12 Witnesses

The PGA Championship is literally 3 miles from my house this week. I mentioned that Southern Hills Country Club was just 3 miles from my home and someone responded, “Wow! You are close to Southern Hills?” To which my Father in Law, standing close by, said, “No, he is a loooooong way from Southern Hills.”

Ahem. Both are true, in their own ways.

One of the members of my church was gracious enough to drop off two passes for the practice rounds yesterday, and I was pleased to spend the day with my son. We saw Tiger, Poulter and even Zach Johnson.

We watched some of the tour regulars tee off on number 4, which is a dogleg left, par 4. There was first an enormous tree and then an expansive sand trap in the crook of the dogleg. One of the caddies laser finder measured it at 293 yards to clear it. Those guys, remember, the “lesser names” on the tour, were BOMBING their drives over both, cutting the corner and leaving just a chip to the pin. Wow. That was something to see.

Zach’s short game looked good, but Ian Poulter’s was deadly. His approach from 150 yards out, or so, was within a couple of yards of the pin, in perfect position.

We saw Tiger hit to the 18th, and that was education. When the other two in his group hit to the green, high uphill, they hit high lofting shots that came up short. When Tiger first hit, I thought it was a mistake. The other two guys’ shots looked like more professional versions of something that you or I might hit. Tiger’s iron shot made a funny noise and was low, moving fast for about 20 ft. I thought he had “topped it.” Silly me. After twenty feet, it rose higher that the other two men’s shots and making it to the center of the green, dropped lightly. It was a different shot shape than I have ever seen before.

Now let me clarify. Any good golf shot will rise and then fall. Tiger’s was much lower to start and higher to finish. Consider it the extreme version of what the rest of us are doing. We just aren’t playing the same game.

All in all, it was a really fun time.

Page says ‘20/20′ segment one-sided

Baptist Press has released a news article that is relevant to the issue of sexual exploitation by ministers within the Southern Baptist denomination.

In it, Frank Page criticizes the 20/20 piece as lopsided, “yellow journalism.” I watched the piece and did consider it to be one sided.

I am familiar with the issue because I have made myself familiar with it over the last ten years. I realized just how vulnerable churches are when attending a Youth Ministers’ meeting in conjunction with my state convention about 10 years ago. In that meeting, a veteran Youth Minister went into detail about the churches he knew who were sorting through the wreckage of allowing a predator to work with their minors.

If you missed the full piece, you can catch the opening minutes here, and you should watch it before you read further.

One of the key personalities in the 20/20 piece was Christa Brown. Christa is also a leader and spokeswoman for a group called SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (and other clergy). On their website, if you go there right away, you will find a link to this article, “Southern Baptist Abuse Cases Garnering More Attention, Warnings.”

Well, it so happens that Christa and SNAP have had a contentious relationship with the SBC for a little while now. Some time early last year, Christa put me on her email list. I started getting a steady flow of unsolicited email communicating negatively about the SBC and potential predators within.

Now, let me say, my email address has been available on my blog for a long time - and that is an open invitation to email me. I know this and have no problems with her doing it. I did begin to have a problem with the flood of email that I got, and the bulk responses that I got from other recipients of the emails (members, I assume, of the SNAP network). Eventually, I had to block Christa from sending me email. It was too much.

I suppose I got on her list by her reading my blog and thinking that I was willing to go after SBC leadership. While I am willing to call a spade a spade, I also need to see things the same way before I haul off and blister the SBC with a post or series of posts. I didn’t see it the same way she did. I still don’t.

Let me clarify that. I didn’t think the SBC was taking things lightly, but was continuing to encourage member churches to work hard to protect their children. In short, I thought they were taking it seriously, but weren’t jumping through SNAP’s hoops, and that raised their ire.

At this point, I want to refer you to a series of articles from the latest edition of SBC life about their ongoing discussions with SNAP.

