A Theo-Blogical Reflection on my 400th Post
Wow. Call this one my 400th post. I’ve never done any of the “blogaversary” milestones, but since we are about a week away from my 4th year in the blogosphere, and with this being my 400th post, I figured something must be said so we can all move on.
Blogging is a strange form of introspection and public disclosure. There is a whole lot that we assume we know about ourselves, and until we write it up and publish it online, there is no way to really get feedback about our wacky perspectives or our off-our-rocker feelings. Friends and family from around the world can comment on what would have otherwise remained trapped in one little cranium – thus creating a kind of honing and prodding that I believe has drastically and subtly affected my learning over the last 4 years.
Grad school made up years one through three. And I actually started my blog only a semester into my grad school experience. I opened a trusty Blogger account mainly as a way to process what I was learning in the classroom through a more conversational and reflective method. My first post was on spiritual photosynthesis, and on the “organic” nature of our relationship with God. I made mention that I was being confronted with this new buzz word at the grocery store, in my seminary classes, and in my prayers with God. Without a doubt, this blog helped me to approach, analyze, and consider the incredible amount of mind-bending, worldview-shifting ideas being presented to me in grad school in a way I otherwise would have completely missed. This blog put some traction on my learning and gave my feet something to run on.
An almost randomly chosen example of such “theo-blogical reflection” was pretty early on October 2005 – I had just read David Garrison’s Church Planting Movements, and was struck by some of the common elements of “church planting movements” he had studied in India, China, Africa, and even North America. I began wondering if the early church had such characteristics as a church planting movement. So instead of just leaving the thought alone, I sat down and did some searching, then posted my findings on this blog.
I never did any of the flashy blog stuff – live blogging, technorati promotions, or did much with group blogging…I never could get into blogging once a day like so many bloggers I admired seemed to have time in their day to do. I couldn’t find a rhythm at all in my life for my web log. But it was always seemingly present – an undercurrent of my consciousness, online for all to see. While I never set out to write a blog exclusively on organic theology, mission, and spiritual formation – anything I wrote apart from those broad topics seemed to be the exception rather than the rule.
My categories section has much to be desired. Organizing (and consolidating) my categories cloud is something I both want to do and dread. I’d like to create a sort of “best of” playlist of blog posts – featured articles if you will – or maybe several “tomes” arranged around specific concepts. I’d like to do some serious reflection on my own personal theological evolution over the last four years – hopefully finding it fairly obvious that God has continued to reveal his truth to me and shape me more into the image of Christ. I hope to use a select few of these posts to invite others we’re training to consider some of the thoughts I’ve been confronted with in my own training.
So that’s enough reflecting for now. I can’t tell you if I’ll still be blogging when I hit the 5th anniversary or not – and I beg to God that twitter won’t have completely wiped out the “macroblogging” (i.e. any post over 140 characters long) universe. I can say that I am hooked on the cycle of (1) provoking theory, (2) radical action, and (3) deep reflection – and this blog has offered me a vehicle for doing just that.
Thanks for being with me on the journey friends. Your comments, thoughts and push backs have kept me honest, opened me up to my own silliness, and provided a prism of perspectives that aim me toward the Person of Truth seeking after my heart.
Hey guys – I don’t normally promote books or DVDs on here, but this one was a lot of fun, and very intriguing. Its called 
Agent B 11:08 am on August 28, 2009 Permalink
“Agent B likes this” (thumbs)
Jesse 3:42 am on August 29, 2009 Permalink
Keep up the good blog work, Mark!
Guy Muse 8:35 am on August 30, 2009 Permalink
Congrats on #400. I guess I’ve been reading you now for a couple of years and have always enjoyed what you have to share. As a fellow church planter you write about many of the things that interest me as well.
I can really identify with this statement, “There is a whole lot that we assume we know about ourselves, and until we write it up and publish it online, there is no way to really get feedback about our wacky perspectives or our off-our-rocker feelings.” So true! I long for feedback if for no other reason than to know we aren’t completely insane in some of the stuff going through my head! So often our ministry involves a daily routine of serving in mundane ways (eg. getting materials to people) but what I long for is interaction about ideas. Which ideas are working out there. Which aren’t. But have found few willing to engage on this level with me.
Thanks again for your blog. I enjoy it. Keep up the good work.