The Site
Before Ian‘s formal call at Generations Community Church (in other words, between assignments, but attending Generations), he started writing devotionals, in particular for Advent, then Lent. As he was writing content, it made sense to start posting on the web, especially once the devotional transformed into a daily devotional from the special season devotional.
Initially, it was only posted on Facebook, but soon he decided to post it on his own personal site since it was content he wrote. In May 2020, he moved the writings to Devoti.onl. On 22 September 2020, he was able to secure the Devotion.al domain, and here we are!
As most of the devotions were written will he was at Generations Community Church, they were primarily focused on that faith community.
As Ian has moved to a new assignment, the will be a new focus on that assignment, but also on making them more general for the larger Christian faith community.
It is his hope that you enjoy these devotionals, and that they help you walk closer with Jesus.
Disclaimer: Just to be clear, while I am an ordained elder and a called pastor, these devotionals are my personal ministry. These do not necessarily represent the denomination or any assignment.
The Logo
To be honest the logo was one of many initially presented as an option for a generic Christian site. It wasn’t Ian’s original thought. It was eventually chosen as it resembled a cross, and appreciation for the stylization of seeing 3 I’s (the first initial of Ian’s given name) in it.
The symbol is almost identical, learned later, to the IX monogram whose “X” was more centered on the “I” as if it were a wheel. The I was the Greek initial for Iesous (i.e., Jesus) and the “X” for Christos (Christ).
The Colors
Ian loves church liturgy, which is pretty funny coming from a guy who is all about the digital. For many years, he wanted to develop a website that changed color schemes on particular dates to match the liturgical year. Once Ian added featured images to the devotionals, at least the text colors changed to match.
If you’re not familiar with the church year, it was developed in an era when people couldn’t read so visual symbols and indicators were important. It matured into something more, but the basic is still there. A visual indicator of where the church is during the year.
As Devotion.al moved to a more irregular style, the church colors have generally been removed, or at least are regular with posts.
What is a devotional?
Devotion.al (the site name) is a just cute way to get to devotional.
A devotional is a focus on a particular scripture (or scriptures) that seeks to deepen the inner work of a follower of Christ (which should lead to outward expression). It can include questions and or prayers (not necessarily, though).
In comparison, an inspiration is a quick quote (of oneself or others, including scripture) meant to provide a small impetus for improvement across disciplines or general encouragement, but that doesn’t expect much thought by the reader/hearer/recipient. This is may or may not be religious in nature.
There is also a “shared impact”, which is a person telling a story of their experience. This often isn’t intended to be anything other. It can point to God or describe an experience with God. The largest issue with “shared impact” stories is that they can actually be so personal that sharing it (especially repetitively) becomes almost discouraging (as when the hearer doesn’t respond positively).