SNAP Apologizes to SBC Leaders

Disputing Sex Abuse Claims

SBC Executive Committee Response to SNAP Allegations

I appreciate the EC member who looked Christa in the eye and told her that we were on the same side - not enemies. The above quoted article (from The Christian Post) made a lot out of this quote from Marty Duren’s blog, SBC outpost, “If the charges are true, though, it will be worth the skewering to help us be better prepared to stop a pedophile’s ability to jump from church to church with no coordinated process for protection.” Unfortunately, the charges were assumed to be true without any qualification. They are not. The article compares the SBC with the Roman Catholic Church and the claim of autonomy is deferred because the Bishops were claiming that they didn’t have control over the local situations. While the RCC covered up several instances of child sexual abuse, the SBC has never done that, though it is implied in the 20/20 piece in the opening minutes as Jim Avila describes churches that should be sanctuaries for “just the innocent, but sometimes, far too often, shield the guilty.” Moreover, in the case of the hierarchical RCC, it is not true that local situations lack oversight and governance. In the SBC, it is completely true that the SBC does not have the privilege of oversight and governance among local congregations. Ultimately, it is up to the local church to do their due diligence in allowing anyone - professional or volunteer - to work with minors. When I interviewed with my church, the Search Committee hired a professional service to do every background check in the world on me. I was told that they felt that they owed it to the church. Who could argue with that? Only someone with something to hide. When it was done, I felt completely exposed by all that they knew about me. There were no doubts, though, when they shared the depths of their search with the church.

SNAP, and 20/20, both are complaining about the set up of the SBC. They want a top down organization so that they can get that one entity to force the rest to do what SNAP wants. It isn’t that way and never will be. The Convention would lose almost every member church if it were seriously attempted. Of course, the Messengers would just vote it down. It can’t happen and won’t. We would all be better served if they would seek to understand the SBC and then look for solutions that fit us.

Finally, the SBC is continuing to work through the issue. The convention continues to encourage churches to do whatever needs to be done, and dispenses helpful information as churches take on the task.

Here are some things I think we could do that would be helpful.

1. A national list of convicted sex offenders who had served within churches would help. At the very least we should check those men whose names appear on our “available ministers” convention websites against sex offender charges. If you want to post your resume, you should have to pay for a background check that goes along with your social security number. There were, I believe, six men on the national website that were convicted sex offenders. Ultimately, this issue is going to have to be a local church issue. You will gather far more information about a specific person at the local church level than any beauracracy can gather about a public at large. Still, at the very least we shouldn’t be providing a platform for predators to use convention facilities to find a place to harm children.
2. Through bulk purchasing, the SBC could leverage great prices from several background check agencies, making it easier and less expensive for churches to do what they need to do. You can buy office equipment, furniture and software through these bulk buys on the Lifeway website, why not background checks? [update] Dorcas Hawker, in the comment section of this post, has provided a link where Lifeway is doing just that. You can follow the link to the Lifeway site for more information. Here’s to the SBC for doing something real and practical to help churches avoid child predators. It would be helpful to advertise this a little better, so I’ll help with the link here.[/update]
3. Make child safety a part of every educational emphasis we have. I have spoken at convention trainings before. Child Safety classes should be the best option offered, and should be heavily promoted. Also, the speaker can offer, along with books from Lifeway that are always on sale at these things, bulk buy background checks, now available at a reduced price.

Well, there is just a few thoughts. What are yours? How can we make the SBC a safer place while dealing with the reality that is autonomy?

I have often said that my greatest spiritual heroes were members of my own family. One of them, my uncle Ross Rogers, passed away Thursday.

A minister for forty years, most recently to Senior Adults at Walnut Ridge Baptist Church near the Arlington/Mansfield (TX) border, he exemplified grace and peace to everyone - even those who were not gracious nor peaceful to him. For 20 years he served as Minister of Music to a pastor who treated him poorly and wanted him gone. After 20 years, he succeeded in having him fired. Around me, Ross was careful to guard his words about this man when lesser men, such as myself, would have let regrettable words fly.

Randy Weeaks, pastor of Walnut Ridge, found Ross attending his church, realized the depths of wisdom and God’s hand on him, and hired him. He was treated like a prince at that church. They will do it one more time in a Sunday afternoon funeral. In spite of the fact that our family is filled with Southern Baptist ministers or wives of SBC ministers, but because the church can turn out in droves, as Ross deserves, the funeral is on Sunday. I am humbled and grateful that I have been asked to participate.

