WANTED: Guest Bloggers for INFO for Families

Do you want to hear about the most amazing blessing a pastor could ever possibly be given? Surprisingly to many church members, it's not a lovely new leather-bound copy of the KJV with his name engraved in gold on the bottom of the front page. Attractive as that may be, the reality is that your pastor already has a Bible. And he probably likes the one he has.

No, the best blessing a church can give one of its pastors is a sabbatical. It's the gift of some time away to reflect, study, learn, and refocus on Christ and the ministry calling He has on the pastor's life. There's only so long a pastor can go before burn out kicks in. A sabbatical gives him the chance to become more like our creator by following God's example of rest and restoration.

So I'm feeling pretty blessed right now. The amazing church I serve and the generous pastor I work under has long embraced the value of the sabbatical. After five years of ministry here in Atlanta, my family and I have the opportunity to take a few months off this summer in order to be more effective for Christ, for each other, and for the church.

What does that mean for the INFO for Families blog? It means that I am taking a sabbatical from it, as well. So that's why I need some guest bloggers through the summer.

Over the past year or so, I have watched INFO move from being a creative outlet for me to a legitimate resource for many families. I base this on the feedback I get at church, from the comments on Facebook, and on the hundreds of hits we get every day. We also have several hundred subscribers who get their INFO sent directly to their inbox or their RSS feed. Because there is some "demand," I really don't want to stop the "supply" this summer.

So here's what we're going to do:

I have already enlisted several creative, wise, and Christ-focused people to occasionally post through the summer. They are willing to regularly write something good or to do what I typically do: find a good article or resource and simply tee it up, directing you to check it out. My assistant at Johnson Ferry, Elisabeth O'Brien, will manage the site management stuff.

But in addition to them, I am very open to what you might have to offer. If you have written something in the past that you think might fit in well on INFO, I invite you to send it to me. Many of you have blogs yourself and you do a terrific job of capturing the experiences we all have. There may be a time this summer where we can work your writing in. Here are some criteria:

*It must be relevant to families, particularly the issues of marriage and parenting.

*It needs to be biblical in focus. You don't have to preach or reference scripture, but your thoughts need to reflect a Biblical world view.

*It should be somewhere from about 300-700 words. Anything much longer than that and we would recommend you go ahead and write a book. ;-)

Email your submissions directly to me at barrett.johnson@jfbc.org. I'll let you know if I think we can use them. And please do it before mid-May. I'd like to get this wrapped up before our sabbatical starts.

Blessings!

-Barrett