justapen

justapen

50p

113 comments posted · 3 followers · following 0

12 years ago @ Ron Edmondson - Giveaway: Henry Blacka... · 0 replies · +1 points

I've been meaning to get some blackaby materials for awhile now - my pastor talks about him all the time. Thanks!

@justapen
Seiji Yamashita

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 14) dem... · 1 reply · +1 points

I like that idea - although whenever I try it I get bored (soooooo totally lacking discipline). I think I've had four or five different day themes from Short&sweet on friday to super commentary monday's. But it also doesn't take a lot to be more disciplined than me lol. In other words, I really like the idea, i've just never been able to do it myself :-)

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 14) dem... · 4 replies · +1 points

yeah I don't use my RSS feed (use google reader btw) to actually gather content. There are a dozen blogs or so that I like to keep tabs on and that I'll check out via my feed but the ones that I really love I'll catch on twitter. New content I just see what my friends on facebook and twitter are posting.

Another idea is what Dan King did with wednesday trendsdays. Check out the google trending topics and see why people are looking up these particular items.

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 13) dem... · 2 replies · +1 points

31 Days to Build a Better blog has some great stuff in it to help you out. Kevin should have a copy of it lying around somewhere. :-) (PS I always read your posts but I don't always comment just so you know!)

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 13) dem... · 0 replies · +1 points

That's actually something I hadn't considered doing - using existing material and then getting a bunch of people to group blog as a discipleship activity. Usually I end up treating it like my F2F groups where we agree on a subject or a book of the bible and then I write a brief blog post about it as if introducing the topic in a cell group that we then all talk about. (So to answer your first question, I usually end up creating the material myself)

Thanks for the suggestion!

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 13) dem... · 2 replies · +2 points

Paul - As a quick aside, I just wanted to let you know that I've used your "blogging =Rocket Fuel" analogy and post with just about every organization I've worked with or come into contact to when discussing social media strategies and web development. I could say the exact same thing but because you carry a certain weight and expertise on the matter the message actually gets through. I can't begin to thank you enough for writing that one!

I've personally always thought of a blog as a discipling or a teaching tool but that's probably because most of my face to face ministry work centers around those kinds of activities. And I have even tried to start a discipleship course or a kind of cell group exclusively online using my blog but so far those efforts always seem to come up short. Part of that might be because I'm targeting people from my home church instead of people out in cyberland who might need it.

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 9) Quie... · 2 replies · +2 points

When am I tempted to let my online presence be about me? um...always? lol.

Seriously though, for whatever reason I find myself craving recognition and affirmation like a drug and have actually turned down a couple of opportunities in ministry because I knew that it would be a big mess for me when my pride won out. Lately though I've been very conscientious of every tweet, picture and blog post and actually have asked "is this about me, or about how my story can help someone else?"
I find for myself that the easiest way to deal with that kind of thing is to be as precise as possible with my target audience. Sometimes I even get as specific as one person so that I can make sure it's about that person and not about me.

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @stickyJesus 7) Chri... · 2 replies · +1 points

I tried to keep up on twitter and fb when I went on missions once and had a really hard time just getting online and getting stuff out there. the shoddy internet connection didn't really me out on that one but more than anything else I found that the real difficulty was just finding time to step away from the work to post an update about it. And there was PLENTY to put out there and ask for prayer for, but every time I got so caught up in getting my hands into the work that it didn't occur to me until I had returned home how many opportunities I had lost to share. Any recommendations for the future on that score?

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 3) Jesu... · 0 replies · +2 points

I've read ahead a bit in the book and I think I like this chapter the most so far (PS if I haven't thanked you for writing this book - THANK YOU).

"Encouragement breaks the flow of the stream."

I like that. I think that is probably one of the best things any Christian can do for anyone regardless of whether it is online or F2F - get them out of their own spiraling mess of frustration and and disappointments by being encouraging and compassionate in their lives.

12 years ago @ Christian Web Trends B... - > @StickyJesus 2) Jesu... · 3 replies · +3 points

For the longest time I've always equated quantity as evidence that I was doing the things that God wanted me to do online. The number of twitter followers, the number of friends, the number of hits on my blog were evidence or fruit of my dedication to God and making sure it was about him. But when the numbers weren't stacking up I started worrying and made deliberate efforts to grow my following/platform or whatever. Reading this chapter really convicted me that I was using the wrong measuring stick and was making it all about me under a guise of talking about something bigger than myself. The cure?
Focus on specific people every step of the way. At no point should I be trying to reach out to people I haven't met yet because I don't understand their wants or needs. People who are close to me however, are people I know I can impact with my words and I should build out from my inner circle of relationship not build inwards from people I've never met before.