I am concerned about some pastors and missionaries I find using the internet, especially blogs, to express controversial opinions or have heated debates on the news of the day. This concern is especially acute in the world of Baptist Fundamentalism.

Let’s say for instance that a Pastor or prominent Christian has been indicted by the news media in some sort of scandal. Several sides to the issue are expressed online and then linked by a Christian blog in an attempt to initiate discussion. The blog comment section then becomes a hotbed for speculation and opinionated rhetoric of all sorts.

Most of the comments are from Pastors, missionaries, those in Christian education or other official areas of ministry. Some are definitely on the borderline for communication that is “good to the use of edifying” and many are lengthy and represent a significant commitments of time and thought.

After numerous, vigorous and often tedious exchanges of wit, hyperbole, assumption and other jockeying for ideological-position, pretty much everyone involved begins to believe this dead horse has been sufficiently beaten. Was anything accomplished? Almost without exception, the answer is no.

How does this reflect on the character and ministry of the people involved in the debate? In my experience, almost always poorly.

Businesses often understand a principle that people in ministry don’t get. They know that everything they say is important – especially when it is said in a public and archived forum that is readily accessible to anyone, for any purpose.

If you are the minister who has written lengthy, opinionated rants on the hottest Christian news, what have you potentially expressed  (in a subconscious manner) to readers?

1. You have plenty of time on your hands. – I am astonished at how prolific some full-time ministers are on their own blogs and the blogs of others. I see comments in the morning, more bloviating in the afternoon, a fully researched article at night and sometimes a few Twitter posts as well. When, exactly is the ministry of their local church getting done? If I am thinking this, expect the lost and non-spiritual to do the same.
2. You are sold on your own opinion. – Many seem to be experts on nearly every theological issue and political or sociological debate. What’s more, even a greater number speak authoritatively on subjects with which they are clearly unfamiliar. This is what we call punditry – and it can be a significant turn-off for those seeking legitimate information.
3. You enjoy a good fight. – I will never understand why so many feel the need to argue over such a vast array of subjects in a public format. If the article makes us mad, we should think very long and very hard about responding, especially in a public forum.
4. You are willing to muddy the waters. – Speculation is a huge problem online. Let’s face it, most of us are neither trained journalists, nor have the time to track down the facts of the matter we are about to sound off on. If you have any inclination whatsoever to say “I don’t know all the facts, but…” – just don’t do it! This is not Godly behavior and could end up being a disaster.
5. You can be quoted at any time, for any purpose. – If you write something online that is wrong, incorrect, unbiblical or just flawed in some way, expect it to come back to bite you. Visitors to your church may see it, enemies may use it against you and when a public controversy arises, it may be quoted in the newspaper.

You may think this post is unnecessary, as most full-time ministers will obviously understand these dangers and avoid them altogether. Well…if you believe that you probably don’t read very many popular Christian blogs. This is a serious and very troubling problem that is getting worse, not better. If you are interested in some examples, please let me know and I will send them to you in private.

Our testimonies are at stake in these matters. My advice to blogging Pastors and other full-time ministers is to either disallow comments or regulate them vigorously and strictly. Publishing is serious business. It can cost a for-profit company sales and market-share (I have seen it), but it can cost a Christian ministry something far more costly: a good reputation.

Let’s think before we click, folks.

I was thinking through this problem as I surfed the archives of a really great designer. Some of his older content was fantastic, but I had to do some serious searching to find it. Not a great thing.

Our best, most effective internet media should be front and center when someone visits our website. That doesn’t negate the need for regular, new articles, which are also very important. The thing we don’t want is the really great stuff our readers “would” care about, if only they could find it.

I’m still thinking through all the potential ways of making this happen without cluttering up a page with more links. If you have any brilliant ideas or examples you would like to pass along, let me know. I think this is of particular interest to those of us who are ministering full-time and blogging rather casually or – when we have a moment. It is crucial that the articles and other items on which we have spent our valuable ministry time are utilized, enjoyed and applied.

Let me start by saying: always backup your website files and databases. Always. If I had not taken my own advice, you would not be reading this now.

This evening I was attempting to delete a test installation of Textpattern from my server when I somehow got overzealous, lazy or both and apparently deleted my entire public_html directory. That means all of my site files on four websites (including this one) were completely and totally deleted.

I typically run a full backup once or twice every month and had one on my calendar for this coming Monday. I wound up using my latest copy from November 11th. So…it could have been worse.

Suffice it to say I am going to be working overtime to restore data added over the last 39 days to all four sites. That being said, I am thankful for the backups and very happy I do not have to start from scratch. These sites represent (literally) years of diligent labor.

Let this be a lesson to us all – backup, backup, backup!

If you observe some irregularities on this site or one of our others, I hope you will forgive the inconvenience. I will likely be working on getting things “back to normal” for a couple of weeks. If there is a major problem, please let me know.

We’re on WordPress theme re-work number three now, as the other options just weren’t suiting our needs adequately. We were searching for just that right look to make people feel at home and at ease with their visit. We think these colors, and the more common layout probably accomplish that better than the last iteration. Let us know what you think about that, by the way.

Thanks to CodeScheme for the original code on the theme, which is (and will be) altered on an ongoing basis. Their link remains in the lower left corner, which is good protocol for anyone working with WordPress or other Open Source projects. If it were us, I know we would appreciate the recognition, meager as it may be.

We appreciate their help especially because we are not in the business of building things from the-ground-up unless it’s called for in the given situation. It was not in this case, or many others we hope to help – yes, when we get launched.

Thanks again for the support if you’ve been one of the many expressing eager interest in the future of this project. Hopefully things will all be taking off very soon!