Bloglull

OK. So its an official term and I made it up. So years from now when people ask where the term "bloglull" originated... its right here, right now. What does it mean? Well, ask any German about compound words and you figure it out.

So really, I've been busy and doing quite a bit of thinking. Let me illustrate happenings in my life in a bulleted list...

• Brandon moved in with Jaime and I (yes the Brandon that is on the left side of this blog)
• My dad an I built a pseudo-biodiesel plant based on the dieselsecret.com system.
• I have been busy at work but doing a lot of cool stuff and things are getting pretty organized.
• I have been trying to learn Swedish and bought a Swedish bible... such a beautiful language.
• I just ate salad with a dirty fork.
• I have been thinking more about cyberevangelism.

Whoa! What? Cyberevangelism? Yes, that's right... a new term originating at this amazing blog too! My past pastor (is that prepastor?) has been putting bugs in my ear about the emergent church and just rethinking church in general... Maybe he knows I am a compact thinktank or something, but I have been thinking about it. One of the things Greg mentioned was how do we reach the people that don't go to church? The people that don't like church because it is so institutional? So this got me thinking and being that I'm so involved in technology I naturally started solving the problem that way... and that's when it hit me...

There is a growing mission field that no airplane can travel to.

I suddenly realized that cyberspace is growing at an exponential rate and social networking technologies are proliferating. Unfortunately just like the internet, this landscape is being flooded by the darkness of this world as fast as this grows. There are a number of ways we as Christians can respond, and turn back the flooding darkness that fills the void behind this cybergrowth.

Blogs
I read blogs (introducing term "blogsurfing") and find an inordinate amount of loneliness, stress, lack of direction. The one thing I have found is that even though most people in modern societies have a great facade and ability to look like we have it together, we still have a deep need for interaction and are at heart lonely. We find it difficult to share this with people in our fast paced world. We simply put on the front, a smile, and never ask for help. The funny thing is that many people use blogs as a form of therapy. It gives us the ability to release what we really feel, sort of like a carnal form of prayer.

This is a wonderful way to reachout to others without ever needing to leave your house. I have read many blogs and even prayed for some people I never met... and sometimes I even wrote words of encouragement. The great thing is these people can link and read your blog and find out more about what makes your tick.

And many times I have heard my current pastor Pete mention how important testimony is in our lives and how we declare what God is doing. In fact, the Bible is actually a series of testimonies in a pseudo-chronologic fashion. Blogs are just that, put at a personal level. You can share who you are, what you enjoy and how God interacts in your life. What better way to share with this world, to be a beacon of light in a new city that is growing by the second?

In short, I encourage all to start a blog, write about yourself, and what God is doing in your life. I don't care if you write a weekly bible study, share what's in your life, what you are learning in life, responses to questions people ask, etc. In this way we can begin to fill the void and reach out to others in cyberspace.

Podcasts
This is another way to share what's happening in your life in a more advanced medium. While almost anyone can write, others may have the gift of speaking and encouragement. Consider Podcasting. This is a new way to basically make your own radio broadcast. This is well within reach of anyone that has access to a computer and a microphone. Churches, consider recording church services and making them available as weekly or bi-weekly podcasts. Worship teams, record your music and make them available with these radio sets. Work together in collaborative networks with other churches to write content and music. But before you do any of this, may be I should explain what a podcast is...

So, first you need an Apple iPod... then you need the internet. This lets you download music on to your iPod and listen to it. Now a podcast is like subscribing to a radio broadcast. When you plug in your iPod, the software downloads any updates to the podcast and copies it to your iPod, making it basically a self updating audio broadcast that can be listened to forever.

So what kind of podcasts can you subscribe to today? Well, a brief survey of the landscape revealed that about half of them are about being homosexual, about a quarter include crude humor, and some have meaningful content about technology.

Now I haven't even mentioned a new feature on new iPods call video podcasting. This is the same as regular podcasts except with videos. It remains to be seen how this will be embraced but I am certain this WILL be embraced by the porn industry. Need I say more? How can Christ be glorified in this?

Well, that's your choice... you can either turn your back and proclaim the internet as evil, or you can begin to take action to take over this virtual land for God. Your choice... talk to me if you need help in the mission field.