For the last nine years, he lived victoriously over pancreatic cancer. For those of you who understand how aggressive and deadly pancreatic cancer is, you know that God’s hand was demonstrably visible in his lasting this long. There were many times the doctors were at a loss as to explain why the cancer was just inactive, without him undergoing any treatment.

Ross is my Dad’s older brother, the first of four (Dad is #2) and was always considered a bright star in our family. Many is the time that Dad found out that Ross was coming home from college when he hit the door and smelled brownies - Ross’ favorite. Of course, according to Dad, the only time brownies were ever made were when Ross was coming and then no one was allowed to touch them but Ross. If you got leftovers, you were fortunate.

Ross got to know his wife, my Mom’s twin sister, when he gave her a ride to come see me after I was newborn. That’s right, my Mom’s twin sister married my Dad’s older brother. He was my uncle in both directions. Aunt Suz loved him dearly to the end of his life. Over the last 9 years, she worked hard to help him deal with his cancer and in the last months, as things got much more difficult, she resigned from teaching to be there for him. As much as she loved to teach, she loved him much more. Before he passed he was able to tell her how grateful he was as they spent some of his last days together. Fortunately, Jenny and Liz, my cousins, were able to say good-bye as well. We should all be so blessed.

Ross, by the way, was classmate to several SBC luminaries at Mississippi College. Most notable among these are Morris Chapman and Jerry Rankin. He never sought to climb any ladders in the SBC, though he had connections if he wanted them. He was content to be a strong conservative who ministered in the place God gave him.

Ross was the first one to introduce me to biographies of great missionaries like Carey and Judson. His heart for missions was immense. His heart for God was moreso.

One final memory of Ross, and I hope you will enjoy it. When Ross would come home from college, Will, the youngest brother (in grade school at the time) longed for Ross’ attention. He would pester Ross until Ross would drag him out into the front lawn, tie him up, and come inside - leaving Will to bake in the sun and hollering for Ross to come get him. Everyone inside would just snicker. After a while, Ross would go out and ask if Will would promise to leave him alone. Will would swear that he would, if Ross would just untie him. Ross would let him go and they would go inside where Will kept his distance - for at least half an hour. After that, the pestering would begin again. After all, Ross was a great big brother, and who wouldn’t want his attention?

This is Spring Break in Oklahoma. Everyone around here is enjoying time with family and I am no exception. I have barely turned my computer on, except in the office and not looked at the internet at all. Sorry, for not announcing my blogfast, but I didn’t know I was about to take one.

It has been a busy week of ministry for me, but I have squeezed in some time with my lovely wife. We drove the kids in to OKC and met her brother there, who took them on to Grandma’s house for the week. We are going today to spend the rest of the week there.

When we got home Monday, I took Bonnie golfing with our church’s Minister of Music/Youth and his wife. We hit a local par three, and, even though it was her first real round of golf, she did great. She came away claiming that golf was the “meth” of sports, which is to say, it is instantly addictive. One good shot and you are hooked and her first great shot was the first one of the first tee. She had a good day.

I almost had a great day. I shot a 75 (it was a par 3 course, after all) but I almost had a hole in one. Here’s the picture I took with my Treo:

The regular gofer will recognize the dark spot to the left of the ball as the mark where the ball hit first, jumped forward and spun back, just past the hole, to where I found it once I arrived at the green.

Almost. Maybe next time.

Star-Telegram | 02/12/2007 | ‘To teach or exercise authority over a man’

This article appears today in the Ft. Worth Star*Telegram. It is written by Dr. Sheri Klouda herself and deals substantively with the issue of the claim that she was hired under “relaxed parameters.”

Some tough questions asked by Dr. Klouda in the article:

What is belief? Webster’s defines belief as the “conviction that certain things are true.” Belief assumes the existence of objective truth, truth that is unchangeable. I am not a philosopher, but the broader evangelical world, and Southern Baptists in particular, agree on the existence of objective truth.

How could Southwestern’s trustees and the seminary’s then-president, as representatives of the Southern Baptist constituency, elect me to the seminary faculty if they didn’t “believe” that my election was consistent with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, a document that I signed proudly and publicly?

