Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Two Years of The Theophilus Project

Friends, Romans, Countrymen (and women),

As you may have garnered from yesterday's post, I am about to put another year of full-time ministry at FCC Longview in the books, which means another year of writing here at The Theophilus Project has likewise been completed since I started this blog in August 2011.

What follows (in italics) is, verbatim, the initial post here at The Project from August 2011, where I briefly offer my vision and hope for this new blog in light of the call I had just accepted (and now currently serve in).  I hope that I have lived up to these--and your--expectations in going about this ministry of writing and blogging.

The past two years have truly been a terrific ride.  While I write first and foremost, as the Jesuits would say, ad maiorem Dei gloriam, for the greater glory of God, I also write for all of you.  And over the past two years, the "you" has grown tremendously.  The Project receives literally over ten times as many monthly hits as it did at the time of its inception, and from this increasingly diverse variety of eyes and voices have come some fantastic comments and wonderful dialogues as a result of what y'all have had to say to me.  I am extremely thankful for your perspectives and for the investment of your time that you have put into The Theophilus Project.

It has been a pleasure writing for you these past two years.  God willing, I'll continue to do so for many, many more.

Yours in Christ,
Eric

Friends, Romans, Countrymen (and women),

After having let my old blogspot site languish for the better part of a year or two, I'm back at it in the blogosphere, and for a really great reason--I just recently accepted a call to serve as the pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Longview, Washington. My first Sunday there is September 25, but in the meanwhile, I'm laying the groundwork for my ministry there by doing things such as...well, starting a new blog.

The primary purpose of this blog will be to serve as a place to house all of my sermons, columns, and other written materials I'll be creating over the course of my ministry, but a significant secondary purpose will be also to simply talk about the life of a young and (hopefully) up-and-coming pastor. Our vocation is a little bit different than, say, being a doctor or a lawyer, and while you can get your impressions of living in those occupations from House or Law & Order, we pastors do not as of yet have a blockbuster television show that makes our lives seem more exciting than they are. Hence that second goal of this new blog.

In any case, and however you have found this particular corner of the internet blogosphere, thank you for stopping by. I plan to have a steady stream of new material from this point forward for the frequent visitors among you, and it is my hope and prayer that this blog might serve as a spark, and a home, for dialogue across any number of religious ideas. Look for the first of such posts in the next few days.

With that, back to the real life move--boxes, suitcases, and extreme amounts of whatnot. I love my shelves and shelves of books, but boxing and moving them is perhaps the best argument ever for just buying a Kindle instead.

Yours in Christ,
Eric

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