keeping blogging fresh and the blogger motivated

A number of years ago (in the dawn of time, before there was a blog, boys and girls), I was talking to my brother-in-law about writing. I asked him if he ever would like to write a book. He replied, "I would have to have something to say." His answer kind of floored me. I had never known him to be at a loss for words!

But writing is not the same as speaking. One does have to have something to say in order to make it fresh and interesting. (And one does have to be ruthless in the writing process in order to make it readable!)

My greatest fear about getting involved in the "front end" of blogging is having nothing to say. My earlier attempt was rather sporadic. I think some of the earlier posts remain on this site, but I deleted a good many of them. They really were just a spewing of opinion, not much substance.

Here is how I think I will succeed this time, if I make it past the practice round of blogging:

1. Always be reading: reading brings fresh ideas for commentary, and blogs are essentially commentary.
2. Read and write in your area of expertise: There are subjects about which I am interested and have an opinion, but about which I don't know 'nuthin'. Don't bother exposing the ignorance, the rest of the world will ignore it too.
3. Write something daily: This is for the practice of the craft. It doesn't necessarily mean publish something daily, but write, write, write. Preachers are writers, they write usually three or four sermons a week. Blogging or longer and more formal writing are a different genre, but the principles are the same. If you would be a writer, always be writing.
4. Be motivated by one big idea: the blog itself should be centered around a major concept about which the blogger is passionately interested (to use a word I hate). The defining philosophy of a man's life and work should be the center of your blogging world. For me that would be the promotion and defense of Christian fundamentalism. (... although I suppose some of my fundie brethren would just as soon I didn't bother!)

Well, I guess that is enough for now. I have a number of ideas from Pickerings book that I want to write about in the future. I also have a number of ideas from Murray's bio of D M Lloyd-Jones, so these are areas where I will be writing and commenting in the future. I am sure there will be more, because I'll always be reading.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Show documents atheist’s month in Christian home | LJWorld.com

Show documents atheist’s month in Christian home | LJWorld.com

An article describing a 'reality' TV show I had heard about somewhere else. We don't get this channel up here, so I doubt I will see it, at least initially. The premise is certainly interesting. But....

But the 'atheist' is a lapsed evangelical. A university educated (Ph D!!) clinical psychologist who gave up her career to be a stay at home mom. This isn't usually the image I have of an atheist, although I suppose there are lots of people like this. (Well, perhaps not all Ph Ds!!)

I suspect that the so-called atheist had less of a shock than the 'fundamentalists' she lived with. She is a former evangelical, after all. She has walked away from it, so what she saw again would be no surprise to her.

It will be interesting to read reactions from peopel who have access to this programming, although I don't know I would recommend watching it.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

more of the same...

Reading a little further in Pickering, I encountered this paragraph:

It is the nature of the flesh to want recognition and greatness. The sons of Zebedee were supremely concerned about their status in the coming kingdom. 'Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory' (Mark 10:37). On another occasion the disciples enquired, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' (Matt. 18:1). Their question sounds hauntingly familiar, similar to the present-day scramble among evangelicals for 'bragging rights.' The Scriptures give an antidote for this problem: 'And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not' (Jer. 45:5). How many of God's servants today are spending much thought, time, and energy seeking 'great things'? Our goal should be the honor and glory of the blessed Lord. 'For I know that the Lord is great' (Ps. 135:5). [Ernest Pickering, The Tragedy of Compromise, 136-137]

Dr. Pickering's words sound like an echo of my last post. I am afraid, however, that it is not just evangelicals who scramble for bragging rights. The phenomenon is all too familiar in fundamental circles as well, although perhaps our self-promoters are less interested in the applause of the world than the applause of the brethren.

Whatever the focus of the lust for recognition, it is a Spirit-deadening ingredient in Christian ministry. It is a major component of the fuel of wood, hay, and stubble Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 3.

May our ambitions be to please Christ, and let Him give us recognition, or not.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Who is exalted?

On the side-bar, you might notice that I am reading Ernest Pickering's book, The Tragedy of Compromise. In blogging, my plan is to interact with the things I am reading in order to think out, to my satisfaction at least, the fundamentalist philosophy.

Dr. Pickering quotes a Michael Horton several times in his book. On p. 135, he cites this statement:

There is something exalting about being a part of something that is respected by society. If we can build larger buildings, have larger gatherings, create larger enterprises, and compete with other mass-produced products, we will be a part of something powerful, something relevant, and the world will have to sit up and take notice of us.

The quote comes from Power Religion, an anthology with various fairly well known evangelicals as writers, including Packer, McGrath, Sproul, etc. and lists Charles Colson and Michael Horton as editors. Horton's quote comes from p. 333, in a chapter entitled "The Subject of Contemporary Relevance".

