Originally published in Biblical Worldview Magazine, December 2005

In the Beginning…

Let there be light. – Genesis 1:3

On January 17, 1998, a 31-year-old CBS Studios gift shop manager in Hollywood, California, broke the biggest story of the decade. The president of the United States had been having an affair with a 23-year-old White House intern, and Newsweek, ready to run the story, spiked it at the last minute.

The gift shop manager was Matt Drudge. An ordinary citizen with a 486 computer had scooped a major news magazine, and journalism hasn’t been the same since. His web site, the Drudge Report, gets over 11 million hits a day and is read by journalists and politicians alike.

“We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices,” he told an audience at the National Press Club a few months later. “Every citizen can be a reporter…The Net gives as much voice to a…computer geek like me as to a CEO or speaker of the House. We all become equal.”

Drudge uttered those prescient words before the advent of web sites called weblogs, or “blogs.” Blogs have ushered in a new era, and that sentiment can’t be overstated. Traditional media’s monopoly on what is newsworthy is eroding. Citizen journalists – ordinary people collecting, analyzing, reporting, and disseminating information – are bypassing the gatekeepers.

The blogging explosion is often compared to the Protestant Reformation. With the invention of the printing press, an individual suddenly had the power to communicate with the masses without interference from institutional elites. With the emergence of blogging, we’ve all become potential Martin Luthers in the midst of our own modern day reformation.

What is a blog?

A blog is a frequently updated web site with “posts” arranged in chronological order. Although blogs have certain common features, such as comments, trackbacks, and categories, what makes a web site a blog is the presence of a “permalink,” which is a link to an individual post.

The first blogs appeared around 1999, and the growth of the blog universe, called the “blogosphere,” has exploded since then. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 11 percent of Internet users read blogs in 2003. In February 2004, the figure was 17 percent. It jumped to 27 percent by November 2004. That is a growth of 58 percent. Less than five years old, the blogosphere has grown exponentially. Technorati, a real-time blog search engine, presently tracks over 21 million blogs.

For every imaginable political persuasion, religion, hobby, profession – and perversion – there are blogs. At least one child molester, currently behind bars, kept a blog. But what man uses to accomplish evil, God can and does use for good.

The Believing Blogger

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. – Mark 16:15

God has given us many ways to evangelize the lost, and blogs are the latest tools. As more people go online and discover the blogosphere, there is no shortage of opportunities to fulfill the Great Commission.

Christian blogs come in a wide variety, including devotionals, online journals of mission trips, draft sermons and Sunday School lessons. Others are devoted to raising awareness of persecution around the world, while many focus on politics or doctrinal issues. I blog mostly on politics from a Christian perspective, but I never realized how much I actually knew about the Bible until recently. Thanks to a certain Democratic politician’s penchant for attending black churches during the election season, I’ve had ample opportunities to blog about the Bible.

Last year, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry implied that if George Bush were a good Christian, he’d spend more money on social programs as a show of  “good works.”

“The scriptures say, what does it profit, my brother, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? When we look at what is happening in America today, where are the works of compassion,” Kerry preached.

Any Christian worth his salt knows Kerry was misinterpreting, misapplying, and politicizing James 2:14-17. The apostle was giving guidance to individual believers, not governments, on how to evaluate their faith to determine whether it is living or dead. A believing political leader does not demonstrate his personal faith by taking more money from taxpayers to give to the “poor.” Giving his own money to feed and clothe the less fortunate may be a work of faith.

Correcting misinterpretation of Scripture is a given, but should Christians entangle themselves in political debates?

Christians and Politics

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. – Matthew 10:16

America is bitterly divided politically, and partisan bickering has reached a new level. The most popular Christian bloggers tend to focus on politics and often weave their faith into the discussion. Although I sometimes struggle with mixing faith and politics, I know my faith impacts every area of my life, including which party and policies I favor.

Some insist that Christians should not be involved in politics at all, but there is no biblical basis for this assertion. If our system is truly a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, Christians have an obligation to participate in the governing, whether they do so indirectly by voting or directly by campaigning or running for office.

Public policy shapes society, and Christians ought to be engaged in shaping public policy. For example, if Christians believe abortion is murder, they should try to protect the unborn by influencing the people who write the laws. Religious freedom is another public policy issue important to believers. We know religious oppression exists around the world, and if Christians in the United States don’t want to suffer the same fate, we should always be aware of what elected representatives are advocating. Christians must be informed voters.

Though we are not forbidden to be involved in politics, our involvement must be informed by our faith. Just as voting citizens hold political leaders accountable for their actions, Christians must hold each other biblically accountable and remember that we are one in Christ.

God Blog Convention

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. – Ephesians 4:3

In mid-October, about 135 Christian bloggers gathered at the first God Blog Convention (“GodBlogCon”), a three-day conference held at Biola University in La Mirada, California. Topics included pastor blogging, business blogging, Christian philosophy, Intelligent Design, Christian bloggers with non-Christian readers, etc.

Christian bloggers from around the country who knew each only through blogs and e-mail had a chance to meet face-to-face and talk about issues in the Christian blogosphere. I led a session at GodBlogCon called Christian Blogging 101, and we talked about what it mean to be a Christian blogger. Simply being around other bloggers who go through similar trials was edifying.

