By Rachel and Bailey
It’s our one year anniversary at All the More — so we want to celebrate with you how this blog came to be and the ways in which God has provided and used it this past year!
Why did we start All The More?
A year ago we (Bailey and Rachel) were sitting in Thunderbird coffee shop in Austin, TX discussing how hard it was to find and keep steadfast community in the uncomfortable mid-twenties stage of life. We both have friends spread throughout the U.S. and the world. We both were brand new to this city. We both longed for stability in our community.
We asked ourselves, what would it look like to create this kind of community? How could we stay connected and encourage one another in our faith with our sisters in Christ around the world? We were two kingdom-dreamers, longing for a more connected community, who felt the Spirit move us to create a platform for people we know and don’t know to share how God is currently at work around the globe. We had no idea if it would work, what it would look like, and zero budget or desire to make any money from it. In came 20+ dreamers, creatives, and writers from around the globe. We had friends helping us with SEO, web design, logo design, social media, photography, and writing. God provided exceedingly and abundantly. A couple weeks later, on April 16th, 2016, we launched All The More; the collective blog community that we now know and love.
We based this idea off of Hebrews 10:24-25:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
As we look back to see how God has fulfilled this promise in the past year through All the More, we wanted to remind our readers and bloggers and ourselves why we created this blog and what we hope it accomplishes.
What do these verses tell us about how All The More hopes to be a part of His kingdom purposes?
Right before these two verses, verse 23 points us to the gospel. Before we can think deeply about how to mutually build each other up and consistently meeting to talk about the gospel all the more readily as we prepare for Jesus to return….We must remember the hope of eternal salvation, without being moved, for God is worthy of our trust.
And when we look back at the whole chapter, we see verse after verse reiterating how no longer do we have to offer sacrifices, because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Yet after verse 25, we see that God brings vengeance on those who do not trust in his mercy and goodness. They should have a “fearful expectation of judgment.” We also see that by trusting in him, who again is worthy of that trust in every way, we will endure trials. Like Stephen and Phillip in the book of Acts, like Samson in the book of Judges, and like so many others’ stories in the Bible and in fellow believers’ lives today, we know that these sufferings will cause us to be exposed to reproach and affliction. Yet we know that our confidence in a greater reward will cause our souls to be preserved.
Wow, what a packed chapter with rather heavy messages surrounding the encouraging verses of 24-25.
What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
The impact of All The More this past year:
How we’ve seen God at work through All The More:
Happy 1-year, All The More family! Thank you for letting us join you on your faith-journey, as we encourage one another all the more this past year! Celebrate with us by commenting which blogs or writers have especially encouraged you!