This business of 'something exalting'... Preachers are all too familiar with the exhilaration of something exalting, even if we are occupants of pulpits in small works. This has to do with the 'ego' business I mentioned in the previous post. A crowd of ten listening to a preacher is somewhat exalting, because now I, one man, is heard by ten others. A crowd of fifty is even better, and the higher you go, the more exhilarating it is.

But Horton is not simply talking about the satisfaction of being in front of a large crowd, he is speaking about the satisfaction of being a part of a large crowd, and especially a crowd that is respected by society. This satisfaction is the satisfaction of being affirmed, of credibility and legitimacy because your voice is one of a larger group of respectable, acceptable, and esteemed voices.

The desire for legitimacy and credibility drives us to join ourselves to larger organizations. To some extent, this could be considered a good thing. For example, missionaries who join themselves to a board led by respected individuals have more credibility than those who are simply sent out by a local church. That is, while the missionary may be an unknown quantity, if he has been appointed by a well known board, he gains some instant credibility. The non-board missionary may have equal or superior integrity, ability, and potential, but he has to earn his credibility (at least initially) by other means. Thus, the desire for credibility is not all bad.

Where Christians go off the rails, however, in seeking credibility is when they are seeking the approval of the world. This is at the heart of evangelicalism, and I am afraid it is a temptation indulged in by many 'young fundamentalists'. We hear cries about the 'lack' of scholarship in fundamentalism and the need for more scholarship. We hear complaints about the isolation of fundamentalists. The list goes on.

I think every pastor should be scholarly. I think fundamentalists should do everything in their power to engage the lost in meaningful ways in order to bring them to Christ. I think (given my educational background) that fundamentalists should 'get out of Greenville'. I think we need to understand the thinking of the worldling and learn his lingo (think Acts 17).

But what we don't need is the world's approval. We don't need to be impressive. We need to get over this part of the ego, that I am somehow affirmed if the world likes me and doesn't think I am a redneck hick because I believe, live and teach the Bible.

We don't need worldly aggrandizement. We need the approval of heaven.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

And now for a serious attempt at blogging...

I am preaching through Malachi this summer. My pace is a little too fast for me, I'd like to take side trips down word study lane, repeat myself by repeating the themes in a pericope several times from different angles, and milk at least six months to a year out of four chapters. As it is, I will end up with a total of twelve messages, covering the book in about two and a half months.

G. Campbell Morgan has a book of outlines out called The Twelve Minor Prophets. I have been hammering home his two word theme for the book: unconscious corruption. His point is that the people of Judah were self-satisfied and believed God to be the cause of their difficulties, not themselves. They are unconscious of how low they have sunk and of God's true opinion of them.

As I think about this theme, I have also been thinking about the complaints of many against fundamentalism. Accusations fly fast and furious from the disgruntled know-it-all set, claiming all sorts of sins starting with ancient accusations of legalism and Pharisaism on to much more serious charges which I'll not repeat here.

I have tended to be reactionary to these charges. While fundamentalists have been guilty of all kinds of sins, I doubt that their guilt (proportionately) is any worse than any other group of sinners, and perhaps better than most. The evangelical sinners, for example, are not immune to scandal and there are the notorious priests of recent fame as well.

But let's pause in our reactionary mode. Truly, are we unconscious of our corruption? Who of us truly knows ourselves and if we do, how honest are we about ourselves to ourselves, much less to others?

Take this whole blogging phenomenon, for example. What is the point of the numerous blogs (which I will continue to read) and who do these bloggers think they are (and I plan to remain one of them)? What motivates blogging? Why must men publish their thoughts and invite the world to comment?

At the heart of a good deal of it, there must be ego. Are you conscious of ego in yourself? Do you realize how much it drives what you say and do? On a parallel track, how much of the 'call to preach' is simply ego? A good deal of it, in my opinion. Leadership involves ego. Very few leaders are in their positions because they are the humblest and godliest of men.

It is possible to be godly while driven by ego, but the challenge of any spiritual leadership is to find the right balance, subordinate and subdue the self, and harness the ego for godly pursuits. The challenge of the blog is the challenge of leadership. Blogging is a kind of leadership. Therefore, be conscious of your corrupt human nature as you blog. Be conscious that you are motivated largely by what you want to do. Be conscious of ego, and conquer it, subdue it, and control it in order to accomplish wider purposes than your own, the purposes of God.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

PS, to those whom I notified about the arrival of this blog, I especially want you to see the post "My second attempt at blogging" ... just scroll down.

