***Scroll down for questions***
A gathering of Christians working to advance the Kingdom through blogging + internet technologies.
I’m headed back to Vegas!
I’m returning to the God Blog Convention, sponsored by Biola University in La Mirada, California. This year’s convention will be held at the Blog World and New Media Expo on September 20 and 21. (Last year’s GodBlogCon was in Vegas, too.)
Why a Christian blogging convention in Vegas? Blog Expo founder Rick Calvert wanted to organize a sort of blogging tradeshow where all kinds of bloggers (faith, tech, business, etc.) could gather and network. He asked the GodBlogCon organizers if they’d consider holding their annual gathering at the Expo, and they were happy to do so.
This is my fourth invitation from the good folks at Biola. In 2005, I led a break-out session on Christian blogging at the first GodBlogCon. In 2006, I spoke on a political blogging panel. Last year, I was a featured speaker, and this year, I’m on a political blogging panel funnyman Scott Ott of ScrappleFace.
Additionally, I’m speaking on a panel at the main convention. Rick asked me to participate in a Q&A discussion on hiring professional bloggers.
The blogging medium has provided yet another opportunity for Christians to share the Gospel and declare the word of God. As long as I’m able, I will continue to do just that.
Question for Christians: Has my blog and other Christian blogs helped you grow in faith?
Question for non-Christians: Has my blog and other Christian blogs helped you understand what we believe and/or given you a different perspective about Christians?
I’m open to suggestions for improvements and blogging topics.
These questions aren’t just discussion starters. I really want to know whether and how my blog has been a help or a hindrance to you.
I can’t say Christian blogs have helped my faith. But I am often encouraged by the idea that there are more and more people being reached by the Word. Though I sometimes am disappointed by the Biblical ignorance I see in some Christian commenters, or the hard-hearted and hard-headed responses by some unbelievers, I do think that there are likely many more that read, without comment, that are learning something.
Blogging, in my mind, has become an evangelical ministry in its own right. Whereas we all have the call to minister and preach the gospel in whatever limited capacity we can (with coworkers and neighbors, etc.), bloggers can reach hundreds, thousands and perhaps millions of people. It is a great calling you’ve come upon. God bless you and all the others out there sharing God’s Word with the world.
Comment by Gabe — 08.20.08 @ 9:50 am
LaShawn asks:
And I take the weasel road! Yes, because they are a daily reminder of who I claim to be. No, because I turn away from Christian on Christian arguments about small “c” and capital “C” issues.
I find being a Christian to be tough work. It is a great comfort to find a home here among others who struggle with the same challenges.
Comment by heliotrope — 08.20.08 @ 10:45 am
Your candor and obvious desire to break through to the basic truths are what draw me to your blog. Those qualities create an environment perfect for logical discussion, and from that, people can make informed decisions. Most times I don’t comment, but I always enjoy reading your articles and the comments.
Thanks for stepping up. Your blog is an important influence!
Comment by CorbinKale — 08.20.08 @ 11:52 am
Yup, there are a number of Christian run blogs that have helped me to grow in my faith. Yours more specifically is a constant encouragement to keep standing up not for what I think, but for what is true, especially when that is a challenge to culture.
It’s blogs like PyroManiacs that force me to go to the Bible and read, and from there, grow.
Comment by Mark La Roi — 08.20.08 @ 12:24 pm
I agree with CorbinKale. My belief is that for everyone who mentions that your blog is helpful, there are dozens more who won’t comment.
Comment by Marsha — 08.20.08 @ 12:35 pm
Thanks, all.
Please keep me in your prayers!
Comment by La Shawn — 08.20.08 @ 12:41 pm
Question 1: No, I think that has to come from within.
Question 2: YES ! Especially that one post about would you take a bullet or renounce your faith. I’m still disturbed by that topic….but in a good way. I’ve thought about that topic a lot, the severity of the issue, and keep coming back to that post.
