Do you know about GodBlogCon? I’ll blog in detail about it later, but I want to point you to a post on SmartChristian Blog, hosted by Andrew Jackson (his real name). I remember when he first started blogging a few short months ago, and now he’s spearheading (and getting massive linkage from Hugh Hewitt) GodBlogCon, a conference (scheduled for late 2005) where “God bloggers” will get together and talk about what Christ is doing with Christian bloggers and how we can harness the “power of the blog” for his kingdom. That’s my description, not Andrew’s. 
Check out the comment thread at SmartChristian. The concept is still evolving. Someone developed a prayer blog for GodBlogCon. Andrew is accepting donations from readers who want to help the God bloggers with travel and lodging.
It all began with this statement by Hugh Hewitt, who wondered why Christian bloggers weren’t invited to the recent bloggers and journalists conference at Harvard Law School:
Rick Warren or some other far seeing pastor with a big facility and conference organizing experience ought to convene a conference on blogging and the Church, and invite all the God bloggers and interested pastors and parachurch workers to meet and confer on the new communication platform. If someone throws that party, I’ll endlessly promote it. But I hope that organizer invites some secular bloggers so that the GodBlogCon I isn’t as hopelessly narrow in scope as the Harvard gathering. And don’t hold it where the temps get down to zero.
There were also rumblings about too few/or no blacks or women. I certainly wasn’t invited; then again, I’m not really anybody special or important. Here is the response to some of those concerns.
I’m looking forward to attending. I may facilitate a discussion on Christian political blogging. So what do you have to believe to attend the conference? Andrew says:
“We invite all Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic Christian bloggers. GodBlogCon is a Christian Convention which is rooted in the historic biblical faith and creeds. The DecaBlog statement of faith below is a guide to the historic biblical faith:‘In the sovereignty and grace of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in creation, providence, revelation. redemption and final judgement; In the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture and its consequent entire trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct; In the universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen man, making him subject to God’s wrath and condemnation; In the substitutionary sacrifice of the incarnate Son of God as the sole and all-sufficient ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin, and from its eternal consequences; in the justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ crucified, risen and ascended; In the illuminating, regenerating, indwelling and sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit; In the priesthood of all believers who form the universal Church, the body of which Christ is the head, and which is committed by His command to the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world; In the expectation of the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.’
And so the Convention will not include individuals from other religions or Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, and other cultic aberration groups. It is not our intension to offend anyone, but we realize that the above mentioned groups and religions attend their own conferences.”
I’m sure some people have problems with the statement and the exclusion of Mormons and others, but such is life. Adherence to Biblical Christianity is a baseline. And just as people in real life have denominational divisions and their church’s traditions, these things will carry over to the blogosphere. But with open discussion, debate, and most importantly, consistency in reading and handling Scripture, I have faith that the truth will be evident.
To sign up, leave a comment on the post with the following information: your real name, blog name and state. Andrew says it’s an “absolute necessity” that you read Hugh Hewitt’s latest book, Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World. While I don’t think it’s essential to read the book for the conference, it is a good read and will give you a better understanding of the power of the blog. One of Hugh’s previous books, In, But Not Of : A Guide to Christian Ambition, is probably closer to “necessity” than BLOG.
But these are only my opinions after all.
Don’t forget to vote in the Best Evangelical Blog Awards contest. Nominations close on February 14, voting takes place for two days afterward and winners will be announced on February 18.
{ 4 comments }
LaShawn:
I’ve been asking the question for sometime and finally sent it in an e-mail to Hugh–what exactly is a “God blog”?
Aren’t all blogs written by Christians supposed to be considered “God blogs” in that the Kingship of Jesus extends to all of Life?
In that sense, even Hewitt’s website should be a God blog. There is no compartmentalization or even well-intentioned marginalizing of Christians.
I agree, Stephen. Hewitt is considered a God blogger because he’s a Christian. Likewise, I’m a God blogger. You’ll notice that we don’t write about our faith all the time. The “Faith” category on my blog should have a lot more posts in it, though.
Ah, I feel left out (I’m a Mormon, you see.) But, as you say, such is life. It seems a worthy effort, and I applaud it.
La Shawn– I suppose I escape your definition of “GodBlogger” as well. But I have written about religion several times on my website over the last year, from the point of view of a practitioner– you can search “God” to see. I was curious what you thought of my review about Inclusiveness at the Harvard conference; I see that you linked to it.
Jon
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