What's in a name?

You may be wondering about the name of this blog (or not!). Regardless, I will tell you. As a practice blog, the name is a practice name. If I move on to my third attempt at blogging as mentioned earlier, I have two names in mind for two new blogs. In the meantime I am using ebaptist.ca.

This name came to me a few years ago when I made my first attempt at blogging. I had grand visions then. For many years I have been moderator of a private e-mail group for Canadian pastors. We have about 50 pastors from across Canada and a few Canadian missionaries from around the world sharing prayer requests, news, and occasionally discussing things related to the ministry or theology. My vision at the time was to create a web home for this group and provide news and information oriented to the ministry in Canada on a more regular basis.

Our e-mail group is called ibcanada (Independent Baptists Canada), but when I checked the availability of the domain, it was taken by some international business group. After much internal wrestling, I realized I would have to come up with a new name. Change comes hard, eh?

After a time, I settled on ebaptist (for electronic Baptist) and a .ca domain for Canada. This still isn't registered, so it is still available for 'stealing', as far as I know. As I said, it was a vision... Like many a good vision, it has shriveled into a dim memory, but it does have the potential of revival someday.

In the meantime, it is the practice name for my practice blog. The names for the third attempt remain locked in my fevered brain.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

My Second Attempt at Blogging

When I first heard of blogging, I experimented with blogger and attempted posting a few articles as you can see below. I have since been commenting on many fundamentalist blogs and have earned the dubious title 'the ubiquitous Don Johnson'. I am not sure about ubiquitous, but I seem compelled to speak up, not always intelligently, on various sites. Since my fundamentalist friends inhabit those sites, they think I am everywhere.

As a commentator, I have neglected doing anything with my own blog. I keep hoping to get back to it someday, but have really spent too much time inhabiting the comments sections of others. I especially have spent too much time on Sharper Iron. Yesterday, I foreswore Sharper Iron for a while. I am on a Sharper Iron holiday. Self-imposed, for at least a month. I will check in with them on September 11. I might re-enter the fray, or I might not. I am sure Sharper Iron will do just fine without me.

In the back of my mind, I have wanted to re-create my own blog. I have been planning for at least two different blogs and hope to sign up with a web-hosting company and have my own URLs in order to publish them with as much autonomy as possible. I mainly lack cash to get it started, but that situation looks to being remedied in a month or so.

As I traverse the blogosphere, it seems to me that certain qualities draw a coterie of followers around certain blogs. Generally, the better read blogs are inhabited by provocative writers. By provocative, I mean the blogger (or bloggers) have an angle on their subject matter that makes them interesting. As writers, they are usually adept enough to draw the reader in. (My greatest fear in blogging is being ponderous ... I have a not so unique ability to say in ten words what could be said in three or four. Perhaps I can make up for it by being provocative?)

These are the blogs I follow (using BlogLines). I look at everything they write, and read most of it. I include in [brackets] what I think makes them provocative:

• A Thinking Man's Thoughts; Frank Sansone [sincerely fundamentalist]
• BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too; David and Tim Bayly [bulldog evangelicals - and long time online friends]
• Big Orange Truck; ReglerJoe [recovering IFBx]
• Every Thought, Every Word; Mark Perry [often insightful commentary]
• God Change; Wayne and Josh Mack [counselors extraordinaire]
• Immoderate; Ryan Martin [intensely serious]
• irrelevant; Greg Linscott [often wickedly funny and a fundamentalist at heart]
• My Two Cents; Chris Anderson [precisely analytical]
• Nescio Latinitatem; Mike Riley [compelling writer (when he writes!)]
• paleoevangelical; Ben Wright [almost fundamentalist]
• Pensees; Bob Bixby [just provocative (what else? sometimes we might be friends)]
• Religious Affections; Scott Aniol [an expert in his craft]
• Unsearchable Riches; Andy Efting [theologian deacon]

I also follow about five Canadian politics blogs. They aren't just provocative, they are infuriating, mostly. That would be par for the course for our nutty politics.

What do I hope to accomplish by blogging? At the moment, I'm just practicing. What I eventually want to do is attempt two things. The most important attempt is to try to engage the citizens of my city in a religious conversation with a view to winning some to Christ. The other attempt is to learn how to articulate my fundamentalist philosophy in writing. I want my sons and daughters to be fundamentalists. As I write, I will write with them in mind. I want them to adopt the fundamentalist philosophy because it is biblical Christianity, not because their dad is a fundamentalist.

That sums up my place in the blogging world at the moment. This is my second attempt at blogging. I plan to practice with this a bit and then have a third attempt. May the Lord grant some productive purpose to the third attempt.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3