Fundamental Reformers, an Update

The Idea

Just over 1 year ago, I created an aggregate feed which I called Fundamental Reformers. I wanted to bring together the blogs that I see as reforming fundamentalism, and make it easy to follow them or learn more about them. The goal was to make a webpage with the latest posts from these blogs all together in one place. Plus you could subscribe to the feed and be notified each time one of these blogs posted new content.

Technical Issues

At the time, Blogdigger Groups and xFruits.com seemed to provide an easy aggregate feed (for free). But Blogdigger had some problems, and I never liked its format. I liked xFruits but it had problems too. So from time to time since then, I’ve been looking for an alternate method to create my aggregator.

In my latest search I came across Server.com’s NewsApp service (this is what Adrian Warnock uses for several of his blog groups, see sidebar here), that service looked great, but I couldn’t get it to work for me, with the blogs on my list. But then I discovered the solution was in front of me all along. xFruits.com allows me to easily create an aggregate feed, but it also can take any RSS feed and turn it into a static webpage. So I took my xFruits’ aggregate feed and made it into an xFruits’ webpage, and I think I’m in business. Although it still doesn’t list the blogs on the side of the page, it does provide a very easy format to read the blog posts in (with links to the blogs themselves), and if someone clicks around they’ll quickly find a link to a page on my blog with the complete list.

The Aggregator (& A Little About RSS)

So, here is the link to the new aggregator page: Fundamental Reformers. If anyone is interested in linking to it (especially you all who are listed in that feed), you can use this button I created a while back. Copy the button and use it on your blog (make it link to the aggregator, by the way). Fundamental Reformers--the blogs reforming fundamentalism

And for any of you who don’t utilize feeds, you really should. It is like getting an email every time a blog posts, except the post (pictures and all, usually) or an excerpt of it appear in your feed reader program. Google Reader and Bloglines are 2 of the most popular. I’ve been using Google Reader and it lets me follow many more blogs than I could without a feed reader, and it lets me do other neat stuff for my blog.

The List of Blogs

Some of you were waiting for this part. Here is my new list of the blogs reforming fundamentalism.

Many of these are new additions, and there were some blogs that are no longer in operation. Of course right now you’re wondering what are my selection criteria. Why these blogs?

What Do You Mean by “Reforming Fundamentalism”?

These blogs all, from time to time, aim to help reform fundamentalism (the independent Baptist variety). Of course they post on a variety of other topics, but they deal with the problems of hyper fundamentalism in one degree or another. John Chitty, for instance, primarily blogs about all things Reformed, yet he often mentions his past as a hyper fundamentalist. And he has several posts devoted to the King James Only problem.

There is a wide spectrum here in this list, too. Some, like Josh Gelatt, have never had an actual history within the IFB movement, but he is confronted with these issues and addresses them. Others, like the Big Orange Truck and Will Dudding are still quite the conservative fundamentalists. They have a desire to reform and stay within the movement. Scott Kay, Ryan DeBarr and myself, with others, now find ourselves outside of mainstream fundamentalism (IFB). I guess I should use Joel Tretau’s taxonomy and admit I have type A, B, and C fundamentalists in this group.

I didn’t include other blogs because I either don’t quite feel they belong (or that they would want to be included), or most likely, I’m not familiar with them. Sharper Iron is not included because it is so big. It is a mixed bag, so to speak, and of late most of the posts seem not to be directed toward these issues. Lots of the good stuff on Sharper Iron is in the forums anyway. I also want the aggregator to promote blogs that could benefit from the promotion.

(I am open to being convinced that I should add other blogs that you all may know — even to add Sharper Iron. Just comment below.)

So How Does Someone Join This Aggregator?

If you think your blog qualifies, just let me know in the comments here (or on this page). Explain why you think you qualify (unless it is very obvious from just checking out your blog). I can’t guarantee I’ll include everybody, but I will consider you. Oh, and if someone is on the list and wishes to be removed, I’ll be glad to do so.

Now that you have the scoop, be sure to check out the aggregator! Here is the webpage version, and here is the actual feed. Enjoy.AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Bobspotted Blogroll: July 18, 2007

Many of you might not remember the last time you saw a Bobspotted Blogroll post. The last time I did one was in March!

