Update.
8 Months ago I left Young Life staff and started running The Holy Post Media Company as CEO and serving as the director of Chicago Fellowship. As you know, this was a hard decision that I came to after a very thorough discernment process. Many of you have been so kind to ask how it is going so here is the long overdue update.
The short version is that it is going great and I am absolutely loving it. There are many reasons why I am loving it and I will spell some of those out in greater detail below but mostly I am loving it for three reasons;
I am being challenged in new ways. This often means feeling stupid at first which I don’t love in the moment, but I am gaining competence and confidence everyday.
I believe that what we are doing is really important.
As trite as it may sound; I want to do what I can to make a difference in the world and I think I get to do that.
Sam Rayburn was the speaker of the House in the 40's who once said, "Any jackass can knock over a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one." This has been my theme since starting here at The Holy Post. People (young people in particular) are leaving the church in part because of the unfaithfulness of the Christians who have gone before them. Therefore, where appropriate we do want to critique of our tribe of Christians, but ultimately we want to join with God in building something beautiful. I had some fun with this idea and created a cartoon – essentially saying we are in fact jackasses but we are building a barn rather than knocking it over.
Holy Post
There is so much I want to tell you and if you want to know more I am happy to tell you about all of the nitty gritty details but mostly I want to tell you why I think the work we are doing is important because this is why the challenges, the learning new things, the hard and boring parts all worth it.
Our mission is to help people think Christianly and live faithfully in all areas of their lives and having fun while doing it.
Currently the Holy Post is mostly known for our flagship podcast called The Holy Post but we also produce videos, have other podcasts behind a paywall at Holy Post Plus, and create written content. Currently we get 550,000 downloads per month of our Flagship show.
I was hired in large part to help turn this into a larger, more robust, thoughtful Christian media company— not just to run what we currently have going. I am in the midst of putting together our business plan for when we hope to eventually take on more investment so I am going to try out some not yet polished nor public language.
The vision is that Holy Post Media will be the most effective theologically orthodox, pro neighbor, entertaining, platform agnostic Christian idea company in the United States.
Let me break this down a little more:
Theologically orthodox- In simple terms being faithful to historical Christian teaching.
Pro neighbor– I am still working on how we say this one but what we are getting at is that we are not fearful about being a post Christian culture– we believe we can thrive as Chrstians in a pluralistic society and so can our society. We are opposed to Christian nationalism. We believe in loving our neighbor and working for their flourishing despite differences we may have, we believe in using persuasion rather than power to influence society positively.
Entertaining- I like the way another (secular) media company says it, “we want to create content that people want to engage with, not content that people want to want to engage with.” In other words there are a lot of really thoughtful people and organizations (think seminaries) that are creating great content but it is boring and dense so the everyday Christian isn’t engaging with it. At best they may subscribe to the podcast, but they never actually listen to it. We are and want to continue to create meaningful content that people want to listen to, watch, read or attend. There are a number of very prominent Christian organizations that love what we are doing because as they say, “We can only reach the thought leaders but you are reaching the everyday Christians.”
Platform agnostic- We hope to build a strong enough infrastructure that we can produce high quality podcasts, videos, written material, and events. Podcasting is what we are most known for at this time, but we will be agile enough to be able to use the right platform for each message.
Okay… so this where I really get excited. What happens if we succeed?
Millions of people who might otherwise leave the church/their faith will stay.(I am not embellishing to say that we hear from these people in droves daily)
Society will unite rather than divide because Christians will be discipled to be neighborly in a pluralistic, post Christian country.
Reputation of Christians will grow thereby growing the church
The church (Christians) is given examples of people and organizations that hold to their convictions but are able to
Work alongside Christians who hold to different doctrine
Are neighborly with people of all beliefs and no beliefs
Work for the flourishing of all humanity
We are currently a small team that is flying this plane while building the larger one. So this means I play a whole lot of different roles. We have to grow our capacities to get to these lofty goals. One of the projects I have most enjoyed conceptualizing and then executing on and launching was the creation of this team of Holy Post Pundits. This is one example of growing our capacity but ultimately we hope to have the money to hire more people. I look forward to The Holy Post growing so that some of my leadership strengths are more fully utilized, instead of doing a lot of operational work. I knew this would take time so I am happy being patient but I believe there is more to come.
Working closely with Skye Jethani and Phil Vischer has been wonderful. They are incredibly smart and kind.
We will likely be creating a 501 c 3 so that we can both take on investment and have a vehicle for philanthropically minded people who believe in this mission to have a chance to help us realize this important vision.
Chicago Fellowship
I used up most of your attention span on The Holy Post… which takes most of my attention too. However I am very grateful to be leading Chicago Fellowship. I get to teach periodically, I meet for meals or coffee with men to talk life and faith multiple times a week, and I got to fulfill a dream of taking 34 guys from Chicago on a Civil Rights Tour for 3 days. This group was half white and half people of color and will now be an annual trip. The trip is called Sankofa which means “ Looking backwards in order to more faithfully move forward.”
I continue to be amazed at the how Lord orchestrated that I could stay in relational ministry by leading Chicago Fellowship at the same time as I was leaving Young Life. Some day I will write more about this role and the current impact as well as the potential for future impact of Chicago Fellowship. The tentacles out of Chicago Fellowship have profound impact in Chicago and really all over the world.
Hearing from some saints who worked alongside Dr King.
Do you miss Young Life?
Short answer, No, but this is only because I am fully consumed with what is in front of me with The Holy Post and Chicago Fellowship. My love of the mission of Young Life and all it has meant for me and my family and all it continues to mean for millions of families around the world continues.
I am very excited about Greg Moore who has started as the Chicagoland Regional Director. He and his wife Tish moved to Chicago from the Bronx where they have lived their whole lives. I am inspired by watching him lead from where I sit, his enthusiasm for young people following Christ is contagious.
I am honored to be doing a training on people development for the South West Divisional team- this is the right fit for ways for me to stay involved in Young Life. I hope these opportunities continue to arise. I would love to use any gifts I have that can be helpful to Young Life.
And… The Holy Post is sharing an office with Wheaton/GE YL so I get to see some of my former teammates more than I did when I was working with Young Life.
Houghton Family
Rapid fire updates:
Annie– ABSOLUTELY loving being back at The Field School as the Director of Community Life after serving as the principal the first 5 years. This role has been all of the great parts (the people, the mission, being at school with our kids) without the stress of 40 people reporting to her in the midst of a pandemic!
Jon- yes I am working a lot by having 1.5 jobs. I am also enjoying the opportunity to serve on a few boards of organizations in Chicago I really believe in and helping where I can with others. (Legacy Disciple, New Community Outreach, Progressive Manor, The Field School). There really are so many people and organizations doing great work in our city.
Kylie- Thriving as she approaches starting college at Wheaton College on August 8th!! She is leading a WyldLife trip this summer and babysitting nearly full time.
Nick- Just finished 8th grade at The Field School and is now heading off to high school at Oak Park River Forest High School (where Kylie just graduated from)
Rae- Finished up 6th grade. Loves most everything in life.
Lucy- Finished up 3rd grade and she makes everything fun.