Other Central Texas Conference Bloggers

Nine years ago my first son was born. A few months later I began this little blog as a way to capture thoughts and ideas for him to have in the event he ever wanted to see what his father was thinking about in the early days of his life. The blog then quickly morphed to a place where I could share ideas from Seminary and reach out to my local congregation as a non-regularly preaching pastor. 

Nine years later things have changed.

Our oldest son has braces on his teeth and our younger son is so active that his parents brace themselves! And this blog has grown if not in content quality, at least in exposure. I was fortunate enough to have a few posts (here and here and here) that went mildly "viral" (oddly two are about communion and the other is about Where's Waldo.) The reasons these posts gained traction was because other sources picked them up and shared them from their platforms. 

While this little blog does not have a huge platform, it is large enough to share. 

As such, I wanted to share a list of people who blog in the Conference that I serve in (Central Texas). Additionally, I will be reaching out to these folks for guest contributions. It is my hope that you might find another blogger/writer/creator from the CTC who you might connect with - perhaps even one who lives close to you!

So, here is a list so far of bloggers and writers in the CTC! (If you are a blogger in the CTC and would be willing to fill out the survey at the bottom, I would greatly appreciate it!) 

I am a CTC Blogger.

Nine Years of Be The Change

Today is nine years anniversary of the existence of this blog. I thank you for taking any time you have over the years to read these posts. Over the next several posts, I wanted to introduce readers of this blog to other pastors in the Central Texas Conference who are blogging. So look forward to a few guest posts this next week and beyond. 

Thank you all for making this platform to share ideas. Thank you for your generosity and your questions and emails and comments. Thank you for your push back, I know that iron sharpens iron. But most of all, thank you for being the change. 

The Bible is Authoritative (not Authoritarian)

We call the Bible authoritative for the Christian life but we are seem to forget what it means for something to have authority but not being authoritarian. Knowing if the Bible is authoritative or authoritarian may be thought of in terms of where the Bible is located in our lives. Namely, does the Bible have the first or last word?

Major court cases in the United States ask a number of questions to make a judgement. Among the first questions asked is "what does the Constitution say?" The Constitution for the Untied States is authoritative for the rule of law. The Constitution did not say much about Native people living in the early days of the Untied States. When Chief Standing Bear sued for a writ of habeas corpus the government took the Constitution as an authority and saw the Constitution did not even consider Natives as human. By the end of the case, the judge ruled that an Indian is a person". When the judge gave the Constitution the first word on the matter, he did so because there is deep respect and reverence for the Constitution. The Constitution is authoritative, not Authoritarian.

When something is Authoritarian, we do not give it the first word, we give it the last word. When the bumper sticker says, "The Bible says it, I believe it" the last statement is "that settles it!" This gives the impression that the Bible is no longer authoritative but more Authoritarian in that person's life. Authoritarian systems cannot and do not tolerate questions or deviations. There is not room for interpretation or grey. Kings of old would make a decree and then say "thus says the King!" If you had any questions, the King had the last word and that was that. The King was the Authoritarian ruler and others were to fall in line. Those who did not were not out of the King's punishment.

The Bible is authoritative for me. I have great respect and reverence for the Bible. It has the first word in my life because it is authoritative. I have too much respect for the Bible (and God has too much love for me) to make the Bible Authoritarian for Christians.