About This Site
This site is dedicated to exploring what it means to follow Jesus in the 21st century.
I believe the gospel message is every bit as relevant and life-changing as it was 2,000 years ago. The gospel is a timeless message revealed to us by a loving God. This God chose to reveal himself as Yahweh for nearly 4,000 years. Later, this God chose to reveal himself in the form of a man we now call Jesus. “The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Scriptures were written almost exclusively by ancient, middle-eastern men to an ancient, middle-eastern audience. This must be accounted for and understood in order to properly understand the gospel message and its timeless relevance for us today.
As a westerner living in the 21st century my worldview and communication style tends to be quite different from that of the men who recorded the holy Scriptures. Further, not all of the Scriptures were written by the same people or with the same literary style. This also must be accounted for when seeking to apply the gospel message.
We also have a tendency, as modern westerners, to want to read and interpret the Scriptures like a law book or an encyclopedia. This is reflected in our theological infatuation with systematizing theology. The Scriptures were not written in this fashion. The Scriptures are a collection of writings, inspired by God, styled primarily as narrative. The Scriptures tell us what God wanted to reveal to us - but often not in the format we modern people would prefer. This problem is with us rather than with God.
I firmly believe that the greatest challenge facing the modern, Christian community consists of finding ways to communicate the relevance of a first century, middle-eastern gospel to twenty-first century, western people. It has been my experience that many people are inappropriately and unjustly written off by the Christian community as being resistant to the gospel. They are often not resistant to the gospel. Rather they often do not understand the relevance of the gospel to their lives. We have done a very poor job of explaining the gospel to our generation. The fault here lies with the Christian community.
I hope to be part of the solution. I do not have all of the answers to anyone’s questions. For that matter, I probably do not even know what all of the questions are. I am on a journey, a pilgrimage, just as you are. Won’t you journey with me so that together we may come to understand the road ahead. May we be men and women who, like the ancient men of Issachar, “had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”
About Rob Witham
So you want to know more about me? You may change your mind before you finish this page!
I was born in the choir loft (as the saying goes) in 1970. My father is a pastor as is his father before him. I was in church my first Sunday out of the womb, a tradition that continued throughout my upbringing. I attended church at least four times each week like any good Baptist of the time. Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening - I was there. I also attended Christian school, church youth group, and Christian camps. We regularly entertained missionaries, evangelists, singers and other ministers in our home. I “grew up Christian” as much as anyone can.
After an early marriage and children I decided to head off to Bible college at the age of 22. I nearly slept through my first two years of Bible college - I had been well trained growing up and I spent an awful lot of time reviewing material I already knew.
I will share a story to illustrate this - lest you think I exaggerate. During my first year in college my younger brother, Cliff, came out for a visit. Cliff attended classes with me for one day as a guest. During my class on the Pentateuch the professor handed out a quiz, inadvertently handing one to Cliff as well. Cliff took the quiz for entertainment - and passed the test! I rest my case…
Bible college took a little longer than I would have liked due to family and work requirements. I was also involved in a major, near-fatal accident in 1997 that set me back quite a bit. I still deal with the impact of that trauma. I eventually transferred schools so that I could complete my studies by extension rather than in the classroom. I graduated with my BA in Theology in 1999.
I have served on the pastoral staff of several churches both during and since college. I have been involved in a variety of ministry over the past 15 years, including pastoral work, teaching, pulpit supply, counseling, small group leadership, street evangelism, prison ministry, homeless ministry and, most recently, writing.
I have lived and traveled all over the country. I was born in Boston, spent most of my childhood in New Hampshire, did a stint in Virginia while my father attended Bible college himself, spent my teen years in western Massachusetts, and then moved on to upstate New York when I was 18. I lived in the northwest Montana mountains for two years, moved back to upstate New York for a time, and recently moved back to Montana again. Along the way I found myself divorced.
I later met a woman who, for reasons I am quite sure I will never understand, believes in me - even when I no longer do. Terri is my strongest supporter and biggest fan. We met in an ambulance (we were both EMTs at the time) and truly connected during a medical tour of duty at Ground Zero in New York City following the September 11 attacks there. At one point we thought we were going to die together there near Battery Park. Shared crisis experiences can be a powerful bond. It was for us.
I hope to someday return to my ancestral roots and perhaps live along the coast in Maine or New Hampshire. My roots in the New England coastal area date back to the 1600s when my ancestors immigrated from Europe. Of course, returning to New England assumes I stay in the United States at all. My real passion, since I was about eight years old, has been to be a foreign missionary. My mother insists I wore out my vinyl record “Through Gates of Splendor.” I think she might be exaggerating but I can’t prove it. I warned Terri early on that I was going to be a foreign missionary so she would be prepared. She married me anyway.
I have worked in about every field you can think of. I have worked in landscaping, electronic equipment repair, commercial cleaning, transportation (people and stuff), medicine, religion, computer programming, web design, carpentry and remodeling, newspaper reporting and web content writing. And I am sure I have forgotted a few fields in this list. I have a habit of getting bored very quickly once the initial challenge is over. Then it’s time to move onto something more interesting.
Now you know some of the highlights of my story. The Internet is increasingly becoming a social medium and, particularly on personal websites, it is nice to know something about the person whose ideas you are reading. More importantly, my articles and ideas focus on the Christian journey, and Christianity is a community-oriented faith. Perhaps if I share some of my story here you will have a better framework to understand me from. And if not - well, I warned you that you might change your mind before you were done with this page!
Let me close with this precious Celtic blessing borrowed from the Northumbria Community:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.
