Morning, friends -
Here’s your chance to speak up and speak out about blogging and ministry. One of the two terrific THEO-bloggers who’ve hepled me so much with the new, improved Finding Direction, Brad Palmore, is soliciting input from us all about our experiences with the benefits and/or disadvantages of blogging, specifically in our Christian walk. Here’s what he says:
I’ll be presenting a lecture in a few weeks on current technology
trends in ministry. One of the obvious factors to include is blogging
and the effects it has on community. What I’d like from you is two
things. First, what experiences have you had with blogging that
highlight the benefits or disadvantages of blogging. Second, consider
writing a post for your blog soliciting these types of comments from
your readers. I have some that I’ve gleaned from your blogs already,
but would like to give you the opportunity to share some explicitly
designed for this purpose.Thanks! Brad Palmore
So, leave your comments below positive and/or negative about blogging and ministry as readers of blogs, writers of blogs or just passers by. Please. Dee
Dee Andrews
For me, the aspect of blogging has enlarged my world. I now have a new view of the horizon. I only work two days a week and my friends at work are few. I have a few neighbors, but they all work. So talking and discussing many of the things on blogs just doesn’t happen that much. So…I enjoy reading the views of others and I believe it has caused me to think, know and understand some of the things going on in our world as well as our churches.
I use to blog and hope to someday start back up again. Time is the problem I find preventing me from getting back into it. Just seems to take up a lot of time and I don’t have that much time to spend doing it. I think also, being honest and open caused me to shut down my blogging, which is a sad commentary on my own life. But I have been working at it and maybe soon, I will begin blogging again.
I’ve sent Brad my thoughts, but I’m glad you’re opening this up to your readers.
Blogging is a nice way to share your thoughts as well as make friends. I met you, Dee, via the blogosphere and have come to admire your depth and appreciate your faith through some difficult experiences.
Blogs can remind us how important relationships are. Of course you can also be critical and hurtful in a blog, just as in any mode of communication. Maturity and repsonsibility are paramount.
Thanks, Dee, for putting this out there, and to Peggy, Greg, and Danny for their notes. If you have some you may not want to post publicly, feel free to email them directly to me at brad@theobloggers.com.-Brad
Dee, I came across this from a friend’s blog who mentioned this post. I thought I would share the linkI could say a lot about blogging… but just don’t have the time right now. I believe it can be a spiritual discipline and a community or church as well. For the most part its a way of connecting and ministering.
Very interesting topic for sure. No doubt some are uncomfortable with some things I express in my blog. Others probably wonder why I’m so far behind the times. It’s all in the perspective. I have had a few negative experiences with people reading my blog both locally and outside of the area. My blog became a source of information about hurricane Katrina relief in the area … and I still want to put that info out, but I also have been returning to the theme of expressing the thoughts and activities of my daily life. I know from talking to some fellow ministers that their jobs would be terminated if they expressed some thought that was against the status quo of their congregations. I think that censorship of these ideas is a sad way to deal with information, and that honest dialogue is much to be preferred. Blogs offer opportunity to be honest. Once, for a laugh, I started a blog called "The Unknown Preacher" … a preacher with a paper bag over his head to conceal his identity. This was only for a laugh and a few friends to share, and after a day or two I deleted the blog. It was scary to me, though, that this is exactly what some preachers would have to do. This says a lot about the leadership of some of our churches. I think blogging is healthy, creates a certain vulnerability, which allows the preacher to become ‘real’ to the people who read. And perhaps it is voyeuristic to want to know someone else’s thoughts and read them daily. I tend to think it is interest, a search for information that can assist us on our journey, and a means by which to identify with that person who gets up and preaches for us each week. Blogging is not for everyone in ministry … some are simply not allowed to be free to think.