Dealing with unbelievers can be daunting. One session at GodBlogCon that I didn’t have the chance to attend was called, “When Non-Christians Read Your Blog,” led by Biola University professor Timothy Muehlhoff. He discussed how to blog about faith without alienating nonbelievers.

“We need to write in such a way that people can see themselves presented as…complex people who aren’t monsters,” Muehlhoff said. “As Christians today, we are embroiled in the argument culture and we have forgotten this one thing: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” he said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could say we brought a level of civility back to the conversation?”

Yes, it would be nice. Otherwise, we’re only clanging cymbals.

In, But Not Of…

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. – 1 John 2:15

There is nothing new under the sun. Although blogs are a new medium, their purpose is as old as time: to communicate. The ultimate purpose of the Christian blogger is to communicate the message of the cross, and we must do so in truth and love. It is difficult at times, but we can find comfort in each other. The Bible tells us to confess our sins and pray for one another and be salt and light in a corrupt world as Christ’s witnesses.

The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has set us free from the penalty of sin, and we must stay focused on sharing this message. We have a Savior who knows our struggles. Just before he was arrested, Jesus prayed for himself and all believers. His words still bring comfort:

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:14-19)

***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.

9:35 a.m. PT: Social media’s useful after all. I just found out on Twitter that David Perlmutter, author of a new book called Blogwars: The New Political Battleground, recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Perlmutter interviewed me for the book a few years ago, but I didn’t think I’d make the cut. Lo, and behold, I did! On page 19, he calls me an attorney (which I’m not), wrote that my blog was “well cited by many leading conservative blogs” (which it was), and that I “attacked” him in a post (which I didn’t).

Perlmutter’s referring to a post I wrote called Peasants Don’t Blog, where I commented on an article he wrote about blog hype. Why do some people consider critiques an attack? Geez. It’s good copy, though.

Although Perlmutter misspelled my first name in the index, I’m pleased overall that he found my blog worthy of mention. On page 20 he quoted at length from a post called The Immorality of Race Preferences.

Publicist, if you want to send me a review copy, here’s my snail mail info. I’ll review the book on the blog, but I can’t (or shouldn’t) review it for a news site or print publication. Because I appear in it, there’d be a conflict of interest, or something like that.

I’m still experiencing the residual effects of a once-popular political blog. Nice memories for the most part. But I’d like to see myself quoted in books and articles about digital tech, music (Christian and non-Christian), the changing music industry (a good start), pop culture, fan culture (a new fascination), etc. And one day soon, I hope to see my own book for sale on Amazon.

Back to work!

Addendum: Music to work by (turn it up!):

“With that malignant envy which turns pale, And sickens, even if a friend prevail.” – Charles Churchill

Notes on Envy

I allow myself a couple of minutes to wallow in bitter blogger envy every time I read about some blogger’s success, like landing a fat book deal.

And then I pick myself up off the symbolic floor and get down to the business of updating clients’ blogs and my own blog and pitching article ideas to editors.

And then I remember that someone else’s success, whether I think he/she deserves it, does not prevent me from succeeding. There are at least two people in book publishing interested in receiving a book proposal from me about me. What’s stopping me from sending it isn’t other bloggers or anyone else. It’s my own self-doubt. I just don’t think my life or my past success as a political and faith blogger is all that interesting to fill, let alone sell, a book.

A $300,000 Parody

If you haven’t heard of the blog Stuff White People Like, you must have been offline for the past month. Bloggers and journalist types have been buzzing about it for weeks.

Launched just a few short months ago, Stuff White People Like is satire on the fetishes, fantasies, and fixations of upper-class white urban liberals.

Examples: dinner parties, shorts, Asian women, “awareness,” – and my favorite – knowing what’s best for poor people.

Check out the full list of stuff.

It’s funny. It’s controversial. It’s irreverent. It’s self-deprecating. It’s heavily trafficked. People love it. People hate it. Some get it, and some don’t. I’ve heard it called racist. I’ve heard it called truth crouching in humor (my expression). Regardless, the blog’s founder, Christian Lander, just landed a rumored $300,000 book deal with Random House. Read all about it in the New York Times, bastion of the upper-class white urban liberal:

The outcry over Mr. Lander’s book deal suggests the trend that has been building for a half decade may have finally reached apogee.

One of the first literary agents to troll the Web for talent was Kate Lee, who in 2003 was an assistant at International Creative Management, the sprawling talent agency, looking for a way to make her name.

When she started contacting bloggers and talking to them about book deals, many were stunned that a real literary agent was interested in their midnight typings. Her roster was so rich with bloggers, including Matt Welch from Hit & Run and Glenn Reynolds from Instapundit, that the New Yorker profiled her in 2004. Two years from now, the magazine noted, “Books by bloggers will be a trend, a cultural phenomenon.”

And two years after that?

“If I contact someone or someone is put in touch with me, chances are they’ve already been contacted by another agent,” Ms. Lee said. “Or they’ve at least thought about turning their blog into a book or some kind of film or TV project.”

