Strong & Courageous
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Strong & Courageous blog! This post is for all of the newcomers and first-timers. Here is where you will get an in-depth explanation of the origin and vision of the Strong & Courageous brand and website. The first thing you will notice is that we are much more than just a blog. On this website you will find articles relating to a variety of topics, some posts about fashion, and yes your traditional blogs.
As you may have already guessed, the name "Strong & Courageous" itself comes from Joshua 1:9 in the Christian Bible. Yes, Strong & Courageous is an explicitly Christian brand. That being; our ultimate purpose is to glorify God. Everything that we do we will intend to root in the Gospel, and all credit will be given, deservedly so, to God. Keep this in mind as we go on to discuss our origin and vision.
ORIGIN
Strong & Courageous was born out of a need for a creative outlet. I, Joshua Willett (author of this article), am the founder of this blog. I graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a BA in Christian Theology in June 2018. In the time that has passed since graduation, I found myself in a place I never thought I would come to; I miss writing papers. I certainly don't miss the stress of it all, but it is the creative outlet that it gave me that I ultimately miss. I had a place to flesh out all the ideas in my head and organize it for others' feedback. That is what the articles portion of this blog will be. A place for me to write about the theological concepts that I am passionate about and organize them for others' (you, the reader's!) feedback. The feedback bit is not a vain attempt to feel validated by any means, but rather a desire of my heart for conversations with people from diverse backgrounds with different opinions than my friends and I. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have it all together; I am still learning every day along with everybody else about the wonderful mysteries of God. Neither am I too proud to admit that some of my ideas and concepts about who God is, how Christians should live, and how the Church should operate could be wrong or need more careful thought.
Why Strong & Courageous? Why Joshua 1:9? Well, for starters my name is Joshua and I was born on January 9th. Joshua...1/9. Fun coincidence? Yes! But that's not the only reason.
Joshua 1:9 is my favorite verse in the Bible. It is a command, an encouragement, and a promise. It takes place almost immediately after the death of Moses, one of the greatest leaders of ancient Israel let alone in the history of the world. Joshua is then chosen by God to fill the shoes of this great man and lead God's people to the Promised land. This was no easy task by far, and it is almost certain that Joshua was experiencing feelings of tremendous fear, doubt, and grief over the death of his long-time mentor and friend all at the same time. If there was ever a time somebody needed to hear the voice of God, it was then. And God spoke. God told Joshua of His plans for him and Israel and encouraged Joshua that he was capable of leading the people in these things. "Be strong and courageous". This strength and courage did not come from Joshua, however, but from God. Joshua was able to strong and courageous because God would be with Him. I have felt this same calling on my life; to be strong, courageous, and bold. Throughout my life, however, I have never been able to summon these things up from within myself. I've tried and failed over and over again, reverting back to weakness, fragility, and fear. It has only been in God that I have found strength. In Jesus Christ I have found courage. In the Holy Spirit I have found boldness. My hope is that this blog will both be a place I may freely express myself in strength and courage and also inspire others to do the same. A world in which the Body of Christ is strong, courageous, and bold for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God is a much better world.
VISION
We're dreaming big. Why not? Who knows what the future could hold, but here are a few ideas that we would love to see come to fruition in the long-term:
Multiple authors. Although this blog was started by one man, the vision is not for it to stay that way. Hopefully in the future we can feature articles from numerous verified authors (think websites such as The Gospel Coalition and DesiringGod). The purpose of this is to incorporate the voices of different people from different backgrounds and views. There will, however, be a standard of truth that we will hold to in these articles. So to answer the questions before they start; no, we will not be featuring articles that include heretical theology or articles from non-Christian faiths.
We Are Strong & Courageous Podcast! Longer discussions on a variety of topics, current events, interviews, etc.
Merchandise. Think about it; a Strong & Courageous clothing line! Hats! T-shirts! Hoodies! Denim jackets! Ripped jeans! Mugs! Merchandise is fun, builds brand loyalty, and also would greatly help support us do bigger things in the future. Again, dreaming big. But what if?
A YouTube channel. We could translate some articles into spoken teachings, lifestyle blogs, promotional videos, you name it!
Some of these ideas are fantasies yes, but if God is behind us then why not dream big? As stated before, our ultimate purpose and vision is to glorify God and see His kingdom reign here in the world. In that, the long-term plan and vision is to discern God's will and vision for Strong & Courageous and implement that in excellence. As time goes by and God's vision becomes clearer we will be sure to keep you updated. This is going to be a journey, and I (the author) am certainly excited to see where it will take us.