Technological advancements have made me lazy in this regard. If you look left, you will notice “Bob’s Blog Finds” towards the top on the sidebar. If you haven’t paid attention to that before, you really should. Many times you may come to this blog and see no updates. If you check out Bob’s Blog Finds, however, you may see that I’ve been busy enjoying other people’s excellent blogs. And if you are interested, you can read what I’ve been reading. Better yet, you can subscribe to a feed of all the blogposts I enjoy on a regular basis. You could even do what I do, and add that feed to the side of your blog (kind of like I do with Thirsty Theologian‘s blog finds, see my left sidebar, further down). For instructions on how to make your own “blog finds”, you can start with this post.

So with such wonderful technological aids, why bother with a blogroll post? To tell you the truth, I’ve missed doing them because they’re fun. They let me highlight some great posts in a more notable way, and I can give props to some of my blogging friends. So without further ado, let me list some bobspotted blogposts.

On Fundamentalism

On Music & Worship

Interesting

  • Fred Butler often posts some interesting or hilarious content. Recently he highlighted a video of some amazing crashes in a slippery tunnel. It’s hard to explain the appeal of the video, so just check out the brief clip for yourself.
  • Jeff Voegtlin posted the list (complete with pictures) of the 2006 Women Driver of the Year awards. The awards are completely sarcastic, of course, and the pictures are quite fantastic and almost unbelievable. But then again, who hasn’t encountered the quintessential woman driver?

Huckabee

  • If you can’t tell from looking at all the Huckabee banners around here, I’m a Huckabee supporter. If you haven’t checked out the campaign blog, they have updated it. This post links to some interesting radio interviews about his campaign. He seems to be picking up steam, and there is word of he’d make a good VP. I’d prefer him as P though, and I truly feel he is one of the best chances the Republican party has of winning the general election.
  • For more info on Huckabee, this blog (check out this article by the way) and this blog are your best bets.

Theological Issues

Missions

Preaching and Preachers

Abortion and Babies

Images of the Savior

Miscellaneous

Believing Men, Beware the Blog

The following article was written by my friend Ryan Corbett. I think he makes some great points and that his challenge deserves to be taken seriously. Join me in determining to use blogging as a means to a noble end (the spread of God’s glory and the edification of self and others), rather than being used by blogging for a selfish aim (the spread of the glory of self and the avoidance of fulfilling God’s call for us as men).

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I have in mind an online medium which poses, I believe, a dangerous threat to the faith and usefulness of Christian husbands, fathers and ministers in our age. No, it is not pornography, adult chat rooms or online gambling, though these widely recognized vices have, in their own ways, shipwrecked the faith of a good many in the past decade. What I have in mind is far more innocent, subtle, and even wholesome: The Christian blogosphere. I by no means mean to suggest that blogs with Christian content are unuseful. Quite to the contrary, they offer an incredible forum for the exchange of ideas and information and have connected people and movements to one another like never before. Many a man has, I’m sure, come to a fuller understanding of the character of God, been stimulated toward a more radical lifestyle and even experienced conversion through the agency of Christian blogging. I can personally testify to the role of the World Wide Web in connecting me with mind-changing and soul-edifying doctrinal material which I was once in the dark about. But we must not casually think that because of their theological content, blogs of this nature have no capacity to become weapons in the hands of the evil one to steal, kill and destroy. Recent observation has led me to ponder the reality of this threat, specifically to Christian men in the prime of their strength with a tendency toward the life of the mind (I describe myself here). The threat can be summarized as follows:

