About a month ago I decided that I was done making excuses - it was time for me to finally start tithing! A few paychecks and a million excuses later I’ve taken that difficult first step.

Over the past month or so, I’ve found an excuse not to tithe literally every time I’ve been paid. It seems like there’s never a “perfect time” where I have a “perfect excess” of money that I’d be “willing to part with” to “give” to God.

Finally recognizing that this perfect time is about an imaginary as the tooth fairy, I decided to make yesterday my official tithing kick-off.

Never one to do something without taking a risk, check out this crazy situation:

1. After my tithe, I have about $40 to last me until the 22nd of this month
2. I have a full tank of gas, but after this one runs out (a week or so?) I’ll be done
3. I have a little bit of food left, but not a whole lot
4. I can only be absent from school 6 times before they automatically drop me. So…
5. If I can’t afford to put gas in my car, I can’t get to school. If I can’t get to school, I’ll be dropped.
6. If I’m dropped, I’ll lose 50% of my current income (GI-Bill).
7. If I lose 50% of my current income, I can’t pay my bills (rent, car payment, etc).

Fun, huh?

I wrestled with this decision for a very long time, I won’t lie. Part of my conversation with God was me flat out telling him, “I guess I just don’t trust you, God.”

Some people will argue a “you don’t have to tithe 10%.” I’m not here to debate theology.

Some people will argue, “why couldn’t you have waited until you were a little more financially secure?” I’ve waited and waited and made excuse after excuse. It had to happen now.

Some people will argue that I’m taking advantage of God and expecting him to bail me out. I wrestled with that one quite a bit. I’m confident that I’m acting in obedience and I surely do NOT subscribe to a “give a little and receive a Lexus, two mansions, and a 6-figure bank account” approach to giving.

I’ll post an update to let you know how God came through. I know he will. I’m waiting expectedly.

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Last week school started. Last week school officially began whoopin’ my bee-hind. 

My goal is to finish my biology degree (extremely difficult for me) and to pursue grad school for a career as a Physician Assistant. I feel God leading my in a very specific direction within that career, but as for now I’m just gonna take it one step at a time.

I love this site - always have and always will. As for now, though, I have to prioritize. Anatomy & Physiology, Organic Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Cell Biology, Calc, Stats, etc are requiring much more time and effort from me than I’m used to putting into school. As a result, starting today my posts on FriendlyChristian.com will be limited. My initial thought was to close down shop. Although that may eventually happen, for now I’ll leave the site open and perhaps make a short post from time to time. God willing, eventually I’ll return to FC as a fully committed blogger. We’ll see.

As I’ve tried my best to do with this site, I want to invest all of me into the vision that God gives me. For now, that vision is to become the best darn PA that I can.

Thank you all soooooo much for all you’ve done. You guys have influenced thousands upon thousands of readers. Most importantly (for me), you’ve played a very important role in my life. And for that, I’m forever grateful.

Want to stay in touch? Add me as a friend on Facebook or Follow me on Twitter.

Shalom,
Bill

ps - hov, feel free to continue posting

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Last week Tam asked a question on her blog:

you had a reason you started blogging, right?

has your reason changed?

has your blog taken on a life of its own? something you didn’t anticipate?

A few years ago I started blogging because I had to do something with all the insanity that was in my head. My medium: MySpace. My audience: small. Mood: light.

About a year later I asked my smart friend to help me setup my own website. This was the birth of FromHisPen.com. My medium: Wordpress. My audience: small. Mood: peaceful.

A little over a year ago I watched Willow Creek Church interview Hemant Mehta. That same day I bought the FriendlyChristian.com domain for 6 bucks. My medium: Wordpress. My audience: Big (to me). Mood: ????????

Guys, this past year was a year that I never saw coming. I’d never even met an atheist (that I know of), let alone shared my entire life with one before the birth of this site. Christians, I neglect you guys way too much. I love you all so much. Thank you for your endless support and prayer. I couldn’t do this w/o ya!

I’m honored to host this site. 

What FriendlyChristian.com has taught me:

• I am a work in progress (cliché, I know)
• I’m not as smart as I thought I was
• Atheists don’t eat babies
• The Internet is an extremely powerful medium
• I like writing more than I thought I did
• Although challenging and sometimes a pain in the booty, I love this site
• Some people are much more courageous online than they’d ever be in person
• Blogging is way more time consuming than I thought

Future plans

• Open up even more. Become more transparent with my audience
• Prayerfully and humbly approach the keyboard each time I write
• More interviews
• Say more by typing less
• More videos
• Move the site to a web hosting company to ensure 100% up time
• Become better with graphics
• Learn more PHP and Javascript

Side note: I’ve been challenged to adopt a FriendlyChristian.com mission statement. I don’t want one. This is my journey, plain and simple.