—-

Board President Van McClain notes that Southwestern returned to its “traditional, confessional, and biblical position” concerning women teaching theology to men, suggesting that the “biblical position” on the issue was either misunderstood or misinterpreted by the same faculty members and many of the same administrators and trustees who serve at Southwestern today.

Are “objective truth” and a “biblical position” inconsistent with one another?

—-

Families are important to Southern Baptists, and I would never ask someone to defend me if it meant jeopardizing that person’s family’s livelihood or welfare. But the needs of my family — the medical needs, the pressures of changing positions, moving away, uprooting my daughter from high school — apparently did not matter to those who made administrative decisions.

How could they, in good conscience, lose sight of my family while caring so deeply for their own?

—-

What about fairness, equity and justice — biblical principles that characterize the faithful?

Is it not fair and right to allow a female professor, hired under the same terms as other faculty members, to undergo the same tenure evaluation process and receive objective affirmation or denial on the basis of her teaching abilities, professional development, scholarly achievements and publications, collegiality and service to the students?

Or does another standard exist, applying only to those women who inadvertently find themselves serving teaching roles in biblical studies?

—-

And if the trustees, faculty and administration truly made a mistake in judgment hiring me, or “relaxed well defined parameters of objective truth” that reflect the majority position on women and the Baptist academy, why did they want me to leave unobtrusively, as if my departure were my own idea?

—-

Why didn’t someone acknowledge the tremendous financial and emotional burden placed on my family through no fault of my own? Why not, as the Scriptures teach, make right the wrong? After seven years of dedicated service, shouldn’t I at least receive an apology?

It took me forever to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox as a Web Browser. Marty Duren kept saying it was soooooooo much better and who can believe anything he says.

Ok, so anyway, I finally did switch because I read that almost every web designer uses it. Even if they don’t use Firefox, they use something other than IE. I kept reading that it was the most standards compliant web browser. That sounded pretty good, even if I didn’t know what it meant. Bottom line, complex web pages - blogs in particular because they have so many things going on that are variables, work better in Firefox.

I have gotten so spoiled by everything looking right wherever I go, I forget there are issues for other browser. I accidentally launched IE 7 the other day and looked at my own blog with it. The footer appears in between the sidebar and the post content. Yuck.

Bottom line on this is that Firefox works better than any other and almost never fails. That alone ought to get you to switch.

On top of that, though, there are a ton of other cool things.

Firefox has cool tabbed browsing. IE7 has caught up to it. What you do get from Firefox that IE has not and will not get is plugins. Microsoft does not want anyone adding to their programing so they will not be giving access to plugins anytime soon.

Firefox, Wordpress and an increasing number of other programs are opening their code and allowing individuals to write “plugins” that customize their program. My plugins help me check for spelling when I am writing in Firefox, comment fields included. I have one that checks my local weather and updates forecasts, warnings and radar.

Firefox has a bookmark toolbar. If you grab the”Favicon,” (this is mine: ) the often customized icon next to a website’s address in the address bar, and drag it down to the bookmark bar, it will create a button that you can click to take you back to the page.

Here’s my favorite cool thing. If you grab the feed icon - - and drag it to the bookmark toolbar, it creates a dynamic bookmark that collects the feed you just grabbed. Click it and a drop down of the recent RSS feeds will be revealed which you can open one at a time, or all at once in separate tabs.

I bypass bloglines for a few of my favorite blogs in the toolbar. It’s fast when I want to check certain blogs quickly.

I know that there is a bunch more that you can do with Firefox. This is how I use it to make my blogging quicker and easier. Feel free to drop your tips on how to use it better in the comment section.

In the meantime, here are the plugins (Firefox calls them “add-ons”) that I have installed:

Ad Blocker Plus - Blocks all the ads on a webpage, whether they are pop up, static or animated.

Answers - Alt+click on any word and Answers will give you a brief definition of the word.

Cooliris Preview - Hover over a link and a blue box appears on th right. Hover over the box and a large preview of the link target pops up. Hover over a thumbnail of a picture and the full size pops up.

del.icio.us - a third party site that keeps bookmarks that you can pull up from any computer.

