I'm encouraged. I've received great feedback from many of you, and it seems like we have at least eight people who are committed to this community. Immediately a question surfaces. What now? At least that's become my question of late.
I'm hoping many of you are thinking, "well, it would seem obvious at this point we should commune." I would agree, but ideas have sprung up from many of you, and I thought this might be the time for us to take pause and consider our direction and vehicle that will deliver us wherever it is that we're going together.
A very good Dr.-type friend of mine living out in NY emailed me this week wondering about the possibility of making this site a little more protected. He said he might feel more comfortable, and others might as well, knowing that our conversations weren't out in the public domain. After taking a little more in-depth look at the site, however, he said that might not be entirely necessary given the way we don't really have to offer all of our personal information in our registration. He brought up a good point, though. Would you all prefer that I make this site restricted? I could send you all the necessary information to access the site, and if new people want to join, I could send them an invite as well. Or, do we want to leave it open as it currently is? That would be question 1.
Question 2. What do you want out of this site? I know what I described in the first post, but how do we establish a place where people can feel free to discuss ideas and issues that we're experiencing in our Christian walks? I know it isn't something that can be forced, but I do want to do everything I can to make this less of a place where I simply air out my personal thoughts for people to read as they wander by and more of a community where everyone throws out their ideas for group discussions. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm pushing them to respond to every single post or comment posted by others, but I do want to know what kinds of posts will facilitate more discussion from everyone. I guess I'm really just asking you all to take a chance with me. Commit to checking back here a couple times a week, and start talking to each other. Invest in the ideas and comments of those who risk their thoughts and feelings being known and thought about by others. Now go commune.
6 comments:
I don't really see a need to secure it, but if others would like to, that's alright with me. Being a long-time xanga veteran myself, I find that it's almost like you have an online existence that other people don't really mess with. Because your site isn't really linked from other peoples' sites, I don't think outside people will stumble upon your site very often. And if they do, they might find a bit of truth or encouragement here. I'm a big fan of open gatherings so that people looking in will feel welcome, but then again, in more personal settings, it's not like we really want to post our inner-most feelings on a bill-board on I-90.
Or do we?
1. I'm open for whatever, protected or unprotected. If it promotes open discussion, why not?
2. Personally I'm looking for a positive alternative to other social internet sites that I may or may not have felt addicted to one time or another... I want to wonder what people are thinking about God, not what new pictures they posted over the weekend (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that).
I don't know if there are any specific topics that will facilitate more discussion, I think if everyone's honest I'm sure we'll be able to identify with whatever. Just take the idea of social internet sites in general for example. Kristen mentioned xanga, I'm more of a facebook user (but I gave it up for lent). If our lives are meant to be worshipful, how can we reconcile the potentially harmful aspects of those sites with what can be used for good?
Maybe this site could be an answer.
I don't think it matters rather it is protected or not. I can't even remember my password to post my comments. It is not like we will get really personal like we would in a bible study . I see this as being a way to encourage and challenge each other in ways that we all need. Thanks for the work.
Hello,
I have been meaning to post something for some time now. I just figured I would jump into the dialogue at this point instead of posting intros/etc. to earlier conversations.
I am a friend of Ben's from highschool/church. I know a number of the people in this discussion group. I live out of the area now and was so pleased to see Ben start this group.
A little background on myself: I currently work in a university setting. For the past few years I have done a lot of moving from state to state and my wife and I have been "church homeless" for quite some time. This has been difficult for both of us and we miss the fellowship and edification.
I was quite pleased to receive an email invitation from Ben; over the past few weeks I have been remembering some great moments of my life - many of them tied to a number of people in this discussion group. I really miss having a group of like-minded followers of Christ to encourage, challenge, and nurture my own spiritual growth.
I had actually discussed adding a secure component to this group because I would be interested in conducting a rather open discourse on personal issues/questions/etc. However, after actually seeing how this exchange happens (I have never done a blog before), I am reassured to know that there is a level of confidentiality and anonymity in this format.
For those I don't know I look forward to beginning this process and for those I already know I am so pleased to reconnect in this manner.
Matt2
Matt , When are we going to play cards? Matt 2, Welcome aboard.
Thanks for joining us, Matt2! I really look forward to getting your perspective on topics and issues, and maybe with this and all of your professional training, you can finally figure out how to fix me.
Matt, I'd love for you to expound a little on your comment, "how can we reconcile the potentially harmful aspects of those sites with what can be used for good?" Maybe we could work on that and use it as next week's post?
Mr. G and Kristin, I'm sure everyone will be reserved to some degree with their feelings and comments, but hopefully no one feels too intimidated by the public nature of this forum to give open, honest feedback to each other.
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