One question I've gotten recently is "Why haven't you changed the name of your blog?"
The official title of my blog is Preacher on the Plaza. I started this blog back in January 2009 (back when not everyone and their brother had a blog) when I became the pastor of Washington Plaza Baptist (WPBC) in Reston, VA. This church sat as the centerpiece of a commercial/ residential district of Lake Anne with our next door neighbors being a coffee shop, a real estate branch office and a Thai restaurant. (What fun, right?) Hence the name-- Preacher on the Plaza--- I was the only "preacher" on Lake Anne Plaza.
On my last Sunday at WPBC, I was given a couple of gifts. One of them was a binder full of my blogs printed out (remember the 2012 election joke about binders?). It was a funny yet appropriate gift. The congregation knew me well. They knew how much I loved writing and sharing the story of our little church with the larger community. They knew the blogs I'd written during my tenure with them meant something.
Though blogs are not meant to become doctrinal statements or even be the kind of thoughts shared that you'll always go back to years later-- I kind of like having these binders in my closet as a way to remember WPBC and their thoughtfulness.
So, when January 2013 rolled around, I thought about changing the name of this site. A chapter in the life had ended, you know. I was no longer "the preacher on Lake Anne Plaza." One day, there would be another pastor to care for this group of people I loved so much. Maybe he or she would want to be "the preacher on the plaza?"
But somehow I just couldn't change the name. The title had become a part of what I was and who I was in the process of becoming.
I decided to remain "Preacher on the Plaza" for two reasons:
1. In this current phase of life, God seemed to be calling me to be a pastor who was "on the plazas" of life (as I always seem to be somewhere that wasn't where I was the week before). I would not pastor a traditional church, but I would be out among the people where I found myself seeking opportunities to engage others in the deeper stories of life. The plazas of this world would be my new ministry. And I would need to write about them.
2. The church that made me their "Preacher on the Plaza" gave me my voice. One of the greatest gift my tenure at WPBC gave me was confidence in the leader/ teacher/ preacher I was made to be. I tell the truth when I say NEVER did WPBC ask me to be any less than who I was-- a rarity among churches these days. I actually think they would have been ill at me as a congregation if I'd backed down to be any less than I was. In keeping the name "Preacher on the Plaza" for my blog, it's my way of paying tribute to this wonderful congregation that empowered me in my becoming and having a piece of them always with me.
So, thanks for reading, oh faithful blog readers. Thanks for being on this journey with me-- this journey that I often have no idea where it is going from day-to-day.
I look forward to possibly visiting a plaza near you sometime soon!
