I woke up somewhat mumbling to myself this idea; I think that could mean a number of things:
- I’ve “made” it as a blogger. I now sleep-draft future blog posts.
- I need to blog about it.
- I’m crazy.
I think I’ll take Door #2 please!
I was interviewed a few days ago by PBS on an article that they are developing about how “People of Faith are using the Web for Evangelism.” It was a great discussion overall and I had a blast, but one of the things that caused both myself and my interviewer to pause was when I was asked “how” we begin to reach those who are lost with our faith.
I discussed a few things but the most important thing I focused on was a strategy of creating “value” for the community. The kick, though, was that we create value with no expectation of a return; certainly we may hope for it, but when a follower of Christ gives and serves we do it with a different motivation.
This made the PBS interviewer go silent for a second; I knew what he was thinking, and it was something along the lines of “Why do you give away for free, don’t you expect to get something back for your efforts and time?”
Nope. I believe a core difference that’ll define us as bloggers, who’s values are different from the world, will be how we provide value without demanding something back for it; when we serve and give unselfishly.
We may be known for a whole lot more, but I’d like to think that we can change the landscape of blogging with this principle in mind.
Not having expectations allows others to feel free to read and comment or not comment. The next step is what you do well, acknowledge when someone does comment to draw them further into your topic and conversation so they will come back. Many bloggers don't do this however, I think you are really good at this!
Tami,
I have to thank IntenseDebate for it… because it kicks back a message that I've responded… this simple functionality is HUGE!
My stupid IntenseDebate hasn't been notifying of replies and it kills me
DOH!
In my mind, this has to be the core principal of the modern "christian" brand – GRACE. Whether it's those of us in technology, the writers, speakers, media masterminds…we all need to have an attitude of sharing the best, giving away ourselves to excellence…for no guaranteed reward. grace. We give and love and share…we basically (gasp) live out Christ in all our media savviness. Incredibly novel idea, huh? Great post man…truly captures my heart on ministry and "church". Lets do the best work out there, and give it away, Jesus style.
Brad,
Word up. I intentionally left that word out.
glad you captured it here. thanks man. keep it up!
I think this is an issue for many internet church venues. My guess (only an educated guess) is that none of the internet church services will be self supporting. People will donate to keep them going because they think there is value in them, but they will not be supported by the donations of the people that attend them. In part because many of the people that attend them, will attend them as a supplement to their other church experiences. I wonder if churches starting internet venues have fully thought through this idea.
we're thinking it through.
I think this is a hard question. As Christians, we delight in serving others. There are definite benefits to us. They just aren't ones that would necessarily be valued by the world. We require nothing of the people we are serving but that doesn't mean there is no benefit to us. I think that is where accountability becomes REALLY important. I was listenting to a Keller sermon on political power last night. He argues people go into politics for two reason #1 serve truth and others #2 be somebody, be important. Many don't acknowledge #2 but when they fail at #1 the refuse to relinquish power even though their goal was #1 and they are failing. Blogging has the same reasons and temptations and that is where accounability is HUGE. So often you hear about churches that lose sight of the Gospel and focus on not losing their flock instead of preaching the Gospel. Andy Stanley said it best, "Direction – not intention – determine our direction." Denying there is a temptation to the latter because our intent is the former is really dangerous. I'm sure you have people in your life that hold you accountable and I think that is really important.
Chris,
Great stuff here. Yes, andy's “principle of the path” is brilliant. i'm reading it now and love his stuff!
thanks again.
No problem. I just hope I have my IntenseDebate fixed so I can stop hitting refresh… grrr
Love this post goes along with another post I read this morning at another blog where they stated they would not be measuring readers or showing any other metrics on their blog. If they impacted one live, thats it just one then it was worth it.
Wish more churches would get this message, i is not about the numbers are if your reaching anyone it is about if this is what god has called you to do then do with all you got, leave the ret to him.
Any measurement is a reflection that you may be potentially wanting something otherwise why publize the number.
Grt post
Thnkx
thanks for your thoughts here!
I usually comment with fun little jabs cuz we're friends but this is a serious question. How can you call the content at ChurchCrunch "free" if you are financially compensated for it?
I ran <a href=”http://teensagainstporn.com” target=”_blank”>http://teensagainstporn.com for several years and I never wanted to post any adverts or link to an Amazon affiliate program on the site or generate any income whatsoever. I didn't want even a sliver of suspicion that my motives were questionable. The world at large does not consider porn to be an addictive, harmful pass-time. They think of it as harmless fun. So what I didn't want was for someone to show up and see us trying to convince teens that they had a problem, it was going to hurt them, and that they should click here and buy this now to be cured.
Sometimes, when your motives are pure, it's OK to give something up in order to go the extra mile and live out the purity of your motives.
Not trying to put you on the spot or nothing. Just confused.
peace|dewde
because i am giving the content away for free. i'm not asking anything in return nor closing any doors on anyone. it's freely available. businesses are paying for the opportunity to interface with the readers, but the readers don't pay for that either.
I think the real answer is that you would do this either way. You don't do this for ad revs. That is a win-win because it supports the site and allows you to match your readership with great companies that provide services they want and need (assuming you are selective with who you allow to advertise). At the same time, it is just a different revenue model. There is a benefit to you. The question was "don’t you expect to get something back for your efforts and time?” The answer is you do. The financial just doesn't come from the readers but is dependent on them.
thanks for the thoughts here chris.
I was kinda wondering about this as well. I also believe you're motives are pure. But I can could see how someone could use this as a business model to rake in a little extra dough. Ok, i'm going to provide some really good content, do the work, put in the hours, and if i get enough people, then i can get some advertisers, etc, and actually make some dough off of it. like a part time job or something. so i could see how someone could infer other motives.
Wait… You can make money on blogs
I can't wait to see the PBS story. I'm sure you'll pimp it.