Why I think you should start blogging

I’m a beneficiary of great blogging. In this technology
driven age, you must take advantage of good stuff online, especially when it’s
free. Blogging is a powerful tool of influence for communicating ideas and
learning from your reader’s responses or lack of it.

Since I started blogging a little over a year ago (though
it was one of three scariest things I dared last year); I can testify to the immense
usefulness of this beautiful art. Try it and see.

I notice people love reading real-life stories more than
anything else. We become “more human” when we share part of our lives that may
have been hidden from public view. Someone said, “It’s
nice to read about the personal life of ministers of the gospel, not because I’m voyeuristic, but
because I love to know that they are just like me, flesh and blood.”

If you are a Christian leader, I seriously recommend blogging to you. Here are Abraham Piper’s 6 Reasons
Why a Pastor Needs to Blog. Click on the link to read the
entire article.

1. …to
write.

If you’re a pastor,
you probably already know the value writing has for thinking. Through writing,
you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you
will at the same time be striving to think well.

Then when you share new ideas and new
insights, readers can come along with you wherever your good writing and good
thinking bring you.  There is no better
way to simply and quickly…

2. …to teach.

Most pastors I’ve run into love to
talk. Many of them laugh at themselves about how long-winded they’re sometimes
tempted to be. Enter Blog.

Here is where a pastor has an outlet
for whatever he didn’t get to say on Sunday. Your blog is where you can pass on
that perfect analogy you only just thought of; that hilarious yet meaningful
story you couldn’t connect to your text no matter how hard you tried; that last
point you skipped over even though you needed it to complete your 8-point
acrostic sermon that almost spelled HUMILITY. And more than…    

3. …to recommend.

With every
counseling session or after-service conversation, a pastor is recommending
something. Sometimes it’s a book or a charity. Maybe it’s a bed-and-breakfast
for that couple he can tell really needs to get away. And sometimes it’s simply
Jesus.

With a blog, you can recommend
something to hundreds of people instead of just a few. Some recommendations may
be specific to certain people, but that seems like it would be rare. It’s more
likely to be the case that if one man asks you whether you know of any good
help for a pornography addiction, then dozens of other men out there also need
to know, but aren’t asking. Blog it.

Recommendation, however, is more than
pointing people to helpful things. It’s a tone of voice, an overall aura that
good blogs cultivate. Blogs are not generally…  

4. …to interact.

There are a lot of
ways for a pastor to keep his finger on the pulse of his people. A blog is by
no means necessary in this regard. However, it does add a helpful new way to
stay abreast of people’s opinions and questions.

Who knows what sermon series might
arise after a pastor hears some surprising feedback about one of his 30-second-nuggets-of-truth?

5. …to develop an eye for what is
meaningful.

For good or ill,
most committed bloggers live with the constant question in their mind: Is this
bloggable? This could become a neurosis, but I’ll put a positive spin on it: It
nurtures a habit of looking for insight and wisdom and value in every
situation, no matter how mundane.

If you live life looking for what is
worthwhile in every little thing, you will see more of what God has to teach
you. And the more he teaches you, the more you can teach others. As you begin
to be inspired and to collect ideas, you will find that the new things you’ve
seen and learned enrich far more of your life than just your blog.

6. …to be known.

This is where I see
the greatest advantage for blogging pastors.

Your people hear you teach a lot; it’s probably the main way
that most of them know you. You preach on Sundays, teach on Wednesdays, give
messages at weddings, funerals, youth events, retreats, etc.

If you stopped blogging for whatever reason, please rethink. We and
of course you, will be bettered with
your dedication and devotion to this art. This can be one new thing you started this year.

Do you blog? Please kindly share your ideas and add more sites you
know can help beginners or deserters in the comment column below. For
starters, see these two:

1.     
Before you
create Your own blog

2.     
How
to Create Your own blog