Temporarily Suspended

Just wanted to let you know that I have suspended my posting on this site during this season. My main blog Making Difference Makers is where I am posting right now. When I begin posting back on here I will let you know at that site.

Blogs With Benefits 1

When I began blogging, I really didn't know what I was getting in to. I had a friend who had moved off to pastor a church who had came back and showed me his blog and how I could keep up with him.

I thought it was perfect since I was in transition as well. It would be a great way for all the wonderful people at my previous church to be able to keep up with what I was doing.

Little did I know there were some positive benefits to blogging. It is probably one of the reasons I feel every pastor/ministry leader should blog.

• Relationships - Ministry can be very lonely if you are not careful. Not only that but in some churches networking with other pastors is not an easy thing to do. Through blogging I have developed friendships not only across the country but throughout the world.
• Therapeutic - Blogging for me is a way of centering my thoughts and filtering them on "paper". It allows me to write some of my frustrations as well as share many of my joys. Of course you have to be really careful what you write though, as once you hit that publish button it is out there for everyone to read.
• Educational - When I first began blogging, I didn't have a clue there were some great blogs where I could get instantaneous information. Many pastors post what their days and weeks are like. Churches post some of the creative elements they create. Pastors share their successes and failures. Imagine if we could have read what the Apostle Paul went through on a daily basis.

What are some of the benefits you have found in blogging?

[Photo Credit Flickr.com]

Mind Dumps

Am I the only one tired of posts that are: Random Mind-dumps,18 bullet point Reflections, Sunday Thoughts.

Do you know the kind I'm talking about????

Don't know what big Pastor blogger started it...but everyone jumped on board with it.

Know I skip them altogether. They aren't practical, they are so random with no flow, the good stuff in them is not elaborated on. Plus it's not really good writing.

Right now, when I see them I just skip them altogether.

What are your thoughts on these kind of posts????

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Organizing The Cut

No cuts today...yet. But I did organize everyone I read into catagories in my Google Reader and added some widgets to the page. If you are reading this by RSS feed check the page and if your not in there let me know. I would like to have readers of this blog in there.

Still not totally finished.

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The Cut Continues

That's 10 more subscriptions cut from by Google Reader. I'm down to 113. I've cutout 20 in the last two days. I have also organized them into categories. That's one of the cool things I like about Google Reader. When I'm finished I'm going to put some links on the side of my blog to all the various categories I feel are important here.

I wonder if you made the cut.

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Publish Post

The Cut Has Begun

Ok...I still want your thoughts on this but 10 didn't make the cut.

If you are a reader of either of my blogs and you have a blog yourself let me know. I don't want to cut you out.

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Beware The Cutting

Today I looked at my Google Reader and I have 133 subscriptions. 133!!!! That is a whole lot of blogs I follow.

Now I don't read every single post but I am finding that I am skimming through a lot of them.

My dilemna: Do I cut out a whole bunch? Many I read because they are a great resource to what I'm doing. Many others I read have been friends I have developed a relationship with through blogging. And where do I start cutting???????

I will be honest...I'm not getting much from the big dogs of pastor bloggers. I may start with theirs.

What are your thoughts? I feel I can handle about a 100 of them due to the nature of how I speed though the posts.

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Record Setting #999

This month has been a recording setting month for Making Difference Makers. At the end of December I changed my approach and for two months I have seen a steady increase.

Honestly I really do give all the props to God who has give me the favor to produce and get my thoughts out to the world. I also give much props to everyone who reads.

Here is the kicker: February is two days less than January and the blog still blew out the record books. My subscriptions have doubled and the hits are up over 25%...and I haven't even counted tomorrow. And no there wasn't any special post that drew in record numbers. It is all solid growth.

To top that...this is, between my two blogs, post #999. That means my next post will be post #1,000. I'm thinking of a special one for this one. It will go off on Making Difference Makers.

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Sharing Posts

Do you use Google reader and Google Talk?

Reader and Google Talk (also known as chat in Gmail) are now linked together to make shared items visible to your friends from Google Talk. Once you've logged into Reader and been notified of the change, these friends will be able to see your shared items in the Reader left-hand navigation area under "Friends' shared items".

This is great for me as I like to know what posts people who are my friends are reading. So...if you use Reader and Google Talk add me as a friend and let me know what you are reading. Add pastorjcurl@gmail.com to your Google Talk.

Blog Links

I've kind of come to a crossroads right now when it comes to my blog links. I left a post comment on another blog about how building community is something I don't see.

Most of my links in both of my blogs are based on people I read. I guess I'm tired of giving props to people that aren't into building community. They are pastors who have blogs and don't allow comments. Pastors who when people leave comments on their sites don't respond. Guy's like Noble, Furtick, Franquiz, Arment, Stevens, Morgan, Batterson, etc...are saying bye-bye in my links. I love what you guys write and you will be in my reader...but no more props. I may occasionally link to you if you have something inspirational but if you aren't about building the community then no link from me. I know you may not care and it may not be a biggie to you but

I know that the world is busy and especially on blogs that have people that leave a lot of comments it is hard to respond to everyone, but I have seen guys like Craig who can do it.

So...unless you are a blog that links me, or who is one who is trying to build community I'm no longer giving you props. I'd rather give the props to people who are small and trying to build community.

So here you go. Here are my blog post rules:

1) If you comment on here on a regular basis, you get a link.
2) You have a link on your page to mine, you get a link.
3) You are a personal friend, you get a link.
4) If I read you regularly and you respond to my comments either through email or in your own comments, you get a link.

There may be others but if I feel you are a blogger that is adding to my community in some way or the other you will get a link.