I recently met up with fellow blogger, Chuck Livermore. Chuck and his wife Rebecca are the producers of OrdinaryBeliever.com where they use their experience as Christians, writers, content development and more to form relationships with their readers as they produce some helpful reads that the purposeful life refiners here at 1Glories might find valuable to their own spiritual walks and personal development.
I recently caught up with Chuck to ask him to find out more about his blog, what it’s like to blog in partnership with a spouse and how the practice of blogging has been a blessing to his life. Here’s what Chuck had to say.
An Interview with Chuck Livermore from OrdinaryBeliever.com
Please share a little bit about your blog, OrdinaryBeliever.com. How long have you been doing it, what provoked you to start it, how has it evolved over that time?
It started as a collaboration between my wife, Rebecca, and I. I was pursuing a genealogy hobby and Rebecca has a website that promotes online content called professionalcontentcreation.com. We thought, “What if we tried to work together on something?”
Rebecca had written a couple of books on content creation and knew a lot about the promotion and marketing side of things and I was fairly proficient at writing also. We both have strong Christian backgrounds and so we thought, “Why not work together on writing Christian books?”
We started the blog last fall as a way to get to know our readers and build relationships. It is also a way to promote our books. It is still in the process of evolving into what it will ultimately become. We’ve learned that Rebecca and I have different voices in our books and blog posts. She is more of a devotional writer and I concentrate more on spiritual disciplines and biblical theology.
What’s the most popular blog post at OrdinaryBeliever.com?
The post that received the most engagement was my review on the movie, War Room. It was basically a response to another review I had read, saying that the movie was worthy of an Oscar. I took the position that the movie, even though it was very well done, would not be considered Oscar-worthy because of the anti-Christian bias of the Hollywood elites who vote on such things.
It got some nice comments on the blog, but when I linked to it on Facebook, some commented that the movie was too “preachy” and “in your face.” They suggested that a movie like Blindside that portrayed Christians in a positive light, but didn’t alienate non-Christians was a better witness. I, and others, disagreed and a few flames were passed back and forth before the controversy died down. I tried to keep everyone’s comments civil, but the discussion was passionate on both sides. It evolved into f-bomb dropping pastors and discussions about guarding our tongues.
In what ways has blogging been a personal blessing to you – any areas of personal spiritual growth that you hadn’t expected?
Yes, when I read the Bible, it is easy for me to consider all kinds of crazy interpretations and observations from what I read. I can speculate all I want and really let my imagination run. But I try to be aware, when I am writing for the public, that what I write is essentially permanent. I don’t want someone coming to me twenty years from now and telling me how I really misrepresented God by some weird theory about heaven or an unscriptural idea about salvation. It has really made me think about what I consider orthodox and how to appeal to other Christians that may be Catholic, Reformed, Charismatic, or whatever I consider myself to be.
You blog in collaboration with your wife, Rebecca. What is that like? Do you both talk about topics or posts as you plan or do you both sort of do your own tracks?
We started the blog last fall as a way to get to know our readers and build relationships.
We’re both evangelical (perhaps that is what I consider myself to be), meaning we believe in the “evangel” or gospel as it is depicted in the scriptures. I can’t think of any doctrinal point that we really disagree on. However, we do enjoy theological discussions about what we think a particular passage of scripture means.
As I said before, we do tend to write with unique “voices.” As you might expect, Rebecca’s perspective may appeal more to women and mine might benefit male readers more. However, I don’t think either of us write exclusively for our own gender. There are a lot of male fans of Rebecca’s posts and I’m sure there are a few females who appreciate my posts.
We don’t really plan our posts together, saying, “I think you should post something on this topic, Rebecca.” Or, “Chuck, why don’t you write more on this subject.” We just post whatever seems good to us, individually, at the moment. We do, though, sometimes respond to a comment made on the other’s posts, but it is clear who wrote the post and who is responding to the comment.
Okay, let’s talk books. You are currently two books into a “Growing On Purpose” series. Tells us about the intention behind the series and a little about the first two books.
Thanks for asking. I actually am planning a total of nine books in the series. The first three books focus on stewardship, and I don’t just define that as money, but all the areas of life for which God expects us to be responsible with what he has provided to us. The first book is on money. I titled it, Financially Faithful: Breaking the Shackles of Debt and Pursuing Generosity.
The second book, which was released in January is, Time for Every Purpose: Discover Your Purpose and Manage the Life God Has for You. I believe we all have a unique purpose from God and must use the time we’re given to accomplish that for God’s glory.
Books 4-6 will be on relationships in our family, in the church, and to the world. The last three, Books 7-9, will be on the sources of power for the Christian to walk victoriously, the Bible, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.
When I first started thinking about these ideas, my kids were young and these were the things that I wanted to impart to them as they grew. My kids are adults now and I have lost that as a motivation, but I still believe they are ideas that God has placed on my heart and I want to share them with other believers. Perhaps my children will teach them to their kids. We don’t have any grandchildren yet, but I’m sure that day will be coming soon enough.
Rebecca, who is much more prolific than I am, has almost a dozen books out now. You can find her author page on Amazon.com by typing “Rebecca Livermore” into Amazon’s search box. Most of our books were written as short e-books and can be read quickly. A few are available as paperbacks also.
What is the third book in the series going be about and when is it expected to be available?
The third book will be on stewardship of our bodies. The working title is, Fit for God’s Use: Loving Him with All Your Strength. In order to be used by God to our greatest potential, we can’t let our health be neglected. Christians shouldn’t allow themselves to limited in what the can do for the Lord by heart disease, diabetes, and other ailments just because they are addicted to junk food.
It’s not about looking sexy either. As Christians, our bodies are for God’s use, but often, even those in the church are not fit for service. We are controlled by our appetites and lusts, instead of disciplining our flesh to remain useful for whatever we are called to do.
I retired from the Army when I was forty. As a soldier, we were mandated to take care of our physical health. Our strength and fitness was regularly tested and we had weight standards we had to maintain. I suppose a lot of the lessons I learned in military have me thinking that as Christians soldiers, we must keep our bodies prepared for the time we are called to enter the battle.
As to when this book will be available, I’m still in the research and planning stage right now, but I anticipate getting it published sometime this summer. Since I’m stating that publicly, I guess I am giving myself a fairly firm, though broad, deadline.
Any final thoughts or perspectives you want to share?
Just that I really appreciate the opportunity, Chad, to speak to your audience and share a little about our blog, our books, and our lives. We would love to have anyone who is interested to visit us at OrdinaryBeliever.com.