Ellen, Existentialism and Ambassadors

In light of the recent “controversy” here on BeDeviant, I’ve been re-evaluating the purpose behind this site. If the “Ellen situation” has taught me anything, it’s that there’s a profound need to ask the theological questions that no one else is asking. I’ll take my lumps from time-to-time (case-in-point: Ellen Pt. 1 & Ellen Pt. 2), but I feel BeDeviant’s God-given purpose is to plunge headlong into the taboo issues in the Church today.

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the most difficult, confusing and troublesome passages of Scripture that exist. I can’t explain it, I just know the desire to dig beneath the surface is there. I like the tension of “both/and” because God is so rarely “either/or.” So that’s what I write about. That’s the purpose behind this site.

Clarifying a purpose means that you’ll have to let some things go. So that’s what we’re going to do. In order to go higher you need to get lighter.

To be truthful, I’ve been thinking about solidifying the mission of this blog for some time. I knew we were dabbling in our “purpose” discussing matters of faith, culture and technology, but it still didn’t feel clear enough for me.

We’ve clarified things here at BeDeviant. Our new mission statement reads as follows:

Bridging the gaps between church and culture.

As a result, you will see all content focused on the connections between culture and the church. We have been phasing out the “technology” portion of BeDeviant for some time, but this marks the official end to that branch.

Not because it wasn’t fun, but because it took away from what I feel is the main vision for this site. I’ll continue to write sporadically on tech, but I’ll do so over at my personal blog, JustinWise.net

There are other people in the faith blogosphere who cover technology much more effectively than I could ever hope to. John and his friends over at 8BIT are such folks. They’re crushing it. Since we can’t add any more value than what they’re already providing, it was time to let it go.

So we did. Done. Gone.

Ditching the tech and focusing on culture and faith will allow us to pour all our energies in creating bridges.

Bridges that allow those who have been away from the Church to come back.
Bridges that give people with spiritual questions a chance to ask them in a safe space.
Bridges that allow people to know Jesus without all of the cultural baggage that can sometimes come with it.

The bridge-building desire is rooted in Scripture.

God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

It’s a passage that’s captivated me for some time because the Church is in desperate need of good ambassadors. Ambassadors who understand the values of the culture that they’re representing and the culture they find themselves in. Nothing’s worse than an ambassador who’s a jerk. It gives the place they come from a bad name. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the natives towards the place you’re representing. Bad ambassadors, in a word, suck.

So that’s where we’re at. That’s where we’re headed. And, from the looks of it, we have a whole lot of people coming along with us.

Thanks for reading. Don’t be afraid to contact us. And as always, be deviant.