categories: Uncategorized
31 comments (+ Add)
Blogging Week
Bobby and I started blogging on Swerve almost a year ago. If you’re not blogging, you might want to consider it.
According to our stats, we have made 355 posts since we started. You have contributed 5838 comments to the conversation. Wow! We have learned so much over the last year, and are continuing to learn more about blogging every day.
This week, Bobby and I will share several thoughts on blogging and we’d also love to hear from you.
What questions do you have about blogging?
Visit 
Have you received complaints from church members because of the blog?
What has been your best and worst experience with Blogging? My best experience has been my personal growth. My worst experience in Blogging is that no one can hear the tone I write in when I express myself. Some people have read my words in their own mind the way they think that they were written and have a lot of critical things to say.
One of my Major’s in College was Theater Arts, and I learned very quickly that “How� you say one word can mean 10 different things…Like…Whatever! (laugh) Whatever! (Valley girl) Whatever! (joke) Whatever! (sarcasm) Whatever! (Mad) Whatever! (Oh, well)
Do you ever experience this? Also, is there any topic you ever REALLY want to write about but don’t? Just curious! Or Whatever! 
Thanks Craig and Bobby, Swerve has been an amazing blessing to my life and ministry. I started blogging again two weeks ago and I look forward to what you guys will share on the subject this weeks. You guys rock!
How did you guys come up with the name Swerve?
Do you know if there are more Blogs than MySpace’s?
Has blogging made you more aware of “the little things” as a potential blog?
What’s the best way to deal with nasty comments? Delete, ignore or respond? By the way, Blogging for Idiots doesn’t cover enough. What resource can a person use to find out simple things (that aren’t really so simple for everyone) such as why links don’t work in the post?? Thanks. I love this site, primarily because it covers a range of topics.
How do you decide what your topic will be?
Do you have it planned out in advance, or do you “wing it”?
Your blog was one that inspired me to write a blog of my own.
Thanks!
Bobby and I will answer many of your questions throughout the week.
The rest of you may want to jump in and help answer some of these.
I’ll offer a quick reply to those that I can…
Kevin, I’m not aware of many church member complaints. What about the rest of you? Has this been an issue?
Jenn, Good question. I don’t have time to answer this morning in detail. Quick answer: the vast majority of the experience has been very positive.
Clif, Congrats on starting your blog!
Scott, Maybe Bobby can answer how we came up with Swerve because it was his idea. I think it had something to do with a cat running out in front of his car. If I had named the blog, it would have been called “thump.”
Hope, We’ll talk more about comments later this week. We have not had a problem with nasty comments. More on this later.
Robin, We’ll answer your great questions in a dedicated post. Maybe some others can share with you their writing rhythm.
Keep the questions coming. Will the rest of you jump in and help answer!
Thanks…
- where should a blog be positoned? Right now it is front and center on our site. We are using it to try to turn the corner and gain momentum.
- how can we more effectively get people to read and respond?
-What are ways to moer effectively connect with our target out there? Create a new blog focused at them?
One necessary feature of excellent blogs is short and to the point articles. This blog tops them all on this point. I’m continually impressed with how the richness of information we get with so few words.
Any secrets to share?
A lot of the nuts and bolt questions are answered in a great book called “The Blogging Church” by Brian Bailey. It’s been a great resource for me.
I am a student of communication, and praying constantly for the Lord to teach me how to communicate more effectively for Him…
One thing I have noticed, (not on my recent blog), but in the past, is sometimes they are bombarded with people who want to take the whole blog a different direction than you really want it to go…
This frustrated me sometimes, because it allowed others to basically “control” the flow of movement and growth…
I wanted to be polite, and prayerful, and continue the conversation, but it shut down alot of the blogs before they even got started, and turned people off…(not the direction anyone wants)…
Any suggestions…?
You know in person it is alot easier to handle this stuff, but online, when the “natural barriers” to those things are not in motion, it can be difficult.
I am trying hard not to repeat past mistakes… and to follow the Lord’s lead… is it just me, or do you experience the same thing…?
Any ideas on how to optimize my blog as we start a new church?
Craig,
I would first like to say that I look forward to reading your blog everyday. I’ve made it a priority in my ministry day. My question is this, have you ever considered making your blog entries into a book…if you do I’d be one of the first ones to buy it!
Avery,
Do you mean people who comment or having multiple authors on one blog?
Craig,
I will pretend I didn’t read the “thump” comment :/
Do most of you prefer blogs that are designed with a specifics purpose or ones that cover a wide variety of things?
What sites are the best to use when starting a blog as well as the subscription via email option?
What are some innovative ways to gain active readers?
