One of the joys of blogging is the virtual relationships I have made over the years. One such friendship is with Mike Erich - the Mad Theologian. I have had so many wonderful conversations with Mike over the years about the bible and our shared faith.
I exchanged a few ideas on this topic yesterday on Facebook. Here are my thoughts:Defining a "legitimate" press organization these days is pretty much a matter of opinion. Does one really think that organizations that are more pundit than press are legit? For example, I love your blog but would not consider it an outlet of the press.So how would you answer the question? What do you think of as "The Press"?
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Guess I associate "the press" with journalism and journalists and not pundits.
Not saying that blogs and FB are not good sources of opinion but, I may be wrong, I don't see them as "the press". Yet I think that it is all covered under free speech.
Mike posted a prayer at Daily Prayer that you can pray with him. Please pray for my friend Mike.Last Thursday I went in for surgery for my pancreatic cancer. I believed and prayed right up to last minute that surgery might be possible and that this could be God's way of healing me. But I found out that the cancer had spread and it would do no good to operate. What that leaves me with is either God is going to do a miracle (I believe in miracles, but I believe God does them according to His will. I have no reason to be convinced He will do so in my case), or it is my time to go home. I appreciate all past prayers and all continued prayers, and I am trusting God for His will in this situation.
What is the name and URL of your blog?My blog is part of my author website at www.robinleehatcher.com.Tell us a bit about yourself.
It doesn’t have a title anymore, although it did years ago.
Here’s my official bio:Share a few sentences or a paragraph about your blog.
Robin Lee Hatcher is the best-selling author of over seventy-five books. Her well-drawn characters and heartwarming stories of faith, courage, and love have earned her both critical acclaim and the devotion of readers. Her numerous awards include the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the RITA® Award for Best Inspirational Romance, Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards for Americana Romance and for Inspirational Fiction, the Carol Award, the 2011 Idahope Writer of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both Romance Writers of American (2001) and American Christian Fiction Writers (2014). Catching Katie was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.
Robin began her writing career in the general market, writing mass market romances for Leisure Books, HarperPaperbacks, Avon Books, and Silhouette. In 1997, after several years of heart preparation, Robin accepted God’s call to write stories of faith and hasn’t looked back since. She has written both contemporary and historical women’s fiction and romance for CBA publishers (Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Revell, Steeple Hill, Tyndale House, Multnomah, and WaterBrook).
Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. Robin and her husband make their home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon, and Princess Pinky, the DC (demon cat).
I’m an eclectic and sporadic blogger. I love to host other authors and to do giveaways of their books. I post anywhere from three to ten giveaways a month. I blog two or three times a week, most weeks. I blog about the writing life. I blog about books that I have loved and movies I’ve enjoyed. I sometimes blog about Bible art journaling, a relatively new passion of mine that combines art with Bible journaling. Sometimes I blog about a spiritual lesson God has taught me.Share a link to one of your favorite blog posts and tell us why it is a favorite.
As mentioned above, Bible art journaling is a passion of mine, so I’ve selected a recent post about this form of worship, Six Weeks of Bible Art Journaling (Including a Flip-Through Video).Where do you find your inspiration to blog?
My inspiration for writing books comes from deadlines. I would say that applies to blogging as well. Although blogging deadlines are self-imposed, they do help me remember to write an original post every now and then. It’s easy to come up with something to write if I’ve just read a fabulous book or seen a great movie or when I have a new book releasing or when God shows me something new in my morning Bible reading. It is a little more difficult when my life is pretty much the same, day in and day out.Share your favorite quote and how it affects you or speaks to you.
Given enough time, I could probably come up with a couple hundred “favorite” quotes, at least. So my favorite at given moment will probably be one I have recently read or been reminded of. This comes from one of the books I read in 2015:Thanks to Robin for sharing. Send me an email if you are a blogger and interested in participating in my Q&A.
“Don’t seek answers; seek God. And the answers will seek you.” — Mark Batterson
So often when we read our Bibles or go to God in prayer, we make it about us. Make it about God speaking to us and answering our questions. When the first goal of Bible study and prayer should be to connect with and worship God Himself. This quote is such a great reminder to seek God and let everything else come after that.
