Driving the Words Across the Page: The True Work of Ministry

I like to have a clue what I’m going to write about; it makes the process considerably easier. Usually, when I sit down to write, I have, if not some place toward which I’m headed, then at least some place to begin. Not today.

I don’t know where I’m going. I only know that driving the words across the page is important. That is to say, if there’s anything I’ve learned about writing, it’s that moving the cursor is always the place to begin.

Sitting at the computer is not writing.

Thinking is not writing.

Checking Facebook is not writing.

Looking up references and copying urls is not writing.

Going to the coffee shop with a laptop is not writing.

Checking word counts is not writing.

Reading about the art of writing is not writing.

Listening to podcasts where writers talk about writing is not writing.

Outlining is not writing.

Writer-ishness is not writing (i.e., the act of visualizing yourself as a writer).

Writing is writing.

Continue reading on [D]mergent . . .

Derek Penwell

Author, Speaker, Pastor, Activist. Derek Penwell is senior pastor of Douglass Boulevard Christian Church, and a lecturer at the University of Louisville in Religious Studies and Comparative Humanities. His newest book, Outlandish, focuses on understanding the political nature of Jesus’ life as a model for forming communities of resistance capable of challenging oppression in the pursuit of peace and justice.

He is an activist and advocate on local, state, and national levels on issues of racial justice, LGBTQ fairness, interfaith engagement, and immigrant and refugee rights.

https://derekpenwell.net
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Tingling Masses of Availability: Changing Congregational Expectations

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Embracing Failure: Why the Church Needs to Quit Worrying about Dying