Issue 017: Visioneering

Shadows trail across the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The morning sun, rising on the far side of the Potomac, is now wide awake. Reaching for the trees—and beneath them the runners along the Mount Vernon Trail—the gold light warms the air.

Heading north, and then west, I take the parkway to its end, and then keep going until I reach Great Falls Park. It’s no secret that I return here often. I don’t say this simply to celebrate my habit of running here—but rather to reaffirm that seeking the kingdom of God is tied to our human experience of time and place.

Running—at least for me—often provides clarity about how to live in our time and place while we seek the kingdom of God. The simple pursuit of finishing a set of miles reveals to me how simple our calling to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves can be, despite all of our unresolved questions. It reveals the vision that is worth its journey of endurance.

And so, as we revamp Liberatus and compile a print journal on wholeness in politics, in this Visioneering journal series—outlined during that sixteen-mile run at Great Falls Park—we will explore:

• The problem in politics, the solution, and our creative challenge;

• Why being part of Liberatus matters and where we are heading;

• The theme of Volume One and how it relates to healing for political communication;

• How we can create a new category for political engagement;

• Our partner organizations;

• Our audience, and why we are not necessarily trying to create a movement;

• And finally, giving, leadership roles that need to be filled, and how you can pledge now to back the upcoming Kickstarter campaign and make our work to give peace a voice in Washington sustainable.

If creating a beautiful print journal to explore wholeness in politics—both for political professionals and the grassroots—resonates with you artistically, professionally, and spiritually, then your participation is welcome and will make this project successful. While I think it’s necessary to hold our plans with open hands, I am more excited for the possibilities in front of us than I have been since our founding, and the vision is so compelling to me that I think it is worth the professional and financial risks it requires.

To conclude this series preview, I am writing this seventeenth journal issue specifically for the roughly fifteen writers, board members, and volunteer leaders who are currently involved in building the organization in some capacity. I am writing to the 50 donors who have made Liberatus a reality since 2015. I am writing to the more than 100 of you who have followed Liberatus since 2015, and finally I am writing to those of you who may be discovering the vision of wholeness for the first time and are eager to join us as we explore how the peace of Christ can remake politics from the ground up. 

-Caleb Paxton, Liberatus Founder

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Liberatus is a community journal about wholeness in politics, because all of us are tired of dysfunction. Citizens who join us are advocates for how the peace of Christ can remake politics from the ground up.

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Journal Entry #111