The Year We Set Sail

In which I send my dreams to heaven and invite you to come along.

*Note - My apologies for the late posting. Substack experienced technical difficulties today. So, I waited until they were back up to send it out. Thank you for your understanding.

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The Prelude: Going All-in on Substack

So, I want to use this opportunity to speak directly to you, my beloved readers, and explain to you just what it is I’m doing here and why Substack has become a wonderful place for writers from every background to ply their wares, and even make a living doing it. I am one of these writers. And my aim is to make Substack my primary hub for writing and one of the central means by which I make my living.

I want to lay out this manifesto in five sections. These sections will build out my philosophy of writing and also give insight into what’s going on behind the scenes.

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Manifesto Summary

I am a writer, storyteller, and independent scholar seeking to create a place, both through my writing (books and online) and in-person retreats, that is a refuge for all seeking rest and restoration of the soul. A place where good counsel can be found, where wisdom can be sought, and where the imagination can be fueled.

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Section 1 - The Human Behind the Screen

First, let me say a hearty, “Welcome!” to all the new subscribers here. Further Up is growing! We are nearing 6,500 free subscribers! I’m humbled and excited by this new growth. The growth tells me that topics like beauty, wonder, and faith & culture are subjects that many want to explore. I’m looking forward to deeper connections here, and a lively exploration of these topics.

Since there are so many new folks in the Further Up email family, I thought I’d share a quick note about me and my family.

Behind your phone or laptop or desktop screen, behind the words you scroll through, I’m here—existing. I am a fortysomething father of three; two teenagers and one delightful ten-year-old. I’m married to Christine Michelle Willard and have been for 21 years.

We live on a wooded lot on a culdesac in the small southern town of Waxhaw, North Carolina. While I wrote this post, I ate an English breakfast, drank coffee, and made some tea. I also put on my hoodie because I was a tad cold.

We have a two-year-old golden doodle named Cash who thinks he’s a human.

I have feelings, dreams, and worries, but not many regrets.

Blood runs through my veins. I’m not part of the Matrix. In fact, I’m fighting against it. You’ll know this if you follow me on Instagram or have read my new book The Beauty Chasers.

timothywillard

A post shared by Timothy Willard (@timothywillard)

So, us Willards? We are a real family living in a real town in a real country and are doing our best to use what God has given us to glorify him and make a living.

My desire has always been to make a difference in the little sliver of the world in which God has placed me. And this newsletter represents the central hub for this difference-making endeavour.

For a more “professional” biography, click over to my about page.

Section 2 - The Dream Behind the Writing

“Tim, what do you actually do for a living.”

I love it when people ask me this question. And trust me, I get asked it a lot. And it’s a fair question. Even my mother asks me how I make a living doing what I do! Here’s a little bit of “Tim history” to help you understand how the dream of my writing ministry has taken shape.

For over 15 years I’ve worked as a ghostwriter, editor, and creative consultant—all freelance. The word freelance means that I work for different companies and clients. This is the pathway that opened up before me when Christine and I moved to Atlanta so I could pursue a full-time writing career. It was in Atlanta, after running my own landscape company back in Lititz, Pennslyvania so that I could finish my undergraduate degree, that I began freelancing for various organizations like Catalyst Conference, Q Ideas, Relevant Magazine, and Chick-fil-A.

Though my dream was always to be a writer, God instilled in me a much broader vision of what I could do through writing and teaching. It took me over a decade to figure it out, and a large chunk of the time was spent in graduate school at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MA) and at King’s College London (PhD).

“Why was a writer attending seminary?”

I got this question often during my time in seminary. My reply?

“I’m not sure, but God is making it plainer the further I go.”

After seminary, I felt the Holy Spirit stirring in me and pushing me towards more schooling. I was never academically minded. In my twenties, I sang in a band and toured the country. But the Lord persisted in my spirit and the opportunity to study under Alister McGrath opened up, and we followed God’s leading. But I still received questions about my journey.

“Why was a writer getting a PhD?”

To which I replied, “I’m not one hundred percent positive, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with inspiring Christians to rediscover God through beauty and imagination.”

I thought perhaps, one day, I’d take a professorship at a small college and teach theology. Early on, after I finished my PhD, I applied for a few open positions. You’ll love this response I received from a prominent Christian university where one of my friends was already teaching:

“Well, to be honest, Tim, your background and CV are rather, well, unorthodox. You have an academic pedigree but you also write books and articles in the popular space and do art. We’re looking for more ‘traditional’ teachers. But we’d love to have you come speak to our students!”

They meant no disrespect by this at all. In fact, I took it as a compliment and felt encouraged. But it also gave me a glimpse into what most universities are looking for and convinced me that, for now, carving out this space here on Substack or through my books was the place God wanted to use me.

So, this kaleidoscope journey as a writer, theologian, and storyteller was leading me to begin something new but not so new. Something related to teaching but not as traditional as a college. Something outside of the mainstream, but not a hippie commune.

What was it?

L’bri, The Manor House, Greatham England (Source). I visited the manor house during our final year of living in England.

Section 3 - The Beauty Behind the Unorthodoxy

“What we need is a different kind of interpreter, less Reinhold Niebuhr, that establishment figure who lived and taught in New York City, and more Francis Schaeffer, the missionary-in-exile, far removed from the hubs of power and influence and better equipped to speak to them in distinctly Christian ways precisely because of his distance from them.”

The answer to, “What was it?” comes by way of a story.

Many moons ago, I was expelled from Liberty University at the ripe age of 19. Getting expelled might become a badge of honour in your forties, but when you’re a preacher’s kid at 19, and you get kicked out of university, it’s a big deal. And it was the catalyst for me coming into the Christian faith.

