The Blogging Journalist

Bloggers And The 'Jesus Camp' Message

"When Becky Fischer of Bismarck, [North Dakota] gave permission for a pair of documentary filmmakers to film at her "Kids on Fire" prayer camps, she felt good about the idea," writes Karen Herzog of the Bismarck Tribune. "She had met the filmmakers; she liked them."

"But even before the release of the film, "Jesus Camp," bloggers were spreading the word about it," Herzog reports. She quotes Fischer as saying: "We lost control of the message before the movie was even released."

That's one of the great lessons about blogging. Nobody can totally control the message.

For more, see "'Jesus Camp' causes furor."

The 'Red-Letter Christians'

Have you heard of "the Red-Letter Christians, a new movement of evangelicals meant to contest the Religious Right for the moral high ground in the nation’s public policy debates."

I hadn't until I read Chicago Tribune reporter Frank James' September 24, 2006, post about them at The Swamp, the  blog of the Tribune's Washington Bureau.

If you are interested, see "Only Jesus can decide this fight.

The Blogging Cardinal

 Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston "is joining the ranks of bloggers." The Boston Herald reported that on September 21, 2006.

If you want to know why the religious leaders plans to blog, please see "Boston’s cardinal takes up blogging.

A Southern Baptist Leader Enters The Blogosphere: Why?

John Avant, "vice president for evangelization at the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, has an article at  BP News, in which he says, among other things: "I am preparing to step into the blogosphere" despite "technologically challenged."

After listing how he is technologically challenge, Avant adds:

Nevertheless, I feel compelled boldly to enter the technology of this millennium and add my stumbling efforts to the realm of cyberspace. I have been reading blogs almost daily now for many months and trying to learn the ropes before jumping in to the mix myself. It has been an interesting journey of discovery. It seems to me that blogging has changed the world as we know it. I am not sure the power of the phenomenon can be overestimated. Everyone with a computer can now be a commentator, a critic or even a movement launcher, with more people having instant access to his thoughts and ideas than previous generations could have comprehended.

Avant notes that,"Everyone now can be a part of discussions and decisions once reserved for the elite few. This can be very good news, with awesome potential for evangelism, but like every other innovation, there are also significant dangers.

For more, please see "FIRST-PERSON: Making evangelism good news again.

Why Some Ministers Are Blogging

Washington Post Staff Writer Megan Greenwell has an article in the July 9, 2006 edition of The Post that shows what some ministers are doing to make religion appealing to young people. She noted that:

Reaching out to younger generations has long been one of the major challenges for ministers, but hundreds think they have found an answer in blogging. A growing number are taking the Gospel to the Web hoping to get people thinking daily about faith. Many pastors say blogging has become an increasingly integral part of their ministry as they attempt to reverse the decline in church attendance by people in their twenties and thirties.

To read Greenwell's article, see  "Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them."