Well some of you are aware that the website has been suspended for quite a few days. From what I gather from my friend and server sponsor, what has happened thus far is that blogpastor.net has attracted a rather large traffic, possibly due to a random attack. The result is that the server crashed as it could not handle the sudden increase in traffic. Blogpastor.net has been moved to a different server. Some of the photos of the last few months have been dislodged, so I have to re-upload or clear the empty boxes. Hmmm…this will take some time. For the time being, I have also reverted to a previous theme I used that is clean and minimalist though less practical.
On Sunday a guest in church asked if I was the one who wrote a blog and she mentioned reading it. I did not have the presence of mind nor cleverness to ask what she read or to inquire as to what interested her or whether she found it helpful.She must have read one of those posts that were probably from a period when I wrote about twice or thrice a week.
On Tuesday, I was in the car with a colleague talking about the thesis I have to write. I had a few ideas I was exploring. He strongly felt I should write something about the use of social media in learning and discipleship since he knew blogging was something I was enthusiastic about. In passing he mentioned that he had met quite a few friends who reads blogpastor.net.
On Thursday, I was having lunch with a pastor who mentioned occasionally reading my blog too. Hmm.
Three affirmations within five days is not normal. Something is afoot. As I reflected on this I remembered how I felt after I came back from my study module in Bangkok. My target had been to blog once a week. But I was tired from the intensity of the course. I had sermons to prepare. I had post-campus assignments to do. I felt like maybe I should just stop blogging. It is like you are jogging at a good pace and an anxiety fills you and all of a sudden you simply stopped in your track. All those incidents, so surprising, are probably the Lord’s gentle pat on the back to encourage me to continue on this writing journey. It will lead somewhere. It does me good. It helps people. Blogging sounds like slogging but I want to write as fulfillment and delight but is this possible all the time…..I wonder.
Most readers who have lively discussions in blogpastor.net on various issues do not have the desire or opportunity to meet face to face. Three visitors who have been active in discussions over topics such as reason and faith, and New Creation Church, met with me over the Chinese New Year period and we had an interesting and open sharing over lunch and a cuppa at Star Vista. They were Ben, Lyn and Journeyman (see above L to R). We owed this meeting to Journeyman’s prodding and it was his treat. It was pleasing to learn that the blog provided a platform for learning to take place. I detected nuanced shifts and softened opinions and views. There was even openness to adoption of new postures. There was an acceptance that people have different journeys and God is big enough to handle the various stages that travelers find themselves in, and the various approaches they adopt.
We talked about what’s happening in our lives and why we see things the way we do. The range of topics we talked about was wide: the Singapore church scene; our faith and ministry stories; nature of prosperity and the abundant life; explanations of our various approaches and perspectives; and something about what we do. We asserted what we believed, and though at times we were opinionated, in the end we accepted that each of us were on our own respective journeys. While we said our goodbyes, and two will be in different countries, our paths will probably intersect again online, and God willing, perhaps face to face one day.
Tony Reinke wrote an interesting article listing 15 tips on blogging which he had drawn from the Writings of John Newton, the 
former slave-trader who encountered Christ and became a hymn-writer and quite a prolific letter writer too. His letters were written in an informal easy style, topical, and experience-based. This is similar to blogging. Scan the list of 15 tips and if you want to read John Newton’s own words from which Tony deduced the tips read the full article HERE.
1. Bloggers should write to learn, to meditate, and to remember.
2. Bloggers should write to edify, therefore it is preferable to write simple truth than to spread eloquent trifles.
3. Bloggers should expect the well to run dry at times, and understand some of the personal factors that explain this barrenness.
4. Women should be encouraged to blog for the benefit of the entire church, since they naturally write in a style more enjoyable, and less stilted, than men are normally capable of.
6. Blog to offer both converting and comforting grace to your reader.
7. Make it your constant aim to blog with the intent of prospering your reader in God.
8. Be extra careful when handling controversy on your blog, and if you do engage it, know that it carries with it extra responsibilities, first in the tone of how you write, secondly in requiring you to sincerely pray for your opponent(s) before you engage them, and thirdly in requiring that you address your opponent as one who has an eternal soul, and who will either be lost forever, or as one that will be your brother or sister in heaven for all eternity.
9. Bloggers should aim to write from personal experience.
10. Bloggers should also write from their observations of others.
11. Learn to blog your observations more freely, especially if you are bent towards a stilted formalism.
12. Blog humbly and in faith, knowing the Lord will lead you to offer a “word in season” for your readers in their time of need.
13. Pray that God would fill your soul with divine joy as you write, that this joy would be communicated on the screen, resulting in a shared joy with your reader.
14. Do not allow blog writing to cause your neglect of family priorities
15. Redeem your barren blogging experiences, use them to see your needs and weaknesses, and lean upon God for his sustaining and supplying grace.
Reasons not to blog
In the past year I have been nibbling on the idea of a blog funeral for blogpastor.net. One reason was my burnout. My blog entries went downhill and I wrote less often. My heart was not there and inspiration waned. Another was the temptation to follow the crowd. Many blogs have in recent months idled into the grave. Even popular ones I have followed like Real Live Preacher and Internet Monk. This was disheartening. The buzz also seemed to have migrated to Facebook. Furthermore, I was disturbed by the pleasure I had from online approval. It fed my ego.
Reasons to continue to blog
Today I read Dr Tony Siew’s 10 reasons to blog and I agreed with all of them. Then I asked myself, What are my own reasons to continue blogging? And I found 4 main reasons for me to continue.
1. Its an incredible space to address an audience that’s potentially global. The world is my parish is no longer a cliche. It is made possible by the internet. Readers from 71 countries visited this blog in the last month and this has to be the Lord’s doing for I do not write mind-bending stuff.
2. My blog is a good platform for me to clarify my thoughts, practise writing, and express my personal views. It also acts as a resource folder: insights and lessons, a record of events and experiences and stories, which I sometimes turn to when I prepare talks or do my assignments or just reminisce.
3. My desire is that the posts I write will be to the greater service and glory of God. Promoting unity and understanding among churches and appreciating what is good, praiseworthy, true and just is one way to do this. Another is to help lay people understand their pastors better and increase their appreciation of them. I also enjoy highlighting the glory of the small church and their pastors and the vital role they play in the kingdom.
4. It is also my digital legacy for my children and children’s children. When I became interested about my grandparents all of them had gone and all I had were faded black and white photos and personal anecdotes of unreliable memories of surviving relatives. My digital store will give a more three dimensional picture of who I am and what I believed and what I lived through.
Keep me in your prayers and thoughts.