Blogging, Belief, and Beyond Workshop 2006

Belief, Blogging, and Beyond

1

Why?

2

Pros

3

Cons

4

Q & A

Why?History & Impact

Mid-1990s

“Weblog”December 17, 1997

“Blog”Spring 1999

Watershed Events

2002

Trent LottFormer U.S. Senate

Majority Leader

2004

John Kerry2004 presidential hopeful

“Blog”2004 Word of the Year

2004 People of the Year

Stats

46.3 M

75,000new blogs each day

50new blogs each minute

1.2 Mposts each day

50,000posts each hour

14posts each second

Pros

Authenticity

“Best Pastor’s Blog”“Pastor Floyd’s web site has the perfect title: Between Sundays. It’s a great title because ... the purpose of a blog is to build relationships between Sundays. Pastor Floyd covers everything from staff relocations to football ... to places he’s been and people he’s seen….

“Best Pastor’s Blog”“Although, I’ve never spoken with Pastor Floyd or attended his church, I can tell you this: I like the guy. I feel like I know him; and, if I ever were in his neck of the woods … you can rest assured; his church would be the one I attended.”

“The most important thing for corporations to understand before they start blogging is this: Companies don’t blog; people blog.”

“A sure way to drive readers away is to write a blog using a corporate voice rather than the discernible, unmistakable voice of a human being.”

1Thessalonians 2:8“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”

Accountability

Athanasius“Let this observation be a safeguard against sinning: let us each note and write down our actions and impulses of the soul as though we were to report them to each other”

“Blogging is … a barometer of my spirituality … I have found that at the end of a week I can look back at what I have written and see whether I am growing or stagnating. I can see if my attitude has been harsh or sarcastic or if I am showing evidences of the Spirit's work in my life. I can see whether I have spent my time wisely or if I have been wasteful. So for myself and for many other bloggers, blogging is a public manifestation of a private faith.”

Holistic evangelism

“I had a domain already picked out when I started to get e-mail back saying, ‘wait a minute, it is knowing about you that gives the site some character and credibility. Postmodern ministry sites are everywhere’. People went on to say that without the personal stuff, the site just became a collection of links posted by someone they don't know. My stories about my life gave it some context and something to judge it by for good or bad.”

“What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians about other subjects--with their Christianity latent.”

56%

Asians on Xanga

18average age

90%

Bloggers ages 13-29

Edification

Speed

“If you followed the blogs immediately after the annual “let’s demythologize and debunk Christianity just in time for the holiday editions” of Time and Newsweek, then you saw the overwhelming and rapid effectiveness of literally hundreds of pastors who posted thoughtful, cogent, articulate responses to the unscholarly and, in some instances, irresponsible articles published by the newsmagazines. The blogosphere allowed even those who would never be quoted by the LA Times an opportunity to respond and then be linked and disseminated across the world in minutes.”

Depth

“I can offer a “serial” of teachings that can go as far or as deep as I need to go. I don’t worry about running out of time or getting the service over before the childcare team is pulling their hair out, instead I just pick up the discussion in the next post. Long deep conversations are more readily available to more people who are eager to go deeper, and those who aren’t can move on and check back in later.”

Sharing Resources

Dialogue

Case Study: Apologetics

Stand to Reason“An individual Christian’s influence may be a half dozen people, but that is probably a half dozen people you didn’t have influence with before. If it’s difficult to share your thoughts and views at work or at school, write them in a blog and send your coworkers and friends there.”

Cons

Anonymity as a license to sin

Myopic mentality

“I am concerned that blog-writing and reading only adds to a bad tendency that we today already have--a fascination with the newest, latest, and most recent.”

“The danger of the web is this: where everyone has a right to speak, everyone ends up thinking they have a right to be heard; and when everyone in general thinks they have a right to be heard, then you end up with a situation where nobody in particular is listened to.”

Blogger

|blägər|

noun

Someone with nothing to say writing for someone with nothing to do: He is a prolific blogger.

Shallow dialogue

“In my experience personal Blogs are useful for allowing people to stay in touch and know what people are up to, but are not a suitable place for the exchange of ideas - ultimately they do more harm than good...

Blogs allow people to draw assumptions, and jump to conclusions (then link to them or comment on them without interaction or correction) that would not take place in casual conversation nor would be tolerated in other settings....

I think that blogs are adding to a culture of misunderstanding. Too many times, it seems to me, that the way people read blogs and respond to them is like listening to one end of a phone conversation and then having the person set down the phone and begin to comment on what the person on the other end is saying with the other phone partner no longer being part of the conversation.”

Prop of pride

“Am I blogging to bring glory to God or

myself?”

I’m

crushed by criticism.

I’m

harsh

in my disagreements with others.

I enjoy seeing

my name

in print, especially on someone else’s blog.

I check

Sitemeterevery hour to see who’s

on my site.

I like to hear

myself

talk/write.

I Google

my name

every 30 minutes.

I’m

flippant

in criticizing others.

I experience an

emotional high

when more people visit my site one day.

blog fast

1

Why?

2

Pros

3

Cons

4

Q & A

http://www.snipurl.com/BlogWorkshop