Doesn’t it say something extremely bad about the Church when I feel more “at home” and “valued” by the online community than I do when I’m “at Church”? This morning, looking through my News Feeds, I see Dave Winer’s post :
Theoblogical explains how Cluetrain applies to churches.
I had emailed Doc, Chris Locke, and David Weinberger yesterday with this email:
Doc, Chris, David, and Rick (wherever you are),
For what it’s worth, I wanted to let you guys know that you’ve been a constant source of “wake up call” and encouragement to me. I’ve been unemployed (last job was a Church related publisher, where I worked for 5 and half years, and exited mainly as a result of my boss was “Clueless” along with most of the organization. I wrote some stuff on my Weblog (which Chris inspired when he wrote about weblogs in Gonzo Marketing. I was reading Gonzo, and before that, Small Pieces by DW, as a result of having read Cluetrain, and in that book I found a lot of meat to ponder from a “Church theology” perspective, and have it at http://theoblogical.org/dlature/categories/cluetrain (I linked to the online version of the book as a popup window). MY focus is always on the “Story” and “Voice”, just as I believe it to be in your writings, and wanted to let you guys know that I’m trying to help the Church “get it” and start letting the people tell the story instead of relying on “religious versions” of marketing techniques, and mouthing pious platitudes that are devoid of “voice” and that most of the people “out there” recognize as such.
Anyway, I would be thrilled with any comments from any of you (and if anybody knows Rick Levine’s email, forward him a copy of this
When I saw Winer’s post, I knew that one of the other three must have blogged it. I received an email back, almost immediately from DW , and I replied. I was so glad to get that reply from David Weinberger (DW) yesterday, BTW. I was pretty down earlier in the day. The job search seems to be big-time stalled again (except that I have the Sunday classifieds job section sitting next to me just waiting for a good perusing and hopefully a couple of more places to send my resume), and I was feeling a bit “cut off” from the “buzz” of the blogosphere and the chatter about things theoblogical. It seems that the comments and replies have been almost non-existent, and even my “non-blog” interactions (ie. People who often email me to check on me, or tell me about something, and contributions to my “Ecunet” discussions where I have a few tpics such as “Community on the Net” and “Blogging Theologically” and “Portal For the Church” have likewise gone “ghost-town”). Of course, all of this seems all-too-obvious during times when I’m down on myself. So DW’s email was a pick-me-up, and then this morning, Winer’s and Doc’s psot sent my Referrer log spiking, and I felt “noticed” and a little more “important”. I know these are just strokes, and my real contribution and abilities do not depend on my referrer log (cuz if they did, I’d be one sad dude, since these little spikes only happen when guys like Winder or Doc or D.Weinberger, or even “Blogs4God” point to me). More in “Call to Be Online”