Blogger Lecture

Takeaway lesson for bloggers: Don’t let blogger envy block your success. Use the energy from that vile emotion to create something of your own. Self-esteem comes from doing something worthwhile, not from hearing affirmations on how good or special or smart you are. Every time I felt an envy-wave coming on, I turned it into something positive. And I counted my blessings.

God is good all the time, and he knows better than I do what’s best for me. I’m on his schedule. If he says it’s time for me to send that proposal, he’ll help me overcome doubt and procrastination. And I’ll send that proposal.

However…I doubt I’d get an advance anywhere close to $300,000, as I’ve never gotten fired or lost a client because of my blog or been a call girl or strung out on cocaine and meth or lived like one of the “Sex and the City” women or had 10 abortions or had sex with someone famous or worked at a high-profile fashion magazine or married a prince or had sex with a prince or…

P.S.: A few years ago when LBC was at its peak, I wrote a rant about blogger envy directed toward me, Blog Irony.

(Photo credit: Stuff White People Like)

I found a link to an old story in the New York Times magazine called “Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog.” It was published last year, but in web time, that’s old.

The gist of the well-written and appealing story is this: new and/or struggling musicians can make a decent living without record labels and big marketing machines if they harness the power of the web by starting blogs, running discussion boards, and interacting with fans, who want to feel connected.

Musicmakers and Blogupdaters

Heavily featured in the piece is a musician named Jonathan Coulton, who quit the 9 to 5 to write and perform music. He posts a new tune on his blog every week. Coulton’s earning a decent income selling his music online, and he’s managed to build quite a fan community.

One fan creates illustrations (for free) for each of his songs. Other fans make videos for his songs and post them on YouTube, which promotes his music and creates even more fans. Yet another fan built a web site to archive fan-made videos.

Coulton makes (and saves) money when traveling by doing what I call “target touring.” He polls readers to find where they live and schedules a concert if there are more than 100 fans in a given area. That way, he knows a show will sell well, and he endears himself to fans even more by hitting smaller towns where other acts rarely tread.

Coulton says he makes between $3,000 to $5,000 a month selling his music, and a few thousand people visit his blog every day. What’s the “secret” behind his success? Connecting with fans. His fan devotion quotient runs high because he spends up to six hours a day responding to blog comments and e-mail.

“‘People always think that when you’re a musician you’re sitting around strumming your guitar, and that’s your job,’ he said. ‘But this’ — he clicked his keyboard theatrically — ‘this is my job.’”

Interacting with fans and readers is a sometimes tedious, oftentimes joyful task, but it’s necessary for new and struggling artists of any kind in the digital age. For those who want to make money, at any rate.

Long Tale About the Long Tail

The article is almost 5,000 words and contains what I consider fascinating information on how bands like The Hold Steady became successful posting music and videos online and through online word-of-mouth. The band has generated a legion of fans who volunteer their services, making concert posters and helping organize other fans.

(Side note: If you’ve never heard of The Hold Steady, it doesn’t matter. Thousands have, and that’s more than enough to garner a band some measure of success.)

Bands who manage to connect with fans in a sincere way have, in essence, created a promotion department. The “employees” don’t want money; they want to be part of the band’s world, to feel connected. I know I do.

An independent band called OK Go ended up finding mainstream success and winning a Grammy for best video after they posted a low budget, homemade video of the band dancing on treadmills to one of their songs. (Sounds weird to me, but I’m not part of their demographic.) Naturally, the video went viral, and the rest is history. Yes, musicians can survive and even thrive in the long tail, if they persist. And a little creativity and originality doesn’t hurt.

Unshrouded and Unguarded

Bands without a label or on independent labels trying to make it can’t afford not to interact with fans. And the ground is fresh for mining! Where else but online can you create an instant connection to thousands of people, most of whom only want to adore you and listen to your music?

But there’s a trade-off. The Hold Steady’s lead singer Tad Kubler waxes nostalgic about days when rock stars were mysterious. Fans knew little about their day-to-day lives. The mystery was part of the draw, because you could only imagine what their lives were like.

The era of the elusive hermit-like rocker is over, unless the rocker is already signed to a major label or very successful independent label with a powerful marketing machine.

What about bands who like to party hard with fans? Ah, the good old days! In the digital age, drunk and rowdy musicians can and do end up being talked about on blogs. With photos and videos! As the article notes, journalists aren’t the only people musicians have to watch out for these days. As a result, some musicians may be more guarded when interacting publicly with fans.

Elusive or otherwise, bands should add discussion boards to their main web sites, at the very least. Blogs are better; however, blogs are like open confessionals, and there’s the temptation (compulsion?) of getting too personal with strangers (I face it, too). Kubler says he gets around the too-much-information problem by keeping his home life offline.

Here’s another problem: If you’re any good, you will attract the attention of nuts and stalkers (a bigger concern for bands who can’t afford to hire security people) and other cowards.

I have so much more to say about this, but the post would be five blog pages long. Note to self: Must turn these ideas into salable articles…get paid and have fun writing about bands and fans.

Once again, I urge you to read the entire article.

