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A Blog Is Born
- 01/04/09
- 26
Continued from yesterday and the day before.
And so it was that I found myself an entrepreneur—the owner of my own company. The story of this little company cannot be separated from the story of this blog. I’ve told the story of this blog’s early days, but will tell it again here.
In September of 2002 I decided, rather on the spur of the moment as I recall, to begin my own web site. I really knew very little about web sites but thought maintaining one might prove to be a fun distraction for me and one that would allow me to hone my design skills. My parents and four siblings had recently moved down to the Atlanta area and, with a one-year old son and with my wife pregnant again, I thought I would use the site as a photo gallery to post pictures of this growing family. Since this was going to be a site by family and for family I spent thirty five dollars to reserve the family name, choosing the domain challies.com. Using some borrowed web space, I pieced together a really bad little site. I uploaded a few photos and over the next few months updated the site every now and again, adding a new set of pictures or writing the occasional personal comment.
As the months passed I continued to update the site, but did so only every few weeks. It was really a sad little site in desperate need of attention. But I found that I did enjoy posting little updates on my family when I got around to doing so. In late 2003 I heard a new word in the media. This word, blog, sounded intriguing. I inadvertently stumbled across one of these blogs, one day, while doing some research and realized that it was really not much different from my site and from what I was already doing. The only real difference was that blogs offered the ability for people reading the site to interact with the content by posting their own comments. That seemed like a great idea, so I installed some blogging software and began calling my site a blog. When I posted an article my mother or my wife would post a little “Good job!” comment for me. But I still didn’t update it much.
October 31, 2003 was a pivotal day. I decided that day that I should get serious about this blogging thing and committed to either blogging every day for a year or giving up and getting rid of the site altogether. So I wrote an article on November 1, November 2, November 3…and before I knew it, it was a year later and I was still going. I recommitted in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. That was over five years ago and I’m still blogging every day and look forward to doing so almost every day.
It was only because I was self-employed that I was able to dedicate the time to writing. Had I been working a nine to five kind of job, there is no way that I would have been able to make time for a job, a life and a blog. But being self-employed afforded me the opportunity to carve a little bit of time out of my day for writing. Had I not been laid off in 2002, this blog would never have taken off.
It came as a great shock to me that, when I began to write, people began to read the site—people I didn’t know and people from all around the world. Before I knew it I had twenty people reading my site every day. Then it was fifty and a hundred and a thousand and two thousand and five thousand and ten thousand…and then it occurred one day that my site had become one of the most widely-visited Christian blogs. I realized that I had been plunked into the center of something that was getting really big really quickly. I was a strange and almost terrifying thought to me.
When I began my web site I had no plan for it but to post pictures of my children. When I began writing I had no plan but to give my family and immediate friends the occasional article to read. Yet it has grown into something so much more. A quick search of the Net will turn up all kinds of articles telling you how you can quickly create a blog that is widely-read and influential. Apparently there are certain shortcuts a blogger can take. The thing is, I didn’t know about any of this when I began and have done very little to deliberately promote the site. I just kept writing. That’s all I’ve done and all I’ve wanted to do. And I guess that’s what I’m going to keep doing until it becomes clear that the time has come to do something else.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
New to the site? You can get
This is a guide written
Comments (26)
Tim, Just wanted to say thanks for the last three posts and for the great job here at your blog. What you said over the past few days really spoke to me and how I’m guilty of the same things when it comes to worry. I’ve never left a lot of comments here but I’ve been a daily reader since I first stumbled across your blog back in 2006. So once again thanks for your commitment to write everyday and for allowing God to impact so many through your words and thoughts.
I too would like to thank you, your name kept popping up when I was shopping for books on Amazon, finally decided to check out your site, have missed very few posts since then and also checked several of the other blogs you have recommended and added them to my daily list of “reads”. Also several of the books you have referred to in your articles (including yours) regarding reformed thought & churches…don’t think (I haven’t found) any churches in my area that fit that criteria, but still looking! Not attending any currently so this site is a blessing.
I’ve enjoyed the past few posts very much. thanks for sharing. I’m glad my mom directed me to this blog:)
Thanks Tim for sharing your life with us. I began my blog Labor Day weekend thinking I wanted to write and write, since I’ve been doing it in journals for over 20 years. I began so I could communicate to the women of our church, I’m a pastor’s wife and lead women’s ministries, and now I’ve got new friends in the blogsphere. I love to write especially about Jesus.
And we’ll continue to read, as long as you post. Love to you and the kiddos!
Aunty Maryanne
Tim,Very thankful you started this blog and are still writing today…It’s nice to use you as a conversation starter :) “you’re Tim Challies sister??” haha…anyhow, love the blog and hope you continue writing for a long time!
A “regular” guy just following the Lord and communicating what God has taught you. I love it Tim and I think that is what makes your blog so appealing. You are walking out the Christian faith in front of many and you are probably hardly aware of the impact you are having. I thank God for you and how kind you have been to me as well! Thanks for sharing your life in such a humble and honest way. Your book is on my reading list this year!! I read most of it last year and intend on reading it again! Enjoy your night and have a wonderful and Happy New Year!
I’m enjoying this account of the early history of your internet ministry.
I’ve always enjoyed your writing but I’ve equally enjoyed watching the evolution of your blog. I kind of miss the forums. They were very beneficial and made it easier to continue discussing a topic that had long passed beyond the front page.
I would like to see a photo history of all of your front page designs. That would be cool.
Congratulations on the success of your blog! You put out good stuff, and that’s the main secret to your success.
It is sometimes hard to keep churning out good stuff when so few people are reading it, but the Lord blesses faithfulness and gives us 100% of the readership that He planned for us (even if that’s a lot lower than other blogs might have). And in your case, He planned great things indeed!
