This is Holy Week or perhaps known to you as Passion Week, depending on what circles you run in. Whether you’re a liturgical Christian that has some type of worship daily or a CEO (Christmas, Easter Only) the week ahead is full of opportunity. And we’re going to help you get off on the good foot this Monday morning as always. BTW, I think that display would be a little holier if those were Coca-Cola products but props to whoever put in the time and effort. Continue reading
If you are a preacher, know a preacher, or for that matter have ever listened to a preacher, you may have heard the oft repeated statement illustrations can come from anywhere. It’s a truism that may cause us to smile but seriously; a funny thing a child says, a misunderstanding in the supermarket line, words said in anger that have to be eaten later, literally anything a professional speaker hears about could become an illustration for a point being made. Be careful sharing those funny anecdotes around your clergyman. You may hear them again from the pulpit. Continue reading
If Stephen Hawking could look on the bright side, any one of us should be able to do at least as much. Even on a Monday morning. Welcome to Happy Monday. Continue reading
10 years ago I had a lot of help starting a blog. I worked with Michael Spencer, the original Internet Monk, in real life. I had all the WordPress experience and pro tips a newbie could ask for. So think of this post as paying it forward.
Chameca Helm was a student at OBI back when I taught geography and World History. Now she makes testimony videos and is building an online community to reach people with the Gospel. She asked me to help make her latest video “go viral” and I told her I would see what I could do. The Godly Complexion Movement by Chameca Helm is an online community that utilizes Facebook and YouTube to be uplifting and encouraging with the goal of pointing people to Jesus. Continue reading
There are certain things we expect to happen with online posts. They’re not exactly rules but there are certain norms that tend to be true, all other things being equal. Blogging consistently over time will build an audience. Using post tags and filling out the description forms using key words is good for SEO. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are useful resources to connect you and your blog to audience members. Inbound and outbound links are good for SEO and connect you to the larger online/ blogging community. These are generally true most of the time.
Every now and then unexpected things happen. Call it a fluke, a glitch in the algorithm, or maybe you believe in luck. For some reason Google picked up on a pic of my wife and I at Cumberland Falls a few years ago and put it near the top of the image search for that term. My blog post that was a year or two old got thousands of hits in a day or two. Then it was over. For reasons I will never understand an LOL aggregator linked to an image of my new push mower. One of the most popular images I ever shared online features a Poulan Pro push mower sitting on my front lawn. Continue reading
Did you make it on time? Look on the bright side, people that don’t go to church may not have realized they missed the time change yet. Continue reading
The Gospel of Self, How Jesus Joined the GOP is written by Terry Heaton and details his role at CBN and The 700 Club. Before we used terms like fake news and every single person had a voice via social media, the Christian Broadcast Network entered a new frontier of sorts by not only reporting the news but by shaping the way people thought. CBN in general, and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club in particular, played a profound role in shifting the Republican Party to the right back in the 1980’s. While Robertson was in front of the camera Terry Heaton was behind the scenes and very much involved in making the things Robertson talked about a reality. Heaton believes today’s Christian Right is the end result of work they did together back then. Continue reading
Well that snuck up on us. Got the notificaiton last night. No history lesson this time or retrospective but Happy Blogoversary to us! Now let’s get on with this Monday. Continue reading
I don’t know how many tributes have been written, published, posted or tweeted this week about Billy Graham. I am not writing because I think there needs to be another one; sometimes the writing process is how we work through things. But in the process of thinking about it, maybe I can share with you some things to think about as well. Continue reading
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:15 ESV
You never know what the week will bring. Let’s start this one with scripture, words of wisdom, and a big ‘ol smile or two. Then walk with God and rest assured he knows what he’s doing. Welcome to Happy Monday. Continue reading