  1. Christian blogs can quietly take the place of the disciplines of Word and devotion. If a Christian man is checking golf stats or monitoring his stocks, there is no sense of spiritual fulfillment. But if he is making his rounds on Christian blogs, reading stimulating articles, posting biblical comments and downloading podcasts of sermons, there is the tendency to feel that the spiritual duty of communion with God has been satisfied. In a couple of hours before dinner he has, perhaps, read a Christian review of a current movie, skimmed through a debate over eternal security and watched a clip of an interview discussing church growth trends. Is he not valuably spending his time? And if a few days go by in which his Bible was not cracked, did he not get devotional stimulation anyway? I suggest that hours spent surfing Christian blog sites are no replacement for earnestly going after God with an open Bible and notebook. Rather, a dependence on the blog can train us to get our spiritual insights second-handedly, and to think about communion with God mainly in terms of hot-button issues, arguments and polemics. These have an important role in the Christian life, but they can never take the place of routine devotion through the disciplines of Word and prayer.
  2. Christian blogs give men the opportunity to flaunt themselves, something we’re all geared to enjoy doing. Where else can an average guy get himself published for his Christian buddies to read? He may manage his own blog, or he may borrow space from another by posting comments. In any case, his potential to be read and recognized has suddenly increased manifestly by the advent of the blog. He finds himself checking to see how many hits his blog received in a week, and re-reading his own posts with a sense of pride. Let’s face it, men, we love to see our names out there. We love to read the comments people post in response to that clinching point we made. Whenever that insightful reformedguy79 (you know him only by his webname) picks up on a comment you typed, you give yourself a pat on the back. How many unconsciously allow their egos to be stroked by faceless interactions online, and continue to be drawn back in pursuit of more opportunities to win a moment of fame?
  3. Blogs have the tendency to reduce people to one dimension — a dimension in which men feel particularly comfortable — the intellectual and argumentative. The blog is impersonal. It talks back, but not immediately, and there are no tears, no emotions or confrontations. It is just nice, clean, manly exchange. It is a lot easier than initiating spiritual dialog with a wife, who is inclined to bring in messy emotions, spot your hypocrisies, and require a personal vulnerability that we would rather avoid. Can the fellowship of the blog really fulfill Christian one-anothering, transparency, and serious accountability? If we think it does, we are in danger. Hell is hungry for men who have let these necessary disciplines slip away.
  4. Blogging, not engaged in responsibly, has the potential of consuming a lot of time which is stolen away from family, bible study, communion with the saints, ministry to poor, orphans and widows and radical mission to the lost. Log the hours you spend online weekly and ask whether that time could have been redeemed for activities more befitting one called to be the head of his home, a solider in Christ’s army and a worker of righteousness in an unjust world. Healthy, soul-refreshing activities like bike-rides and walks in the park on autumn days can also suffer neglect. TV makes men lazy, and too much time in the virtual world of blogging has similar potential to make men lazy.

The fact that something is dangerous does not make it wrong. Fire is both valuable for life and deadly. It would be foolish to completely disregard this means of access to quality biblical teaching, contemporary ministry ideas, and yes, some devotional stimulation. But with Christ’s return at the door, the deceitfulness of sin and the brevity of life, we cannot afford to be unwary. Consider the following ideas as a means of guarding yourself for God and family.

First, for every minute spent surfing the Christian blog world, spend at least as much time with God, on your face, seeking Him and pouring over His Word. This will have the effect of either radically limiting your time online or radically increasing your time in the Word until it truly is sweeter to you than the drippings of a honeycomb, more valuable than fine gold, and more attracting than the blog. Second, as a finite being with a finite amount of time, choose a handful of blogs which are truly, consistently spiritually stimulating, which are grounded in Word, devotional in nature, and which leave your heart more inclined to Jesus. Seek out these, and avoid the temptations to eternally blog-shop about on other sites and links. The sheer size of the web can be overwhelming and time-squandering if one doesn’t restrain himself to a few familiar and most helpful pages. Third, you may find it wise to take periodic blog fasts, especially if you discern a distraction from real-life interaction with Christian believers, ability to lead your family in a vital walk with God, and a personal hunger and thirst for the Word. Such fasts may give insight into ones level of attachment and dependency on the blog for spiritual health and satisfaction. The blog is certainly a valuable tool, but let us not forget that the spiritual giants of the past with the depth of spiritual insight and communion with God for which we admire them, had not the availability of this medium, and carried out their prolific writing ministries with a pen and paper. Could it be that their lack of access to this wide range of information and ideas actually enabled them to be more singleminded and useful than we?

Christian brothers, take care and make every effort so that the Christian blog is for you a means of perseverance and not a detraction from it.

Ryan Corbett

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
(Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV)

Band Together for Blingo

Lately, Mondays have been my primary day off —  the only day I don’t work for any of the 24 hours which make up the day. So my posting on Mondays, of late, has been sporadic. Today, I thought I’d post something simple and fun.

Win prizes just for your normal web searching with Blingo--its FREE and powered by GoogleI want to invite you all, my readers, to win with me on Blingo. Perhaps you have seen this graphic on my sidebar, and have wondered what it’s about. Before I lose you, I should tell you this is totally free.

It’s free and its fun. And you really can win. So listen up, here’s the scoop.

Blingo  is a web search engine, powered by Google. Search engines make money from the companies which advertise on their sites. When you search for airplanes, the search engine will display ads tailored toward that search on the sides or top and bottom of the search result page. The ads drive traffic to the advertisers’ sites. All of this is just to say that search engines are free for the users, but actually make money.

Blingo  gives some of that money away. They are now partnered with Publisher’s Clearing House, and they give prizes to the average Joes  (& Janes)  who search using their search engine. This means they have more people searching their site consistently, and can make more money with the ads they sell.