What is the name and URL of your blog?I am Mike Erich, and I blog at mikeerich.blogspot.com.Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have continued to blog in spite of my present struggles with pancreatic cancer. I call myself the mad theologian. By this I do not mean the angry theologian, though there are some things that tend to made me angry. I mean, rather, a theologian who is somewhat off the wall. I believe we have taken God’s true message and have complicated it with unnecessary baggage. Those who want a full list of my concerns, along with the detailed support for them, should go to my blog.Share a few sentences about your blog.
Here are four of my basic issues.Thanks to Mike for sharing. Send me an email if you are a blogger and interested in participating in my Q&A.
In am opposed to all sorts of quick fixes and magic formulas for living the Christian life or improving the Christian church. I believe that growth in Christ is a lifelong journey, full of ups and downs, and there are no short-cuts. I also believe that serving Christ in whatever capacity is a process of learning that takes place over time. And I hold that the way to accomplish these is through trust in God and not reliance on our methods.
I am convinced that we in the United States live in a post-Christian nation and that we cannot go back simply by passing the right laws and electing the right politicians. Rather, we need to start again at the beginning and convince people of Christian principles on the personal level before we can have any real political influence. This means being people who know what we believe and why we believe it.
Christ has redeemed us from sin apart from our good works. Therefore, the people of God must be people of grace who reach out in love to those who are in need. We need to lay aside self-righteousness and recognize that we are sinners saved by grace. Therefore, our focus should not be on condemning people, but on helping them to find God’s love.
The Christian church is the body of Christ, which consists of all believers of all time, and which He works through to achieve His purposes. The function of the church organization is to work for the good of the people in it, to bring them to Christ and help them to grow in Him, so that they may accomplish Christ’s purpose in the world. But it is easy for the organization to think it is there to grow and perpetuate itself and to view the people as being there to build the organization, rather than the other way around.
But the bottom line is that I believe the work of serving Christ is reaching out to and loving people, so that they may live and grow in Christ, and not promoting “my group” or “my gimmick.”
I was planning to post something else today. Then I realized that today is Stephanie's birthday.Never Been Here Before | neverbeenherebefore.blogspot.comTell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a child of God, a daughter of the King. I work in ministry. I’m from Nebraska, and have lived in 5 states since I was 22. I like coffee a lot. Jesus, too. I have a ridiculous nail polish collection and way too many Kate Spade hand bags. I play guitar, though not well. I sing a bit better than that. I love bluegrass music and like to belt out the high notes when I can. (As long as no one else can hear me.) I love to read and teach people about Jesus. I’m currently doing that in Kansas, where I work for an awesome church.Share a few sentences or a paragraph about your blog.
I’m not a regular blogger. I wish I was, but I find the process of writing often painful, so perhaps that’s why it’s not a regular activity for me. But that really is the point of my blog. I write when I need to process something difficult I’m going through. The title, “Never Been Here Before” acknowledges that I am always changing and transforming (thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit). I often look back and what I’ve written and don’t recognize it. This is the essence of being human and an artist: we, in the words of Derek Webb, are “constantly covering the material of another person” Meaning, we’ve changed since we created that art. So every place I am in is a place I’ve haven’t been and never will be again.Share a URL link to one of your favorite blog posts and it is a favorite.
https://neverbeenherebefore.blogspot.com/2009/04/deliberate-sin.htmlWhere do you find your inspiration to blog.
I think this is a favorite post because it was the first time I realized that by constantly labeling myself as a sinner, I was putting all the emphasis in the wrong place. Am I a sinner? Absolutely. But that’s not the end of the story. It was the beginning of the formation of my philosophy of ministry and a greater understanding of God’s story and my place in it. By reminding myself that I am a saint, I am giving glory to the one who conquered the sin, not the sin itself.
To be honest? Usually pain. Writing has always been like this for me, and I’ve been writing since the 6th grade. The most tender and wise moments I’ve been given were the result of pain in my life. But I am also occasionally inspired to write about pop culture from a Christian perspective. So strong emotions and convictions are more broadly what inspire me to write. There’s a line from the song “Breathe” by Anna Nalick that comes to mind, “2 AM and I'm still awake // writing a song // If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me // Threatening the life it belongs to” I write when I have to. Usually the compulsion is pretty strong and won’t leave me along until I process it and write it out.Share your favorite quote and how it affects you or speaks to you.
What is to give light must endure burning – Victor FranklShare a paragraph about anything that you are passionate about.
