This morning I was fortunate enough to catch Healthy Apetite on Food Network, and discovered a few new recipes that I tried out today. Delicious roasted red pepper & mozzerella stuffed turkey burgers (recipe) and baked onion rings (recipe). Then, I was craving key lime pie, so I went ahead and made that of those too.
The finished results are tasty so far, although I’m waiting on a friend and her mom before I dive into the key lime pie. Pie is meant to be shared.
I woke up this morning earlier than usual for me on a Saturday morning, it was somewhere around 7am. I made breakfast.
It’s such a pretty day – it’s so bright out, green. I am contemplating going to the beach, knowing that time to read and journal is almost the most therapeutic thing for me.
I’m in the midst of cutting back in my life. Praying about what things to stay involved in and what things I should just let go. These are not easy decisions.
In the midst of a lot of life changes, I think I need to anchor myself so solidly on the One who doesn’t change. His ways are pefect and everlasting. His ways at last even the hardest of my seasons.
This morning I got the opportunity to read about God’s jealousy for our hearts, for Isreal (His chosen). I am so amazed at how God continues to fulfill His covenants even when we’re adulterers to His namesake.
But, Isreal, why didn’t you pay attention? Why did you turn aside to other Gods? Why do I do the same thing? Awaken my heart, Lord. Let me not turn aside to false idols. I long to worship you with my life. To take a fresh approach.
I just got to the place where I can rest, I’m alone. Sitting on my bed, listening to Pandora, letting my mind rest. But even then, my mind swirls – the conversations I’ve had today envelope me, the heart ache that is surrounding. My own circumstances and needs press on me. The realizations of life change are ever-present.
In 4 months and 7 days I’ll get married. My last name will be different, my town may or may not be different. Everything is changing, life is moving faster than you know.
It’s not just planning a weddding that’s overwhelming, but that in and of itself could be.
It’s not just the thought of moving to a new town, but that alone is overwhelming.
And it’s not just the thought of changing my last name, living with a boy, and saying I do to forever, but that is drastic.
I have appreciated so very much the particpation of everyone here at blogference! I’ve had so much fun blogging and commenting with you guys! I’ve even twittered about it quite a bit using hashtags #blogference and #cccbf.
These conversations on social media have caused me to think differently about how I blog and how I utilize my blog. I definitely want to be a good steward of my readership and of my webspace.
I’ve been looking for articles and even had some of you send me some good ones. I follow Relevant Magazine on Twitter and just today they sent this article: Twitter: What’s It Doing to Us? that gives some really good insights on how 140 charaters just isn’t enough sometimes. Which discusses the negative affects of Twitter:
There’s also some fairly disturbing indications that this growing self-absorption may be dulling our society’s conscience. Researchers at the National Academy of Sciences have found that the lightning pace of media brought on by Facebook feeds and Twitter has made the average person increasingly indifferent to human suffering. Constant updates give us little time to reflect upon the information we’re receiving. The study found that humans have the capacity to sort information very quickly, but complex reactions like compassion or admiration take much longer to process. When we’re constantly inundated with tiny bits of information, we rarely take time to think or feel deeply about it.
As well as some of the positives,
But Twitter can also be an amazing tool for news and community. In fact, the use of Twitter last year during the deadly Mumbai siege helped to coordinate police and emergency response. Victims and bystanders of the attacks used Twitter to give real-time updates of the events as they unfolded, and the on-the-spot reporting it provided helped to hasten response.
Why should we be surprised? Most things can be used for good or for evil depending on how they are used.
It seems as if there is a bottom line that is surfacing among this research and in our themes across the board. Truly loving people, and truly caring about others can’t be replaced. After all Jesus gave us the real model for this. And as it says in 1 Thessalonians 3:12
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
I found this website called, Church Marketing Sucks (sorry for the title – but it’s just what it’s called) and this is what they have to say on the topic of using social media:
Your church will never be great because you figure out how to use Facebook and Evites. Your church will be great because you commit yourself to living the gospel in a radical way, and you can use social media as a balanced part of that gospel-centered diet.
While I agree with what they’re saying, and to some degree I can see where they are coming from. After all church marquis signs are sometimes embarassing for those of us who are trying to not come across like those signs sometimes do. But can’t these marquis signs be an analogy for what our ministry says to people as they drive by or notice us? What do people notice about your ministry? What do they know about you? Do they think you’re an outdated student organization? Or do they think you have something worthy of their time?
We’ve seen the trends, we know that social media is it, it is NOW, and we as the Church must embrace it as one of the ways that we use to communicate God’s love and forgiveness.