Here’s the bottom line. For 95% of your web searching needs, Blingo  will do the job. And if you sign up (for free) there’s a chance you might win something. The way I look at it, I have nothing to lose, and lots of chances to win. It’s free and there is absolutely NO SPAM!!

I have Blingo  as my homepage, to make it easier to remember to use. I haven’t won yet (although the person who signed me up has won several times). So here’s how you can help. If you sign up for Blingo  from the graphics on this post (or in my sidebar), you not only get to have a chance to win something, I do too. If you win, the person who signs you up wins the same prize. All the people you sign up will help you win.

The prizes range from 10 or 20 thousand dollars, to movie tickets or free song downloads from I-Tunes. They give away 50 dollar prizes and giftcards, and they let you know what prizes were given away recently. And if you think you don’t have a chance to win, since you only search the web once or twice a day, you’re wrong. At most, only 10 25 searches a day count for a prize. They set up the prizes by hours, minutes, and seconds. The first search after the preset time wins it.  

So what have you got to lose? Why don’t you sign up? Like I said, there is no spam, and they only use your address information in the event you win. If any of you have blogs, you can easily add graphics to your blog with links so you get credit if someone signs up. (I’ve already had some sign up that way). And Blingo  also makes it easy to send emails to your friends inviting them to join Blingo  too.  

So go ahead, give it a shot. Let’s band together to win with Blingo!

Win prizes just for your normal web searching with Blingo--its FREE and powered by Google                    Win prizes just for your normal web searching with Blingo--its FREE and powered by Google

Google Magic & My Blog Finds

My Blog Finds

In my continuing effort to improve my blog and make it a source of valuable and helpful resources, I am excited to announce another new feature. If you already looked left, you noticed my new “Blogging Around” section which contains site news and other interesting stuff. Now if you look below that section, you will see yet another new section: “My Blog Finds”.

I’m sure you might think, “What’s the big deal? You already did the same thing with your “Blogging Around” section, didn’t you?” Let me explain. The “Blogging Around” section has to be manually edited by my editor and personal assistant (yours truly). This other section is automatically updated by my new editing team (Google Reader with the help of WordPress.Com).

A Little Google Magic

Before I continue my post here, let me stop and talk about Google Reader. For a while now I have been meaning to try using a feed reader. I enjoy hopping around to other blogs, and reading the great stuff that’s out there. But it can take a lot of time. And there are always blogs you don’t get too.

Feed readers, like Google Reader and Bloglines, promise to help. You simply add feeds from the blogs you want to track, and these sites will bring everything into one place. I have experimented with Bloglines, but just wasn’t happy with it. So I didn’t have great hopes for Google Reader, either.

Try Google ReaderI was pleasantly surprised, though, when I finally tried out Google Reader. “Magic” is the word that comes to mind. It is simple to add feeds (it will recognize them automatically, just copy the web address or URL from the blogs you want to add), and it is great to read them in the program. Almost all the pictures show up and the reading experience is great.

The features it offers make blogging easy. You can add a “yellow star” to any post to remember to go back and read it or blog about it later. Also, by clicking one time you can have the blog post you’re reading open up in a new window, in case you want to comment or something. You can also click “share” (at the bottom of the post) to add that post to your shared items page. And this feature is what makes it so easy to make your own “blog finds” feature.

Add Your Own “Blog Finds” Feature

I like the feature so much, I want to help you other bloggers add it as well. First, sign up for a free Google account and join Google Reader (its also free). Then, simply add subscriptions to your Google Reader, and click “share” on the posts you want to share. Then in the top left of your Google Reader home page, you will see a link to “Shared Items”. Click on that link and you will see all the posts you’ve shared, recently. But that’s not all. You will also see a fixed URL which will link to that page, as well as a link which says “feed”. The feed is for your shared list. As your shared list updates (by you selecting new posts to share), those posts are sent to your feed.

Then for those using Blogger, there is a button you can press which makes it easy to add a “Blog Finds” box to your blog, which contains your latest shared posts. And for you WordPress guys (the smart ones!!), just copy the link to your feed (located on your shared items page), and use an RSS Feed widget (in your presentation / side-bar widgets section from your dashboard). It’s that simple.

Thanks, Google Reader for sharing some blog magic. I hope you all appreciate my blog finds and start sharing yours. And I know you will find that Google Reader will make your blogging and blog-reading much easier, faster, and better!

For more help with this, check out Google Reader’s excellent help section.