Today in Blogworld 09.05.13

Mike Leake

Commemorating a curmudgeon in the park he despised

This made me chuckle. I’d really like to know the story behind this.

4 Principles for the Exercise of Christian Liberty

I like this.

The Class of 2017

Wow, some of this is shocking. I’m continually amazed at how many references the teens our youth group simply don’t get. Like Skeletor. Seriously! Most of them don’t know who Skeletor is.

Duck Dyansty’s Cultural Christianity

Like I’ve mentioned in the past, I really don’t watch the show. But I do have mad respect for Thomas Kidd and assume he’s probably onto something here.

Well…dude loves his job.

The Evolution of a Blogger

Mike Leake 2 Comments

This blog started in 2007. My son was born in 2008. I’m shocked that I’ve been blogging longer than he has been on earth. When I started I had modest ambitions; namely, getting our 35 or so students to check it every couple days. Shortly after starting, I caught the blogging bug and things got serious.

Over time this little blog grew into something bigger. Not much bigger, mind you, but big enough that I realized it could serve one of my idols. You see, I’ve always wanted to be an epic difference maker. Not so that I could make a difference—no, only suckers care about that—I just want people to know that I’m a difference maker. I quickly realized that blogging could turn little guys like me into a somebody.

I became driven to grow my blog.

And it grew. As did my confidence (which was good) but so did my selfish-ambition . (which was bad). Looking back now I see that selfish-ambition invited a few unwelcome visitors into my heart:

  1. Controversy. I would post on controversial topics just for the sake of traffic. That’s probably why I’ve written so much against that in the past couple of years.
  2. Envy. I’d envy guys that had “made it” in my mind and it would cause my soul to be jaded towards people that I didn’t even know.
  3. Anxiety. I would check my email, twitter, blog stats, and everything related on a consistent basis. I could never rest. Even at midnight.
  4. Disappointed, discouraged, depressed. There are articles in my archives that I am still proud of. They were solid articles. And only a handful of people read them. This caused me to be disappointed, discouraged, and depressed. I almost gave up writing on a daily basis for a two year span.

Then something changed.

I’m not certain when it changed, but I know that it did. I know that as early as 2010 the Lord began working my heart over. I also know that something clicked at T4G 2012 (check out #2 here). And I know that this post was a culmination of all that the Lord had been showing me since T4G about getting over myself.

By the time that my book was published I am grateful that my heart had changed. In 2010 this would have been a massive milestone of “arrival”. In 2013, I found myself just profoundly grateful and kind of shocked that the Lord chose to use me.

Then the book released to a whimper. I poured my heart and soul into that book with the hopes of God using it to really help people. Honestly, it has barely made a whisper in evangelicalism. Had that happened in 2010 I would have given up and stopped writing altogether. Not now. I’m actually cool with whatever measure of success the Lord gives the book. If God sees fit to use my labor—then so be it.

Something has changed…

Still a Battle

Yet, I’d be lying if I said I don’t still fight a battle. I still get discouraged at times and even—quite shamefully—have moments of envy towards my brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s hard at times to keep grinding and plodding along.

The switch to WordPress from Blogger has been a battle because I’ve lost about a third of my subscribers and about 1500 hits per day. It’s a hard pill to swallow because I  labored so hard to get what audience I had. I feel in some ways like I’m starting back at square one. But my heart is different. And I’m grateful for this.

I know that even though I still battle all of those things that my heart has changed. I’m not anxious anymore. And thoughts of discouragement, quitting, etc. are usually fleeting. For the past year through the power of the Spirit, and the purchases of Christ through His gospel, I’ve worked to remove selfish-ambition from my writing. Here is what I’ve done to cultivate such a heart:

  1. Write with others. I’ve added a few more people to our team. This way the blog isn’t my baby it is ours.
  2. Seldom check stats. I only glance at my stats every few days. It’s still important to know your audience—but it’s not good to get validation from them. Stats aren’t for validation anymore. They are, hopefully, to help me serve Christ and people better.
  3. Turn off immediate gratification. I’m still working on this one. I’ve been trying to turn off email, twitter, facebook, etc. for a few hours after I post something. This way I’m not longing for that instant gratification that comes from people responding to a post, tweet, etc.
  4. Get ahead of schedule. This keeps me from posting junk just to post something. If I get ahead I can make sure that what I post is quality.
  5. Never forget why I write.

Thanks to all of those that have put up with me for 6 plus years and for those of you that have graciously decided to give me an ear. I appreciate you. And will continue to strive to serve you better.

Today in Blogworld 09.04.13

Mike Leake

How Facebook Hurts Us

Yep.

10 Ways to Be Present and Be a Better Listener

I need this. You might too.

The Pastor’s Wife and Her Primary Marriage

This is part three of an excellent series by Gloria Furman

Creating an Assessment Culture

“An assessment culture helps you take a realistic look at what your priority areas should be and evaluate how you are making progress in those. Too often we allow ourselves to slip into a false comfort from anecdotal progress that is not really indicative of what is happening.” –Ed Stetzer

This is touching (RSS click through):

An Open Letter to Mr. Reading Comprehension Guy

Mike Leake

Dear Mr. Reading Comprehension Guy*,

Just in case you aren’t sure if this letter is meant for you, allow me to explain a few characteristics of Mr. Reading Comprehension Guy. You’ve had your fair share of internet debates. In your mind they probably aren’t debates; you’re just defending the truth and answering fools according to their folly so that they don’t go around thinking that they are actually wise. Most of your debates go the same way. It follows the same pattern:

Step One: Some chap says something ludicrous on the internet.

Step Two: You point out his/her flaw using logic, reason, and Scripture.

Step Three: That dude that is clearly wrong keeps arguing. He ignores most of what you said—tramples your logic, ignores your proof texts, and throws back at you some unrelated question that is deeply frustrating.

Step Four: You answer unrelated question and try to pull him back to your well-reasoned, logical, and biblically sound points.

Step Five: He ignores again; failing to read what you wrote and continuing with his argument as if you aren’t even there. You’ve discovered this is not really a dialogue. You are just arguing with a guy that is probably cutting and pasting comments that he’s made in other similar arguments on other blogs. The sick cycle is just continuing at your expense.

Step Six: You get frustrated. You try again to answer his asinine questions. You throw in a few jabs about his reading comprehension. And let him know that you are going to cut off debate unless he answers your questions.

Step Seven: He tells you that his reading comprehension is fine and he gives you another question.

Step Eight: To this, you answer his question and the carousel goes on and on and on and on as if the carnival operator that is supposed to hit the stop button has gotten himself drunk and passed out in a ditch somewhere.

You need to stop

If you are debating a guy that lacks basic reading comprehension skills, and you hope that your well-reasoned logic will change things, then there is more than one fool in this argument.

If you are debating a guy that has perfect reading comprehension skills but fails to actually listen to what you are saying, you are free to point that out, but if you continue on this carousel, then there is more than one fool in this argument.

Listen, I know that you are commanded by Scripture to answer a fool according to his folly so that he doesn’t seem wise in his own eyes. But the Scriptures also say that we are “not to answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” By continuing on this merry-go-round you are playing the fools game. If you feel the need to point out a person’s reading comprehension skills you need to ask yourself what your place in this debate should be.

Thank you for being so passionate for the truth. Just be careful that you aren’t spending your time foolishly answering a fool in his folly.

That is all. Carry on…

—

*This could just as easily be Ms. Reading Comprehension Gal. But it’s been my experience that women more easily move on to a different carnival ride instead of just riding this same one over and over again.