How should we respond to new media?
Can we begin to incorporate the best practices of decency and truth in our new media? Can we become more adept at incorporating social media into our larger plan as we hold propaganda machines accountable?
I was a pastor of a small congregation in Rhode Island, when I felt this strange calling. I sensed that somehow my ministry would extend beyond the walls of my particular congregation. I couldn’t imagine how that could happen.
Then I began a blog. It was a strange time for the medium. It was new and untrusted, but I blogged everyday, setting aside three hours in the wee morning. It became my unpaid part-time job. My older, established colleagues would relentlessly deride the new medium, and I would come home from a conference or a meeting, licking my wounds after being publicly ridiculed by someone I deeply respected. But it was a calling, and we all know that when something takes root in the core of your being, you have to keep doing it, even when it makes no sense in terms of dignity or income.
Since there are very few media outlets for progressive Christians and the traditional outlets seemed very resistent to knew voices, I kept working in any way that I could—podcasts, blogs, and guest blogging. Then my book came out and I could move into more traditional media. And when it was published, it did well because of the blog, not in spite of it.