Download Statusbar - Shows downloads and their progress in the bottom bar.

Flashgot - Enables single a mass downloads of everything downloadable on a page.

Forcastfox - Weather status constantly updated - fast radar preview.

Map+ - launches a map of any selected address.

One more thing. These add-ons are constantly updated and Firefox will collect the update and install it for you after a prompt.

Oh, yeah. One more cool thing. If your session gets shut down (say your laptop runs out of juice or the power goes out), Firefoxs notes that and when you launch it again, it asks if you want to restore your session. Click “yes” and everything, even multiple tabs, comes right back where you left it.

Here’s one more goody, but for Wordpress 2.1 users. When writing in Wordpress 2.1, if you press Alt+Shift+v, more posting tools will pop up in your toolbar. You can change text color, style, etc. You can also insert special characters and there is an undo/redo set of buttons. And an Underline button. Nice, huh?

Ok. Your turn.

It is important to remember that all of the programs I am using are integrated with one another. They all work together and they make the other programs better. Therefore, it is not possible to talk about one by itself, but I will have to refer back to various programs from time to time and expound upon certain things later.

Right now, I need to expound upon Wordpress’ RSS feed generator, already integrated in the software. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” If you are writing a blog, evidently you are posting your thoughts in hopes that someone, somewhere will read them. One of the best ways to do this is to syndicate your blog.

Syndicating your blog means that you will produce a feed that feed readers can pick up. Think of it like a news story “coming in over the wire.” Feed readers, or feed aggregators, will monitor the feeds you like and present new posts from the various sources in one place - your feed reader’s home site. Did you think that I clicked on all the links down the side of my page to check if something new had come? Please. Who has time for that!?

There are now two types of feeds that you can grab. The first is the one that reads your posts. Recently, feeds that read every comment written to a particular post have become available. If you are trying to track a very interesting conversation on a blog, you can subscribe to the comments of that post and your feed reader will collect all the comments for you.

The standard feed creator, if you need to make one, is Feedburner. This is also a feed reader, but, as a reader, doesn’t compare to Bloglines, which I will discuss in just a moment.

When RSS first came out, you had to syndicate your blog yourself. Now, most blogging software has a feed generator integrated. My feed URL is, www.twelvewitnesses.com/feed. Pretty simple. What is even more simple is that most folks don’t even need to know that anymore. Now, unless you are using sticks and stones to browse the internet, you can look for this chicklet:

When you click , it will automatically start the process of subscribing you to that feed. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, that program will force you to subscribe to the feed through its bookmark folders - there’s one for feeds. If you use Firefox, however, you can designate what feed reader you want it to use.

Bloglines is my designated feed reader. When I click on the chicklet in the Firefox address bar, the window goes to the Bloglines subscription page and asks me how I want to read it, where I want to put it, etc. Bloglines allows me to create folders and structure how I want to read all of my feeds. I like it because it is customizable. I am hearing a lot about the omea feed reader lately. If you are not already committed to a reader, you might check this out.

Technorati is more than just a reader. As a reader, it’s not great. It is, however, THE STANDARD of tracking the interconnectedness of the entire blogosphere. It knows who is linking to whom, when and how often, etc. It tracks EVERYTHING. You can claim your blog there and get all kinds of interesting info. Again, Technorati is integrated in the Wordpress software.

I am going to save the rundown on Firefox for Monday. It is a lot of stuff and way too much to add to the end of this post.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. If you have suggestions for other feed generators or readers, etc., then you should let ‘em rip. Have a great weekend.

Practically speaking, I have a combination of programs that have been integrated for me that save me tremendous amounts of time. Before I tell you what they are, let me say that saving me time is paramount in the blogging experience. Many blogging pastors are ridiculed for spending so much time blogging that they couldn’t be capable of successfully pastoring their church. I have had people accuse me of this on this blog. they question how I could read all of the blogs on my blogroll and do anything else. I saw someone question another pastor about how long it took for him to write such long posts. I will answer the blogroll question in my next installment, but it doesn’t take as much time as you might think to write articles.

