Status Report – High Calling Blog Network

These things are always more complicated than you think they are going to be.

First, a hearty applause to the folks who have been patient through this lengthy project start-up. All of you receive the award of …

Brisket, Bibles, and Bug Spray – LLYC - a blog from the head chef at Laity Lodge Youth Camp.
Chrysostom Society – a blog just beginning (and still “under construction”) from a group of writers that includes some big name folks from the last thirty years of publishing.
Emails To God – a great little blog from John Willome that is updated daily. (He’s transitioning from an email newsletter to a blog.)
Heavenly Preaching – James C. Schaap’s blog, which will include some very thoughtful essays and photos. He’s finishing up another novel right now, but plans to dive in when he returns.
RealLivePreacher.com – the original and controversial pastor’s blog from Salon.com started by Gordon Atkinson.
RLP’s Other Blog – Gordon’s anchor site for what’s happening in the community.
Papa Poet – my dad finally has a blog and is posting his poetry!

I guess you could put me on the list too, but since you’re reading this on my blog, that feels redundant. Other bloggers are waiting in the wings to join, and we’ll be ready for you soon.

Models for the Network

At the beginning of 2007, Gordon Atkinson and I started a partnership to create a blog network for TheHighCalling.org. We had already researched some good models—from the Salon Blogs that originally launched RealLivePreacher.com, to Darren Rowse’s recent b5media group, to Hugh Hewitt’s Town Hall community, to the independent networks like Liz Strauss’ Successful and Outstanding Blogs and Rich Tatum’s Pnuema Blogs.

(Speaking of Problogger Darren Rowse, he has a great post on What We Wish We Knew When We First Started Blogging. New bloggers take note!)

A Non-Profit Blog Community?

Unlike Darren Rowse, we’re not looking to help anyone monetize their blog. (For new bloggers, “monetization” means your blog would generate income.) We also have no grand vision to create a profitable media empire, though I am working on a non-profit entrepreurial business plan for the network.

Which means I checked out a book called Business Plans Made Easy. I hear that’s exactly what Micheal Flaherty did when he wrote the business plan for Walden Media.

What Are the Network’s Goals?

It’s simple. Gordon and I are using local church structure as our operating model. He will be the “minister” to bloggers in the community. His goal is to empower people to serve God online by having an excellent blog. Some blogs will be explicitly Christian. Others less so.

And that’s okay. Remember, all good work can give glory to God.

The main purpose of the network is to help people understand that. As editor for the website, I only get 12 articles per month to help spread this message. That’s not enough. And those articles also aren’t specific enough. The main articles on the site have to appeal to a broad range of professionals.

That’s why we need teachers blogging about the high calling of teaching. And doctors blogging about the high calling of medicine. And lawyers. And business managers. And non-profit managers. And secretaries, nurses, writers, editors, preachers, zoo keepers, mothers working at home, mothers working outside of the home, custodians, basket weavers, firefighters, police officers, flight attendants, students in high school, students in college. You get the idea.

What’s the Catch? What’s the Agenda?

Our only agenda is to spread the message: Honor God in your daily work. That’s it. Too many Christians are trapped into thinking the only way they can work for God is to join the church choir or teach a bible class on Sunday morning.

Don’t get me wrong. It is very important to help out the community of believers that gathers to worship. But that is not the only way to do “God’s work.”

A lot of other Christians don’t recognize the intrinsic value of their work. The office becomes nothing more than a place to evangelize on a theological soapbox.

Don’t get me wrong. Evangelism is good, too. At some point we need to tell people that we are Christian. But our work doesn’t only honor God when we are telling people about Jesus.

Simply doing a good job at work can honor God.

A Quick Example 

Last week I attended the Goodyear Family Reunion in Oregon. There were two preachers and three elders among the oldest generation. Each night we had a devotion and time of gathered worship. It was fun, but I don’t think we needed the gathered worship in order to honor God with our renunion. I missed a few to put my son to bed, for example. On those days, I honored God at the reunion by loving everyone in my family and treating them with kindness. (If you’ve ever been to a family reunion, you know that is not always easy.)

Here’s the real danger. If I thought the devotion was the only place to honor God, then I could miss the really difficult part of honoring God by loving and serving my family. My uncle Dan gets this. He led most of the devotions, true. But the real way he honored God was his humility and service to everyone in the family. At every meal he bussed the tables. Every night he vaccumed the mess hall so we could play games there. He organized the reunion. Put himself into it with a cute theme. And opened himself to criticism from everyone, but he never complained himself. He never became defensive. He never attacked anyone that I saw.

I would suggest that his daily work at the reunion honored God at least as much as those devotions. In fact, without the daily work, his devotions would have been completely meaningless. He would have been the worst kind of two-faced Christian hypocrite that gives the entire religion a bad name.

I’m proud to say, Uncle Dan is not like that.

A Simple Challenge

We’re looking for people to help us spread that message of encouragement. And to do so in a way that is specific to their profession. That’s it.

You don’t have to join our community. You don’t have to link to us. But if you believe what I’m saying… Live it. Share it. Do it. Blog it.