Have there been any “mistakes” in your blogging that you look back and say, “maybe we shouldn’t have published that?” Or what other lessons have you learned about blogging? And when you blog, are you aiming toward a specific audience?
All excellent questions. Thank you. Please keep them coming. We’ll get to most of them this week and can address specific ones in the comments as we progress.
Anne, I was hoping you would like the “thump.”
Anne
Umm… both sometimes…(sorry so vague, I am not wanting to ruffle any feathers…)
I have tried both… (multiple authors and by myself is the newest one)…
Some of the topics have been pretty heavy, (which usually attract the rabbit trails)…
I have always sought more of an “organic” format, with free input and what not… but it has been difficult to lay out a context, and a sense of “trust”.. without the rabbit trails, because of both multiple authors, and comments, but I am not wanting to stray from the topics put on my heart…I have learned lately to be myself, and throw in humor… it seems to be helping on the new one…
I sense something’s brewing Anne… you have some advice don’t you?
[...] If you want to learn more about blogs or hear questions that people are asking check out Craig and Bobby’s series of posts entitled “Blogging Week!” [...]
Thump, LOL! BTW- http://www.catthump.com is available!
Scott,
We can’t talk about how we came up with swerve. It has and will remain a secret
Bryan,
What do you mean by optimize?
Hey Guys -
Can you talk about the tension/balance of blogging “on the clock” - say, as a Worship Director on Staff at my church - I’ll often blog on worship, music, leadership, etc … you’ll sometimes hear a comment or remark, though, that seems some think it’s wasted, or cheated time …, and how can you fit this properly into your job descriptions, etc?
I’m excited because it will be less tense now - the Tech Dir and Senior Pastor launched their own blogs this month, haha!
Fred
I gotta say, I do like our two cats (most of the time), but when Anne told me about the thump comment, I laughed out loud. I think that would’ve been a great blog name.
Avery,
If you feel that you should be writing about a specific topic, and I’ll assume here that it’s not something that is disrespectful or disunifying, I would encourage you to write about those things.
Sometimes the topics I write about are a little bit taboo, especially within the realm of believers. But sometimes those issues are the ones that need to be discussed.
Of course, you might have people disagree with you. Comments can go anywhere (I posted some political thoughts once and WOW did that go a million places) but I see that as just part of learning, as part of a discussion. And I have definitely learned from the comments others have made that I don’t necessarily agree with, but they opened my eyes to someone else’s point of view.
In this history of my blog (a couple years old), I’ve only deleted two comments that weren’t spam. Both were entirely inappapropriate and vulgar responses. But I’ve decided to let people go where they will knowing they will have to take responsibility for their words and actions (unless of course, it will affect the community that is there in an offensive way).
Hope this helps some.
Yepper…
Thanks Anne..
How do you get people to read your blog?
That’s my biggest problem
Have you been able to use the blog for discipleship? I’d love to explore the opportunity to engage people in a conversation that explores practical expressions of what their learning through their Bible study, sermons, or prayer times. But as someone else mentioned, the conversation can go so many different ways and can lose track easily.
Fred, I think blogs can become a waste of time or can be very valuable. For me, I try to write all my posts for the week in one setting (usually on a plane). Responding to comments, takes time. I don’t feel pressure to do so on days when I can’t. (Yes, having your pastor’s support will be nice.)
Dan, I personally like blogs that do aim at a certain target. You asked if we made any mistakes… sure. One thing that helps is to bounce a post off someone else before writing it. Bobby has talked me out of saying some things I might regret. And I’ve deleted some of his posts before they’ve gone out. J
James, You asked about making these posts into a book. One of my favorite reads was Godin’s book, “Small is the New Big.” It was a compilation of his favorite blog posts. We might consider that one day.
Libby, Bobby will be answering your question later this week.
Jarrod, Yes, a blog can be used for discipleship. On this blog, I hope we are discipling each other as Christian leaders.
Bobby,
That might have been a bad word. I am looking at planting a church in an area of 20,000 and there is no purpose-driven contemporary church withing 15 miles. As I begin this journey, do you think there is a good way to effectively use my blog as a way to reach out to the community and give them insight to the new church plant?
[...] O blog Swerve, mantido pelos pastores Craig Groeschel e Bobby Gruenewald da LifeChurch.tv, está completando 1 ano de vida. E, como forma de celebrar, eles resolveram escrever apenas sobre assuntos relacionados a blogs nesta semana. No post de hoje, Craig dá 7 dicas de blogagem. Veja: [...]
[...] I digress. This week they spent most of their blog time on blogging. I learned a lot and wanted to share the link with you and hopefully you will grab something as well!! Blogging Week. [...]