(Top photo credit: Jennifer Karady for The New York Times)

Related post:

• The Masses Remake Music Industry

Thirty-five years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the murder of babies in the womb.

I couldn’t make it to the Family Research Council’s Blogs for Life Conference this year. According to the site, you can watch a live webcast of the event, which includes speakers like blogger Jill Stanek, a former labor and delivery nurse, and blogger Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On.

See my review of her book, Rebelliously Chaste.

Check out March for Life and Blogs4Life for more info.

Previous coverage:

• Baby Killing As A Civil Right
• Blogs4Life/March for Life I
• Blogs4Life/March for Life II

Update (12:27 p.m.): Speaking of Islamofascism, Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, first female PM of a Muslim country, has been assassinated. Read more at Hot Air and Michelle Malkin’s.

Later…On a lighter note, my review of Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll has been posted.
————————————————————

Jeff Jarvis, blogger, journalist, and media critic I credit for my appearances on MSNBC a couple years ago, points to an article about an American author sued in an English court for libeling a Saudi.

Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote in Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop It accused a rich Saudi named Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz of funding Islamofascist groups like al-Qaida.

Ehrenfeld sought protection under New York state law and asked that the judgment against her be rendered unenforceable, but the courts contend Bin Mahfouz is not subject to New York jurisdiction. It’s a procedural matter, but substantive to Ehrenfeld all the same.

Jeff is concerned, perhaps rightly so, that such a judgment chills free speech and postulates that such actions could extend to speech that merely criticizes Islamofascists. It’s not so far-farfetched, once you consider that Islam is incompatible with the West, given its propensity toward free expression, which includes the right to offend. But are we talking about libel, censorship, or both? Ehrenfeld accused the man of funding terrorism. What “free speech” right does she have to do that?

As scary as it seems, anyone who publishes anything in print or online is subject to libel laws all over the globe. Either Ehrenfeld libeled Bin Mahfouz or she didn’t. But what if she did? One can only imagine the resultant damage of being accused of funding terrorism.

Findlaw’s Julie Hilden says libel laws in the UK are more “pro-plaintiff” than such laws in the US. She briefly analyzes what libel is and the standard of proof applied if the plaintiff is a public figure as opposed to a private individual. The UK doesn’t have a strong legal tradition of tightly defining libel and requiring standards of proof that leave wiggle room for defendants. The US has a longer and much stronger tradition of giving defendants the benefit of the doubt. Indeed, the very idea is embodied in our Constitution.

If the UK is censorship prone, that’s a problem. Hilden writes:

Make no mistake, this is a clash of cultures: one that so values speech and openness that it leaves significant room for irremediable, damaging error; and another that so values reputation and privacy, that it errs in favor of what is, in effect, government censorship accomplished by the courts.

In other words, under America’s legal system, one can write or say irremediably damaging things about someone, but if the subject is a public figure and if the alleged defamer had no knowledge and did not act in reckless disregard for whether the accusation was false or not, the defamer is not guilty of libel. Dig?

The US v. UK libel laws discussion should concern everyone, of course, but more interesting is the Internet’s role in all this. Can Americans claim “No jurisdiction!” in foreign courts (and vice versa) when the Internet has “globalized” practically all aspects of communication? As Hilden says, writers are responsible for whatever they publish, for whatever ends up getting republished, and even “foreseeable republication.” People in the UK read this blog, for instance. If I libel a UK citizen from my perch in the nation’s capital, I may be liable under UK law for damaging that person’s reputation in the UK. (I hope I dig.)

Damages awarded by a jury in defamation cases hinge on the level of damage (perceived or actual?) to the defamed person’s reputation. Theoretically, the more widely published the libel, the more damaging it is to the person’s reputation. Thanks a lot, Internet!

In that regard, we Americans should be subject to libels laws around the globe, no matter how speech-suppressing. Hilden tacitly acknowledges that if a writer targets a foreign audience, he should be subject that country’s libel laws. As Americans, such a scenario leaves us queasy and shouting, “First Amendment violation!” But are foreign government’s obligated to honor our Constitution? Of course not. Hilden’s proposed solution to the mess (emphasis added):

Rather than contending with these elusive trans-hemispheric cases as the Internet slowly makes borders and oceans less and less relevant for distribution and reputation purposes, it might make the most sense for the U.S. and U.K. to enter into a defamation treaty. The treaty would ask both U.S. and U.K. courts to give up jurisdiction in defamation cases in which the other country has a stronger interest, based on factors such as the intended dissemination of the allegedly defamatory statement, personal jurisdiction over the defendant, and the location of the plaintiff’s primary reputation, and therefore, of his or her alleged damages.

A workable solution? (I still want to go to the UK, by the way, despite its pro-plaintiff, censorship-like quality. Working on it!)

One concern I have about foreign laws is the censorship of religious speech. It may seem ridiculous to us Americans, but I envision a world in which sharing the Gospel will be considered hate speech. Isn’t it already the case in Canada? Think it can’t or won’t happen here? American politicians already tried to make it so.

Remarkable thing, the Internet. In fact, the implications of digital technology specifically are far-reaching and profound. As knowledgeable as we think we are, we can only guess the far-ranging consequences of the so-called digital age. Even if you don’t have a blog or video blog or podcast, the implications of all this technology will affect you, too.

