jonnybaker

ten years blogging today!

today i have been blogging for a decade! i started because andrew jones persauded me - i didn't really know quite why or what the point was at the time but it has been a wonderful adventure.so happy blogiversary to me! i confess i don't know how to celebrate but i will be drinking a chimay in the new inn in ealing tonight whilst watching chelsea v barcelona - so come and share a drink with me there if you are a blog reader nearby or alternatively pour yourself a glass at your computer - and virtually cheers!

anyway a massive THANK YOU to any of you who have 

• read posts 
• commented
• looked at my photos
• joined in conversation
• followed on facebook
• followed on twitter
• linked
• retweeted
• argued
• been inspired
• been annoyed
• been made to think
• found hope
• smiled
• developed ideas
• used or indeed given a worship trick
• connected
• become friends
• shared the journey

my first ever blog entry is here - scroll to the bottom of the page

ancient history - remember that blogger template and dial up?! there were about 10 of us blogging then...

here's ten blogging experiences over the years - anyone else recognise these?!

1. being at a meal with people and all your conversation is old hat because people have read it on your blog - 'you got any new conversation?!'
2. looking at everything in the world as a possible blog entry
3. being invited to other countries through people who know you through your blog (usa, canada, denmark, norway, france, australia...)
4. making wonderful friends - is there a name for meeting someone online and then in bodily form?
5. blogging anywhere
6. realising your wife can steal your thunder any time she likes -  jenny did one blog post for me which became the one with most comments i had ever had and subsequently started a wonderful blog herself which won a blog award while i came runner up - she must increase, i must decrease…
7. composing a blog post and in your head imagining the world's astonishment at your insights, posting it and waiting for the comments and there being total silence
8. posting a trivial link and the conversation takes off and you wonder why bother with depth or originality?!
9. blogging something too quickly out of a hot head and regretting it
10. wondering if there is actually anyone out there at all

it was actually blogging that got me into photography again as i wanted to be able to post images to the blog so that's also been a great spin off...

anyway it's a habit i can't seem to shake off so here's to the next decade of the stream of consciousness i will no doubt inflict on the world - a mix of stuff that randomly flows between personal, family, mission, culture, faith, art, photography, the zeitgeist, creativity, pioneering, book reviews, music, proost, links and whatever else springs to mind!

update: i am highly honoured to have had an asbojesus cartoon drawn to celebrate this momentus occasion - thought i'd add it in to the post here...

posterous groups

posterous have added a new group facility that looks pretty good. i certainly love the way their blog works for groups. call me a heretic but i find facebooks groups almost completely useless! hopefully this is better...?

linking up

life seems so busy at the moment that the dear old blog is getting neglected. i have a ton of books i have read and haven't reviewed and a million other thoughts but where does all the time go??!!!

anyway mean time a few links...

one amazing book i finally read is margaret wheatley's leadership and the new science which is stunning - thanks cheryl for placing it into my hands literally. in the absence of a review go and see some of her writings here. if you find any gems let me know.

great article here by steve bevans if you like a bit of mission theology of the holy spirit

earthing faith looks like a good concept and venture. i wrote a piece for them on creation stations

simon walker who has developed a concept of undefended leadership has a new book he is posting on a blog a chapter at a time called the undefended life. i had good intentions to follow along but haven't - ho hum... but if you have timne let me know about it.

if this all sounds a bit worthy and you prefer something in the shallow end try unhappy hipsters which just takes lifestyle magazine shots and re-captions them

and my friend john martin has started blogging here

starting a blog could not be easier - posterous

i took a training session on IT for cms last week. one of the questions that came up was about blogging and what the easiest free interface was. the answer is posterous.com . rather than repeat myself this is the post i wrote having set up a blog by simply sending an e-mail

Last week I took a training session for people in mission and one of the questions that came up was how to start a blog. I did the usual thing of mentioning various providers and in particular I showed www.tumblr.com as I think it has a very easy interface to get started with. However since then I have been doing a bit of scouting around and the solution that is the simplest and most remarkable seems to be posterous.com . With this you simply send an e-mail to [email protected] and a blog is created for you. The address is sent back to you and then you can send posts via e-mail, with audio, photos, movies, pdfs, even powerpoints attached that will be converted to a reasonable format and posted to your blog. What could be simpler especially for people not wanting to engage in the techy side of things or for people in parts of the world where internet access is limited? Wonderful...

There's more of course - add your profile pic, give it a different look and so on. But rather than bedazzle anyone with that I have just left it exactly as it gets set up, other than adding a profile photo and blurb in my profile which is what appears under the photo

yes you read that right - just e-mail and attach anything you like and it will be on your blog. you can also select to link it to facebook, twitter and all that at the click of a mouse so your posts scatter across your networks. and you can group blog. so for example, i am considering switching the ealing lip blog to posterous as it could not be simpler for people to post. you register them and they simply send to an e-mail you give. you can also link to an existing blog so whatever you e-mail to posterous will then appear on your existing blog. i'm not thinking of switching personally or anything and am used to the typepad interface and like it but this is more of a useful tool for any of you encouraging others to blog and trying to find a simple way to get them started... [ht: tim snyder for putting me onto it]

looks like a good crowd

bloggers get together at greenbelt looks like being well attended. sign up, come along (if you're not at maggi's seminar).