There is no doubt that social media can be leveraged to reach more people, we as the Kingdom, have a task before us to figure out how to do that and how to do that well. Brian Barela, wrote this on his blogference post today,
I believe that there is someone out there with the ability to produce a culturally relevant, massively popular, viral action, evangelistic tool that could affect millions. Unless we as an organization die to this premium model philosophy in not only evangelism but in other areas as well (a great topic for the next blogference), we should not be surprised at our lackluster results in spite of a high investment of resources.
Just as we trust God that within a certain number of miles of every campus there are the resources to reach that campus, we need to trust God for tools that are relevant, that use social media, that would be viral and spread like (umm…) fireseeds throughout the world.
Or maybe the tools are already out there and there just needs to be someone, or a group of people, committed to looking for them. As I was thinking on this, I just thought of how this video my church did for it’s Christmas series, called “The Arrival” could be used to drum up conversation evangelistically, [rss feed readers video embedded]
You could ask questions to follow up from this video like,
What do you think is going on in this video?
Why are some captivated by the door and some are not?
Who do you think is knocking at the door? etc, etc….
I have a few questions for us to think on. Let’s get the ball rolling here…
Are there any tools that you know of that are out there that you’ve used to share the gospel that could be shared through venues like Twitter, Facebook, etc effectively? If yes, what are they?
Do you have any suggestions for how you can “use social media as a balanced part of a gospel-centered diet?”
What do you think is the Church’s biggest barrier when it comes to using social media – lack of knowledge, lack of willingness, or something else altogether?
How do you think Twitter, facebook, etc could be an amazing tool for community? How have you used it in your ministry to build community?
I’d like to answer my own question from yesterday of how I’ve seen social media work.
I’ve seen overstock.com ask for more followers on twitter to receive some gift cards.
Mophie: a way to charge your iphone on the go – had a sweepstakes, to be automatically entered to win, just follow them on twitter
Congo Cast: a project about the Congo, created a cause page on facebook, a website, and it’s own podcast
Everystudent.com urges their local campus owners to advertise on facebook (a steal of a deal when it comes to dollars to hits) and have used youtube hand-in-hand with their site
So, there are no doubt, plenty of examples that could be listed. But, I can’t help but think – a blogference, without twitter! Crazy. Hey Brian, can we get a blogference twitter account?
I just read this idea of how to lead and interact well with “Gen F” the facebook generation. (Thanks Ken) and I can’t help but to agree a little bit, one of my favorite comments in the article was the 2nd principle among the 12:
2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.
I think that’s why blogs work. Movements are started through the web – (uh oh, I most likely just struck a nerve among you Crusaders by mentioning the word “movement.”)
But think about it, a movement, by definition is “change of place or position or posture” which I find interesting because I think I just pictured movements with a very narrow view in years past.
I dug up some stats for us to see the reality of the social media movement and how it’s shifting our culture to become very connected through these outlets.
As I was reading an article about 2009 social media trends (by the pros), I found it interesting that some of the ways that they suggest corporations blog – is to be less corporate and more authentic, “to write openly and honestly about your industry.” And, if our industry is Christ (pardon the comparison), then we should write openly, authentically about our lives as Christ followers. We don’t have it all together – and we should be willing to share that through our blogs, twitter, myspace, and facebook accounts.
I don’t want to get to ahead of myself here, so, I’ll pose this question, in what ways could we use our communities (both online and in-person) to stop masking who we are and to live authentically (appropriately)? That is, if everyone knew someone who truly followed Christ, (even if that person was just someone they knew online -through blogs, twitter, etc)?
I’ve been blogging for a few years now (about 3) and things have changed a lot in those 3 years. I started out in blogger, even tried tumblr, but have landed on this wordpress blog for the past year or so.
I remember when facebook started, I hopped on twitter as soon as it was announced in an rss feed, and I just initiated myself into the world of LinkedIn. But these, just scratch the surface…there are so many others out there…
My senior year in college I wrote my thesis on “the internet and how it affects interpersonal relationships among college students” and that was a few years before facebook. It seems like since that time facebook, myspace, ichat, skype, texting, blogging, twitter, youtube. vimeo and others have swept us all up into a whirlwind of fury. And if you look around, it’s not just for college students any more, it seems as if “everyone is doing it” these days.
Truth be told, social media is just starting, I think we’re just breaking through on applications and websites that will connect us, that is to say, we’re more connected than ever and yet, more disconnected than ever – and this is my topic for the next few days; How to utilize social media to bridge the gap, create a buzz, and basically make it work in your favor.
