Really? (Feel the sarcasm dripping)
So the Christian Examiner, a publication in Southbern California recently held a GodBlogCon (article here), which was held at Biola University. Strangely enough, none of the folks I have read recently mentioned anything about this. Are the folks I read that underread, and uninfluential? I doubt it. Do these bloggers not share some of the same concerns over orthodoxy that the organizers hold? I doubt that one too. I suspect that it was a pet project at Biola that was put to the bloggerazzi (did I just coin a new word?), who were in charge of putting it out to their mainstream audiences in the boomer generation. Which raises an interesting bit for me as to what the complexion of blogs may hold in the way of ages. I don't know if there is anything that could give me some real data on that, but it might be worth studying. If so, how do you aim such a thing at the Boomers.
I say aim it at the Boomers for a very real reason. They are 66 million, and the Gen Xers are 18 million and the Millenials are 77 million. The millenials are already on board with this whole method of communication. The Gen Xers are fighting for a voice, and with numbers like the ones mentioned above I can understand why. The Boomers are the ones who were born in the church and have wandered away, have struggled to stay up-to-date, and want desperately to fit in, why not with the new bandwagon of blogs and help to find the niche market that is the Boomers...and help connect them with the church. The trick is finding the way to their traffic. I suspect that keeping myself on the Methodist Blogroll will not get me there, but is no reason for me to remove myself from said tool. I may get some traffic from another who has made that connection. The question is whether there is a blogroll that does work. Getting my name in print in the Christian Examiner wouldn't do it with the unchurched (BTW- I DID NOT get my name in the Examiner-I didn't go to the conference, and don't consider myself all that influential through my blog).
That seems to be the question of evangelism as broached in previous posts. The question prevails for me as to how to reach said unchurched persons, not to mention keeping them hooked so that they will continue to check out the periphery and then find a way to receive a full-blown invitation to the church, mine or the one closest to them. This kind of conversation with my peers in the blogosphere would really interest me, not to mention the myriad other friends of the clergy and laity that might help direct my thoughts to make the whole possibility a closer reality.
Peace,
4 Comments:
I followed the GodBlogCon fairly closely. Joel Thomas was the Methoblogosphere's rep there and reported back at length on the subject. He hobnobbed with all of the big Christian bloggers. I was quite envious and wish that I was there.
I think that one reason why you may not have heard of GodBlogCon is that the Christian blogosphere tends to lean Calvinist. For example, the largest blog alliance is called The League of Reformed Bloggers.
I'm more interested in building community in the Methodist blogosphere, which is small enough that we can get to know each other. Although I used to care about traffic and such, Gavin wrote a deeply convicting post about three months ago that threw me off that sinful road.
Maybe there can be a Methoblogger meetup sometime next year. Wouldn't that be cool?
A MethoBlogCon would be fun. There are some great people out there whom I would aprpeciate the chance to meet in person. The funny thing is that most of us seem to be Gen Xers and work with the Boomers and the Millenials and a fair number of builders, and less so with the Gen Xers, which may be why we want that so badly. But the aim is to build the church and grow God's kingdom, and so ideas are always a plus there.
Peace,
DC
MethoBlogCon ?? I think you can get arrested for going to one of those places :)
As long as you stay at least 10 feet away from the dancers, you'll be fine.
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