Introducing the SCLQ!

I broke Stuff Christians Like. (And I don't mean in a "Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo" kind of way.)

I didn't mean to, but it happened. I'm not sure when, maybe months ago.

How?

At some point in the last three years of writing SCL, I started to care more about the format than the mission.

I handcuffed myself to the idea that what was most important was writing 700 word essays, 5 days a week, that fit within a numbered list and answered the question, "What's Stuff Christians Like?"

If I couldn't fit an idea into that format, I didn't share it. At first this was a good thing. Staying focused on the format allowed me to be consistent and faithful to the concept.

But eventually, I started to worry about the format more than the mission.

Why do I think that?

Well, recently I've been having some amazing conversations with friends about faith. I've been going through some insane experiences that are messy with grace. And I've thought to myself, "I would love to share these ideas with the readers of SCL!"

But when I sit at my desk, all too often I've realized the idea doesn't fit the format, it doesn't belong on the numbered list and so I don't write about it. And all these ideas don't ever get a home.

Only the mission of Stuff Christians Like was never to write 700-1,000 word essays.

The mission is to clear away the clutter of Christianity so that we can see the beauty of Christ. And that can be done in a million ways. That can be a photo or a video or a lyric or a link to someone else's blog or a single paragraph.

There's a whole wide world of ideas I haven't touched on, because I was afraid to break the format, but in chaining myself to the format, I ended up breaking the mission of Stuff Christians Like. I think a big part of it was simply being afraid that if I changed things, I'd lose all the traffic and no one would ever read the site again.

Which is crazy, because I've never had a reader say, "I come to this site for 700 word posts, if you try to change or grow or evolve, I'm out of here." One guy on Twitter did threaten to unfollow me because he only wanted me to tweet "funny/inspirational tweets, not updates on my airport travels" to which I replied, "But what if I fly through a funny cloud?" But I'm not so worried about him.

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to add something to this blog called "SCLQ" or "Stuff Christians Like Quick." In addition to the essays (which I still love writing) I'm going to start posting short, no rules, no format restricted ideas. Some days SCL will have essays, some days it will have video clips, some days paragraph long ideas, some days maybe a song lyric or a single question.

My hope is that this will start a bigger conversation and open up some creative freedom to write and talk and engage on a million things that fit within the mission of clearing away the clutter of Christianity. And that SCL won't become predictable to you the reader, but will stay fresh and honest.

The fun part is, I've just started blogging. In the Malcolm Gladwell sense of "10,000 hours toward excellence," I have a long way to go.

Thanks for going with me.

Jon