Starting Fresh

By means of introduction for anyone stumbling upon this site from the blue: I am Craig. I am a youth pastor, husband, and soon to be father. I am a Christian and have been one since I can remember. I earned a BA in Youth Ministry and am working on earning a Master of Ministry and Master of Divinity. The name of my blog is "Doulos Christou" which is a transliteration of the greek phrase used by the apostle Paul to describe himself, it translates to "Servant of Christ" to webaddress of my blog declares "Khrusso Christou" which is again a transliteration of Greek which would translate to "I Preach of Christ." The goal of my blog is to honor and glorify Christ through reflecting on what is going on in the world through the lens of Scripture. Applying what I learn to what is going on around me.

It has been close to a year since I posted my last blog on my old blog site. I am setting  a goal here to post at least one blog per week. With the amount of study I do between personal devotional times, youth group lesson prep, and the occasional sermon prep I should be able to write more than I do. And once classes start up again I should have a lot to process.

Speaking of Processing:

I've also been thinking about who I am recently. Not some existential "why am I here" kind of who I am, but more of a personality thing. I am extroverted. Now while most people associate extroversion with being out and about with people all the time and very rarely sitting down alone and doing things like "blogs." Blogging is definitely an extroverted activity, and here is why:

Extroverts process information externally (hence: EXTROvert)
I have noticed that when I want to really hash out an idea I need to talk it out with someone. I don't do all that great if all I do is sit and think passively. I need to do something to do something. I have not been faithful to this side of my personality recently and it's definitely shown in my work. By blogging I'm going to be working through the thoughts in my head by writing them down. The whole "flow of consciousness" thing at work.

Because Extroverts process information externally We thrive off of the feedback of the community.
That's why we're energized by being around people, we're bouncing ideas off of those around us, feeding off of their energy, adapting by their responses and having a great time doing it. Being a youth pastor (despite common beliefs and stereotypes) is not the most social of jobs. Of course I hang out with teens a lot. I am out around people a good chunk of the time. However, when it comes to the actual majority of time I am "working" I am alone in my office with maybe the secretary or another pastor down the hall. This does not allow for a lot of instant feedback of any of the ideas running through my head. So a blog will allow for you, my readers, to give me feedback, enter into conversations, and feed energy into my otherwise draining work day.

Grace and Peace