by Stephen Rodgers
As I sat down to write this article, I was confused (which isn’t going to surprise anyone who knows me). I could have sworn that I already wrote something to this effect, and in a sense I have. There is a lot of information scattered about, mostly in the Editor’s Notes since October 2009, that pertains to this blog, its purpose, and its hopes and dreams for the future (at least, insofar as a blog can have hopes and dreams).
But I guess I failed to articulate exactly what it is that the Beacon DOES, and WHY.
Just like it says in the sidebar over there, the Beacon is the official newsletter of Lighthouse Bible Church. We’re NOT the website…you’ve already met Kyle and his band of merry rogues who handle all of that. Rather, we’re the central means of communication on the website. This is where the pastors and elders write their weekly messages to the church. This is where ministries highlight their goals and needs. This is where the staff of the newsletter posts articles to inform, edify, and encourage. (Ok, that’s hard to link; just look under CATEGORIES to the right). At the end of the day, we’re just a 21st century means of promoting what Paul talks about in Ephesians 4.
Let me walk you through it if you don’t mind:
- Working for the Beacon will test your humility, gentleness, and patience (Eph 4:1-2). The editor (moi) is tested when he hounds the writers for their articles. I’m sure the writers are tested in the hounding as well.
- Sometimes squabbles ensue. Guess what? There’s directions for that too (Eph 4:3).
- As a staff member, sometimes it’s easy to think that the Beacon exists for your benefit. Not true. We’re primarily here to serve and assist the leaders of the church (Eph 4:11) as they serve and instruct the church (Eph 4:12) for the purpose of dragging all of us, kicking and screaming, in Christ-likeness (Eph 4:13).
- Sometimes that means that the articles focus on what we’re doing WRONG (Eph 4:14)…
- …but there’s a WAY that is done (Eph 4:15)…
- …and there’s a REASON for it to be done that particular way (Eph 4:16).
I could go on and on, but I trust you get the point. You can (and should) read the rest of that chapter for yourself. It’s not always easy to accept, particularly the application, but as the kids say these days, “that’s how we roll.” (Or at least, that’s how we SHOULD if we are obedient to God and sensitive to the Scriptures).
Lately however, I’ve been struggling a little bit with the enormity of the SCOPE of this command. And by that I don’t mean the fact that it pertains to my entire life as a Christian and not just “Church stuff.” No, I’m talking about the scope of the audience.
Now I need to be careful here so that this doesn’t come out of a place of pride, but lately we’ve been growing like crazy. In the past six months, our readership has increased by around 1,000%. In the last month alone, it’s up by about 40% and there’s no sign that we’re slowing down yet. In fact, I tracked where our visitors have been coming from for the last 30 days, and this is what I discovered:
Beacon Readers
I know that’s not the best map (we’re working on a better one for next time), but let me break that down for you briefly: thousands of people from six continents are reading this. Now the vast majority of them are from North America, that’s not a huge surprise. And I can guess who some of the others are: my fiancee’s church is most likely the dot in the Czech Republic, and I still have a few friends from the time I spent living in India. Given the demographics of our church, I’m not too startled we’ve got a dot in South Korea, and we have members and former-members currently living in northern California and the east coast. But Saudi Arabia? Sweden? Australia? I have no idea who they might be. And honestly, I don’t need to know.
Because God does.
You see, in this way, the Beacon is a microcosm of the Christian life. We go through this world, putting off the old man (Eph 4:22), putting on the new (Eph 4:24), loving God and loving our neighbors (Matt 22:37-39), and we’re never quite sure who might be watching. (And a quick reminder, if you’re only going through the motions to be seen in the first place, you’re doing it wrong. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 6:1 and following). Rather, we’re the spiritual version of those guys on the street corners with the signs. We’re here to point people to someone else; we’re not the show, we’re the messengers. It’s not given to me to know with certainty all the primary, secondary, tertiary (and so on) effects of that message. God’s in the business of handling that.
But occasionally, through something as ridiculous as a JPEG of the earth, I get a tiny glimpse. And that glimpse is more than enough to excite me and humble me all over again.
This is way too long; so I’ll summarize.
You may have noticed that I sign all my posts with the Latin phrase “Pro Rege.” Yes, I stole that from Van Til, but that’s not the point. You see, “Pro Rege” means “For the King.” It summarizes the Christian’s mindset and motivation for all that they do, including getting out of bed in the morning.
And including this blog.
(HT: Dan Phillips for the original idea)
Pro Rege