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I Can Schmooze

~ fundyreformed ~ 18 Comments

Schmooze — to “talk idly or casually and in a friendly way” (4th result at dictionary.com)

I am honored to be the recipient of the award you see here on the right. I guess this makes it official: I can schmooze!

I wish I could say that my schmoozing talents have gotten me somewhere in life, but they haven’t (yet). I guess they have helped my blogging, but then my blog is not all that much to speak of. But I digress.

The award was created by Mike (at Ordinary Folk) and Danielle (at Pink Reviews) to help “recognize those people that were [are] exceptionally adept at creating relationships with other bloggers by making an effort to be part of a conversation, as opposed to monologue“. So that makes this reward more of an honor than an insult.

I do a good job of interacting, as the comments here attest. Although some of that is due to the controversial nature of some of the posts around here! Anyways, let me officially thank Casey (at Casey’s Critical Thinking) for honoring me with this award.

Now I’m allowed to choose 5 others for this award. Before I do, let me share the rules:

The rules:
If, and only if, you get The Power of Schmooze Award, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think, or have schmoozed you into submission. Link to this post and Mike & Danielle so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

Optional:
Proudly display the “˜The Power of Schmooze Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

Now, for my list of 5. I’m giving these to the people who I seem to interact with them on their blogs and on mine the most.

First the honorable mentions:

If I could give one to a non-blogger, I’d give one to Larry Lawton. I’d also like to give one to Contend Earnestly, but I’ve only recently started interacting over there with Seth, in his interactive (& fascinating) Calvinism debate, and as of yet he hasn’t officially commented here.

Now for the winners:

  • John Chitty at The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge. He is one of my most faithful commenters, and I find my way over to his blog a lot. He always has interesting posts and at least some discussion in the comments.
  • Jamsco at The Responsible Puppet. He’s always talking idly and casually in a friendly way. And he’s not out to gain anything either. His blog is interesting and varied, with the occasional attempt at a Calvinist debate. I chat with him at church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and we keep up with each other’s blogs too. I think you’ll find his blog interesting and often useful.
  • Brother Hank, and company over at The Journeymen. I’ve started reading this blog consistently, and commenting occasionally, over the last month or two. Hank is commenting off and on over here too. Their blog is all about blogging community, yet it has its own interesting and pertinent content as well. You gotta’ go check them out.
  • Will Dudding of The Reforming Baptist. Will hasn’t been over here as often lately, but he has been one of my most faithful commenters. I’ve kept up with his refreshingly honest and interesting blog. He’s a former Hyles-ish fundamentalist turned conscientious reformer. He’s worth a good read.
  • Last but not least, Ken & Don Fields from World from My Window. These guys are blogging friends who maintain one of the better conservative evangelical, theology-focused blogs out there. I interact occasionally with them on their blog, and they visit over here from time to time. If you haven’t seen their blog, you owe it to yourself to check them out. Tell ’em I sent you!

That does it. But now these blogs can pass the torch and nominate other worthy bloggers with the power of schmooze.AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Almost Back

~ fundyreformed

I’m back, but not quite back to blogging full steam. I hope to catch up on comments and etc. later today.

For now, the Calvinist debate continues at Contend Earnestly. I’m sure that they’re going to forever solve the age old dilemma 😛 . Seriously, though, it is a charitable debate with lots of Scripture. So any of you who are still figuring out where you stand on this subject, or for those trying to understand those on either position, check it out! Oh, and check out a great post over there on why Calvinists evangelize.

And if you really like debates, you could find the the discussion on music over at Jackhammer interesting. I don’t like to jump into the fray over there all that much, the hammers can be deadly. But they like to counter my points on music over here. For now, the comments here are full enough on this topic. If others want to interact with me on the subject feel free to add comments on one of these recent posts: “Music, Morality & The Bible” and “10 Points on the Music Issue“.
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FYI, Folks…

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

I’ll be gone through Wednesday. I just wanted to let you know.

Feel free to peruse my archives, or keep up with Kingdom Surge, my new team mission blog. I do plan on updating Kingdom Surge while I’m gone. By the way, now is a good time to ask some of you to link to Kingdom Surge. If you like what you see, spread the word and join the cause of stirring up the blogging community to more intentional missions outreach to the unreached peoples of the world.

And since some of you will be interested, let me highlight a couple series of posts I stumbled upon after my lengthy blogroll earlier this week. Contend Earnestly is hosting an email debate on Calvinism. This promises to be interesting, and so far everything has been very charitable. Let me challenge some of you non-Calvinists out there, to check out the debate. You will at the very least come to appreciate many of the Biblical reasons so many have for embracing Calvinism. And finally, my blogging pal John Chitty has started an interesting series on tithing called “Kingdom Coffers: ‘Flat Tax’ or ‘Love Offering’?” His first post explores how Acts 15 impacts the tithing question; it’s a must read for this issue.

You all have a good Sunday, and start to your week.

The Surge Is On

~ fundyreformed

It’s official! Today marks the launch of Kingdom Surge, a new team blog devoted to missions.

This project will aim to harness some of the excitement and energy spent in the Christian blogosphere and direct it into thinking about and aiding the cause of missions, particularly to the unreached people groups. The team (with the exception of myself) are all involved with missions. I consider some of them to be experts in missiology, and I know they all have much to say which can help motivate and equip others for missions to the unreached.

So, head on over and check out our first post. Consider linking to this blogging enterprise, and then continue to stop by as the missions discussion unfolds. See you there!

NOTE: Now is your chance to leave the first comment on Kingdom Surge. Years from now, you will look back and count that an honor! 😛

With Friends Like These

~ fundyreformed ~ 19 Comments

One of the joys of blogging, is interaction with many new acquaintances. Virtual community, web camaraderie, electronic friendships — these are achieved in a very real sense. It is fun to meet new people as you gain readers, interact with comments, and interact on other blogs as well.

In part, this is what makes blogging, blogging. We could all just publish web pages with tons of content. But without the interaction, the appeal of blogging would wane.

Of course, part of the interaction and the thrill of blogging, is recognition from blog-peers, and the joy of being linked to. This along with a constant following of your blog stats (numbers of hits and page views), tend to encourage bloggers to be narcissistic and egotistical, and present a very real danger to a Christian blogger. Then again, a wider readership is part of the goal of blogs and even more so with theology blogs.

With these thoughts in mind, I want to publicly recognize the blogs that link to me. I appreciate the links, and really want to keep better track of those blogs. (Alas, the blogosphere has far too many good blogs to follow.) And since I find myself with such a large fan club, of sorts, I would be remiss not to recognize them.

Knowing I have many who tune in from time to time and listen to what I am saying is encouraging. It also helps keep me blogging, writing, and thinking. With my blog, many of you know that controversies and heated debates have been quite common. So especially in light of the blog wars and scuffles I can find myself in, it is nice to know I have some brothers and sisters who are cheering me on and benefiting from the debates and exchanges here.

So without further ado, let me provide a list of blogs which link to me. Those with asterisks below, have already spent time in my blogroll. The others, will now find a permanent home in the “Blogs That Like Bob” section of my sidebar. If I missed anyone, or if you have linked to me and want a reciprocal link.