Reform & Revive: officially shutting down

Rest in peace, Reform & Revive.

As of today, the online magazine I used to run, Reform & Revive, is no more.  It was started in a coffee shop in Richmond, and now it is ending in a coffee shop in Philly (forgive the melodramatic picture attached to this post).

For those that just met me, just started following this blog, or just started reading my stuff, you probably have never really heard much about this little attempt at an online magazine I had.  That’s because it’s last original article was posted almost nine months ago.

The original idea of the site was to gather a diverse group of writers and guest contributors who would then write about the “intersection of theology and life”.  This could find its expression in art, poetry, prose, meditation, short fiction, or more typical non-fiction theological fare.  But in the end, I wanted it to be the expression of hearts whose affections had been inflamed by the deeper truths of who God is.

And I think we greatly succeeded in this.  The vast majority of writings on the site certainly constituted this calibre of expression.  It was exciting.  But then people, due to life and such, stopped writing.  Eventually, in my desperation to get somebody–anybody–to consistently write, I let the quality of the posts at times slip.  The site’s readership, for one reason another (probably because it had the word “Reform” in it) began to appeal and primarily lead towards the Mark Driscoll/John Piper groupies and wanna-be’s; the “TR’s” as we would call them at my seminary (the “Totally Reformed!”).  It just wasn’t fun and fruitful anymore when the hyper-Calvinistic theology police came to town, and it all went downhill from there, until no one was writing anything, and the only other person that had written as much as I had on the site deleted all of her stuff off the site, on the off-chance that someone would find her name attached to it someday.

So, after months of it languishing in the blogo-netherworld, I have decided to burn it to the ground, and see what else I can do.  So here’s the plan as of right now:  Reform & Revive will be “rebranded” as a site for my longer more “article-y” writings, musings, and projects.  The old articles will still be there on the site (so old links will work).  The site will be visually redesigned from the ground up to be much more of a resource library than a blog; more “topically” organized rather than “chronologically” organized.  I will move all of my longer pieces from this site over there in the months ahead, making this blog increasingly personal, shorter, and more frequently updated.

For the next couple of months, I’ll be doing the redesign, so be patient.  One of the things I loved most about the site was that it was my first foray into web design, and I think it turned out pretty darn well.  That being said, the site may look a little crazy at times.  Don’t worry, I’m just experimenting.

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite articles from the site, both from myself and others.  For those that were familiar with the site, what were some of your favorite articles?  Here are mine.  Enjoy.

by myself

• WTFWJD | (on Christian cursing)
• A Theology of Ethics, Truth & Contemporary Applications
• a clarification, a vision, a call
• The Natural-ness of God
• What Ben & Jerry Told Me About Jesus

by David Schrott

• There is No One Like You (Adv, Days 23/24; HelloGoodBye 08/09)
• eleven months, one day and a thorn in the flesh (volume one)
• my eyes are small but they have seen the beauty of enormous things
• the pursuit of proverbs 31.30 (+ one who loves distance driving and semi-colons)
• everything was designed for my losing [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Part 4]

by Austin Ricketts

• A Moment (a Gilead-inspired short prose piece)
• Praying for Discipline, Standing on Grace [Praying for Prayer] [Part I] & [Part II]

by others

• “What pollen taught me about sanctification” by Amy Roberts
• Untitled by Amy Roberts
• “Decision-Making Non-Answers” by Katie Olmstead
• “Lord…” by Michael Meulstee
• “The Scarlet Cord” by Sean Brandon Stewart
• “red as crimson yet…” by Stephen Hess
• “One Thing is Needed” by Jen Justice

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