Re-Launch

For the last several years I’ve had a website that I couldn’t maintain.  Large portions of the site were not under my control, and even the parts I was supposed to be able to control required accessing a special program that I never really mastered.  As a result, the site perpetuated dated and inaccurate information about me, which has often shown up in church bulletins when I’ve been preaching somewhere.  Many apologies to everyone who’s been confused by that out-of-date website.  I should have trashed it long ago.

Today I’m excited to relaunch laurasmit.com in a new format that I should be able to manage myself.  Adding to the user-friendliness of the new website is that it’s now been merged with my blog, so I only have one site to maintain.  Which is really all I can handle.

In addition to this blog, the site now includes a section on books (those I’ve written or contributed to, but also those I love and recommend), a calendar that includes all future preaching assignments and other speaking engagements, a section of miscellaneous resources (such as conference papers, study guides, and interviews), and a collection of sermons and lectures (mostly sound files, but also a few videos).  These sections will all be growing in the months to come.

I’m on sabbatical for the 2014-2015 academic year.  Yes, for the whole year!  I’ll be in Oxford for the fall and a fellow at Biola’s Center for Christian Thought in the spring, while spending both summers at my house near Lake Michigan.  I know: it’s perfect!  I have many goals for my sabbatical, but chief among them is retrieving the habit of daily writing.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll post here every day.  Not everything that I write belongs in the public eye.  But I do plan to post much more often than I have in this last year.

Many thanks to recent Calvin grad Tommy Graves for helping me with this transition.