Bits and pieces, 3/07/05

Last week's Christian Carnival is at Crossroads and it’s a really good one (but then, they all are!). Diane’s presentation is wonderful.

To enter next week's Christian Carnival, send the following info to ChristianCarnival-at-gmail-dot-com:

name of your blog
your blog url
title of your post
post url
brief description of post

The deadline is Tues. 3/08 at 12 midnight EST.

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Here's more evidence of the perils of IVF, from Reasons Why. I discuss other ways that in-vitro fertilization introduces greater peril to the process of creating new life than occurs naturally here.

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Now that the location of GodBlogCon 2005 has been announced (Biola University), there’s some internal reorganizing going on with the GBC administration. John Schroeder, author of the prayer blog, tells us that the prayer blog will be on hold until further developments are known. Please keep visiting the prayer blog, though, to read over and pray along with all the wonderful posts already there.

I will continue to post my own prayers for the GBC. My prayer concern for today is that the idea of Godblogdom as “church” be considered by those leading and attending (or hoping to attend) the GBC. Note that I said, “Godblogdom as ‘church,’ not “Godblogdom as substitute for 'real' in-your-local-community church.” What I mean by the former is that I would hope Christian blogs and blogging would be different from purely secular blogging not just in content but in treatment.

What is difficult in so large a Godblogosphere is maintaining support of particular individual blogs. Not that this must happen, but I worry that blogs, even Christian blogs, might become just another commodity to be used or consumed. Perhaps I will write more about that in the near future.

(This would probably fall under the “Inspiration” category of the GBC’s five Guiding Core Values):

Simplicity: to keep the organization and operation of the Convention as simple as possible

Relationship: to ensure that GodBlogCon 2005 is very relational, with a lot of networking and befriending going on with fellow bloggers

Inspiration: to receive inspiration and vision for the significant emerging role of blogging in America's church and culture from Hugh Hewitt and others

Practicality: to provide practical workshops/roundtables led by top quality leaders in blogging

Diversity: to offer a variety of workshops/roundtable topics that appeal to the diversity of interests within the blogging community