This morning I finished writing a review of Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, which examines one aspect of the digital age: how people discover entertainment products like music and how creators of these products and marketers can make digital discovery easier. Fascinating stuff. I’ll post the link once the review’s up on BlogCritics.

***Live-blogging at Boundless Line and below***

***For earlier live-blogging, see Part II***

This photo was taken yesterday by Jim of Gateway Pundit. More photos here. Pictured: Matt Sheffield of NewsBusters.org, me, and Soren Dayton of RedState.org.

10:05 a.m. PT: It’s Day Two of the Blog World Expo/GodBlogCon Convention. Biola University professor Paul Spears will discuss “Trafficking in Substance: A Blogging Dilemma: The Case for Blog Euthanasia.” Christians interested in God blogging need to be representatives of a “bigger thing.” What does it mean to have “substance” on your blog?

Paul says Christians have a responsibility to enable our audience to come to an understanding of larger things. It takes work, but there’s no other way around it. This assumes you want your blog to be significant, to come from a place of substance and help other Christians in their walk toward Christ. Paul showed a series of famous paintings. These artists created the kind of beauty that lasts. Lofty idea for mere bloggers, but we should strive to create something meaningful that endures.

What’s the story we’re telling? For me, I want to share the story of how Christ affects lives, my own and other people’s. There’s more than enough blogging out there about the latest trends and hottest politic topics. What we need is transcendence.

11:06 a.m.: Dustin Steeve of Biola University is discussing the basics of blogging and finding the platform to meet your needs. Pros and cons of free services like Blogger.com, WordPress.com, etc.

I’m up next. Break a leg!

2:53 p.m.: If I do say so myself, my presentation went well. Didn’t talk about my testimony (as I did here), and I hit most of my points on “writing well in the new media.” I was nervous this morning and right before I went on. Took a few deep breaths, stepped outside myself, took the focus off myself, and shared with the audience what I know about writing on the web. Writing online is somewhat different than writing for print publications. I encouraged bloggers in the audience to be bold for Christ on the web and not to worry about offending people. Our very existence offends people. The exclusive claims of our faith offend people. Don’t hesitate to take a strong stand on controversial issues.

Right after the talk, I was asked if I wanted to speak at next year’s GodBlogCon. A resounding “Yes, I do.” I may create a post based on my presentation.

GodBlogCon sessions are still going on, but I decided to walk around and try to meet other bloggers. Met Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House, Dean Barnett of Townhall (what a nice guy, man!), did a Blog Talk Radio interview with Captain Ed and Duane Patterson and an XM radio interview for Pajamas Media with Ed Driscoll. I chatted with Vodkapundit’s Stephen Green, whom I met in NYC at the Pajamas Media launch.

Yesterday, I met cool coder Mark Jaquith, who recognized me and introduced himself (he’s cute!). I hired Mark to do some coding for me couple years ago. Since then, he’s become hot property, slinging code all over the blogosphere.

Let’s see…I met D.C. Thornton, a guy who’s been on my blogroll for years. Got to chat with Pam Spaulding again. For those who don’t know her, Pam and I are political and social opposites. She’s a homosexual “marriage”-supporting liberal lesbian. And she’s cool. We didn’t get a chance to do the photo thing this time, though.

I met others, but I’ll have to remember who they were later.

Anyway, check back for more GodBlogCon updates.

To Professor John Mark Reynolds and Biola University student volunteers: Thank you so much for inviting me to speak. It’s a privilege to know such mature, godly young people. You are kind, thoughtful, and extremely generous. Your energy and dedication astounds me. I wish I’d been only half as hardworking and focused when I was your age.

***Live-blogging at Boundless Line and below***

***For earlier live-blogging, see Part I***

1:20 p.m. PT: Ran into Matt Sheffield, blogging pal since the early days, and Henry Copeland of BlogAds, who remembered attending my faith blogging session at BlogNashville back in 2005. Met Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim. I did some consulting work through one of his former companies.

Rhett Smith is up. He’s discussing social media sites like Facebook and how Christians can use the “new media ministries” in youth ministry. Rhett does youth ministry and was reluctant to create a page on MySpace. His online forum was getting little traffic, so he decided to try MySpace. He started getting visitors to his site. He also joined Facebook, a site that I have yet to get into.

Rhett said he had to go where the teens are. Put yourself in the shoes of high school kids, he said, or young adults. They’ve always had the online world, with social networking sites. For an oldster like me, even though I’m a blog consultant, I have no use for MySpace or Facebook. Yet. If you do youth ministry, of course, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with those sites.

[UK update side note: I mentioned my desire to go to the UK to a couple of people this morning and got two more leads on places to stay. Cheaply. One sounds really cool - Related to C.S. Lewis. I'll keep you posted.]

How do you use Facebook effectively for your youth ministry? You can stay engaged with teens in your ministry by joining the same groups, subscribing to their newsfeeds, etc. Rhett says he no longer creates hard copy flyers for events. He creates an events page on Facebook, and all the “friends” in his network are alerted and can respond to the invitation online. He talked about advertising on Facebook for free, as opposed to spending $1,000+ to take out an ad in a college newspaper.

Rhett says he got some objections from church leadership over joining the social networking sites.

2:24 p.m: Gearing up to head to Hugh Hewitt’s live-from-Blog-World-Expo radio show on the convention floor at 3 p.m. Bonnie Lindblom of Intellectuelle is discussing how Christian bloggers can learn to communicate “biblical womanhood.” Applicable to both men and women. Women have it good in 21st century America, but we’re still looking for purpose and meaning. Each of us is influenced by different things: our families, our subculture, etc. What’s different about Christianity, Bonnie says, is that it’s not “culture.” Christian truth is beyond culture.

Regardless of culture, the first thing women can do is take leadership of themselves. We women must take responsibility for ourselves. Blogging can provide women with an outlet and help them discover their talents. Bonnie says the blogosphere is wide open for women to write on topics pertaining to sexuality: singleness, chastity, etc. In the model of the Titus 2 woman, older women can minister to younger women. There’s room in the blogospher for these kind of discussions.

Bonnie says her vision for blogging is encouraging good thought, clear thinking.

3:00 p.m.: Joe Carter is up next. Make it quick, Joe, make it quick! He’s discussing “culture points” Christians can blog about. What types of messages should Christian media carry? Whatever is true? Noble and right? Pure and loving. Admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Christian bloggers should seek to improve our writing and expression.

What are these “culture points” he’s talking about? Folk culture (appeals to those with common ties), pop culture (appeals to the masses), and haute culture (intellectually above common works). Joe says Christian bloggers should be covering these points. We should be bold creators of culture, since we do worship a bold Creator.

[Side note: Andrew Jackson is here! Met Rick Calvert, Blog World Expo organizer. He knows me!]

5:41 p.m.: Finally met Eric Olsen. Even cooler than I thought he’d be. Going to the Hard Rock P.F. Chang’s for dinner with Joe, Andy, and a few other GodBlogCon speakers (including Albert Mohler and Hugh Hewitt). No happy hours for me. And no Hanson concert! See you guys on the second leg of the tour.

***Live-blogging at Boundless Line and below***

5:17 a.m. PT: Hi, my name is La Shawn, and I’m a coffeeholic. And I like to get up at 4 a.m.

I’m in Vegas, blogging before dawn. Lots of bloggers to try to meet today. Over the next two days, bloggers from many parts of the blogosphere – including Christian, political, business, tech, culture, sports, military, legal, and the “podosphere” – are here, talking about how to make money from blogs, win friends, and influence people. Bloggers will discuss how to use the new medium for God’s glory and connect the body of Christ in the digital age. Bloggers will show others how to use the “long tail” to their advantage. Business owners will learn how to hire bloggers. And on and on.

I probably won’t have time to meet all the bloggers on my list. Eric Olsen, a guy who created a little site called Blog Critics (and published a concert review I wrote) a few years ago and built it into an influential (press credentials), money-making venture, is near the top. I have a long list of business and tech bloggers I want to meet, many of whom don’t know me, I’m sure. Reading their blogs helped me shape my consulting business, and I continue to learn from them every day.

I’ll be on an NPR show called “The State of Nevada” this morning, along with fellow Godbloggers Joe Carter and Professor John Mark Reynolds, to talk about Blog World Expo (read convention updates here). The segment will air on KNPR between 9-10 a.m. PT.

I might be able to update this post today with photos and what’s happening at the convention. There seems to be an issue with the wireless.

9:37 a.m. PT: There’s something comforting about being around other Christians, even strangers.

I was impressed that NPR’s producers dug deep into my blog to quote from Margaret Sanger of the Blogosphere:

“Even in cases of rape and incest, I do not believe the unborn baby should be killed. Is that clear enough? I’ll make it clearer. Even if a man rapes his 13-year-old daughter and impregnates her, the baby should live.”

I repeated what I wrote and what I believe. Even so-called pro-life people draw the line at rape and incest. Not me, for the reasons I stated in the post.

Blog World Expo is underway. The convention center is cavernous. Haven’t met the must-meet folks yet, but a blogger (staffer?) from The Huffington Post introduced herself while I was walking around looking lost, having recognized me from the bio page photo (I presume). I had the pleasure of speaking to milblogger Bill Roggio again. We had similar complaints about the nasty political climate. Bill and I blogged together on Easongate.com during the Eason Jordan scandal in 2005.

10:57 a.m. PT: I am scandalously self-focused. Haven’t met Eric Olsen yet, but his wife Dawn recognized me. Other people do double-takes as I walk through the halls. Do they recognize me, or are they surprised to see one of only … like five … “people of color” here?

John Mark Reynolds is giving good blogging advice, tips to help you stay motivated to blog in “Focus and Motivation: Beginning and Maintaining a Meaningful Blog.” He said we should try to focus on external ideas that reflect inner development rather than focusing on self. It’s about a self engaged in something else. Now, there are blogs that focus on the blogger, like personal journals. It all depends on how a person decides to use the blog, which is just another communication tool.

Write for the permanent side of the blogosphere, John Mark says. Search engines like Google will drive “long tail” traffic to your blog. Your traffic stats may drop if you don’t blog every day, but if you blog with a long-term strategy in mind, other sources will drive traffic to your blog. Make sense? It’s all about getting out of the “hell” of blogging.

(Worth reading: Dumbledore is not Gay: Taking Stories More Seriously than the Author)

Goodness, truth, and beauty – three things the Christian blogger should keep in mind when writing a blog post. Also, what you see may not be what God is doing. In other words, ask yourselves how you’ve gotten to where you are. How is God working in your life through your blog?

We need to believe in “noble pagans,” he said. We’re here in Vegas because we believe the other new media folks here have something to say to us. We can learn from our secular peers in the blogosphere.

And finally, live to see the face of God, not to blog or to podcast or anything else.

11:53 a.m.: So cool to be recognized. Here I am in a sea of fantastic business and tech bloggers, and people know me. Wild stuff.

Pastor Mark Roberts’s presentation is on pastor blogging. Be careful, pastor bloggers, of turning your blog into an idol. Blogging can greatly expand the impact of a pastor’s teaching beyond his own congregation. Think Google. Posting a sermon on the blog can impact lots of people. Blogging can allow pastors to address topics that could not be addressed in church. Mark is a big supporter of comment-enabled blogs. Preaching can become more of a conversation and less of a one-way street. Blogging can provide excellent means for pastors to enhance the daily devotional lives of their congregations.

Blogging can help pastors get out of the saltshaker and into the world! Blogging can make a pastor’s congregation nervous, even jealous if they believe it can take him away from them. Pastors should see blog as part of their calling and stewardship of gifts.

No pictures today. Camera batteries are dead, and I left the charger and fresh batteries back in my room. I’m make up for it tomorrow, especially after my presentation. I’ll be free to roam! There are a few exhibit booths I want you to see. And tomorrow night, I plan to walk the Strip with my camera. And I plan to buy one of those “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” shirts, and other cheesy tourist stuff.

Lawyer and blogger Debbie Schlussel says that potential jurors for an upcoming terrorism trial were asked whether they read her blog! When I first saw that, I had to read it again. And again. Can you believe it?

The Department of Justice (DOJ), prosecuting a former DOJ lawyer, apparently believes that people who read Debbie’s blog won’t make fair and impartial jurors.

OK, so Debbie’s blog is blatantly and gloriously biased — pro-America, anti-Islamic terrorism, highly critical of DOJ and “ICE Princess” Julie L. Myers. Why not ask potential jurors if they read left-leaning publications like the New York Times? Or Mother Jones magazine? Or The Nation? Why doesn’t DOJ ask potential jurors whether they read certain liberal and/or anti-America blogs? Why single out Debbie Schlussel? I haven’t seen the questionnaire, but I’d bet that no such blog appears on it.

I’m having a hard time grasping the concept.

(Pictured: generic jury questionnaire)

Special thanks to L.L. Barkat for including me in “A New Kind of Body: How the blogosphere is transforming the way Christians connect,” for Today’s Christian. An excerpt:

“La Shawn…is unapologetically conservative in her views, is pointedly political, posting about many controversial topics and purposely taking a ‘devil’s advocate’ approach. She does this because she sees value in promoting conversation around difficult topics…La Shawn Barber initially used blogging partly to get feedback on columns she was preparing for print. Just as she was wondering if the blog was ‘a waste of time,’ it became a vehicle to a whole new career. She quit her day job and is now a full-time blogger, speaker, and blog consultant.”

Obviously, the interview was conducted before I closed commenting.

Thanks again, L.L.!

I’m a bad blogger. I forgot to plug the 2007 God Blog Convention — “Helping Christians engage new media” — and I’m a speaker!

Yeah, what Joe Carter said.

The previous two GodBlogCon’s were held at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where professor and blogger John Mark Reynolds teaches. This year, it’s in Vegas (woo hoo!) at the Blog World & New Media Expo on November 8 and 9.

Register here.

This is the third year in a row I’ve been invited to speak at GodBlogCon. Gathering with Christian bloggers (especially ones whose doctrinal beliefs are the same as mine, but others, too) is a joy. If you have the means and the time, come out to Vegas and hang with us. There will be lots of non-GodBlogCon stuff going on, too.

Check out the GodBlogCon archives.

No Exceptions

You could call my views on child killing radical.

Even in cases of rape and incest, I do not believe the unborn baby should be killed. Is that clear enough? I’ll make it clearer. Even if a man rapes his 13-year-old daughter and impregnates her, the baby should live. He should not be “terminated” because of how and under whatever circumstances he was conceived. I see no justification, no matter how tragic the events, for killing the innocent, unborn baby.

It’s all black and white for me, no shades of gray. If you call yourself pro-life but make an exception in cases of rape and incest, you’re not pro-life. Dig?

I can see the e-mail now: “A child giving birth to her father’s child? You’re sick!”

Yes, I am sick. Sick of child killing, the self-centeredness, the disposable mentality, the lack of faith…

Margaret Sanger of the Blogosphere

Blogger Dawn Eden invoked the “feminist” Planned Parenthood founder and eugenicist in a post titled, “Margaret Sanger is alive and well and living in the blogosphere.” She linked to a blogger calling herself Radical Mother Mama [Update @ 1:11 p.m.: The blogger replaced the post with a Sylvia Plath poem. Had a feeling that would happen. Here's a copy of the original post.], who’s trying to convince a 15-year-old girl from a poor family to kill her baby. Dawn writes:

Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger had a simple solution to poverty: kill unborn poor children.

Her spirit lives in blogger Radical Mama who, in a post called “Breaking the Cycle,” boasts of her ongoing attempts to convince a 15-year-old girl to abort against her mother’s wishes.

Radical Mama knows the girl, Julia, through the 4-H group to which the teen belonged. “I am trying to think about this [pregnancy] objectively, but I just can’t,” the blogger writes. “This is one of my kids. Isn’t this why I volunteer? To prevent this sh– from happening?”

(See my review of Dawn’s book, The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On)

Apparently, the pregnant girl’s father is an abusive drug addict. The girl would consider giving the baby up for adoption, however, Radical Mother Mama says:

I think that would be great except…She’s fifteen. How likely is it that after 9 months of pregnancy, and a labor, and then a little adorable baby being placed on her tummy…how likely is it that she will say good-bye?

Or will she think, “Hey look at that little thing that I made! I can do this, no problem.”

But as we all know, that adorable little baby turns into a tantruming toddler (at which point Julia would only be a senior in high school). And that’s just the beginning. What are the odds that the child turns into a 15-year old announcing her pregnancy?…When does this end?

Perhaps my focus is too laser sharp. In situations like this, I see THE BABY. From my perspective, the circumstances surrounding a pregnancy can never justify murdering the child. And I think it’s absolutely inhuman to believe otherwise. No set of facts, not even a deformity, would ever change my position: the unborn baby must live. At the very least, the pregnancy should be carried to term.

(More envisioned e-mail: “But what if the mother’s life is in danger and the only way to save her is to abort the baby?” I believe such cases are very rare in America in 2007.)

Also see:

• A Place to Turn When a Newborn Is Fated to Die
• Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus
• Demand grows for children with Down syndrome

Why are my views so radical? Because I’m a Christian who trusts God (and I mean fully), even though my puny intellect can’t comprehend why things happen the way they do. I can’t see myself explaining to him, with a straight face, that the baby he placed in my womb had to be slaughtered because of X, Y, or Z.

But then again, I’m a relic, a weird-looking anachronism with strangely retro ideas. Born too late? Too soon? On the wrong planet?

The Real Margaret Sanger

In her 1922 book Pivot of Civilization, Sanger called for segregation of “morons, misfits, and the maladjusted” and sterilization of “genetically inferior races.” She also came up with a plan to reach the black community with her message. Under the “Negro Project,” she hatched a scheme to use black preachers and doctors to hype contraception, sterilization, and child killing.

She wrote, “The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

(See Marching for Life and Against the Negro Project)

Ticks and Contraception

Last year I blogged about a pregnant “feminist” blogger who called her unborn child a “tick” She’s since password-protected her blog, so I have no idea if her precious baby got sucked through a vacuum, or what.

Over the years, readers have asked me about my views on contraception. I have mixed feelings about that. Here’s a rough outline: I think natural contraception is OK. Under the so-called fertility awareness method, for example, a woman abstains from intercourse when she’s most fertile if she wants to avoid pregnancy. Women can and should learn to read the signs of fertility. I won’t get into the particulars here. Suffice it to say, natural birth control probably is more effective if you’re with one, steady partner, i.e., your husband.

Birth control pills? I don’t know. Wait, yes I do. I believe life begins at conception. Once that sperm penetrates that egg, it’s on. If there’s a birth control pill on the market that impedes the sperm’s penetration every time, I grudgingly say, “OK.” But if there’s even the remotest possibility of fertilization, and the fertilized egg gets flushed out, I say, “No.” I’ve heard people refer to these as “mini-abortions.” I agree.

Look, I don’t run anything but this blog and my own life. Unfortunately, it’s legal in the United States to kill unborn babies for any reason. Do whatever you want. It’s your body. I’m not your judge. Just know this: the wrath is coming…

Related posts:

• Rebelliously Chaste!
• Lies and Regrets
• Baby Killing as a Civil Right
• Narcissistic Women Celebrate Murder of Babies
• Blogs4Life/March for Life II
• Justice Sunday III

Touchy topic, the crackdown on military blogging.

My view on this is somewhat controversial, too. There was a similar crackdown on milblogging in the U.S. If the Department of Defense believes milblogging is a security risk, it should restrict blogging. If blogging and social media sites are clogging up the works, then such activity should be reduced or eliminated on military computers.

I talked about the crackdown on TV back in May.

Addendum: Jim Cannon at Thinking Right writes:

“You might remember a couple of months ago Blackfive put on an email campaign requesting emails of support for Marine RCT 6 (Regimental Combat Team 6). They managed to get over 20,000 emails. I was so impressed with Blackfive’s efforts…I’ve been in contact with the PAO at 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division and they said they could definitely use the letters.”

Find out more about the letter writing campaign at Jim’s blog.