This is the electronic home of Clint Collins, the pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tahlequah, OK and a seminarian at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK.  I hope you’ll drop in to catch up on my thoughts, read some news worth hearing, and keep current on the buzz from around the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

So why “Circuit Writer?”

As Euro-American settlers pushed westward across the North American frontier they took their religious beliefs and practices with them.  New communities arose and with them, new churches.  In movements like the early Methodists in the U.S., communion and other practices of the church could only be officiated by clergy appointed by the Bishops.  With the rapid movement of what was known as “American” culture to the west, the demand for clergy outgrew the supply and the “circuit riders” were born.  Given a charge of at least two, and often times many small churches throughout sparsely populated rural areas, these frontier pastors established travel circuits that allowed them to minister to all of their congregations on a regular basis.  Constantly on the move, these pastors traveled with few possessions and relied on the generosity of their congregations to provide them with food and lodging along the way.

Today our frontiers are more metaphorical than geographical, but the concept is the same.  There are new frontiers in culture, politics, science, and many other areas that the faith has sadly been slow to engage.  Of course, the new circuit riders are not on horseback – the means of moving out into the boundaries are now a laptop or PDA and a wifi hotspot – but our purposes are really the same: to bring the faith into new areas and minister to the people that are already there.

I see myself in carrying on the tradition of the circuit riders of old, but I travel between the the new frontiers of thoughts and ideas.  In the digital age, we don’t travel far and wide so much as we bring different communities and ideas into dialogue.  Instead of traveling across geographical boundaries, I live in the ideological boundary lands, working to carry out conversations and expose people to new ideas.  New frontiers are opening up around us every day – it’s time for the faith to expand its horizons.

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll hang around and spend some time with me exploring the boundaries!