I love to write. I always have. I’ve had this little blog going for almost 3 years now. There have been times where I would blog everyday and others when I would go months without writing a word. Just because it’s not on the blog doesn’t mean I’m not writing. There are lots of excerpts, posts, journals, thoughts, chapters, and all kinds of things that never make it on here for any number of reasons. Long story short…
I’m writing this to say that I’ll be shelving bkchandler.com & my online blogging (or lack thereof!) for the time being. There are several reasons for this that I’ll explain really briefly:
Getting married is the BEST thing that has ever happened to me. The past few weeks have been incredible as my wife, Stephanie, and I have been learning & growing together in our marriage. It’s a completely new ministry that I had never thought of before. So far, it’s been my joy to love & lead her in our relationship with one another & alongside of one another in our relationship with Jesus. I feel as if I’m growing faster and faster than ever before. I want to make sure that I’m devoting as much time to her as possible & leading our marriage well.
Over the past few months, many of my emphases, paradigms, philosophies of ministry, and thoughts have changed significantly. I believe that more than ever, the Lord has led me to a gospel-centered life that I am thrilled to live everyday. In times past, I’ve worked alot of my thoughts and process out in the forums of classrooms, discussions, theology papers, and most commonly, on this very website. However, in a time of rapid change & major shifting, I feel like I need to take some time to step back and allow God to continue to develop me in these areas privately. It’s amazing to see the process of my growth in my life & ministry over the years, and I’ve changed so drastically in some ways that I don’t even agree with some of my earlier writings. With that said, I feel like I need to take a short departure to simply refocus & continue to learn. I’m so excited to be in a learning season again and even more excited to be in a season where God is recharging me in so many ways.
On a ministry note, our student ministry is better than ever. There’s been alot of paradigm shifting that’s been occurring there as well. I’ve changed streams on this blog several times between strictly youth ministry or just my life & ministry. At this point in my career, I feel like I’m relearning & developing in too many ways than to simply share theories or models of ministry. If I’m truthful, the Lord has shaken me up so much that I’m getting back to the basics & reconstructing much of how I do ministry. My immediate context of my student ministry at Trinity Worship Center in Burlington, NC deserves my full attention & dedication at this juncture. Though I love sharing ideas with the ministry world, I feel like I need to focus on what’s right in front of me. As I said before, there are some exciting things ahead here in Burlington, but there is much work to be done. I want to be free to dedicate all that I can to my primary calling of local church pastoral care before anything else.
With all of that said, I want to make one thing clear: I AM NOT QUITTING WRITING. I will continue to write & possibly publish little blurbs here & there as I feel led. In fact, I hope to spend my writing energy to begin writing some kind of a piece on youth ministry. I’m simply shelving the consistent nature, pressure, & burden of an ongoing blog. Perhaps, in the future, I will relaunch it, but for now I’m taking some time off. Additionally, I know many of you like to follow different things that are going on in my life & ministry as well. You won’t have to worry about being out of the loop here either. You can still follow me on Twitter @bkchandler or be friends with me on Facebook. On the ministry side of things, you can always check in for the latest news on our church/ministry websites: Trinity Worship Center, YouthQuake, and Renew. We’re constantly updating on these as well.
I’ll be archiving my writings here for my personal file, but I’ll be taking the blog down in a few days. Thanks so much for reading all that I’ve written over the past couple of years. I can’t tell you how much your kind words, support, prayers, & encouragement have inspired me to keep writing. Please know that this will continue, just in a different form. I’m not quite sure what that will look like yet, but please continue to hold my arms up in prayer and stay posted. It means everything. I love you all.
Grace & Peace
Bradley Chandler
