PLYMOUTH, VA – I hope that phrase will become familiar to you.
Creating a blog, podcast episodes, and newsletters are very new and frightening experiences for me. However, rest assured these efforts are not about me. This trio-platter is a means, by which I can brag on what I see God doing in the world. People tell me that I light-up when I tell stories about God’s actions in people’s lives. I hope that you can feel that “light” while you listen to or read the stories that I am going to share with you.
Like everything I do, there will be variety. Some stories will inform you about the past. Others will be interviews with those who impact the world for Christ. And yet others, will be opinion pieces on current trends that I feel compelled to address.
Whatever the subject of the podcasts, my goal is to bring honor to God. The words of Christ, in Matthew 5:16, will be the guardrails on the pathway for these podcasts. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Everything that I am describing, in this column, can be found at DrTonyLLynn.com.
Blog
The blog features a diary-type or log-type collection of written articles or “posts.” I will archive the posts online so that you can read them and share them with others. You can offer feedback after you have read the post. I want to create a conversation where we build one another up and help each other become more effective at what we do. Frequently, I will ask questions when I write. I really, really want you to answer the questions so that I can learn from you. The posts will be filled with summaries of past events, moments from interviews with influential people, opinion pieces on trending topics, and manuscripts from my sermons. Everything is sharable. You can start reading at DrTonyLLynn.com/blog.
Podcast
This month, I nicknamed my family room the “Recording Studio.” I am a rookie at creating podcasts. You will hear how “raw” my production is when you listen to my first audio recording. I reported on what I saw God do during November 2019. Though I tried to sound casual, the episode came across too rigid as I read the manuscript. I won’t do that again. I have smart friends helping me as I try to improve. You can listen right now at DrTonyLLynn.com/podcast. The podcasts are also available on Apple Podcasts and Google Play under the title "Great Lakes Conversations".
Want to give me another chance? You can listen to the interview I had with Tito and Mollie Diaz who describe the new church plant launching on March 1. Or listen to my thoughts and application for leading a church by using a model that comes right out of Ephesians 4. It’s a topic that has regained new interest.
One of the sweet things I like about a podcast is that you can listen while doing something else. One Friday, my wife was going to visit her mother while I drove to another part of the state to visit my mother. I sent my wife a podcast link through a text message. She started listening just as I did. Intermittently, I would pause that same podcast in my truck, 60 miles away, and call her up to discuss what we were hearing. You see, I love to learn in an interactive way. A podcast is something you can listen to, on a device, while driving, waiting, or doing something else. You can also sit with friends, listening as a group, then discuss what you heard together. I will look forward to the questions, answers and feedback you offer after you listen to a podcast.
Newsletter
Back in my earliest days of faith during 1970-something, if something was really important, a poster would hang on the wall over the drinking fountain at church or in the center of the bulletin board in the church’s foyer. To those of us who still enjoy holding a piece of paper in our hands or want a poster on the wall, I am going to write a newsletter and publish it each month. I know it’s best to keep it brief, meaning 2-3 pages. I will cover the very top highlights and refer to either a post on my blog or an audio file on my podcast; but, I think it’s worth it because some of us still like to see ink and feel the paper between our fingers. Again, everything is yours to share with others. Run-off copies for your friends. Post the news on the wall. Pass the newsletter onto others through email. Are you ready to see the newsletter? If so go to DrTonyLLynn.com/newsletter.
Why Do All of This?
I want to make sure you hear about what the Lord is doing. I need your prayers as I take on producing these pathways of information. My days are already filled with administration, meetings, planning, traveling, preaching, teaching, supervising, my family and spending private time with God; but, I feel compelled now more than ever that you need to hear, read, experience and share in the joy and anticipation I feel every single day of my life. I want to make sure I cast a light on our Heavenly Father so that you can see Him, and I mean really see and hear the evidence of our Father at work around us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tony Lynn is the State Director of Missions for the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Before coming on staff at the BSCM, Tony served as lead pastor for more than six years at Crosspoint Church in Monroe, Michigan. He and his wife, Jamie, also served with the International Mission Board in Africa and in Europe.