outside is better

Top Posts of July

This month really marked my return to blogging and it was a great month with several popular posts. The highlight was being featured on UMC.org for almost two weeks with this months top post. I had a great time getting back into the rhythm of blogging.

1. Why I Became Methodist

2. 3 Steps To Beginning Prayer

3. How Hollywood Teaches Wesleyan Grace

4. 3 Reasons The Church Should Understand The Zombie Apocalypse

5. The Most Important Word In Worship Design Is...

What was your favorite?

Welcome to the Reboot

Just a few days ago, June 18th to be precise, I realized I had been at St. Paul's for exactly a year. Many things have changed over the last 12 months and one of them has been the frequency of my blogging. While time has certainly been an issue, it wasn't the primary.

I have been blogging for over 10 years. Digging through the depths of blogger reveals those first thoughts from 2000, and I will admit they are pretty embarrassing. Those first posts reeked of someone who had no earthly idea of any sort of purpose in writing online.

And I feel this last year part of that has come back. As I reflect on this last year I see several changes;

 

1. A change in vocation. Being back in full time ministry again changed things and my working in a more traditional ministry setting added to that. I have not been sure what my blogging might look like within this new season.

2. A change in audience. Instead an intended audience of theological students and others in ministry I instantly added a congregation. I admit being hesitant at times to tackle this combination.

3. A change in purpose. With the previous two (vocation and audience), I knew I would need to shift my purpose. With that, I realized I had never very quickly defined any sort of purpose in blogging. I allowed the topics I frequently blogged on (worship, culture and eschatology) to set that. Better definition would be necessary.

I have spent most of the year reflecting on these issues. I posted from time to time, but on both this site and others I went under radio silence. In the last few months I knew I would want to break the pattern when I hit a year back in Louisiana.

Well that time is now. The Reboot is here. The changes have been thought out in light of my thoughts.

Welcome

Videos, Lent and everything else

Thanks for all the kind words this weekend as we traveled to my grandfather's funeral. It was great to see family amidst the sad day.

Lent starts today and I am oddly caught out of whack. I guess I will blog more about Lent in the next few days. If you are looking for my thoughts on Lent over the last few years check out this link.

Last week I started making videos talking about Eschatology. Here is the first one. You can subscribe to the Youtube channel for updates.

 

Version 2011

 

I have spent some time over the last few weeks updating the feel of the site and launched last night.  Since I will be transitioning from the role of a student to a full time minister this summer, I felt it was time to start updating the site as well.  Content won't change much, but I felt it was time for a different look.

Postmoderneschatology.com (my other site) is going through some changes as well. These are both housekeeping issues, but I might have a few other surprises up my sleeve.

But hopefully 2011 will be a great year of conversations and growth. Thanks for reading.

The Power of Connection: Blogging as a Methodist

Over the last six months I have entered into a new phase with both blogging and how I have been using social networking.  Through the abilities of the various platforms around the web I have found myself in revolving conversations with many like minded people.

Most of us have a vague association with Asbury Seminary; either as alumni, students or serving under Pastoral staff that come from the school.  So you might think our associations are pretty obvious, but the way that we have conversations with each other and toss around ideas is pretty distinct.  What is interesting is how each of us pushes the other into the limelight through retweeting, linking to or posting on our facebook wall about what another has written.  This community isn’t formal, we have never had a sit down meeting, although I think it would be alot of fun.

As a Methodist, this type of networking is in our DNA.  John Wesley’s Oxford Methodism was thought for years to be a large group of men meeting together at once.  Only in the last few years have we found (through de-coding Charles Wesley’s diaries) that it instead was a large network of small groups that overlapped in various ways.  Each had its own focus, but they were part of the broad movement of people wanting Christian Perfection.

Some declare blogging to be dead.  I think that it has morphed several times, and to different communities it behaves differently.  As a member of the wider Wesleyan theological community, I think the idea of connection and resourcing is part of what defines blogging and social networking.  It is in our DNA.  Since we view ministry as belonging to the whole church, we don’t need to feel territorial over our areas of influence.  We want to take what others that we trust have said and pass it along to our communities.  It is a great example of communities of faith following the same structure as the New Testament being passed around as individual documents among the wider Christian Community in the 1st century.  We don't want to hold on to information that we think will help the Church, so we send our best to the next place down the road.  This isn't about being an online Rock Star but part of a community.

I know that I appreciate when others link to me, because that means that a wider group of people see what I write and think, and I know that when I continue to point my network at others I am doing the same thing...I am widening faith in the way that my tribe always has.

