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My favorite blog is Challies.com. I look forward to reading it every day (well, Monday to Saturday actually). Tim Challies is the blogger, and I am privileged to call him a friend. Tim’s writing is always fresh, stimulating, substantial, entertaining, edifying, and practical. And brief! He covers a wide range of subjects, but always with a focus on living out the Christian life in our challenging world.

I’ve also come to admire Tim’s courage. He tackles subjects many of us would run from, and he is not afraid to challenge some of the popular trends and speakers in the Church.

Perhaps what I like most about Tim’s writing is the way he puts himself into his posts. So much writing today, especially Christian writing, is utterly characterless. If you picked up ten books, it is hard to tell if they’ve all been written by one person or by ten different people. Part of this is the fault of over-zealous editors, purging books of all personality. But part is also just a robotic and impersonal style of writing. You don’t get that from Tim. When you read Tim, you get Tim. And it’s not in an arrogant self-seeking way, but in a humble and self-effacing way. After reading his blog for a few months, you will feel like you have a new friend!

Then there is A la Carte, Tim’s almost daily pick of five or six blog articles or websites worth visiting. This has saved me so much time searching for good stuff on the web. It has also introduced me to many other profitable websites and blogs. And again, you get a flavor of Tim’s personality in his choices.

Lastly, there are Tim’s book reviews. Apart from his Gospel Coalition blog, Ten Million Words, in which he is reviewing every New York Times Bestseller this year, Tim also reviews lots of Christian books at his own blog. I’ve come to trust Tim’s judgment over the years, and if he recommends a book, I usually act on that. If he doesn’t, I save my dollars.

And Tim does all this, every day, for nothing!

I’ve always felt guilty about this. And so I was delighted when he told me about Friends of the Blog, Tim’s innovative way of funding the development and maintenance costs of his blog (the price he pays for being the one of the most popular Christian blogs). I think I was second to sign up (Dewalt beat me to it). You can sign up here. But, in brief, for $39 you get $160 worth of Christian books, DVD’s, audio, etc. Yes, you read that right. It’s a proverbial win-win, isn’t it. Tim gets to cover his costs (with, I hope, a bit left over to feed his wife and three children!), and you get $120 of Christian resources free. Personally, I would pay the $39 without expecting anything in return. “The laborer is worthy of his reward” (1 Tim. 5:18).

If you have profited from Tim’s sacrificial writing ministry, then I encourage you to sign up to Friends of the Blog and support this dear brother. If you are not familiar with Tim’s blog, then pay him a visit and get to know him better through his writing. As you do, you will also get to know your Savior better.

  • Samantha

    Great post about Tim. Very well done. I haven’t read much on his blog but I’ve definitely heard about him. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you.