More Table Talk?

    From March 1986 February through 1990, I wrote a monthly newsletter called Table Talk—named for Martin Luther’s conversations with his students and disciples. Since then, I’ve buried myself in collaborations with various Christian leaders on missionary books and blogs—primarily Steve Murrell, Ferdie Cabling, Jun Escosar, Gregg Tipton, Mike Bickle, Brian Church, and 12 years of monthly blog posts on charitable estate planning with Eddie Thompson. Ghostwriting can be very rewarding work, especially if you don’t care who gets the credit, which I never have. For me, it's always been about the privilege of telling the best stories, and that's usually someone else's story.

    I’ve wrestled with the idea of resurrecting this publication and posting a few Table Talk articles. However, relaxed mornings with Linda over a cup of coffee or having meaningful conversations with some of our children and grandchildren on the family farm have far more appeal to me than signing up for another writing project. In this one small way, I feel like the great George Washington who longed to retire from public life and "remained ensconced under his vine and fig tree." I long spend time reading great literary works. I’m on record as declaring, “No more books to write!” We’ll see if that lasts.

    I'm a very reluctant blogger who has repeatedly questioned the motives behind relaunching Table Talk. Am I trying to resurrect a ministry and a calling that existed a great many years ago? And who would my audience be after all this time? So, instead of dreaming about ways to expand my readership, what resonates with me is becoming more focused and more intentional about my core audience. It boils down to this: 

Table Talk posts are written versions of the devotionals I lead on Monday nights around our dinner table. So, if anyone wants to "sit in" on these little talks with my children and grandchildren, you are more than welcome to tune in. Just click the follow link on the home page.

    There are a few individuals I've invited to join our little table talks, primarily those with whom I’ve felt a genuine sense of community—immediate family, cousins at our annual camp meeting, alumni from the 1971 Jesus Movement at the University of Tennessee at Martin, Maranatha discipleship groups in various locations, and members of Every Nation-Victory churches worldwide. Some of those I taught and discipled, others inspired and discipled me. In the final analysis, we discipled each other more than anything else.

    This is no farewell address, though I have recently become a septuagenarian (70+ years). I asked my youngest granddaughter if she knew what a septuagenarian was.

    “Is ahh that… like a dinosaur?” she asked.

    “Yes, Clara,” I replied. “Like a very old dinosaur.”

Love and blessings to you all,

Walter & Linda Walker

FOOTNOTE: The header image is a photo of Martin Luther's writing table from my 1975 visit to Warburg Castle in Eisenach, East Germany where Luther translated the Bible into German for all to read..