I like your testimony that the Lord blessed even though you didn’t do a lot of marketing strategies. God’s ways are higher than man’s!
October 31st, 2003:
The last day the blogosphere experienced a post without you Tim. Your current streak of 1892 consecutive days of blogging is quickly approaching Cal Ripken’s 2632 games played streak. ;)
Just curious: What day will it be when you decide not to walk onto the ball field of the blogosphere and type a post?
I’m guessing “that time” will never come, Tim. Whatever the future brings, I imagine you will blog alongside it. You were made to write, and you do it well.
Just wanted to let you know that I have enjoyed the site for a number of years now. Any reading that I do outside of pastoral recommendations comes from you site. It’s been a great encouragement. Thanks bro.
I might as well chime in and say that your site has encouraged me in the past few months since I’ve found it. I look forward to the “A La Carte” posts more than anything. I’ve clicked through many sites that you’ve recommended. I also do appreciate your reviews - I would love to be able to read as many books as you do! God bless your future endeavors!
Thank you for your writing Tim. You do write well and are so easy to read and understand. Your writings have had a huge impact on my life and is a great source of encouragement. Again, thank you!
Hi Tim,
It is always good to come across another Christian from the ‘colonies’!
It was a breath of fresh air to read your last three posts with your earthy rubber-meet-the-road as is testimony and without 36 theological reasons as to why we should take notice of it.
Up to six months ago I was a virgin in the Christian blogosphere and had my ‘first time’ with the spiritual aristocracy at the Extreme Theology (holy blogger central) website, that churns out more rookies from its Doctrine Police Academy than McDonalds serves Big Macs, who are NEVER wrong when issuing their sulphur coated ex cathedra missives with reckless abandon direct from the Holy of Holies, and are hysterically opposed to anything works-related, testimonially practical or anecdotal, and are all strangely related to the Less family (Compassion-Less, Merci-Less and Grace-Less). Having spent a few months ‘interacting’ with the Christian intelligentsia, I resolved to abscond as my holiness levels were dropping exponentially and I was getting perilously close to becoming a pathologically obsessed heresy buster (huge gasp).
Your article was timely for me as I also ended up in a comfortable but unfulfilling (almost brain dead) job and am looking for future direction. As a pentecostal refugee I have struggled in the area of Christian liberty (personal guidance on lifestyle decisions where the Bible does not take a position one way or another). While my spiritual detox (metaphorically speaking) delivered me from the tyranny of relying on my intuitive nature to ‘hear God’ and I’ve learned to pay more attention to God’s providential guidance through His Word, wisdom, circumstances and good advice from other mature Christians, it is always encouraging to hear how God has worked in the lives of other saints.
I would like to join the others in thanking you for your transparency and honesty in sharing that important juncture of your life!
Peace from down under!
Tim,Thanks for this series. It was a blessing to read and very encouraging. I joined the Facebook group called, “Tim Challies needs a day off”. I’m sure you’re already aware of it, but if not, now you can take a break for a day - guilt free! :)
I must have been at least one of the first few hundred readers you had, Tim. Your blog played a major role in my coming to understand why doctrine matters. A couple of days ago in the wayback archives I found some nice reminders of those early days, both from your blog and from the blog you’d helped set me up with. It was very nostalgic; I realized afresh just how much your writing and friendship meant, and still does.
Thanking the Lord for you.
Thanks for telling this story. I’m new to your site, but I already have placed it as a “honey pot”, a place I find inspiration, on my blog. B.
For anyone interested in seeing Challies old site as it was back in 2002, there’s a web archive of it here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20021208035534//index.html
I loved reading this post. It is amazing what God can do even when you have no idea what He’s up to or even a clue as to what He will use you for. It was great and inspiring to read about your start up days. I also have a blog site that I started back in May of 2008. I could not get my book published so to keep myself fresh I decided to start a website to keep track of what was on my mind and have a way to keep up with what God was saying to me.
It was really for my children. I was in hopes that one day my boys would be able to read it and maybe get some insight into what I am discovering about God. In the meantime, it has grown somewhat and in 6 months I have had over 1,500 visitors to the site. Writing is something I love doing also and I feel good that I am not selling anything except Christ. God has truly blessed you Tim. Keep it up brother and I will keep reading.
If anyone is interested in going to my site, the link is below.http://www.reigningimmortal.com
Thanks Tim. I have really enjoyed this post and your blog in general.
Luke
I recommitted in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.
Are you implying that all readers of this blog should be committed? ;-)
Your blog has deepened my theological discernment and has encouraged my in my own blogging (though I have a few readers per day instead of a few thousand).
Your testimony of the Lord’s provision reminds me of a time when I had just a few weeks to find a new career to support my wife and children. I also had just a couple of months to find new housing. We had almost no savings. The Lord provided. By the time we moved into our new-to-us apartment, we still had no debt. I had a new career that I had not sought. I stayed with that employer for about 8 years and am still in the same career, which fits my abilities. The praise all goes to the Lord.
Very inspiring story… now where are all my old HTML handbooks? I am sure I can pull out a flashing marquee or something fancy to make some money.
Seriously though, very entertaining site. It is neat and clean, thought provoking, argument provoking, and informative.
Keep it up.
Tim,
Your story is really an inspiration to me.
As an I.T. professional myself, I can totally relate to the struggles that preceded your decision to jump ship and sail solo. I am still with Unisys, Phils and felt really burned out last year. I am still waiting on the Lord for His will regarding my career, but surprisingly (well, not really), I feel a renewed sense of vigor for 2009.
I am also a lover of theology and writing. I have 2 theology blogs and a poetry one.
http://wawilation.multiply.comhttp://underdogtheology.blogspot.comhttp://souldredger.blogspot.com