Why Write a Blog?

To tell you the truth, I don't know. My wife, Johanna, has been on me for about a year to start blogging for the sake of someone. I just don't know who that someone is. There are tons of blogs out there (it took me 45 minutes to pick a name because so many are taken) and who really cares about my thoughts and opinions? I don't know, but I figured I'd give this a try.

A quick bit about me: I'm 32 years old and am a pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church in Kenosha, WI. I've been serving churches for the past 12 years, dating back to when I was a supply pastor while going to school at UW-Whitewater. I have a wonderful and talented wife named Johanna, a step-son named Grady (who's a really cute and smart little guy), and a son or daughter due to arrive on December 24th. I went to seminary at the Divinity School at Duke University and am a huge Duke Basketball fan, although they've been breaking my heart in the tournament over the past couple of years.

I've picked the name faithful alternative for my blog because there seems to be a lot of polarization and bickering in the church as a whole in the Church's recent history (although the Church doesn't have a history of being of one mind on much for very long) and I think there is a different way to come at things that resemble less of what is known as the right and the left in the Church and the United States. I believe that if this Faithful Alternative is considered, we may find more on which to agree than disagree. In fact, I believe that Jesus came to offer up a type of radical discipleship that was quite different than what Judaism and his contemporary culture had become. This is true today as well. It is very likely that Jesus would not be found in either the liberal or conservative camps in today's culture. I grow more and more convinced that we (including myself) wouldn't recognize Jesus if we ran into him out on the street or in our churches.

And so, I'd like to use this blog as a forum to discuss (not debate) the faithful alternatives that we may often miss in the church and in our culture. I hope to update my blog each and every day Monday through Friday--although if I'm successful at updating a blog daily, the church secretary at Wesley will start to expect me to turn in my newsletter articles on time (which I'm usually at least two or three days late in turning in).

Finally, a quick note--all posts to my blog are my personal opinions and in no way represent the ideas and/or theology of my congregation. I will probably be writing things that I wouldn't preach because I plan to be a bit more provocative here than in my sermons (we'll see how smart that is soon). Likewise, I want to say that I hold no monopoly on the "right" answers. In fact, my opinions and thoughts are likely to change as well as anybodies are through the days, weeks, and years.

That being said--I guess I've finally written my first blog post. See Jo, it only took me a year. :)