Why Blog? 2

Why do I blog 2
Jolly blogger has a great t-shirt I thought about getting. It says, “I think, therefore I blog.” http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/. That wasn’t the reason I started blogging, but it is a good one! This is a good web site, and I often stop by here to read what he has to say. His thoughts are challenging and often humorous, something I’m quite fond of, too.

Here is a definition I found from an article on blogging for those wondering what this is all about:

A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links. A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

I’ve been talking about blogging for months in the office, and I still get puzzled looks from the staff and my friends when I mention it, so if you’re feeling in the dark about this, you’re in good company. Let’s go on with “why blog.”

My first reason was to document the history of the turning around of our church from dying to new life and a renewed vision to reach our neighborhood for Jesus Christ. I will continue to periodically write about that.

My second reason for blogging is discipleship. The most (preaching time) I have with the congregation is 30-40 minutes on Sunday. If my good friend, Don, had his way, I’d get 60 minutes (and there are times I wish I had that much), but the majority of people are unable to give that kind of time to a sermon. Blogging, then, becomes another opportunity to teach. That teaching can include additional information about the message, can be other thoughts that don’t fit the message on Sunday, yet I still believe is pertinent, or give other information from a variety of topics. As I learn more about blogging and linking (referencing other blog sites) I’m going to add that, too. There are some very good blogs out there, teaching some great truths of Scripture, and/or giving some very thought-provoking writings that I’d like for the congregation to read. By doing all this, I continue to disciple long after the Sunday services are over.

next: Interaction with the congregation and other pastors/bloggers

Why blog?

I have had several people ask why I blog. Great question. At first, I thought I had the answer, but after starting this realize that there is so much more that can be done.

Originally I wanted to blog to give to document how we (church I pastor and my family) turned a dying church around. 85% of churches in the US are in plateau (stagnant, no growth) or are dying. The church had been in a pattern of slow decline for 12-14 years prior to my becoming senior pastor for various reasons. I did not want to be known as the pastor who shut the doors of the church. Little did I know what my family (pastoring is a joint effort, everyone in the family, wife, children are involved) would face in getting a traditional church, stayed in it’s ways to become untraditional by renewing the vision of why we are here. I’ll write on that more another time.

So, why else would I blog? More on that later.

Technology is amazing

I had a friend come over today to help me figure out how to do some of this stuff I see other bloggers doing. Thrill of thrills, I have at least found out how to add links, something I've wanted to do for quite a while. It's easy once someone shows me. Now I can link to those blogs I've been reading, some of which I've been reading for a year or more.

I read today in Tod Bolsinger's blog about blogging and community. Tod is an avid believer in the body of Christ being a community, which is why I enjoy his blog so much. He has great thoughts on community, I'm often encouraged and challenged by his writings.

Back to technology, I learned more about all that can be done on blogs, and I learned it from a person in my community, someone who was in church last week and said, I'll get you taken care of! Thanks, Ryan. How's that for fitting those two paragraphs together?

Godblog 3

In listening to Mark D. Roberts and Tod Bolinger, two pastors who did one of the breakout sessions, the key phrase, for me, was “find your own voice.” They defined that as writing about my passions and concerns. I’ve struggled with what to write about since I started this in June. I want to write, but what I started with is not what I’ve been writing about lately. The issue of turning a church around is a hugely important one, but I’ve gotten bogged down in writing about it. I am passionate about that, but realize that I need to mix up what I’m writing about, so that I do not continually harp on one issue. I like writing light hearted things, too, fun things, different happenings, from my family to church to just every day observations that I make, like what I wrote about in beginning the blogging conference.

Incidentally, both of these gentlemen I have been looking forward to meeting. I’ve been reading their blogs for some time, have enjoyed their insight. They are every bit as gracious and encouraging as I have found them to be in their blogs. Meeting them has been a highlight. And the fact that they took a while to find their "voice" in blogging was encouraging to me. The best way to learn is to keep at it, so I will.

Godblog 2 continued

The students at BIOLA are kind, friendly, mannerly and obviously used to people wandering around with a look of lost ness to them. At least it seemed so to me. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb trying to find where to go, and didn’t get any help from any of the students. But, as with most males, I would not stop and ask for any more directions, I already did that once, and refused to do it again. I finally found the place to register, got registered, received a free book on blogging, and a new leather bound ESV (English Standard Version) version of the Bible, something I’ve wanted to get, but hadn’t yet. Both were great gifts to start the conference with.

Everyone acts as if I’m supposed to know what in the wide world of sports I’m doing when I blog, understanding all the techie stuff. Wrong again. I make this up as I go along. (No, I don’t do that with my sermons, though, for those who are wondering). I asked a couple of questions, one answer I understood, the other I didn’t. I heard the “well, you’re a blogger, so you know all that.” Pride took over. “Oh yeah”, I replied, and faked it well enough to get by, or at least that’s the theory I’m going with.

I sat next to a student from BIOLA during the orientation meeting. We introduced ourselves and proceeded to talk before the session. “You’re a student here?” I asked. “Yes, I am.” Are you in journalism? (I assumed so, since the journalism school was putting the conference on). “No, I’m in film making.” I replied, “So you have a blog?” “No, I don’t even know what a blog is. What is it?” He just burst my bubble, thinking that all college students knew about such a thing.

I had thought that blogging was becoming a little more mainstream than what it is, especially on a college campus. As the sessions go on, the subject of how long blogging has been going on, and the reaction is: three, maybe four years at most.
I am amazed at how new this really is.

Godblog 2

I’m at the conference right now. I’ve only been on the campus at BIOLA one other time, so I’d forgotten the beauty of this place. I had no idea where to go for the conference, so I just went into the first building I could get to right next to the parking lot and went in to ask where the blogging conference was. The reaction? “The what?” “The blogging conference.” “What’s that? Blogging did you say?” “Yes.” “I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it, but this is a big campus and a lot goes on here, much that we don’t even know about. Who is the contact person?” Needless to say, I couldn’t remember Matt’s last name (Anderson), and didn’t bring any other material with me. I thought the campus was small enough, and that everyone would know what was going on, and, silly me, that a college would be very familiar with the latest, cutting edge trends. Wrong. The receptionist at the building was as kind as she could be, and worked very hard to find out where I needed to go, but never comprehended what “blogging” was. Evidently this is still very new! Thus, my beginning experience to the Godblogcon conference.

Godblog

I'm off to a Christian blogging conference. I've been looking forward to this for several months, it is because of this conference I started doing this. Why go to a conference about blogging if I'm not blogging? There are some guys there I'm looking forward to meeting, bloggers I have read and admired.

Most important to me, how can I use this new medium to help disciple others, namely the group that I pastor? And I want to learn how to better use some of the special settings I'm sadly ignorant of.

I'll fill you in as I learn. More later. I'm leaving to sit in traffic like most of the rest of LA.