But, the way blogference works is not like a conference in that you go to a talk, listen to it and leave. Nor do we want you to come here and read a post – and then you’re done. Oh no, this requires your participation for it to work! So, everybody now – let us know who is reading, and who will be tracking over the next few days. Mention us on your blog, blog about the topic yourself, put us on your rss feed, twitter us, and let’s get this thing going in a true viral marketing way.
So I’ll start us off with a question, how have you seen social media work to virally (to spread like a virus) market something? anything? This could be for you personally, or for anyone that you’ve seen market an event, a band, a cause, etc… Tell us what they used, how the used it, and why you think it was effective (show us links). All forms of feedback are appreciated and welcomed – I urge you to be creative.
Last night, I was reading in a Bridal magazine of all places, this,
When it comes to a wedding think of your guests as sheep. They need to be led.
The last sentence qualifies the first, and makes it much less insulting.
Then this morning, I flip open a book I’ve been trudging through since June, and it’s about this very topic, sheep. The title of today’s lesson, “The Lord is my Shepherd”
Now if you’re like me, you perhaps have Psalm 23 memorized and you know that these words are meaningful. But that’s the annoying thing with my walk, things get too mundane and I don’t stop to even realize what I’m saying and believing. Today, I took a closer look.
Psalm 23 opens like this, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
You shall not want? What David? Really? Not even a new staff? Or a new gate? Or some new tunics?
But as I was reminded this morning, “God designed us as we are so that we would see our need of Him. In Him, we find all that we need.” -Kay Arthur
But yet, I don’t think I do find all that I need in God, I think I tend to try to find it everywhere else, even in friendships, my parents, my job, my roles, etc…
But, I was reminded, I am so much like a sheep, I need to be led.
Kay Arthur writes;
Sheep are the dumbest of amimals. They are helpless, timid, and feeble. They require constant attention and meticulous care. Sheep have little means of self defense.
I find so much reality in that, I need so much care, I need attention. But, I’m seeking it in the wrong places all the time.
But this is reality;
If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off a mountainside. They will overgraze the same land and run out of food unless the shepherd leads them to new pastures. If they are not led to proper pastures, they will obliviously eat or drink things that are disastrous to them. Sheep easily fall prey to predators, and when they do, they are virtually deenseless. Sheep can also become cast down and, in that state panic and die. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them.
-Kay Arthur, Beloved: From God’s Heart to Yours
I see so much of myself in that! In need of a shepherd to lead me, to keep me safe from predators, to prevent me from falling off the mountain, to keep me away from danger, to prevent me from being “cast down.”
I ask because I’m there, right now. This week has kicked my tail, my schedule isn’t rigorous, but it’s invasive. It requires introspection and it requires my heart to be engaged fully on a daily basis – it’s exhausting.
Ever since I’ve been back in America I haven’t felt fully myself, and I suppose I never really will. This isn’t very comforting, because I’m living in America right now, and quite frankly, I’d like to feel like myself again.
I know I keep bringing this up, and I hope it isn’t overwhelming to you, dear reader, but it seems to reoccur in my heart.
I’m going through the motions, and I’m admitting it. I’m a small group leader, an advocate, and I work at a church. I meet with people sometimes one – on – one, but God knows it is only by his grace that I am able to pour out anything.
I’ve been trying to draw from the past – from where I’ve been, specifically last year. Because, I figured out how to walk with God where I was (overseas) last year. But, I have not figured out how to do it now, where I am, right now.
I’m doing the right things. I’m praying, even reading my Bible, journaling, but I feel a solid disconnect between me and God.
I was encouraged tonight by a dear friend to keep going, to keep pushing through, that it is in these times that I am able to show God that my relationship with Him is not emotionally based. Just because I don’t “feel” like having a quiet time doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have one.
I don’t know I suppose blogging is a way of verbally processing for me, I don’t think anyone really would want to sit down with me and help hash this through, but I am thinking through some things, and asking God somethings, and knowing that I need to put a few things in place that just aren’t – ie a mentor – someone to speak truth into my life.
You can pray for me. I’m not in desperation as this season has been a long one – and it’s not to say I haven’t had a “good quiet time” it’s just that nothing is consistent and on the whole I don’t feel like I am connecting with God.
Have you ever had this issue, and if so, what did you do?
So, it’s officially almost one day short of two weeks that I’ve been engaged – I can hardly believe it! But, I’m so excited, Jeremy and I both are. I’m so thankful that he’s in my life and all that he teaches me on a daily basis. It’s so good to be loved by him and to love him. Also, we’ve started a new site for details initially for our wedding and for the future for our lives together. Here’s a few pictures from our engagement weekend. I hope you enjoy, and a little video for kicks…
