Nine years ago, Shelley shared this meme with me on Facebook, an encouragement to begin that writing project I'd always been dreaming to complete. I found this today as I was preparing some notes about this New Year's Day post. It's a good reminder that we make the important projects in our lives happen by being intentional about them.
Secondly, it also is an important message for me as we begin this new ministry together in this new year. Because this new adventure is very much like write a 365-page story. After all, our goal in the "Finding Faith In" ministry is to provide readers with a daily pit stop where they can find something inspirational, joyful and most importantly hopeful in a world full of noisy and distracting chaos.
I was reminded in a devotion today that: "Genesis 1 reminds us that in the beginning, there was also disorder until God created order. God, with a spirit-like wind, swept over the water above the formless void and the deep’s darkness. God spoke light into being, and “God saw that the light was good” (Genesis 1:4). From the very beginning, God declared that the day’s light—which provides purposeful order—was good. God continues to create order and purpose. As this year begins and proceeds, God will remain in control above any disorder we encounter. God will steadfastly guide us into the good light."
It is with that inspiration that I aim to pull together the order of this blog and ministry in the coming days and weeks, and of course, it will be done in partnership with you! After all, you all have been instrumental in keeping me writing from week to week when "Finding Faith" was just a weekly newspaper column.
And so tonight I am writing to speak directly to you, the readers of this blog, and the reason the "Finding Faith In" ministry exists.
As I wrote in the kickoff blog one month ago, the purpose of "Finding Faith In" is to explore faith in the everyday little moments of our lives, just as we have been doing in the newspaper column over the last two years.
In my own head, I've often described it as a blog about “Everyday theology: A place where we find faith in the cracks of life.” … And I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to guide me through the process of developing content that you find inspirational, joyous, memorable and most importantly, content that fills your soul on a daily basis.
And I'm writing to ask for your assistance in this endeavor. Because, as you can imagine, kicking off a new ministry like this is a bit daunting! ... Of course I have the support of Shelley and my family, and your frequent messages help encourage me to keep building the dream! But to grow a ministry will take many hands, and I'd be deeply grateful if you'd consider pitching in!
So, just exactly how could you help build "Finding Faith In"? ... Well, there are a lot of ways!
First and foremost, we ask to be in your prayers! We are strong believers in the power of prayer, and knowing that the readers of "Finding Faith In" are holding us up in prayer would not only be inspirational, but encouraging as well!
Second, we're always looking for great story ideas for "Finding Faith In." Sure, there are endless faith stories in our backyard, but if we are going to be truly meaningful to a broad range of folks, we'll need to tell everyday faith stories from far and wide.
Yes, to date, we've been primarily focused on the Upper Midwest, but thanks to the power of technology, we can conduct interviews with folks from just about anywhere. So geography doesn't have to be a limitation to us finding great faith stories from all around!
However, whereas geography doesn't pose a hurdle, the gathering of great story ideas is a task for more than just the two of us! So, we'd be very grateful if you would send your everyday faith story suggestions to us for consideration! This would grow our eyes and ears immensely to have all of you looking for the Holy Spirit in action too!
Third, you can take action on our behalf. ... For instance, if you are a Facebook member, please follow our "Finding Faith In" Facebook page, where we share additional daily content that you don't see here on the blog. And if you are finding us on Facebook, please consider liking the posts and sharing the content because those actions matter in Facebook's algorithm calculations. And with greater activity on the page, comes greater reach to others on Facebook, and thus the "Finding Faith In" account will grow!
Additionally, if you find the content we produce useful in your daily life, please consider becoming an advocate for "Finding Faith In" to your family, friends and others whom you may think will benefit from a daily blog site devoted to finding the hopeful faith stories all around us. Nothing matters to people more than personal recommendations, and so your sharing by word of mouth is invaluable to us!
Finally, please help us find other ways that the "Finding Faith In" ministry can seek out and find folks who need this dose of hope in their lives. Do you know of you a faith group looking for a speaker? ... A local business group that would like to hear about how to live a faith-driven professional life? ... A writers group that would like to hear from a faith blogger? Or maybe you belong to a Bible discussion group that would like an individualized Bible study developed for them?
In short, do you know of opportunities where we can get in front of faithful folks to help grow our ministry? ... If you do, please consider sharing these ideas with us!
As we close on this New Year's Day, thank you in advance for all of your support the "Finding Faith In" ministry in this coming year! We trust that with your prayers and assistance this will be the year we look back on as the year that something beautiful, hopeful and life-changing got its start!
As Genesis 1 tells us, God formed the earth and all of creation out of nothing but the Spirit, but He still knew that after six days, the work He did was good. We have a similar hope here at "Finding Faith In" ministry that we will use the Holy Spirit to help us create a place in the middle of life's chaos where faithful folks can turn daily for inspiration.
Today -- New Year's Day -- is the first page of "Finding Faith In's" 365-page story for this year. ... Together, we are going to start filling it with daily inspirational stories that bring hope and joy. And there is no time better than the present to get started!
Thank you for coming along on this "Finding Faith In" journey with us! We are grateful to share the adventure with you! ... Amen!
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