__________________
SUGGESTIONS:
I would like to hear if there’s a Biblical basis for never taking a drink of liquor. Not so much Alcoholism, I know about the teachings against false Gods. I’m just talking about a non-Alcoholic who simply decides, arbitrarily, to never take a drink of alcohol, ever, …..and can that be backed-up in Scripture?
We have these divisions between Alcoholic and non-Alcoholic, but I’ve long thought that nobody should be drinking alcohol, no matter what label you are putting on yourself. And, whether the Bible has anything to say about casual use of Alcohol among those who aren’t necessarily addicted.
Comment by Glamchild — 08.20.08 @ 3:40 pm
GodBlogCon Returns to Vegas…
Something is just odd about a Christian blog conference being held in “Sin City.”…
Trackback by Going to the Mat — 08.20.08 @ 6:16 pm
“I would like to hear if there’s a Biblical basis for never taking a drink of liquor. Not so much Alcoholism, I know about the teachings against false Gods. I’m just talking about a non-Alcoholic who simply decides, arbitrarily, to never take a drink of alcohol, ever, …..and can that be backed-up in Scripture?”
If they decide that’s how they want to live, that choice is theirs to make, they should just avoid doing it out of a sense that Scripture requires it.
If a person reads 1 Corinthians 8 and decides to abstain from alcohol for the sake of other people who might be tempted to drink because of his/her freedom to drink, that’s an admirable choice based on love of and consideration for, other people.
The Biblical principle behind this kind of choice is concern for how what you do affects people around you, and being free to NOT do something even if it in itself isn’t a sin.
Comment by Mark La Roi — 08.20.08 @ 8:34 pm
True, give and take discussions on Christian issues as you often have here will always cause you to grow. Sometimes it’s in learning something new from Scripture, sometimes it’s in defending a truth you know to be true. It’s growing in discernment - is this an issue that is core to saving faith, or is this something on which we can agree to disagree? Does this position agree with Scripture - and am I familiar enough with the Word to be able to tell?
More than anything, reading Christian blogs will remind you that Christians are regular, real people in whom God is working. None of us are yet the finished product, but we can help on each other’s assembly lines, so to speak.
Every time I come here I’m challenged and encouraged.
Comment by Diane — 08.21.08 @ 9:09 am
La Shawn, I don’t think you’ve helped me grow in my faith, per se, but it has been encouraging to read a Christian blog that is truly Christian. There are so many conservative bloggers who claim to be Christians who don’t seem to know Scripture at all. Perhaps as an adult convert you take it more seriously than some who see it simply as their cultural heritage.
On the alcohol question, I can make a financial case for it, I can make a cultural case for it, I can make an addictions case for it, but I can’t make a strictly Scriptural case for it. The truth is that we have no evidence that anyone mentioned in Scripture was a teetotaller, and our Saviour Himself made wine at the wedding at Cana. I don’t like the taste or the cost of wine and beer, so it’s easy for me to follow my Scandinavian Pietistic cultural bias against drinking, but I do sometimes wonder if we’re not doing a disservice to the Lord’s Supper when we drink grape juice. The Spirit of God isn’t confused with Kool-Aid…
Comment by toubabou — 08.21.08 @ 6:37 pm
Mark La Roi: Thanks for that link in Corinthians. I’m the worst Bible scholar in the world. But– isn’t there also something about Temperance, which would apply to voluntary abstension ?
By the way I’m not suggesting a return to Prohibition at all !
However, I do think there’s a double standard when a non-Alcoholic gets drunk and disorderly, and it’s completely written off; whereas when a bona fide ‘Alcoholic’ exhibits drunken disorderly behavior….and it’s considered an urgent matter.
To me drunk is drunk, no matter the label you apply to yourself, and it’s not a pretty sight, whether it’s the the casual drinker or the alcoholic.
Comment by Glamchild — 08.22.08 @ 12:18 am
GodBlogCon is the same weekend I’m going to be at a conference elsewhere. Rats! And I wanted to go this year…
Comment by SkyePuppy — 08.25.08 @ 6:03 pm