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This site is what is it because of you guys. The comments section on FriendlyChristian.com is the life of this site. I appreciate you thoughts, especially those that required obvious effort.

I hope that the comments section never turns into a bunch of ‘amen brothers’ and ‘i agree!’ statements. I love your opposition. With that being said, I do love a good ‘amen brother’ from time to time. We can all use a little encouragement, right?

Here is a list of some of the best comments from August 2007 to August 2008:

On Don’t Spank Me Or I’ll Kill You tam said:

my babies lives were forming in me. that is called pregnancy. i guess i am unaware of how else to define it. if anyone would desire to try to give a pregnancy a different definition it would be a woman regretful of an abortion so that they would feel ‘better and justified’. but i have come to see it how i expressed above. there was life inside me that i snuffed out. my second abortion was preformed at 13 weeks. thats the second trimester. the doctor informed me that this time i might still pass fragments of the baby a couple days post surgery. possibly pieces of the spine. nice picture eh? well…i did. i passed body parts. parts of a baby, a human…a life and pregnancy cut short. my form of birth control.

Dang…

On Your Bible Interpretation Sucks Shay said:

Scripture is considered God’s way of speaking to each individual. But the verses have to be taken in context. If someone’s “personal” interpretation is directly contradicting other pieces of Scripture, then I would say they got their interpretation wrong.

On Nice To Meet You…Now Go To Hell hoverFrog said:

OK maybe it is a symptom of the post industialisation effect on the community. Instead of working in the fields with family members and close friends we commute with strangers to work with strangers and deal with strangers. We’re surrounded by people we don’t know and protect ourselves from all these strangers by cutting off contact and not letting them in where they can hurt us.

On Sexuality: Not Just A Guy Thing Sara said:

Kama Sutra.
Best. Sexygift. Ever.
Not necessarily because it’s sensual (though it can be), but mostly because it’s hilarious(-ly awkward) to try the ideas out!

hehehe

On Men Hate Church Gretch-A-Sketch said:

As a single Christian woman I pray for a man with the heart of a warrior for Christ. A strong man. No sissies wanted here! Now I am not saying men worshiping our creator is wrong in the least bit or sometimes getting a little teary eyed is wrong either.

But…man up men!

I say this to the church today also. I love a man who can truly share his heart and feel sensitive but I also want to see some warriors amongst us. So as for songs like Onward Christian Soilders….Bring it!

A comment conversation between Jason and Sara on FriendlyChristian.com: Coincidence Or Prophetic Fulfillment?:

Jason, my doubledare challenge for you:

Read Who Wrote the Bible by Richard E. Friedman and Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman, preferably in that order, as the first book deals with the Old Testament and the second with the New. Read them, then come back to me and tell me what you think about them. I’m genuinely curious to know how you respond those books.

I’ll bake you cookies if you do this. Seriously; I’m not even kidding. I’ll bake and mail them directly to you. Whatever your favorite cookie is.

Come on, how can you turn down an intellectual adventure and free homebaked cookies?

and in response Jason said:

Sara:

You obviously have been doing your homework. I love cookies, and am already having visions of opening my mailbox to a scrumptious delightful treat.

However, I would like to negotiate a deal of another kind. Would you be willing to read a book in exchange for the (2) that you are requesting me to read?

Sara agreed. Did you guys ever do this?

On Greedy Christian: Your Response Needed Odgie said:

Being compassionate does not have to mean getting rooked. Jesus was nobody’s fool, and his followers shouldn’t be either.

On Am I Lying To The FriendlyChristian Audience? Greg Surratt said:

I’m reading…I am a sorry blogger…hope that’s not a prereq to eternal life

It’s pretty darn cool to get a comment from your pastor

On Could Hitler Be Kickin’ It In Heaven? Helen said:

Life is not pointless without eternity to look forward to. It actually makes us care more about this life because we have to, if it’s all we have.

Interesting…

I could list hundreds of comments that should qualify as FCs best comments of the year. Like I said, you guys are the reason that this site is what it is. I’m honored to be part of this with ya!

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Over the past 1 year we have published a total of 331 posts. Some have been hits, other have been flops. Interestingly, many of the posts that I felt were gonna be hits ended up being flops. Conversely, some of the posts that were no more than a quick thought off the top of my head ended up being crowd favorites. Does that ever happen with you?

Below is a list of the top posts published in 2007-2008, our first year alive.

