Musings of a Former Fundamentalist (IFB) Renewed by Reformed Theology
This week marks the start of Sing! Conference 2019, the Getty Music Worship Conference. I am privileged to be attending with some dear folks from my church.
Learn more about the conference here.
If you are attending be sure to look me up. My Twitter handle is @rjhayton.
I hope to post some reflections on the conference after it concludes.
Everyone reading this post, is reading it on a blog. So this will skew the results of this poll. Still, I’m wondering what this poll will show about how people like you and I hear of new books.
Feel free to share some thoughts in the comment section too. The world of book publicity is constantly changing these days. I’m interested to see what this poll will show.
Twitter is steadily becoming more and more popular, especially with bloggers. If you haven’t explored Twitter yet, you’re missing out on the microblogging revolution.
Blogging is great, but particularly with biblioblogging, posts can tend to be lengthy and updating one’s blog can be time-consuming. Microblogging, however, provides a much simpler alternative to blogging. Sites like Twitter, allow you to provide a link or a comment or both, in 140 characters or less. One click, and the update is published. You can follow lots of people’s updates more easily because they are at most 140 characters long (2 or 3 sentences). For commenting, you can reply (with an @ sign as in @johndoe how are you doing today?). You can also direct message your twitter friends. Conversations are still possible, but everything is streamlined in the microblogging world.
Some blogging friends of mine enjoy Twitter more regularly than their blogging platform. It’s easy to discover new links and trends than using a standard blog reader (like Google Reader). When news is happening, it spreads fast on Twitter. And for those who use cell phones and hand held media devices, twitter is a perfect way to stay connected to your online social sites and friends, while on the go.
From time to time, I’m sure you’ve noticed that things slow down around here. My blog has always been somewhat inconsistent, with flashes of blog action followed by seasons of sporadic posting. If you’re hungry to know what I’m up to, and what I’m finding interesting on the web during these times, you can check my twitter feed (now in its own box in my sidebar). Sometimes I’ll share things on Twitter that I decide not to highlight on my blog. I was twittering about the Mark Driscoll – John MacArthur blog wars, and recently shared a link with John Piper’s thoughts on the topic in my twitter feed. Speaking of Piper, I also recently shared a link to his positive mention of Kevin Bauder’s call for fundamentalists to fight for a fundamentlism worth saving in light of recent anti-Calvinistic rhetoric from a FBBF speaker.
I also use my Twitter feed to update my Facebook account status. This lets me interact more on Facebook without having to log in over there. It makes me look like I use Facebook all the time, when in reality I only respond to people contacting me through Facebook from my Twitter updates.
Microblogging with Twitter makes sense, especially for bloggers, who can publicize important posts with Twitter, and reach a wider audience. It’s a whole new social media that’s really its own new world. Why not add some Christ-centered content into the mix?
One more application regarding microblogging. I have some friends who enjoy reading blogs, but don’t want to keep up with one of their own. For them, microblogging had given them an easy way to be a blogger of sorts, to share info and links and thoughts with others in an effort to influence them for Christ. I’d encourage any of my regular readers who don’t have their own blog, to sign up for a Twitter account, and add me as a friend. In time, bit by bit, you’ll see the benefits of Twitter and learn how it works. From there it’s fun to enter the world of microblogging.
Okay, one more tip. If you have Firefox as your browser, consider adding TwitterFox as an add-on. It is the easiest way to manage your twitter updates right from your browser. It makes Twittering even easier. You can retweet and shorten links automatically, and it sorts your replies and direct messages as well.
Twitter is becoming more and more popular these days. One of the things it does is force us to be succinct, which is good. Nine Marks Ministries‘ blog, Church Matters, is challenging all Christian twitterers to share the gospel in 1 tweet. It’s a novel idea, and causes us to focus on the true heart of the gospel. Crafting such a tweet is a good exercise, but it also challenges us to use Twitter for good ends, by challenging those with whom we interact on Twitter, with the gospel.
I enjoyed crafting my tweet, but I would have loved more than 140 characters! Here’s my tweet, and then a better one.
G=S+J<M / Gospel=Sin [spurning God & His law] + Judgment [eternal punishment] < Mercy [Jesus died in our place offering peace with God] #9M
The #9M enters me in the contest, and can be searched easily via Twitter. Take some time to read through the results of that search, and you’ll encounter many other ways to simply declare the heart of the gospel.
My tweet stopped short of calling people to believe this message. But I think the Gospel, when understood, carries the weight of a response within the message itself. When one understands G=S+J<M, he may then value the truth in this message and cherish it. In short, he will come to believe it.
A much better attempt at distilling the beauty of the gospel in a few words was accomplished by songwriter Drew Jones:
Holy God, in love, became / Perfect Man to bear my blame / On the cross He took my sin / By His death I live again
These words form the entire length of The Gospel Song (music by Bob Kauflin). It is one of my favorite songs; learn more about it here.
So what’s your gospel tweet? Post it on twitter, or add it to the comments at the Church Matters’ blog (contest runs through Wednesday night). But please share your gospel tweet in the comments here. 140 comments or less. Let’s rejoice in the clarity of the gospel together.