It has been two years since Christianity Today's This Is Our City launched in Phoenix, Arizona, but its impact is still felt through those who joined together to dream for their city. Earlier this year Timothy Høiland, who was part of the Phoenix team, launched Flourish Phoenix, "an online magazine that celebrates the good, the true, and the beautiful in our city." He spoke with Laura Leonard about how his involvement with This Is Our City and Christianity Today gave shape to this new project and continues to support the long-term work of bringing renewal to the city of Phoenix.

What is Flourish Phoenix? How did it come about?

Flourish Phoenix is a digital magazine and blog committed to celebrating the good things happening throughout metro Phoenix. I like to call it "celebratory journalism." Wherever we see people working together to make our city a better place, we want to let people know about it. Our editorial vision is firmly rooted in a Christian understanding of the common good, and we're clear about that, but we also want to celebrate the good, the true, and the beautiful wherever we find it—and that sometimes means telling stories that Christians wouldn't otherwise hear.

The concept emerged out of conversations with a couple of friends of mine—an entrepreneur and a pastor—who saw an opportunity to do a kind of storytelling that wasn't happening in our community. We started laying the groundwork for the project in January and launched flourishphx.com in July.

How did you get involved with This Is Our City?

I first got connected to This Is Our City through Christy Tennant Krispin, who was the director of engagement for the project. I'd also crossed paths with Andy Crouch a couple of times, and his book Culture Making had a profound impact on my understanding of cultural engagement, so when I heard about This Is Our City I was instantly gung ho.

What role did you play in the TIOC Phoenix efforts and events?

My wife and I helped out with logistics at a couple of TIOC-related events here in Phoenix. One was a "listening party" where the team gathered story ideas from a group of local leaders. The other was a more public launch party coinciding with the publication of the September 2012 issue of CT, which featured several stories from Phoenix. We both wrote stories for the project and eventually joined the team on a part-time basis to help with social media as well.

How did you see TIOC engage your city? How are you and your city different because of it?

It was great to see leaders from a range of churches, nonprofits, and other sectors come together in a spirit of collaboration and encouragement, particularly at the listening event and the launch party. I'm grateful to TIOC for taking the initiative to convene these events. In many ways, TIOC laid the groundwork for Common Good PHX, a two-day event with Andy Crouch that a few of us put together at Christ Church Anglican in April 2013. The feedback from the event was very positive, and it's been encouraging to see how introductions made during that time have turned into relationships that are slowly but surely strengthening the social fabric of our sprawling, transient city.

How did your involvement with the project inspire your work with Flourish Phoenix?

My involvement with TIOC certainly gave me a vision for what something like Flourish Phoenix could become. I learned through TIOC that there are countless "common good stories" in any city, and that they're worth telling despite the challenges inherent in doing so.

Tell me about your vision for the city of Phoenix. How do you see CT playing a role in it?

Through Flourish Phoenix, I want to see a collaborative movement of people in metro Phoenix who give life to neighborhoods, networks, organizations, projects, and businesses marked by the good, the true, and the beautiful. Something like that is only going to come about when a diverse range of folks plant themselves here for the long haul and decide to collaborate rather than merely compete. That said, I'm grateful for the groundwork that TIOC has helped to lay here in Phoenix and in other cities around the country. And I continue to benefit from reading the thoughtful content that CT publishes on issues related to living faithfully in all areas of life, wherever God has called us.

Laura Leonard is managing editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com