100! This is Cultivating Faith’s one hundredth article! Wow! It is amazing where God will take you if you are open to His leading. Not only have we now published 100 articles (plus other materials), but we have also had over 2,500 people come to our site from 34 countries (if someone from Antarctica would please come to our site, we would have reached all seven continents, LOL). We have had over 5,700 views of our articles and other items, so many of you have visited our site numerous times. I never imagined this kind of impact. God is so great and so faithful!
It was never my dream to have a website. My daughter was the initial one to encourage me and the rest of the family to produce articles on a family website. So, with the support and involvement of the whole family, we started a website to share our passion for the Word of God. Just about the whole family has had a part in this project, from web design to writing articles. Some have reviewed articles or done proofreading, and others have helped in promoting the site. We have written over 146,000 words!
For me, I wanted to write articles that would edify Christians in their understanding of biblical truths. I wanted them to gain an appreciation for and grasp an understanding of doctrines and Bible translations. I have a passion for both of these related but separate topics. See our article on the Rivera Bible Collection to find out more about my interest in translations and our article on “Why We’re Here” .
From this interest in Bibles and theology, we started our website. The first iteration was the Riverabiblecollecion.org but that was a mouthful, so for that and other reasons, we rebranded the site Cultivating Faith. This name better suited us and our mission.
After one hundred posts, I have learned so much from the process (to be clear, while I did write most of the articles, I in no way wrote all of them). I came to realize that a post takes much longer than I originally thought. I discovered how important it is to do your research before you start writing. I also learned to be open in the process. My original ideas often became better when I didn’t dig in my heels. On top of these and other lessons, I found I really like studying, researching, planning, and writing. I wish I had started doing this years ago.
Well, many changes have come in the two years we have been posting. We started posting weekly and even had some weeks where we had two posts. But as the business of life pushed in, we realized that was more than we could sustain. I especially became much more active at our church when Bible study classes resumed after COVID. Jason and Alex now have one very wonderful little girl, and another child is coming in late summer. Jared and Naomi now have two boys, keeping them remarkably busy along with his responsibilities as a pastor. Others have pulled out or limited their involvement due to their busy schedules.
At one point, we had plans to offer free downloadable lesson plans and other helpful materials with our series of articles on doctrinal topics. Again, life showed us that was too ambitious. I did try my hand at preparing lesson plans for others to use, but I couldn’t get my head wrapped around it to the degree I felt it was worthwhile to offer on the site. I tip my hat to teachers out there who do lesson plans on a regular basis. If you have never tried to do this, trust me, it is much harder than you would think.
So, what are our plans going forward? I’m not sure of the exact frequency with which we will publish articles. We should be publishing at least once a month on Thursdays. We will continue to offer posts on theology and the Bible. I have completed our first doctrinal series on The Triune God {LINK}, a part of the Growing in Knowing project. I have just completed writing the next series under Growing in Knowing: Who Am I?: A Biblical Study of Humanity. We will start publishing them later this month. More series are in the works, along with articles on translation and many other topics.
I have started to teach classes at church based on these series. The classes have been well received and well attended, not to mention I am having a blast. There is just about nothing I enjoy more than teaching God’s word and His truths. Praise God!
I thought my main audience for all this writing was my family and some people at church. I was hoping to have a written record for my grandchildren and future descendants so they would know what Papa believed and was passionate about. But the response has been so much more than I ever thought possible. So many people from so many places—even places where we would not be allowed to share the gospel. God is so good! Thanks for being a great part of this journey with us. Keep coming back as we work to offer the best we can give to God and you.
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless!