-Experiences in Blogging: "As Iron Sharpens Iron"

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." -Prov. 27:17

One of the more important reasons for Christians, especially pastors and ministers, to blog is what I call the "Iron Sharpens Iron" effect. As one posts articles and others stop by to comment, there is an ongoing sharing process that one cannot duplicate easily through other forums. Other Bible teachers and pastors will come aboard and drop a comment or two which actually in my experience helps to clarify and refine my own writing and teaching. The feedback can become a real blessing.

-Blogging Ministry: Setting Up A Prayer Line

Prayer Lines are some of the most popular sites on the internet. Millions of people are looking for help everyday and many turn to some kind of prayer line to register their requests.

Many churches already have prayer circles and phone lines in place to accommodate their members and friends who need prayer for various reasons. I believe that blogging platforms provide a unique tool for expanding what the church is already doing and by making it readily available to their members 24/7. Not only that, it could become an outreach ministry for the church by making the prayer line public on the World Wide Web.

-Why Blogging? -A Bible Study Example

For years I have taught Bible studies at church and in small home groups, usually to groups of from 10-50. Last year I decided to put a Bible study on the internet utilizing a blogging program. It is not a very successful site and certainly not well known nor even that impressive, but it was read by over 75 different people last week, plus more (an undetermined number) accessed it through 43 feeds. In addition, they came to the site from 9 different countries. All in the last 7 days.

Now here is the best part. Nearly every lesson that I have posted so far is read by someone every week.

-Barna: The Techno Generational Gap in the Church

Research by The Barna Group shows that there is a major divide between different generations and how they approach the new media. This seems rather intuitive for anyone with grandchildren.

But it would be helpful for church leaders and outreach folks to get a hold of in order to plan a more effective ministry to different generational groups.  Most churches are adequately reaching the Boomers and the Busters but the church technology is way behind in addressing the younger generations where they live:

-Evaluating The Effectiveness of Your Internet Ministry

Is Your Internet Ministry Effective? Have You Checked?

Here is my take on the subject:

There are many different ways to gauge whether your Internet ministry is effective or not. A lot depends on your goals, objectives, and reasons you put up a site in the first place.

-Outreach Ministry on the Internet

Here’s an interesting story about different kinds of Christian outreach and evangelism on the internet. Included is a interview of the writer of "Holy Mama" Blog.    

-Updating or Changing Posts

Have you ever read a post on your blog a couple of days later (after publishing) and found words or spelling that needed to be changed? I just make the changes and usually go on down the road unless my mistake has been pointed out in a reader’s comment.

Mostly these amount to word usage mistakes that weren’t caught by the spell check–like there or their, to and too, accept and except, effect and affect. These type of changes are usually no big deal and really don’t affect the message.

-On Blogging: “Be More Than a Blip in the Blogoshere

Here is a good article on blogging from the Washington Post, by Dan Zak. It contains some good advise for those starting out and even for bloggers who have been around for a while. Read the entire article if you want you blog to reach a greater audience. The main points in the article are elementary but useful and profound. 

-Worship on The Web

There is an interesting article in the Washington Post about Worship on the Web. It starts out talking about how religion in general has become an important part of the web experience. Here is a short quote:

” “The first wave of religion online, in the 1990s, was mainly for nerds and young people and techies,” said Morten Hojsgaard, a Danish author who has written extensively about online religion. “But now it really is a mirror of society at large. This is providing a new forum for religious seekers.”

-Increasing Visibility and Traffic to Your Blog

There are a number of things that you can do to increase the visibility of your ministry blog and the number of different people actually visiting your site.  Are numbers all that important?  Ask a Pastor if he or she would rather have a growing church or a stagnant one.

A lot depends upon the goals and reasons you started the blog in the first place.