Frankly, I average an hour to an hour and a half a day blogging. Sometimes it is more because I can and I am inclined to do so. Other times, I will go for days without spending more than fifteen minutes on the internet. The previous four days have been like that for me. I wasn’t inclined to do it and my schedule wasn’t conducive, so I didn’t.

So why spend the time in the first place? Because it is important. I think that I am saying some things that need to be said. If you haven’t read “The World is Flat” yet, you might need to check it out. Information technology, of which blogging is a part, has created a level ground for the free marketplace of ideas. This is true on a global level. Ideas are tested, embraced or rejected based on their merits. If you have something significant to say, then your ideas are embraced. If you are screaming into the wind, then you are, typically, ignored.

Also, it is cathartic. I have an itch to write and I enjoy crafting words. It fills a personal need for me. As I mentioned before, I have had various experiences with this well before the blogosphere or the SBC issues melded together to create an amazing confluence of events over the last year.

So then, it is important, but time is of the essence. How do I make the most of it?

Here are the three programs that I use to my benefit: Firefox, Wordpress and Bloglines.

The benefits of Wordpress are many. You should get the exhaustive run down on Cory Miller’s blog, Church Communications Pro. That link will take you to a search results page for “Wordpress” at CCP. It is an extensive list.

Four things I use the most with Wordpress are the plugins that allow you to customize your software, the ability to write at home or in off times and have it release later, the post slugs that let you put key words in your title and the “press it” link that I can click when on any website that allows me to blog something quickly and easily.

The plugins that I use help me accomplish my goals quickly, so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time maintaining my blog. For those who already use Wordpress, here are the plugins I have installed:

Akismet (anti-spam filter)

Anti Spam Image (this is the number thing by the comments, and the plugin’s home page disappeared, but the program is still working even after an update of Wordpress software. Here is a link to a similar plugin, though there are so many, no one would have a problem finding one: AuthImage)

Break Out of Frames (If your blog is being read in a third party reader, this helps you to break out of the frames and allow you blog to fill the whole page, as it was meant to be read.)

Easy Ban (restrict IP addresses - never had to use it, but have threatened once)

Google Sitmaps (This plugin generates a sitemap of your blog which you can then submit to Google. Google will then have a better understanding of your site and search it for content more accurately. The end result is that your site content, if related specifically to a given search, will rise to the top of Google’s results. Submit your sitemap at Google’s Webmaster Tools.)

Maintenance Mode (For tweaking code without having readers log in to your blog while your code is not set.)

Move Comments (Allows you to take a comment that would be better on a different thread and move it there intact without having to delete it, etc.)

ToDo List (Gives you a “to do” list in your Wordpress dashboard that you can use to keep notes about posts you would like to do or changes in your blog)

Database Backup (Allows you to easily backup everything, as opposed to trying to zip files with an ftp program)

Wordpress allows for you to define a post time when you write a post. If you choose a time later than when you are writing, it will hold the post and release it when the time arrives. This post is being written that way. I am timing it to release Wednesday morning, but writing it during my free time on Tuesday. The stats my hosting service provide tell me that I pick up my readership about 6 am and it tapers out about 10 pm, with some peaks and valleys in between. I know that an article that posts just before 6 am will get the most readership and discussion it could possibly garner than if I release it later in the day. This way, I write when I am free - not taking time from either my ministry or my family, and still publish it when it is most advantageous.

The “Post Slug” box in Wordpress allows you to insert key words into the title of your post. Ideally, these are things that relate specifically to the article and are words that are most likely to be entered into search engines. You may note the address of this post, for instance. It is not the title of the article, nor is it the archive position. When you watch which keywords bring people to your site, you begin to understand what people enter into search engines in hopes of finding what you are talking about. Certain things attract a lot of attention, and certain things don’t. Having certain keywords in your title will increase the likelihood of your article being found by someone who doesn’t read your blog regularly. This has the potential, obviously, of increasing your readership and conversation. Right now, about 50% of my readership is first time, and most of that is coming from search engines. Some of that, obviously, is from referral, but there was a definite spike in search engine traffic when I submitted a sitemap to Google and then started using post slugs.