This speaks to me because it, in many ways, illustrates the Christian life. We live in the “already/not yet” – the place of already being forgiven and not yet fully restored to glory in heaven. Living this life knowing things aren’t the way they are supposed to be is complicated and messy. And living it with authenticity hurts, because it means acknowledging and confronting all that is broken. Instead of focusing on easing that hurt (which is typically where idols are born) we should focus on giving light: the light of Jesus Christ. We must lean into the struggle and face the burning, because this is what makes a difference in the world.
I am passionate about critical thinking in the Christian sub-culture. Because I don’t think there should be a Christian sub-culture. I think that by labeling things “secular” and “sacred” we are drawing a line that God never intended for us to draw. Everything is sacred because God created everything. (Have we perverted some of those things? Absolutely. But that’s another paragraph.) The fact that God is the creator of all things is what makes something sacred, not how many times the word “God” or “Jesus” is used in the lyric or the script. I believe the Christian sub-culture was born out of fear of being more tainted by sin than we already are. I also believe that by putting ourselves in a Christian bubble we are ignoring the Great Commission to go out into the world and make disciples. Relational evangelism is the most effective way to not only share the gospel with someone, but to be the gospel to someone. And that means entering in to the messiness of their lives to show them Jesus. (And let them see your mess, too.) We can’t do that in a bubble. But to step outside of the bubble requires discernment and critical thinking that we often are too lazy, ill-equipped, or too afraid to do.Thanks to Stephanie for sharing in my Q&A forum. Send me an email if you are interested in participating.
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| Andy and his Family |
Andy Bondurant | AndyBondurant.comTell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a full-time pastor, part-time writer who lives in Shawnee, Kansas. In addition to pastoring and writing, I also have a small t-shirt company (also at AndyBondurant.com). Every shirt has a story or purpose, and every shirt sold helps send a child to school.Share a few sentences or a paragraph about your blog.
I grew up in Olathe, Kansas (KC Suburb), and I’ve lived all over in the Kansas City area - from downtown to suburbs to rural. My wife, Kia, and I have been married for 20+ years, and we have 4 children.
In my spare time, I play and coach basketball and soccer, I binge watch The Blacklist, and I watch/listen to the Kansas City Royals.
A little known fact about me - I am related to the bad Bondurant boys in Lawless (my grandfather’s first cousins).
I've found most people struggle to connect with God, so I created a tool to take the first step down the path of peace of mind and heart.Share a URL link to one of your favorite blog posts and why it is a favorite.
I write about life, leadership and faith. Every person has a story to tell through their life. The story only comes through finding freedom. The way we become free is living intentionally.
I write about how to live a free and intentional life, so you can tell a great story.
http://andybondurant.com/2015/05/13/the-goliath-principle/ :: I had a professor in college who filled in for the regular prof while he was on sabbatical. In his 80s, Dr Metz was completely real. His response to a question so impacted me, I still can’t get it out of my head 20 years later.Where do you find your inspiration to blog.
Daily bible reading, podcasts (Bethel sermons, This American Life, Serial, Andy Stanley Leadership, and more), reading books and news articles, observing life around meShare your favorite quote and how it affects you or speaks to you.
I’m not a big quote guy. I tend to forget them as fast as I hear them. Here’s one I’ve enjoyed lately -Share a paragraph about anything that you are passionate about.
“Dream big dreams. Small dreams leave no room for miracles.” That’s my version of this quote from Dottie Boreyko, “Dream big dreams. Small dreams have no magic.”
Anything bigger than me requires help from others and God. Big, bold, outlandish dreams require God to come through. I love that thought.
This week, I released my first eBook. It’s a collection of 30 devotions. It’s free, and I would love to share it with you. Sign up for it here: http://bit.ly/1XklPZi
"The Bible repeatedly repels the idea that all suffering is based on what we deserve."
Hard to believe that 2014 is at an end. To celebrate I am listing some of my favorite posts.January :: Note to My Younger SelfThanks for reading my blog. Wish you the happiest of New Years.
February :: Miracles - All or Nothing?
March :: Fonzi Scheme
April :: Absolute Relativism
May :: Remembering Ellen
June :: Religious Schism
July :: Chasing Francis
August :: Silent Sufferers
September :: Politics and Church Attendance :: Which comes first?
October :: When they are not sorry
November :: Hysterical Bob
December :: The Bible Isn’t a Magic Book
