Hey y'all!

I'm not a rock star.

Hey y’all! My name is Elvis DeFreese, and I am a follower of Christ. I’m a husband and Lord willing, my wife and I will be foster parents soon! I’m a PhD student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and my emphasis is in apologetics. I also work full-time at an Amazon warehouse as well as being a doctoral fellow and working part-time as a research assistant for one of the professors at MBTS.

I’m new to Substack as a whole, and I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to accomplish with Substack. I appreciate Paul Christopher’s advice about being patient and praying about the vision of my Substack. I also want to thank Levi H. Moore for his patiently answering my questions, giving me feedback on a future post, and giving some great advice on the layout of this publication. Ultimately, I want to bring God glory through my writing, and I hope to encourage my readers to do the same. My publication is entitled “For Truth & Grace Apologetics” because apologetics is not about apologizing for our faith but seeking ways to defend and express the truth of God in a spirit of grace and love. Therefore, I want to engage with my fellow believers in a gracious way that inspires unity among the brethren. I also want to work on undoing some of the effects of hurt and abuse that the church has intentionally and unintentionally inflicted upon those who do not believe in Christ. I want to teach and train my brothers and sisters in Christ to do the same: to love each other well no matter where we disagree on secondary or tertiary doctrines, and to love our neighbors well so that we do not bring dishonor upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It has been a little daunting even getting to this point, and I still feel a little daunted. However, as the great Robin Williams told his students in the classic film, Dead Poets Society, “Sounds to me like you’re daunted. Say it again like you’re undaunted.” I’ve been published before outside the area of theology (I used to be in the mental health field), but it is the idea that I could eventually have subscribers that pay to read what I have to say that makes this endeavor a bit daunting. This makes me want to be more careful and intentional about what I write. At the moment though, it is not my goal to get paid subscribers. My goal is to become more consistent and persistent in my writing outside of the academic requirements of school. Here are some general ideas of what you can expect from me: Book Reviews - I love to read and evaluate books, so I will post whatever book reviews that I’ve gotten published in journals. Musings/Reflections - I have a post that I’m working on where I reflect upon an old Toby Keith song. Rebuttals & Encouragements - I hope to make time to write posts in which I respond to someone else’s post either in the affirmative or in gracious opposition. Essentially, I want to engage in the conversation and help keep conversations open and going, and Essays/Papers/Prose - I’m working on my dissertation and I’m hoping to write about the area of apologetics that I’m focusing on, and I hope others will engage in that conversation with me. I also hope to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ to engage with secular culture in a way that is winsome without sacrificing the truth of the Gospel. This means being able to see, particularly in Western civilization, how much of our society’s major movements are based on the Christian worldview even if they outright reject the truth of Christianity.

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

In landing this introductory plane, I sincerely hope to be an encourager to you. I encourage you to seek, to proclaim, and to glorify God through Jesus Christ. I encourage you to wrestle with me and for me in reflecting upon and seeking understanding in the deep waters of God. I encourage you to do battle with me against the enemy. I encourage you to call me out on areas where we disagree so that we may lovingly and graciously work out our faith together with fear and trembling. I encourage you to pray: pray for me and pray for this ministry.

Blessings and Peace!

Elvis