Overall*

1. Does The Word “Christian” Make Your Stomach Turn?
2. Christianity Makes My Head Hurt
3. Is It Ok For A Christian To Masturbate?
4. Christians Have OCD, Among Other Things….
5. Real Men Piss Standing Up

By number of hits**

1. Does The Word “Christian” Make Your Stomach Turn?
2. Christianity Makes My Head Hurt
3. Is It Ok For A Christian To Masturbate?
4. Christians Have OCD, Among Other Things….
5. A Moment With The Friendly Atheist

By number of comments

1. How Could God Do This?
2. Christianity Makes My Head Hurt
3. Christians Have OCD, Among Other Things….
4. What If…
5. Is Faith Nonsense?

Most controversial

My personal favorites

1. Is It Ok For A Christian To Masturbate?
2. Brother Barry - WOOO!
3. Church Marketing: A Freakin’ Response
4. “God Told Me” That You’re A Bit Confused
5. Christians Are Gullible Idiots

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Today is the official one year anniversary of FriendlyChristian.com. Crazy, huh? What a year it’s been.

Next week’s blogs will be set to auto-publish. Starting Tuesday I’ll be posting a series that you won’t want to miss:

• Best posts
• Best comments
• What I’ve learned/Future plans

On Monday I’ll be posting an interview I did with Josh Surratt, campus pastor of Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC. I’m excited to read your reactions to this awesome post.

Also, as of this Friday I’ll be in Nicaragua with Seacoast Church providing medical support to a needy nation. Please keep us in prayer as we travel and serve.

Jason (hoverfrog) will be the site administrator while I’m gone. Please use the comments field to direct any questions to him. You’re still stuck with me for the next two days.

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Seriously, you guys make this site what it is. Every now and then I want to take a swing at ya, but in the end I wouldn’t want FriendlyChristian.com to be any other way. 

• You provide honesty
• You provide intelligence
• You challenge me
• You provide arguments (or “conversation” as we so kindly like to put it)
• You provide spice!

I might be a little crazy in the head (take your cheap shot here) - I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ who enjoys spending time with unbelievers just as much as spending time with believers. I believe that encouragement and reassurance are helpful and critical in growth, but I grew tired of nothing but “amen brother!” and “I agree” comments long ago. Now that I’m surrounded by atheists, the encouraging comments and emails mean just that much more
Atheists, thank you for helping me learn so much about you guys, myself, and everything in between. I love you guys and I’m so glad that you are along for this crazy Christian ride.

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My friend Hemant of FriendlyAtheist.com might soon be a worldwide “savior.” According to Thunderbird, my RSS manager, Hemant might be a bit more than a friendly atheist.

FriendlyAtheist.com or FriendlyAntichrist.com? Uh oh…

If he suggests a tattoo, credit card, or any type of tracking device, I’d suggest you steer clear. This guy is trouble with a capital “T.”
Nothin but love, bud! I had to do it.

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Hey guys,

This August I will be traveling to Managua, Nicaragua with Seacoast Church to provide medical assistance to the local community. I will be traveling with a team of approximately 20 people and working closely with missionaries Nathan Babcock (FriendlyChristian.com guest author) and his wife Amber. We leave for Nicaragua on August 8th and return ten days later on the 18th.

In order to make this possible, we need to assemble a strong supporting team. People like you may life us up in daily prayer and/or give a financial gift toward the expense as we seek to serve God in this area. The total amount that I need to raise is $1,500. This amount included travel, expenses, food, lodging, and transportation.

I would appreciate your prayerful consideration of giving financially to help me meet this need. 

Here are the two forms required to make a donation. Print each of them, fill them out as required, and mail them to the provided address.

Form 1 (MS Word format)
Form 2 (MS Word format)

And for you anti-Microsoft types:

Form 1 (PDF)
Form 2 (PDF) 

Thank you for your support, guys. You rock!

Please email me with any questions you might have: bill@friendlychristian.com

Bill

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They tell me that every now and then I should blog about my site essentials. Well, in attempt to fulfill my ‘every now and then’ quota, here we go.

Subscribe to FriendlyChristian.com

• I want to subscribe via RSS. Best option if you ask me. No idea what RSS means? Go here to learn. 
• I want to subscribe by email. RSS too confusing for you? No worries. With this option you’ll receive FriendlyChristian.com posts in your email each day. Make sure to follow the onscreen instructions.
• I want to subscribe to the FriendlyChristian.com comments. RSS reader required

Stay in contact with Bill.

• Send me email at bill@friendlychristian.com.
• Visit my other blog. Just Bill being Bill, no intense religious debates here. 
• My Twitter. Are you a stalker? You can follow me (legally) here.
• My Facebook. Have you given up on MySpace like I have? Let’s be friends on Facebook.

You guys make this site awesome. Thank you all so much for your contributions.

Bill

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