Writers I recommend: Part 1

The confluence of faith, tech and conservatism

There are a handful of Substack writers I recommend and you can find those on my recommendations page. I’ll be adding to that soon with at least two more.

I want to introduce some of them to you over time. These are writers that write about an area of interest of mine, or come from a unique viewpoint worth exploring or pique a new area of interest in me.

One writer that checks practically all of those boxes serves with me on staff at Ridgecrest Baptist Church here in Dothan. He’s also one of the reasons I launched my own Substack recently.

Broxton Gannon has been on staff at Ridgecrest for about three years. He is the Director of Internet Ministries and I’ll let him flesh that out in a Q&A to follow below. Check out his front page here.

He had just come on staff when Covid hit and we found ourselves in uncharted waters. All of us wound up learning in real time about how best to feed a church family that temporarily was not meeting on campus.

He is a voracious reader and writes about how he approaches the changing world as a Christ follower, what it really means to be a conservative in this age and how to make an impact for Christ. Just as I write about a number of different topics that interest me, you get a nice mix from Broxton.

His postings go deeper than the surface and you’ll find youself pondering the topic long after you’re finished reading. I encourage you to subscribe if you haven’t already and start reading with “The Ruthless Elimination of More.”

Q: Your title at Ridgecrest is Director of Internet Ministries. How would you describe your role there?

A: My primary responsibility is to oversee the online “presence” of Ridgecrest, and that is generally encompassed by 3 main things: our church website, our social media channels, and our livestream. I see my role as doing what I can to extend the ministry of Ridgecrest as a church to those platforms. In the last several months, I’ve begun to think about what else that entails for me personally on the internet.

Q: This is interesting territory: I wonder if some in the church thought the invention of the printing press and the mass distribution of Bibles would keep some people from the regular assembly. How do you balance using this platform while not encouraging it to be a replacement for in-person ministry?

A: Fantastic question. I’ve always viewed making our services/sermons available online as a support to what we do on our campus, never as a replacement. It’s more of an outreach tool than anything else, because today the internet is the new front door of your church. As director of internet ministries, I never view any content that I personally publish as a replacement for our pastor’s preaching of the Word, because that’s not my role. I’m seeking to use modern communication tools as an opportunity to resource our people far beyond a sermon by approaching any number of topics from a biblical worldview, but without packaging it as your typical Bible study or devotional. All this is much easier said than done.

Q: Is that what led you to publishing through Substack?

A: In part, yes. I’ve sensed a calling to write for a long time, but the details of what and how were unclear. Several months ago I realized that I should view my role as a much more public responsibility and develop an online presence of my own. I run a blog on the Ridgecrest website, but that’s only easily accessible if you’re a Ridgecrest member familiar with our website or happen to stumble across it. Thinking in terms of outreach, I sensed the need to take the calling to write to where people are and be myself. It’s kinda the same thing as a student pastor hanging out on a school campus with students, hoping to reach a few new kids and get them involved with his student ministry. I specifically chose Substack because of the relationship it provides publishers with their subscribers, which is something you don’t get with social media these days.

Q: With that in mind, how would you describe what you write about primarily, and why do you feel it’s important for people to read?

A: I started out with a big interest in political worldview topics, how they intersect with the Church, and what we say we believe as Christians, but I understand those are topics that give people pause because of their divisive nature. I’ve only been doing this a few months, but you won’t find me shilling for a specific party or candidate, because that’s not what I’m called to do. I’d much rather write about why I think things are the way they are, rather than offer up my hot take on the issue of the day. I try to do that through the form of essays and book reviews mainly, but sometimes I offer up a digest of interesting things I come across online.

Q: The average Christian has never had a grander platform for influence. As we see every day, this can be good and bad. How should Christians respond to this grand platform?

A: This might be too simplistic, but maybe we should just start with treating others the way we would like to be treated, like Christ would treat them. For better or for worse, the internet as a whole and social media more particularly, is a new town square. There’s nothing saying we HAVE to hang out in this new town square, but if we’re gonna be there, we must act like Bible believing Christians.