hadge and smallritual on the move

a couple of blog changes if you haven't spotted them...

hadge is now blogging here (formerly ogblog) | steve collins has started a new blog here (formerly small ritual though don't change that link as there is so much fab stuff on that site!)

blogger users do this...

following my last post, i have checked and blogger users can have an atom feed. but if you have never set it up, it may not happen automatically unless you set your blog up after atom feeds were an option. so to set it up when you are logged in just go to settings and select site feed. then select yes. even if it says yes already it seems you need to save it if you haven't done so before. that is it! then everyone with a newsreader can read your blog via that. if you don't know what i'm talking about trust me and set it up!....

alternative hymnal and youthmultimedia

have added alternative hymnal run by darren wright and his personal blog accidental theoblogian. a good blend of alt worship, music and reflection... darren is part of a network of people discussing youthmultimedia in a yahoo discussion group. if you're interested go to youthmultimedia...

this is the intro blurb to alternative hymnal...

Have you ever:
- Sat in Church and cried as the organist played "Shine Jesus Shine" on the pipe organ at half pace?
- Tried playing a Beatles song in Church and been told that it's "too modern" for this congregation?
- Wondered what the words meant during the course of singing a hymn at church?
- Been caught whistling a U2, Radiohead or Moby song in Church

blog tools

i'm a bit behind on this one but good blog tools roundup at theooze from jordon

more blogs...

a couple of newish uk bloggers...

theshinyheadedprophet (aka rob) - caught up with rob at blah... and it turns out that he is going to be taking on the job at yfc (reworked somewhat) that i used to do - up the revolution!

pete leveson who lives in ealing and networks the london baptists in youth ministry and (i think) emerging church stuff. he was also spotted at blah...

photos of san fransisco added

i have added a photo album of our trip so far. all these pics are taken in the bay area - mainly san fransisco...

blogger is back and revamped

blogger has had a revamp and looks great and is free! i moved to typepad because i wanted more options and am very happy with it but do have to pay for the service.

info on what's new is here and i have had a quick look and it looks very user friendly with lots of features. cool....

if you have been thinking of starting a blog this could be a great option!

submergence

submergence is karen ward's new blog. looking forward to meeting karen next week and again in the summer when she is bringing a crowd to this year's greenbelt.

there's an article about apostles church in seattle in episcopal life....

have added submergence to the blog list...

holy huddle blogging...

interesting post and debate in the commets on the post at living room on holy huddle blogging which is about whether christian blogs are just read by christians and therefore insular. i confess that i whilst it's interesting, just get on with it!!!!!

i think by virtue of putting stuff out there you'll get readers of all sorts. i blog with typepad. like many people i often click on some of the latest updated sites - i'm sure i get readers that way. i get plenty of readers via google often as a result of typing in strange things (i remember the discovery at one stage that we had had visitors to the grace web site who had typed naked fat men wearing tights into google!!!) - visitors who type say 'thom yorke' who find out i've written about radiohead or 'alternative worship' and discover some groups they can relate to. does it matter what is christian and what isn't? not to me.... i want to live life - part of that is a buzz about following christ and particularly the adventure of the connection between faith and new media/culture stuff - hence the worship tricks, but it's also a genuine interest in film, music, art, flash, fun stuff, resistance to capitalism and a whole host of other stuff...

if all you do is church stuff yes that's a problem but other than that chill out and get on with it....

2 or 3 columns?

i have been messing around with typepad (on a day off...) and am trying out three columns rather than two. that then enables me to add a few more things in such as recent comments, books, music... etc. i still have the template with two columns so i can switch back. what do you think?.... which do you prefer?.... do you care?... or should i just get a life?....

looking forward to the big london champions league clash tonight between arsenal and chelsea - come on the blues!!!!

noam chomsky starts a blog

noam chomsky has started a blog turning the tide. 3 out of his first 5 posts have over a hundred comments on - i guess it looks like it could be popular!!!

a really good laugh

I want to have a really good laugh;
not a polite
chuckle
or an effortless
snigger,
not a tight-cheeked
surface smile
that makes my face
ache
but bypasses
the best
of my body.

I want a deep, fat, uncontrollable laugh
that shakes my belly and sows tears
on my cheeks; that erupts and cascades
all over the conversation; that I surf as it surges
but end up submerged; that rumbles deliciously
like thunder in summer; that tricks me
into thinking it’s tamed, but that fractures afresh
when my eye catches yours; that’s raucous and rude
and defiantly unrepentant; that leaves me gasping
for breath but still wanting more; that goes underground
for hours at a time, then surfaces in dreams
in the dark of the night; that leaves me weak,
exhausted and satisfied.

posted by jenny on the gracelentblog yesterday.

i'll try and stop mentining the grace lent blog every day but this is so brilliant i couldn't help myself...

if a thing is worth doing...

if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly

(mark's wisdom on today's gracelentblog)

darkness in me

don't forget to visit thegrace lentblog. i posted yesterday's entry the darkness in me

grace lent blog 2004

ash wednesday today... lent begins

grace lent blog 2004 begins today. someone from the grace community will post a thought/reflection (if they remember!) each day through lent.