Why I’ve Moved to Substack

The more things stay the same, the less they change—and that’s how I like it. Even so, and though I’ve fought the need for changing my writing modus operandi, the time has come for me to acknowledge the limitations of blogging. These days, more people are preferring to limit their online intake to social media and email subscriptions. Thus, in order to continue growing my audience, I have decided to make a change: I will be using Substack as my go-to home for new posts. This setup will allow you to more easily access my writing, as each new post will be delivered to you via email.

In my very first blog post (published in January of 2006), I gave a few reasons for starting my own blog. With some tweaking and condensing, those reasons apply to my new venture into newsletter writing:

1) Everyone else is doing it

2) If I am to maintain my individuality, I must conform to the status quo

3) As a writer, I am motivated to hone my skills while utilizing strategic platforms

4) As an activist against actor objectification, I want to increase my influence so as to encourage more people in God-glorifying, neighbor-loving cultural engagement

As John Piper once wrote,

[T]here is a difference between wanting fame and wanting influence. Christians should want to be influential. We should not want to be famous. Wanting fame means wanting to be known and praised by lots of people. Wanting to be influential means wanting lots of people to know and praise God because of how you spoke of him and lived before him.

Along those lines, I purpose to grow in efficacy as a writer, activist, and cultural commentator. As such, I would be most grateful if you would visit my newsletter page and subscribe to new posts.

All that said, this blog isn’t going away. I will continue to post new content here from time to time. Nevertheless, the main hub for my writing (other than the national outlets I contribute to) will be my Substack newsletter.

Rest assured: I will not flood your inbox with trivial twaddle. In fact, I won’t flood your inbox at all. More often than not, updates will take place somewhere between weekly and monthly—rarely more, sometimes less. (How’s that for a S.M.A.R.T. goal?)

So if you follow this blog, or if you have benefited from my writings here and elsewhere, you will want to subscribe to the Unpop Culture newsletter to get my future writings delivered directly to your inbox.

And if you have indeed benefited from my cultural commentary, I have one additional request: would you do me the honor of helping promote this newsletter? In a world where we are bombarded by advertisements from every conceivable source, your personal recommendation would help push through the noise and communicate to others, in a very meaningful way, the value of what you have found here.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement!

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash (edited)