in response to Chris’ article here I was wondering what you think makes for a helpful blog by your pastor.

I have reinvigorated my blog recently on wordpress and would be interested in your thoughts on how it can be improved and how blogs can be best utilised in general.

my general guides are interesting, edifying, personal, current

shane’s wordpress blog

I think it can be useful for a number of things, relationship building, teaching, encouraging. I think it also opens a window into the church for those who are not keen to go in the door.

On a basic practical level, I think it is important that it gets updated regularly, so that whatever you are trying to achieve will have readers who haven’t given up looking at your blog.

I have been looking at a number of church websites lately and I am convinced that the use of the internet in its various forms is very much the way forward. Something that perhaps on the whole we need to do better.

Of course, if you are reading this you probably already know that....  :-)

Hi Shane,

I’ve recently entered blogworld. I was encouraged to do it by people at church and beyond who are interested in hearing some of my thoughts as we step into the world of mission. I have no idea how its going but I’m giving it a go.

I guess the one thing that I’ve had to do is think and type quickly. Blogging has the potential to be a massive time user (and possible a massive time waster). But from a few comments I’ve had its also useful in encouraging thoughts beyond footy finals and Sunday Roast!

http://petesholl.blogspot.com/

Pete

looks good Pete and yes , it is worth getting your thoughts on stepping out in mission. I have subscribed.

things I find helpful are
regular posts
not too long
dots points
a nice photo that adds visual impact and colour
something to respond to
something of a personal insight every now and then

re time and typing etc
I find that I incorporate what I am already doing as much as possible and see it as a valuable extension of the ministry of the word.
and although it looks time consuming - outlook has a feed reader which just incorporates feed into your inbox which means you hardly notice it.

buenos nachos!

Pete, thanks for starting a blog.

If you are a fast thinker and typist who happens to be evangelical, I would say go for it. Lots of bad stuff out there, great to have the gospel expressed in this way.

Check out John Piper’s
.

great ref Martin

here it is again for those who had difficulty.

btw its Abraham Piper ( John Piper aint no blogger baby)

summary

to write
to teach
to recomended
to interact
to develop an eye for what is meaningful
to be known

great entry

are you still blogging Marty?

Martin Kemp - 24 September 2008 10:17 PM

Check out John Piper’s
six reasons why pastors should blog.

Very helpful, thanks Martin.  I feel myself being sucked inexorably into the world of blogging . . .
Bob

I’m now officially a blogger

I too am blogging.

I was reading Gordon Cheng’s blog enough to realise that he was influencing the way I thought. Disturbed at the possiblity that he would have this influence on others, I began to blog

that great city

Hi Michael
Yours is one of the first two blogs I added to my Google Reader ‘feed’.  Shane’s is there two.  And thanks for providing my first comment!
Bob

Thanks Bob

I’ve found the most common cold contact we have now is online. The church website has definitely replaced the signboard.

I’m not sure I have quite the handle on how the blog will work. Like Pete, I hope it stimulates conversations and relationships at church. But I’m also wanting to post stuff which goes beyond whats going on in our parish - thinking through the 18 points of Driscollism, why cricket is boring, why you would only live in Melbourne or Brisbane for the sake of the gospel…

My fear is the time it could consume. Like Shane, I want to use it to duplicate things I’m doing elsewhere - leveraging what I’m already thinking and writing rather than creating new stuff.

I’ve decided to give this a crack for a month or so. Then post-Synod I’ll sit down and assess whether it seems worth it.

Until then I’d welcome any feedback at that great city

Bob Cameron - 25 September 2008 02:26 AM

Martin Kemp - 24 September 2008 10:17 PM

Check out John Piper’s
six reasons why pastors should blog.

That is Abraham Piper - not John. Abraham Piper is the Web Content Editor at Desiring God.

As Shane said in post #6:

John Piper aint no blogger baby

John does blog a lot a desiringgod.org… or at least his name is put to posts. Maybe they’re extracts from other things he’s written?

Hi Dannii
you’re right , he does blog - though I think technically his sOn takes his material and posts it on his behalf.

for anyone

what keeps you going back to a blog?
new content
ideas
creative stuff
personal
juicy controversy

and what makes you unsubscribe?