I am a Pilgrim...thoughts on asceticism

I go through a phase every few years when being a hermit seems kinda fun.  The older I get I think it is actually a call to simplicity.  Different things spark it on, and it happened again a few weeks ago.  My good friend JD Swartz threw me this link and it started a rabbit hole.

This is a BBC show called Extreme Pilgrim in which an Anglican priest journeyed around the world looking at different froms of spirituality.  If you have an hour, it is worth the watch.

Who are You ? (Online) Pt. 2

Yesterday I wrote briefly about thinking about how you portray yourself online, especially on social networks.  At the end, I mentioned how those in vocational ministry have a unique challenge, and how I would touch on my own views today.

Lets just say I have raised my fair share of hell, at differing moments in life.  When I was a college minster I was grateful to have a student who had known me at one of my deepest, darkest moments.  I am open about this, and open about the things that led me to these places.  I was a self-medicator, and I will speak openly about how God drew me out of that into a life where I found my worth in him.

But I don't "unfriend" people that I know.  Especially on Facebook, I am careful to display who I am.  That means owning up to stupid things, and I can only think of 1 time where I untagged myself in a picture.  If you are using social networking that reaches back to younger (and sometimes stupider) times, I think you should not try to hide that part of your past.

While I don't have a "strategy" to how I use Facebook and Twitter, I have thought about how to not just devour it with academic or constant theological banter, especially on twitter.  Yes, I do use the tools to enhance some of my research, because I believe that I do have a call as a teacher. 

But more than anything else, I try to be myself.  I am excited about participating in a community of faith in multiple arenas when my time in seminary is over.  I know that social networking (when used in the context of a face to face community) enhances relationships and allows for levels of connection that weren't available a decade ago.  I also regularly stay off of the internets for a couple of days at a time, especially when I am on sabbath.

I hope people to feel that they know me because of social networking.  If that allows them to feel more comfortable around me I have accomplished every goal I have ever set.

Please don't try to make yourself seem to cool.  Don't glitz up your profile pic.  Mine is of me eating BBQ, possibly one of the happiest things that I can do.  As ministers we aren't supposed to be Rock Stars...so lets leave it to the Jonas Brothers to attempt to look like The Rolling Stones lost 40 years.

Who are You? (Online)

After spending the last 8 yrs online as a blogger, I have spent the last few months looking back as to the person that I appear to be to those who have never met me.  Also, I am increasingly getting contacted by people asking my opinion on certain things that I often write or talk about, even though some of these folk I have never met.

Facebook has grown so much in the last year that I actually wrote a piece (here) about who I am now, because I made the decision to friend people that are a part of my history, but don’t travel in the same social circles as me.  I also am reconnecting with friends who I have not seen in a decade.  I keep Facebook connected to my blog and twitter, so it isn’t that hard to see what I am up too.

Potential employers also have learned to use Social Media in regard to hiring new team members.  I am happy (but surprised) that I have never had to delete anything online.  If someone wants the links, I can give them where I was blogging clear back to 2000/2001.  They only work sometimes (blogger likes to hide things that old), but they are there.

What I have made conscious decisions regarding is who I am online.  Many people that choose to be active online have to either secret things away or choose to be their “professional” self online, and have separate (and usually hidden) accounts for personal interaction.  I have decided to be myself online, and that means involving myself in things that I am passionate about, while also realizing how silly I can be at the same time.  I don’t have a problem following “bigfoot” stuff on twitter, and I regularly tweet about Mad Max.  Facebook is the same, I interact with people in the way that I choose to.  If anything, Facebook is the least professional thing that I do, because it really is about interaction with other people.

But we are you online?  I will delve more into that (specifically) about myself tomorrow, and the unique challenges that my job as a vocational minister present.

Back

I spent the last week in Atlanta at the Catalyst Conference recruiting for Asbury Seminary.  It was a good time, and I was able to meet alot of great people.  This next week is my first week at home not working at the Church, so I will be testing out my new schedule.  I have had a side project in the works for the last few weeks, and that should be revealed later this week.  Thanks for coming and hanging around.

Ever wanted to tell me something?

This last year has been hard on the old blog.  It was neglected, and rarely paid any attention.  Fixing that is going to be one of my primary projects this summer.  Last summer, I was getting more than twice the hits and subscriptions I am now, and I still get what some people would love.  I am developing my thoughts about why I blog, and how that relates to my current and future ministry.  I wanted to give you guys a say, because blogging doesn't make sense with just one person involved.  Below is a survey that would really help me out, it won't take long at all.  Please take a minute and fill it out.