As of this posting, I will no longer be doing blogs live from City Council. I have felt the Lord telling me to walk away and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
I know that will shock some of you and to some it will make absolutely no sense. I will likely lose 3/4 of my readership on this blog because of it. Honestly, I don’t care, because I know this is what God is instructing me to do.
Recently, my fiancee Amy & I have been drawn to a new church, Lifepoint Church. We’ve felt an instant connection and it’s been very clear to us that we’re going to be involved in the church. A large part of this church is their small groups which meet on Monday nights. I had been thinking we would attend small group meetings the weeks there were not Council meetings but God’s made it very clear that my priority is not the Springfield City Council meetings.
Those of you who are Christians and follow Christ in your life will understand what I’m doing here. When He calls, you listen. To those who are not Christians I hope you can at least look at this and understand these are my beliefs and that I’m living them out and respect that.
I’m not going away. I’ll still be reporting on city events and I’ll still be trying to provide interesting and hopefully entertaining information. The live blogs of City Council just cannot come before service to God so that’s what I am stopping effective immediately.
Have a good weekend.
When God calls, you gotta listen.
Same reason I joined the choir at JRA. Not as big a sacrifice but the same concept.
You will be blessed BIG TIME for this sacrifice.
Don’t completely understand the reasoning but your presence and live blogging is sorely going to be missed by many who read the council minutes from your blog.
Best of luck on your new endeavor.
Is this another shiny aluminum baton?
Perhaps another blogger will step in and fill the gap.
Or, we can always rely on the city’s official minutes, after all, the city is our city.
Your posts from Springfield city hall have been invaluable to me. It certainly helps me understand municipal structures and the conflicts and processes that exist.
Thank you.
Thanks for the liveblogging, Jason. I think it’s great that as just you and Amy are about to enter the rest of your lives together, the two of you have found such a welcoming church community. Best wishes to you both!
Thanks Darin and BYG. I’m not going away…I just won’t be liveblogging from there.
The Council can’t get off THAT easy.
I understand.
I tried your method but it just didn’t work for me.
It takes too much time to create a transcript. Keep it up, we’re addressing some of the same issues down here - but, our governmental structure is far more powerful and the press baptized in corruption.
I lurked here for quite a while before ever leaving a comment, and I truely enjoyed coming here to get a recap of Council meetings. It was almost as good as being there in person. With that said, I deeply repect and understand your decision. The most important things in life center on realizing the true priorities. Sometimes I lose sight of that myself.
Good call on the priorities, Jason. I completely understand and can empathize with you on so many levels.
Being Christians we should always ahear to the direction God calls us to first and foremost, even when it might interfere with our own personal desires which don’t exactly match with his will.
Kinda ironic consideing the past month my Sunday school class lessons were on God’s will, etc.
(I know some of this is funny talk to others and may even sound strange - but to us Christians who seek to put God’s direction first and foremost before our own desires - it makes perfect sense.)
I know this is a big decision for you and Amy, Jason. I encourage you to stay strong as circumstances and even people try to get you second guessing this decision. As the first person said, when God calls, we’ve gotta listen.
Keep up the good work.