Welcome to my blog! I hope you’ll be back often (or better yet, get the RSS feed and keep up automatically).
Why “The Paphos Paradigm”? A paradigm is an example or pattern. The significance of Paphos is found in Acts 13. Paul’s first missionary journey took him, Barnabas and John Mark to Paphos, the capital of Cyprus. As they preached the good news of Jesus, the first named convert mentioned was a politician named Sergius Paulus, the proconsul or governor.
I serve as the state director for Maryland for Capitol Ministries, which exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the political arena in America’s 50 states and around the world. The Paphos Paradigm is a great pattern to follow when seeking to minister to government leaders. This blog will be about that mandate – a missing mandate in modern missions of the Church. Hopefully it will serve to remind us all of what the scriptures say regarding our responsibility as citizens of a spiritual kingdom currently living in an earthly kingdom.
The picture on the blog is the capitol building in Annapolis, with the House Office Buiding to the left and Senate Office Building to the right. In between the capitol and the Senate offices is the governor’s mansion. Right here in these halls of power, we are praying for opportunities to touch elected officials with the gospel just as Paul did in Paphos.
Please leave your comments as we journey together through all this. I look forward to thinking through passages that give us direction about our posture toward our government – the Bible is not silent on this!
Again, welcome.
May 19, 2009 at 12:34 am
Indeed, a job well done on your first blog brother! Everything looks great and your “first” topic was a good one. Thank you for your response to President’s speech given at Notre Dame. I plan on visiting your blog as often as I can. I look forward to your prespectives on politics from a biblical view. Keep up the good work brother! Still praying for you, your family, and your ministry there in Maryland!
June 4, 2009 at 7:55 pm
1st rate job on the blog and your web pages.
You inspired me at the meeting with the leaders of UBC and this site continues to show where your heart is.
My prayers remain with you brother.