At the bottom of the page when writing a post on Wordpress, there is a link called, “Press It .” If you copy the link to your bookmarks, you will be able to create a post on whatever you happen to be surfing. For instance, I have run across a few news stories in the last month that I wanted to write about. Rather than open another window and copy title, address, etc., I just click the “Press It” link and it automatically creates the beginnings of a post with the title and link to the webpage on which the article was originally found. It saves a ton of time. When you are done, it takes you back to the page you were surfing.

Finally, Wordpress automatically integrates with Technorati and generates RSS feeds for those who wish to use them. More on Technorati, RSS feeds, Bloglines and Firefox on the next post.

12 Witnesses is not my first blog. Louie Giglio used to publish an online journal of his spiritual thoughts and I read it constantly. This was ten years ago or so. Louie had a profound impact on my spiritual life through “Choice,” a Bible Study that was the precursor to the Passion Conferences that are now national and powerful.

I followed suit. I published an online journal on our church’s website, which I designed and ran. I was hopeful that it might inspire our students as Louie inspired me.

Years later, I got involved with some of the forums at the Youth Specialties website. Many of those folks spent time blogging, but I didn’t quite know what that was. I researched a little, started one, and then ditched it. It was a personal, family blog, but I worried about putting too much about my kids on the internet, for obvious reasons in this time when lurking predators are many.

Finally, I started Theoblogian Today in September of 2005. I was just intending to talk about general ministry and theology. I thought the name was witty. In January, 2006, I read my state Baptist Paper and found out about the stir brewing at the IMB. The Archives of that time will reveal the growth process, including why I changed the name. If you don’t want to sift the through the Archives, it was because the name sounded pithy and shallow in light of the serious things I was discussing.

12 Witnesses then moved from the original site url, theoblogiantoday.blogspot.com, to the new one, twelvewitnesses.blogspot.com. Recently, it has come to rest in a permanent place: twelvewitnesses.com. I purchased the rights to the name, url and some server space to make sure I never had to do that again.

Here are a few thoughts about all of that.

1. No one much read what I was writing early on because I never interacted on other blogs. Commenting insightfully is the quickest way to get people to follow the link back to your blog and begin reading what you are writing.
2. I commented anonymously at first, because I was afraid that I might hurt my chances in future ministry. I started commenting and posting under my own name because I noticed that people tended to ignore folks who didn’t own their words, and I felt that if I was afraid to own my words, they must not be worth much.
3. Blogspot blogs were the easiest and most well known originally, but blogger became a nightmare. I can’t tell you how many times it crashed my blog, ate my template and froze up at just the wrong moment. I finally quit blogger, well after many of my fellow bloggers moved on, when it allowed a slew of sexually explicit spam in my comment section, despite the security measures.
4. I now use Wordpress. At first, I wasn’t all that impressed with the software and wondered why everyone raved about it so much. In the end, I found many benefits to Wordpress software that have made me very happy with my current situation.
5. Throughout the year of 2006, I have occasionally posted on other subjects beyond the SBC, but I know that my readership, while interested in those things for the most part, have the SBC in common.
6. The blogosphere is a free marketplace of ideas. If you have something to say, particularly if you are adept at writing, people will read what your thoughts.
7. Not everyone who reads your thoughts agrees with you. I have had over 200,000 individuals and over 500,000 pageloads on the various forms of this blog in the last year. Certainly I have had my fair share of folks who disagreed with me. That’s fine. It’s about conversation. Well, it is supposed to be, anyway.

Believe it or not, I have a lot more. Future posts will include my thoughts on time management and the tricks I’ve learned to streamline my blogging experience, as well as the programs I use and why. Also, I will write on why I think it matters to do what I have done - invest the time, energy and money in this blog, 12 Witnesses.

With all the talk over the last year about blogging pastors - from praises to condemnations - I have thought of posting a series about what I have learned and why I blog. I plan to start posting this series tomorrow.

It will include some background, personal thoughts, explanations of purpose and hopes for what it may accomplish. I will also talk about how I make the best use of time through prioritizing and tricks of the trade that have made things easier and easier.

With that, please take note that 12 Witnesses will shut down between the hour of 7 pm and 8 pm Eastern. This is so that the Wordpress software can be upgraded by guru David Phillips.

Thanks.