An Announcement from the Editor-in-Chief: Big Changes for the Reb + An Opportunity

One of the hardest things I’ve done has been to embrace seasons of transition.

Honestly, I don’t like transitions. They’re hard, uncomfortable, and filled with unknowns. But for the past few years, my life has felt like one transition after another. From releasing books to getting married, from graduating school to beginning and resigning jobs, life has been full of seasons coming to a close while new seasons unfold.

And more transition is ahead: one of the biggest and most life-changing transitions of all–parenthood.

As my husband and I celebrate and anticipate God’s gift of our precious baby, we’ve been praying and considering what the future looks like. What new responsibilities are ahead? What challenges and time commitments lie before us? Raising children is not for the faint of heart and we take the role and responsibility of stewarding tiny souls and raising them in Christ very seriously.

Raising children is Kingdom-of-God work. It’s a full-time, day-in and day-out commitment. It’s one of the hardest, but I believe, most rewarding responsibilities that could be granted someone on this earth. Every parent has only a few short years to train and disciple their children, but those years will either positively or negatively impact their child for eternity.

New Responsibilities

Over the past few years, God has given me the task of writing and releasing books and running the Rebelution. But now, my priorities are shifting and it’s becoming clear that the responsibilities He’s placing before me look very different.

While I’ll still be writing on the side, my daily life will look less like writing books, recording podcasts, and speaking at events, and more like serving my husband and children, running our home, and discipling little hearts as I wash little hands, feed little bellies, and teach little minds.

Most of the world would say that the former is bigger, harder, and more impressive. I disagree.

Anyone can write a book. Only a mother can fulfill that holy calling of stewarding and caring for her children. Writers are replaceable. Mothers are not.

All the hard things I’ve done up until now have led me to this point, to these responsibilities, and to this mission. I’ve been in preparation for these tasks and it’s now my job to embrace them wholeheartedly and do them for God’s glory.

That’s why it’s time for me to step back from the Reb. This announcement is bittersweet. I love the Reb and have been incredibly privileged to be a part of it for the last 8+ years. I’ll never forget sending my first article in for publication and the excitement I felt when it was accepted. God has used the Reb in my life in myriad ways. Through it, I’ve learned and grown. I’ve been challenged and edified. I’ve met countless individuals who have blessed and impacted me–including my husband!

I’m so thankful for my years with the Reb and they are ones I’ll always treasure. I’m excited to see the plans God has in the future and how He will use the Reb for His glory.

It’s funny timing, because as I began sharing this with the team, Tabitha, our amazing managing editor, shared with me her own season of transition. She began working with the Reb when she was still nervous and uncertain about her own writing abilities. Through the years, she’s grown leaps and bounds–as a writer, editor, and most of all, as a follower of Jesus. It’s been beautiful to watch her grow and to see the fruit of that growth in her writing.

But growth often leads to change, to new opportunities and places of faithfulness the Lord is setting before us. That’s where God is leading Tabitha right now, so she too is finding it necessary to step back from the Reb.

One might think that leaving a position where your job is literally challenging teens to do hard things for God’s glory might mean that your own hard things are about to decrease. But actually, I think the opposite is true for Tabitha and I. Because what we’re pursuing is faithfulness and obedience. We’re not leaving so we can stop doing hard things for God’s glory. We’re stepping back so we can continue walking in obedience to the Lord, growing in Him, and faithfully doing all He’s set before us with excellence and intentionality.

That’s our continued prayer for each of you–that you would wholeheartedly seek obedience to the Lord, living faithfully before Him in every season of your life. God’s glory is our goal. Obedience is our route to that goal and submission to His Word is our map.

In a phrase: Follow Jesus alone.

Follow Him in every season and every circumstance. Follow Him no matter what people or society around you says. Follow Him through the ups and downs, difficulties and joys. Follow Him wherever He leads, knowing that He’ll always lead you closer to His Word and undoubtedly farther away from what is considered acceptable to both the world and the surface-level Christian.

Sound hard? You bet.

But it’s the only hard thing worth doing.

What’s Ahead?

So what’s ahead for the Reb? This is the part where I should usually introduce the amazing new Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor, right?

Well, we don’t actually have those pieces in place yet. Which is why I’m sharing this news today….because we’re praying and asking the Lord to provide the right people to pick up the baton and lead the next generation of rebelutionaries.

From now until June 18, we’re taking applications for both positions. If you love the Reb and have interest in filling either role, feel free to apply and we’ll review each application. Or if you know someone who would be perfect for the job, pass this onto them!

Tabitha and I won’t be going anywhere for awhile, so this isn’t goodbye quite yet. But it is the prequel to our goodbye and the introduction of a new chapter for the Reb. Would you join us in prayer that God would guide the Reb moving forward and provide the right people to fill these positions? Pray that He would be glorified, His Word proclaimed, and His name exalted through this platform. After all, that’s the only thing that really matters. If you feel the same, prayerfully consider joining the work of the Reb and fill out an application below.

Click here to apply for Editor-in-Chief.

Click here to apply for Managing Editor.