Louisville—Three Kentucky Baptists were featured in Newsmax’s list of the “top 75 religion bloggers” in America.
The three include Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ron Edmonson, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, and Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College.
“The advantages of blogging as a Christian leader are numerous,” Marty Duren, LifeWay’s manager of social media strategy, told Baptist Press.
He continued, “Blogging is a viable tool to be used for discipleship, writing, apologetics and things I haven’t thought of yet…. Not having a blog will not kill a person’s ministry or influence, but having a blog can greatly expand both.”
Charles Moore, pastor of Paducah’s First Baptist Church, has been blogging for the past five years. His blog, mooretolife.org, has a fairly widespread readership, receiving comments all the way from California at times.
“I think it provides a forum to connect apart from one of our formal worship services,” Moore said. “It also takes the church and my ministry outside the walls and connects with people who are in other churches, unchurched and in different situations.”
“Plus,” he continued, “It allows dialogue because readers can say, ‘Hey, I like that; I don’t like that; Have you thought about this?’ There can be a little bit of back in forth in terms of their comments.”
He began blogging “to connect with the church family between Sundays.”
“I think sometimes the view of the pastor is that he is disconnected from the world we live,” Moore commented.
“When you deliberately blog about everything from a horse race to a restaurant that just opened in town or something political, when you are interacting and dialoguing around those things that are on their minds, it really makes a great ministry connection that isn’t possible via traditional forms.”
Ron Edmonson’s blog “started with an online devotional back in the dial-up days of the internet,” he said.
He explained, “It was a way for me to be intentional with my time online and do something with Kingdom purpose.”
“About seven years ago the energy changed from doing devotionals—because there were so many then—to doing more of a personal blog. It has refined over the years to focus more on church leadership and family issues,” Edmonson continued.
He brings a “different perspective from those who have only been in a ministry field,” he said, because he has over 20 years of business experience before he began his ministry.
“I can reach far more people with a blog than I can in person. Even if you attend our church, this gives me another outlet to invest into people for Kingdom good. I hope God uses whatever I’ve learned—most of it the hard way—to help the Body,” he added.
Denny Burk uses his blog to focus on cultural issues from an evangelical perspective. He has been blogging for the last 10 years.
“Jonathan Edwards had his ‘Miscellanies.’ In some ways, a blog can be for a scholar a ‘Miscellanies,'” Burk told Southern Seminary news, referring to Jonathan Edwards published theological journals.
Burk told Southern Seminary news that his blog is “a potpourri, because sometimes I talk about sports; sometimes it’s funny stuff.” He continued, “For me, honestly, it’s just what I’m interested in.”
His blog most recently has been focused on the sanctity of life, biblical marriage and religious liberty.
Dan Dewitt, another professor at Boyce College, blogs at theolatte.com. His blog engages readers with illustrations, embedded YouTube videos and colorful opinion pieces.
“Theolatte is my outlet to talk about everything from theology to espresso based beverages,” he said in the “about” section of his blog. He continued, “I’m interested in the public intersection of faith and skepticism. That’s where I spend a lot of my research and writing time.”
Another Southern Seminary professor that uses his blog to translate his ideas and thoughts is Donald Whitney, whose blog relates to his passion at Southern, biblical spirituality.
“Blogging keeps me disciplined in writing out my thoughts and learnings. And, again, I believe there is a larger Kingdom purpose here. Blogging gives me a platform into a broader audience,” Edmonson concluded. (WR)
Myriah Snyder