I’ve been writing on this blog for nearly three years and it’s awesome to see how God is using it to help others sort through tough questions they face so they can live more vibrant lives of love. My desire is to serve you as readers. To provide a platform for discussion as well as direction for where to go from here.
Part of serving you and giving direction includes spilling the beans on other blogs I believe you could deeply benefit from. If you enjoy following this blog, I’m going to share with you ten other blogs also worth following. This wasn’t preplanned with any of the authors–there’s no promotional strategy behind it. I simply want to let you in on valuable voices and excellent writing.
1. Rosina Schmucker at Arabah Rejoice
On her blog, Arabah Rejoice, Rosina regularly writes about hearing God’s voice, cultivating a deep relationship with Christ, and bringing His presence to people around her. From time to time she also courageously addresses difficult subjects as it relates to church life and function. Rosina not only produces great content, she does it eloquently.
I recommend checking out her post, Arabah.
2. Simon Fry at Another Radical Reformation
If you enjoy ecclesiology and wrestling through the hard questions of church and spiritual life, you’ll enjoy Simon’s writings at Another Radical Reformation. Each of Simon’s posts stem from the following question,
If the reason the Anabaptist movement began was because we wanted to adhere to Scripture in all areas, then do we still care deeply about doing that? Or, have we moved away from Scripture because of our traditions that we have accumulated through the centuries that are now more important to us than what the Bible says?
Simon challenges us to think critically, and stay consistent to Scripture. He provides history and research to support his writings and generates plenty of discussion among readers. I recommend checking out his post, When Culture Takes Precedence Over Evangelism.
3. Emily Smucker at The Girl in the Red Rubber Boots
Emily just writes. It’s what she loves. And does it well! When she was eighteen, she wrote a book about her struggles with the West Niles Virus. She blogs about traveling, books, culture, and her life as a Mennonite girl in college. Basically, whatever kindles her interest at the moment. I enjoy reading what she posts about writing and especially recommend her post, The Cliff and the Staircase: a writing journey.
4. Christopher Witmer at his own personal blog
My brother, Christopher, writes raw, but relevant. He doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, although he believes things deeply. Life has given him more than his share of experiences in his first twenty years, and what he writes comes out of that. I recommend beginning with his post, It’s a Jesus Story, as in true fashion he shares honestly about his battle with pornography.
5. Esther Swartzentruber at Shasta’s Fog
I first discovered Esther’s blog after a satire piece she wrote went viral (at least in the menno world). A lot of people reacted to the satire, but personally, I thought she did well at the craft. And it’s what I notice in all of her writing. Some of us pretend to be artistic writers, others truly are. Esther’s one of those truly artistic writers. For a small taste of what I mean I recommend reading her post, Pardon Me, Lancaster.
6. Dwight Gingrich at Dwight Gingrich Online
Some people focus their blogs on wrestling through the hard questions about what we believe, Dwight focuses his blog on sorting through the theology and biblical interpretation behind what we believe. His posts aren’t light reads, but full of powerful, thought-provoking truths that help us discover more of God, His design for our life and the church. I highly recommend Dwight’s blog and suggest checking out his post, Thinking Intentionally about Tradition and Change as a place to get started.
7. Luci Miller at Property of Lights
I first got acquainted with Luci’s writing when she featured my sister in “Women in the Trenches” of Daughters of Promise magazine. Since then I’ve had the privilege of getting a sneak peek into a book she’s working on and can testify that Luci does well at colorfully capturing life stories. I enjoy reading her blog because she’s one of those writers who takes her craft seriously. She writes about faith and life as a Mennonite, she tells people’s stories, and she enjoys communicating humorous events. I recommend getting started with her post, Mouse in the House.
8. Frank Reed at Biblical Brethren Fellowship
Frank Reed teaches at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute which is where I met him for the first time back in 2010. While I did not take any of Frank’s classes (something I regret to this day), I enjoyed talking with him different times throughout my two terms there. In recent years, I’ve discovered his blog. I stumbled across it, actually. Frank doesn’t write with a lot of fanfare. He has no comments section. Doesn’t share his posts on any Social Media venue, but he is producing some of the most valuable content available online today. He typically keeps his posts short, so they’re easy to read and straight to the point. Frank has a new post almost every day, on almost every topic. He’s written about Anabaptist History, Christian Living, Current Events, Godly Manhood, Church, and much more. I recommend getting started with his post, Integrity or Loyalty?
9. Teresa Witmer at The Unfolding
Last month, my wife started her own blog where she writes about the story that is unfolding with her life. We all have dreams and ideals of what we hope for in life, but the reality is that it unfolds differently than our dreams and ideals. And that’s okay. Life doesn’t have to go perfectly as planned in order for it to have meaning. She’s written four posts so far, but I recommend starting with her first one, Welcome to My New Blog.
10. All those at Radi-Call
There’s a good thing happening at Radi-Call, a blog of twenty different young Anabaptist writers from different parts of the country and from various church backgrounds. Radi, refers to the word radical which comes from the Latin word radix meaning “root.” Jesus refers to Himself as the “root,” in Revelation 22:16 and this blog the writers are calling (Radi-Call) young Anabaptists back to Jesus (the root). I believe blogs such as Radi-Call will play a significant role in helping not only our generation, but future generations return and remain faithful to Christ and His Word. For a taste of what they cover, I recommend checking out their post, What Every Guy Needs to Know about Modesty.
What About You?
I’m excited to see more and more people take writing and communication seriously enough to start and intentionally maintain a blog because I deeply believe in the power of communication to influence the direction of generations, and blogging is one small, simple step we can take in communicating and influencing for Christ.
What about you? Are there blogs you find really helpful that I didn’t list? Tell me about them in the comments.
Maybe you’ve even considered blogging but aren’t sure where to start or what to write about. It’s really simple.
- Open a blog for free on wordpress.com
- Put an engaging image of yourself on the blog page so people feel like they’re interacting with a person, not a computer
- Think about your story–the frustrations you have, the hurts you’ve experienced, the events that have changed your life, the dreams you have for the future and the hopes you have for your children–and write it out
- Start writing every day–even if it’s just 100 words (which takes less than 10 minutes)
- Hit publish regularly
It’s that easy, really. You don’t even have to be good right out of the shoot, you simply need a passion to communicate and the commitment to honing your craft as you go. If this interests you, stay tuned for an upcoming writing challenge I’m going to launch in the next week (there’ll be a give-away included).
