Why I write…

A number of years ago, we hosted a wonderful couple, Lynn and Linda Reddick in our home. They often give a word to people from the Lord (prophesy), and what they say is usually very accurate. During one of the gatherings we had, Linda spoke very emphatically to me.

“The Lord has called you to write,” she said. She repeated it several times. In fact, she came back to it time and time again.

My heart sank. I loathed writing with a passion. I would never respond to letters, (if you leave them long enough, any reply becomes irrelevant) and avoided writing whenever possible. I’m not sure why–maybe it tied in with having to write so many dry, scientific papers during high school and medical training.

I felt so strongly that she was wrong that I went up to her afterwards.

“I’m sorry, but you got this one wrong. I hate writing. There’s no way I’m ever going to write.”

I’ve since apologized to her.

 Photo Credit: splorp via Compfight cc

I started writing when Tony lured me away to northern California on a “writing vacation” so we could co-author a book together. He promised the mornings writing and the afternoons and evenings enjoying the magnificent coastline. I fell for it. The scenery was spectacular and the writing part wasn’t as bad as I thought.

By this time we had helped to start House2House, and so many questions were coming in that I wrote a manual that we could point people to save time responding to each person at length individually. Then followed two other books, An Army of Ordinary People  and Small Is Big!  Then an enhanced ebook on hearing God that is available as a free download if you subscribe to Simply Church. Currently I’m in the middle of compiling a book on women.

I now love writing! It’s what the Lord has called me to do. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones once said, “You will be the same in five years as you are today except for two things; the people you meet and the books you read.” I’m motivated by the thought that something I write might possibly change people’s lives for the better.

Why do I tell you this?

I’ve found blogging to be one of the most effective ways to reach people. On any given day, as far as I can tell, more people are reading my posts than might be reading a book I’ve written. I started this blog to, as the title says, give people an insider perspective on the simple/organic church movement. I wanted to equip people in a number of areas. My passions include starting churches amongst not-yet-believers, which is far easier and more effective than working with existing Christians, and helping people avoid the “Honey, I shrunk the church!” syndrome.

A few months ago, I started blogging about women in ministry, as much as anything to gauge the reaction of people to the topic and to make sure the book that I’m helping to compile “scratches where it itches.” To my great surprise, the readership of my blog increased almost overnight, and other blogging indicators demonstrated that people are spending more time reading my posts. I still cannot account for this except that the Holy Spirit is causing an interest amongst many on this subject. Could this be one of the next moves of the Holy Spirit?

Some of you reading this get my blog via Google Reader. On Wednesday, Google announced that they are closing this at the beginning of July. (Bummer–I read some blogs via this too.) However, the blogs I really want to stay current with, I subscribe to via email. Can I suggest that if you currently use Google reader for this blog, that you instead subscribe via email. (Another option: the techno gurus I read  suggest  Feedly as a viable alternative and it already has migration instructions from Google Reader posted. But I’m sure there will be many more options in the coming months.)

And finally, thank you to all who do read this blog, who’ve stayed with me through good posts and bad, and especially to those who join the conversation by commenting. I appreciate you all.