The re:Thinker
I am a follower of Jesus. My name is Tobias Valdez. I’m 33 years old. Married with two children.
Thoughts of Our History
I (my family and I) have been involved in organized churches, to include Southern & Independent Baptists and Assembly of God, a couple of Non-Denominational churches and a few church groups that considered themselves to be part of the Emerging Church Movement and the House Church Movement. I spent fifteen years of my life pursuing things others told me were the good or right things of a Christian life. At the end of March 2009, my family and I gave up that pursuit and stopped attending organized church. We had a longing for something more. So much more.
Currently Thinking
What is shaping our lives right now is the pursuit of Jesus Christ, His centrality and supremacy, and the eternal purpose of God. The revelation of Jesus Christ as the central being and supreme passion in our lives is a consuming fire that is burning away all that is not Him. The eternal purpose of God has become our passion and pursuit. The people we share our lives with in this pursuit have become our family.
For me, living in community, in this way, with deep relationships, and intentionally sharing life with others under the headship of Christ, fulfills a longing I have had all of my life, even as I grew up in the organized church. The longing that there has to be more to being a follower of Jesus than what modern Christianity has to offer. Thinking to myself, “Is this all the Christian life is about? Isn’t there more to being a follower of Jesus?” Asking myself, “What was so life changing that persuaded the disciples and those of the early church to live and give their lives, even unto death?” This revelation of Jesus Christ and the eternal purpose of God is the answer to that longing. This is the missing element, the missing part of life, that I had not found in any organized church I had ever been a part of. Jesus Christ becoming the central being and supreme passion in our lives, and the eternal purpose of God is what I will give my life for. He is what I live my life for.
Thanks for stopping by re:Think. I pray Jesus Christ becomes central and supreme in your lives and you will live to see the eternal purpose of God.
-Tob.
