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I am admittedly not a very good free-writer; I think in outline form most of the time. Having studied so much philosophy, being forced to think through every single word and its implications, how grammatical structures and logical flow affect meaning and whether or not written language can communicate meaning at all, blogging seems nearly impossible. However, I have read the well developed, very persuasive arguments for why every pastor should blog, and I must say, they've had a meaningful effect upon me. Therefore, if you can put up with my horrible prose, the occasional long sentence structure and usual technical form, then I'm going to give this a try. Which leads me to the next barrier I must overcome if I am to blog successfully.
I'm a boring person, for the most part. Or at least, I'm a very private introvert. So, sharing my thoughts in such a public forum will be difficult. You may say, "But he's a preacher; he shares his thoughts publicly all the time!" Preaching is decidedly different from blogging, however. For preaching, I have 8 to 12 hours of preparation for a 45 minute sermon, and I don't have to develop a single creatively new thought or idea. I never start with a blank text-editor-box and flashing cursor when preparing to preach. I always have the Biblical text as my starting place, and the ideas come from there instead of from me. It seems to me that the purpose of a blog is to share from one's own heart about one's own thoughts and life in the hopes of encouraging and edifying others. Therefore, if you can put up with my nerdiness, sometimes boring ideas and what I assume will be long periods of silence, then I'm going to give this a try. Which leads me to yet another barrier I must overcome if I am to blog successfully.
I enjoy political talk and NASCAR. That may not seem too problematic on the surface, but two things make this difficult. 1) I'm blogging as the Pastor of Southside Baptist Church which is a 501(c)(3) orginization resulting in my 1st amendment right of free, political speech being a bit hampered. 2) Not many of you really care what I think (or what anyone else thinks for that matter) about NASCAR. Narrowing the realm of possible subject matter for blogs by these two is a serious reduction and will leave the cursor flashing in the empty text-editor a lot longer on some days; I'm sure. Therefore, if you can put up with a blog or two about NASCAR, some watered down political talk that stays safe and whatever lame blogs I may post on the days when I can't write what I really want to write, then I'm going to give this a try.
It's up to you to help me overcome the final barrier if I am to blog successfully. You must read it and get others to read it as well.
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