter the quality. It was a call to faithfulness, an acceptance that not everything someone writes will be a home run, but that doesn’t make God any less capable of using someone’s writing to encourage others.
Second, my mother-in-law called me one day, quite randomly. She wanted to float the idea of me doing a blog, especially encouraging me to share the reasons I do certain things as a parent. That phone call came after a few weeks of prayer, doubt, and excuse-making as I kept fighting the idea of starting a blog. However, that was the moment God used to tear down my pride and trust that He knew what I needed to do far more than I could ever know.
Thus, Onward in the Faith was born.
Growing pains
Starting the blog was a bit of a frenzy. I wanted to launch with 2 weeks of content, I needed to figure out how to design an aesthetically-pleasing blog, figure out colors and graphics, prepare social media, get people excited about the launch… it was quite a busy time as I prepared. I was fortunate to have the help of Chris, who’s written some great articles for the blog. He has a supernatural ability to keep me grounded and help me focus, and together we got things ready.
If you’ve been here since the beginning, you may remember that I had themed days.
- Mailbag Monday, where I’d answer any questions and comments
- Tuned-In Tuesdays, with media recommendations
- Whatever Wednesdays, featuring anything that didn’t fit another day
- Theology Busters Thursday, which looked at popular beliefs and tested them against the bible
- Faithful Friday, ending the week with a more practical call to faithfulness in Christ
At first, I loved the structure. But over time, I started feeling frustrated. The Mailbag was always empty, I soon realized that my generally-slow media consumption meant I’d be out of articles in about 2 years, and there were several series I wanted to start, yet didn’t want to stretch them out over the course of 4 Fridays. Rather than be angry at the format, I blew up the format and created what we have today – broad categories where I can write as much, or little, as I want in a given week. Let me tell you, it was freeing.
Of course, my format wasn’t the only source of frustration. Despite every video and article I studied about starting a blog, I had certain expectations about my growth. And just like every other blogger who’s fallen into the same trap, not meeting that expectation was a bit devastating. I fought against starting a blog because I didn’t think people would care about what I had to say, and here was the proof!
But God is good and seems to wait for my pride to flare up so He can smack it down. I was so focused on who wasn’t reading my articles that I neglected to be encouraged by those who were. My wife has read every single thing I’ve written. Many family members at least try to keep up, despite me telling them to only read the ones that seem interesting to them so they don’t get burned out. Even my 11-year-old has read a few. I’ve had several friends and church members tell me they enjoyed a particular article, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that there are others out there talking about it.
That realization is where God has probably grown me the most. This isn’t my ministry, where success or failure is measured in clicks and views. This belongs to God, and He will do with it as He sees fit. All I can do is be faithful and responsible, trying to reach more people while being content if God says “No, this audience size is where I want it.”
Just as a pastor of a small church trusts that God has him there on purpose, preaching the gospel to the few who will listen, I realized I needed to be faithful to those who were currently being impacted by this ministry. It was a hard lesson that sometimes left me wanting to walk away, but I’ve seen His goodness and faithfulness in ways I hadn’t appreciated before.
A small realization
One thing I’ve tried to fight is my article length. I know there’s a glut of web pages for people to read, and there’s a certain demand for short, punchy blog articles. People want things they can devour quickly and easily so they can move on to the other 20 things demanding their attention.
However, if you’ve been here long enough you know that’s just not me. I certainly try not to be long-winded, but I find it ultimately important that we all understand why we believe something. If I’m going to say what I believe, even if someone disagrees in the end, at least there’s an understanding of why I believe it. A brief article may be illuminating for a moment, but without context and some depth it’s so easily forgotten.
I’ve had to accept that Onward in the Faith isn’t going to be a brief stop on someone’s daily web surfing. I must ask my readers for 5+ minutes of their time every day as they dive into a short essay meant to teach, encourage, and challenge people in their faith. And for everyone willing to put in so much time with me, I’m truly thankful.
Moving onward
I’m always looking for ways to improve this blog. I’ve learned to accept that God will bring in whomever He wants, but it’s not enough for me to sit idly by, twiddling my thumbs and saying “If God wants people to come, they will come.” Despite living in Iowa, I realize that life doesn’t operate on the logic of Field of Dreams.
Starting a Patreon, asking people to support this ministry, was hard. Much like being content with my growth, I had to spend a lot of time asking God to keep me humble and willing to accept that I may not get any support, or at least only a few dollars each month.
I was blown away to reach over $40 in monthly support in the first three days of launching! I certainly didn’t need encouragement to keep plodding along, but I’m still so humbled and awestruck that people find this ministry so worthwhile that they want to see it grow. With the support of my readers, the next 6 months will be even better as I create a budget for advertising, giving the website a facelift, and anything else needed to keep this blog at the top of its game.
And of course, I’d encourage anyone who’s been blessed by this ministry to consider joining me on Patreon by clicking the button below.
Become a Patron!I’m so excited to continue this ministry. I use Trello to help organize my ideas for each topic. As of this post, here’s what it looks like:
- 86 ideas under Faith and Encouragement
- 45 ideas in Other Intersting Articles (many of which are multi-part series!)
- 19 ongoing series ideas
- a whopping 104 ideas for Theology Busters
- 12 more ideas for Tuned In Recommendations (though it’s in desperate need of updating)
Ignoring the multiple articles spawned from series, sudden inspiration, and any articles chosen by my Patrons, that’s over 250 ideas just waiting to be written. And my favorite part about this blog is that I’m always, always excited about each topic. I hope that has always shown through, and I hope it’s helped many of you get excited about God as well.
Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this blogging journey. Whether you were here on day 1 or just recently found this ministry, I’m glad you’re here. I hope you’ll all keep praying for me, and this blog, as we all continue moving onward in our faith toward maturity in Christ.
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (Colossians 1:28)