During that next year, as I studied the Bible for the first time on my own and began journaling in earnest, I believed that God wanted me to start a camp. An adventure camp where I could harness the power and beauty of the wilderness to reach young adults like me—young adults who had drifted from their faith.

Then the dream expanded into a camp that might also reach CEOs and burned-out missionaries. I couldn’t shake this vision.

Then I read Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There, and I discovered the L’bri community he founded in Switzerland. Schaeffer stepped out of American culture and became a cultural critic. And I mean “critic” in the positive. L’bri was a place young adults and really, any adults, could come and live for a brief time in the community of the house and property and ask questions about the God of the Bible.

But Schaeffer’s L’bri was more than a place of physical refuge. It was a symbol of a different way of life for Christians living in a splintered materialistic world bent on the acquisition of consumer products and the heaping of wealth for moths. Jake Meador writes of Schaeffer’s influence like this:

Francis and Edith’s ministry at L’Abri recognized this splintering {of modern culture} and refuted it, not by explaining Christianity to a social order that can be reconciled with the faith if we finesse it enough, but by modeling a radically different way of life to a society at odds with the {Christian} faith on the most fundamental, basic levels.

The hospitality of L’Abri, Francis’s way of talking about Christianity as comprehensive “True Truth,” the hidden art embodied by Edith’s tireless work… all these things contributed to making L’Abri a shelter of coherence in a fractured and declining world …

If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly heard/read me rant about the need for a revived discipleship in the American church. You’ve heard/read me call for a revival of beauty and wonder in our church gatherings. You’ve heard/read me emphasize how important our cultural education is as human beings made in the image of God—and especially how important this education is for the younger generations.

“But Tim,” you say, “are you suggesting that this newsletter here on Substack can be a kind of L’bri? I mean, Schaeffer moved to a different country and bought an actual property. This newsletter is online. Humans don’t gather here.”

“Ah yes,” I reply, “your point is well taken. But I humbly ask that you use your imagination for just a few moments, and see this online space as a kind of first step into re-imagining what a twenty-first-century L’bri might look like. Think of our newsletter family here as the first step in a progression that gathers online, and then in person. Think of this space as the beginning of conversations that though explored deeply here, can get more personal and more intimate at an actual gathering place.”

What if this new twenty-first century L’bri was more than a place for people to ask theological questions, but actively sought to disciple the younger generation, to bring rest to the weary adults serving in ministry, to bring restoration and a place for adults to contemplate the beauty of God’s love for them.

Imagine a place like that. A place that begins online—here. And then grows into this place—this place my wife and I are praying into existence!

This, my friends, is what I’m working towards. And this newsletter is the first step.

Section 4 - The Heart Behind the Efforts

Here are three small ventures I’ve attempted over the last three years that many of you have contributed to:

The Daily Grit
The Beauty Chaser Community
The Fellowship

These represent all the different efforts I’ve attempted to establish an online hub for this twenty-first-century writing and teaching ministry. The most recent one, The Fellowship, was birthed as a way to house a community that was engaged and learning from one another. But days before I launched it, the Holy Spirit stirred in me—the kind of stirring where you know you shouldn’t move forward with something.

All the work, designing, and planning I’d put into The Fellowship? For nothing—that’s what I initially thought. And when I didn’t heed the stirring, the same day I launched the site and sent the email, the site crashed for weeks!

You can click here to read the full explanation. The Spirit was telling me: “Tim, simplify, simplify, simplify. Keep it clear and direct. Pour into one place, and serve readers there.” So, I’m heeding this spiritual nudging and simplifying.

This newsletter, Further Up, is the only place you’ll find my writing and teaching for the foreseeable future. The video teaching sessions I prepped for The Fellowship will now be short weekly video sessions hosted right here on Further Up.

Here’s what you can look forward to with this Substack newsletter:

1. Paid subscribers will receive teaching delivered in video format on a monthly basis. You can preview what to expect here.

2. An affordable monthly membership at around $5 a month (this is the fall special price being offered). If you want to be part of this community but can’t afford it right now, or you’re a student and you’re strapped for extra money, I totally get it. Just email me and we’ll work it out.

3. I will be doing a monthly Q/A session with my wife,

   Christine Willard
   , through the private Substack podcast feature on this newsletter. You can submit your questions about anything I write about here.

4. All of my writing will be hosted here, instead of being spread out over multiple outlets.

5. You can upgrade to a paid subscription right now with our biggest discount of the year. This offer is running until the beginning of December. If you don’t want to go to “paid” right now that’s totally fine. I’m thrilled you’re here and not to worry, I’ll still be posting weekly free posts for everyone. Everyone is welcome!

Section 5 - The Joy Behind Simplifying the Vision

So, here are the online spaces where you can find me:

1. My newsletter: Further Up - Join me here to go deeper into the topics we all love to discuss that relate to beauty, wonder, faith & culture, and so much more. Think of Further Up as our own private magazine space.

2. Instagram - Join me here for daily/weekly inspiration.

3. The Saturday Stoke - Back by popular demand. Look for new episodes in the new year! As you can imagine, I’m pretty … wait for it … stoked about this. And yes, this will be a free podcast. You can get caught up and dive into the first 52 episodes here.

In my own pursuit of beauty, I’m reminded of how harmony is a characteristic of the beautiful. In making this decision to keep all of my writing and teaching here, I hope to step into God’s harmony for my work and writing. My prayer is to be more focused on the needs of readers and to be a resource of hope, encouragement, and inspired learning.

“But Tim,” you say, “I want to hear more about this physical space that you envision, this ‘L’bri for the twenty-first century.’”

“Ah yes,” I reply, “I’m so delighted you asked. If you’re excited to be a part of this new endeavour and partner with me, you can do so in two ways. You can make a donation or you can sign up to hear more about the vision using this form.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support. I hope to see you further up.