Today’s “Friday Shout Out” goes out to Andrew Conard. Andrew is the only person that I went to seminary with who has made the trip to visit me in Lamont. Granted, he also probably lives about 1,000 miles closer to me (Andrew is an associate pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, in Leawood, KS) than any of my other friends from seminary!
Andrew is also largely the reason that this blog exists. Andrew, you have all day to Holla’ back. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts, if you have the chance to respond, on whether you have found blogging to be a serious ministry tool or primarily a fun way to express your thoughts and ideas and connect with other pastors. Or both. You are free to express any other thoughts that you might have. The microphone is yours.
Edit: I forgot to include a link to Andrew’s blog “Thoughts of Resurrection.” Sorry for the bad blogging etiquette…
Kevin M. Watson 
Yikes! I didn’t make the Friday Shout Out, but maybe 24 hours from post date? Of the two options that you have suggested, I have primarily found blogging to be a way to express thoughts, ideas and connect with other pastors. However, I have found some response from Resurrection members responding to posts that I have written. I think that this has a lot to do with the type of posting that I do. I had someone from the congregation say to me recently – “I like reading your blog, but I don’t always understand it.” This suggests that I am really not writing to the congregation. Now whether that is a good, bad or neutral thing is another question. I think that there would be a lot of value in focusing more on the local congregation, however, I have been careful about not writing about anything that has not been made public to the congregation yet. Maybe I should do more of this… Within reason of course. Not sure though… I have wondered about the role of a blog in being able to cast a vision for a congregation – a way of sharing deeper thoughts about the direction that one feels God is calling both the individual and the congregation. What do you think?
PS Thanks for the shout out!
Andrew – Thanks for shouting back! I appreciate your thoughts on your experience blogging. I think what you have said, for the most part, mirrors my experience as well. Thanks again for taking the time to write.