August 12, 2008
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TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG?...
WOW.... I am really crummy at blogging. I like to post sermon notes, my own teaching notes, and articles I think are helpful to our churches youth group (and/or other people) but it seems like time easily gets away from me and when I try and set aside some time to blog and update notes and upload audio files I have to stop and think "is anyone actually reading this stuff?"... and if no one is reading it, then that sort of defeats its mission as being "helpful to our churches youth group (and/or other people)"... and if no one is reading it then I figure, "shouldn't I spend my time somewhere else?" somewhere else that REALLY IS helpful to our youth group (and/or others people)?
OK, so here is the point... in this blogging age... should I keep blogging? Is this something I have been doing just to stroke my own ego? Is anyone actually reading this stuff and finding it (mildly) helpful? Or would I be ahead to spend the time I would be blogging in bible study, lesson preparation, prayer for my students, or on personal disciplining relationships?
your thoughts???PS: If you would like to look up some old material to evaluate IF my blog has anything at all to offer, you can check out the following...
http://www.xanga.com/Eek_71/242860767/2005-index.html
http://www.xanga.com/Eek_71/416361326/2006-index.html
http://www.xanga.com/Eek_71/560260907/2007-index.html
http://www.xanga.com/Eek_71/635448091/2008-index.htmlPSS: On the other hand, is this whole question just some other form of ego stroking... hmmmmm?...
Comments (9)
Hi,
I somehow found you on the web in a random search so there is definitely potential!
I asked the same question in my first blog: "To Blog or not to Blog." You might want to read it, it may be inspiring in some way. I tried to consider some of the pros and cons of blogging and mostly found positive reasons for it although ultimately I guess one needs to pray if it's God's will.
God Bless,
Rick
I like you blog
... it does take work to keep people visiting my site though. If I don't visit and leave comments traffic tends to go way down.
i enjoy reading it, and if i lose my notes it's nice to be able to find them.
if you just reach one it is still worth it, also this gives you a solid record of good teachings!!
not sure posting sermon notes is quite the same thing as blogging? perhaps I'm making a false distinction; not so sure. I suppose "journalling" (of which blogging is a type) can be of a different form for every person? though am currently reading "Why We're Not Emergent (by 2 Guys who Should be)" and one of the authors makes a statement in blatent agreement with something else my sister has said by way of objecting to the whole "blogging" world - a criticism that it isn't so much a way of communicating as it is a way of indulging the self (you kinda allude to this danger above).
personally? perhaps a big selfishly? I hope you keep posting, cuz I value the notes/teaching! but....I can also relate to the conviction to set such a thing aside for a while....rather like removing log from one's own eye to see clearly? *"virtual" shrug*
@templestream - Rick, Thanks for the comment... I liked your article, although I am disappointed that the title of my article is not as original as I thought it was!
Joe, Jeremy, & Marie... thanks for the encouragement!
I still have some more thinking to do on this topic and decide... I either need to do this thing right or not do it at all.
In Christ,
Eek
I was just reading earlier this afternoon something DA Carson said about "blogging" in GENERAL -- his opinion was (in essence) that the "instantaneous" nature of being published in the blogging world and without the advent of an "editor," mixed with the potential for the "instantaneous" feedback from a host of would-be admirers can lend grave danger in the sense of "inflating one's own sense of importance."
I happen to "blog," and so I can see this danger manifest all too readily in myself! On the other hand, if done properly, I think "blogging" come "conversing" come "teaching" can be HUGELY beneficial. I think the KEYS are clued in above....
So, borrowing from DA Carson's insight I make the following simple suggestions (to which, incidentally, I think I ought to make an effort to adhere):
1) Take an appropriate amount of "time" to THINK before you speak and
2) Invite others to perhaps "edit" your content before you "publish" it for the world to see.....
Create a kind of internal "checks and balances" system, especially so as to handle with care the teaching and theological aspects that your blog would no doubt contain......and so mitigate the James 3 component ("not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers....." re, specifically, the higher account to which teachers are held)......
Just a couple thoughts!
@Philotheosopher - Leah, thanks! That was a very helpful comment. Good insights. Both my Worship Pastor and my wife read my blog so I do have some oversight and some accountability. And I am usually posting lessons/bible study notes that I have worked on for a week or more so I think I do pretty well on taking an appropriate amount of time before I speak/write. I guess the big overarching issue is simply "is it worth it". If I am going to devote a little extra time each week to getting "caught up", it it worth the time and effort?
I'm leaning toward yes, but it would be a little easier if more of my youth group was on Xanga.
Most of my youth group teens read and interact on Facebook, BUT one of Facebooks cool features is its ability to import posts from other blogs. So I do get the benefit of the Xanga UI that I like AND the benefit of Facebooks larger readership. I think it works pretty well, but I don't get as much feedback/comments on Facebook so its hard to gage how much my notes are getting read there?
Anyway, Thanks again!
Eek
I am also on Facebook - it is DEFINITELY a better site for "networking" - but not as nice to write long, thoughtful, postings. I like the greater autonomy of xanga to format/color, etc. for that purpose.
1) Is it "worth" it? based on all you've said so far above? I say YES! We don't always get to determine who all will benefit from our ministry; after all aren't the "results"/"effects" up to the Lord (cf 1 Cor. 12)? But I get the impression you get enuf "pleasure"/"benefit" from your outlines yourself to make it worthwhile typing it out...then it becomes just a question of cut and paste. [By way of one example on "the Lord determines the outcome" bit, I have a post from about 2 years ago on "a soft answer turns away wrath" and almost DAILY someone hits that post according to the footprints on my account - though I haven't mentioned it again since I posted it. I think someone in France or Belgium might have linked to that post on THEIR site, cuz most of the folks coming in to view that post are from other countries....that is a MOST unexpected situation!]
2) Besides merely tracking footprints, Xanga is also NICER in this respect: you can Email yourself the person's post. To my knowledge, you cannot do this when you post a "note" in Facebook. (I regularly email myself your posts, by the way! I have an Eek file in my own email folders!)
3) As long as your Xanga profile is a "public" one (don't know if it is or not, but could be), you could post on Xanga, AND create a "note" in Facebook with relative ease - either by copying the post altogether, or just the LINK to the xanga post so people online can link right from Facebook to your xanga post - (easy as CLICK CLICK). And, as an added bonus, your "footprints" on your homepage will tell you if a person is being routed to your xanga site by Facebook, and you could still have the benefit of knowing how many times your post has been viewed. [If the tracking of those "hits" is key to measuring the usage of your site, that is....]
4) Lastly, xanga can be viewed by anyone, and could be more easily "happened upon" by random xanga searching (for any inclined searching soul), whereas Facebook is easier to network w/people but only by way of being "friends." You can HAVE a "public" profile that isn't limited to only your friends to see, but it would be very difficult for "searching souls" to stumble onto your site....
Hope the thoughts help!
from one "blogger" to another.
-Leah
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