relevintage turns 1

April 12, 2007

Happy birthday to me? Well sort’ve…

A year ago this month, I started this crazy thing called blogging by launching relevintage.com. Here were some of my first words on that fateful day:

Thank you for visiting Day One of the official launch relevintage. It is an honor that you have come!

It has been a hope of mine for some time now to enter the blogging world. I’ve been inspired to jump in the fray by reading various blogs over the last few years. Also, my brother-in-law Henry Imler has been encouraging me to blog for some time now. He also designed the template for relevintage. Thanks Henry!

Well, if you received the e-mail invite, you got a glimpse of what relevintage is going to be all about. On Day One, I would like to expound on the overall vision of this blog. Let’s dig in…

I have been immersed in local church ministry for some time now. It is a constant challenge to find fresh ways to minister to a diverse and relativistic culture, both inside and outside the four walls of our churches. But with the call to ministry comes a passion to minister and redeem that very culture. And whether we work in or outside of the church, we have that call! That is the vision behind relevintage!

And here we are and I can honestly say that is still the heart of this blog.

If you look at the category cloud, you know we have tackled all things church, culture, missiology, worship, and music with a dash of humor [usually via your favorite sarcastic sports journalist, Bill Simmons]. I also started a running series entitled The 7 in which I highlight posts from around the blogosphere from the previous week that speak to those ministering to ‘younger evangelicals.’

As of today, relevintage boasts of 177 posts and 161 comments, contained within 59 categories. And the granddaddy of them all: 17995 hits. Pretty cool!

One of my new year’s resolutions was to be a more frequent blogger and I’m proud of my prolific nature since then. My secret ambition is to try to spread the blog’s proverbial wings and reach 500 posts and 50,000 hits by this time next year. If you have any tips, pass them along!

I have decided to celebrate this ‘momentous’ day by doing one of my favorite things:
1) Making
2) Lists
3) Of
4) My
5) Favorite
6) Things

Top 10 Blogger Inspirations

Alan Hirsch: The Forgotten Ways - helping me think missionally

David Fitch: The Great Giveaway - helping me think justly

Michael Spencer: internetmonk.com - helping me think profoundly

Shlog: Shaun Groves - helping me think authentically

Scott McKnight: Jesus Creed - helping me think progressively

Bob Roberts: The Global Trekker Blog - helping me think glocally

Dan Kimball: Vintage Faith - helping me think humbly

Mark Driscoll: theresurgence.com - helping me think boldly

Mark Devine: Devine Theology - helping me think conservatively

Bob Hyatt: bob.blog - helping me think pastorally

Top 5 Guilty Pleasures

Bill Simmons: ESPN Page 2 - helping me think sarcastically

Paul Lukas: Uni Watch - helping me think in way too much detail

Bob Lefsetz: Lefsetz Letter - helping me think honestly

Carlos Whitaker: Ragamuffin Soul - helping me…not think

Lost Easter Eggs - helping me think theoretically

Top 5 Fav Posts

The Couric Effect:

…And as long as we elevate the ‘celebrity’ without regard to that celebrity’s character and integrity, the world will continue to yearn for the very thing they don’t feed with their time and money: authenticity.

I’m not saying Couric doesn’t have substance, only time will tell. But with the direction we are headed, I’m just going to start a petition now.

Jon Stewart in 2010 for Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News.

In the Year 2036:

…In the cycle of history, we should expect another book or movie that revises historic Christianity and causes an uproar. With the rash of conversation going on now over The DaVinci Code, may we be prepared in about thirty years to take a breath, slow down, and ask and react with appropriateness.

Why Taylor?:

…It’s no mystery that Top 40 radio is littered with urban sexual innuendo, sell-out emo, vanilla adult alternative, or schmaltzy pop. This music has no ability to stand the test of time. In my opinion, we will not be appreciating much of what is on radio right now in another fifty years.

I hope, Taylor signals a shift from the aformentioned music.

Reforming Lectio Divina

…I’m amazed that reading the word of God slowly, thinking about it, letting your heart speak to God, then listening to the still small voice of God could cause such hysteria! You can call it meditating on the Word, contemplative spirituality, Lectio Divinia. Whatever you call it, just do it!

To Prune or Not to Prune:

…Can I have an opinion? Yes. But can I demand immediate change because of his ‘position’ within evangelicalism? No.

In other words, since I don’t know Driscoll personally, I can’t realistically sharpen his ‘iron.’ In time, God will use Driscoll’s wife, elders, fellow trusted pastors, trials, etc. to help ‘smooth out’ the coarse edges of Driscoll’s language.

Until then, let’s grant Mark grace for the journey.

5 Things Learned

Blogging is harder than you think…

Blogging gets easier if you don’t think…

You get traffic by becoming traffic…

I almost like reading other people’s blogs as much as I like writing on mine…

I almost forget to write on my blog because I’m reading other people’s blogs…

Posted in blogging, relevintage