Life Here and There

If you’re not familiar with the technical side of blogging, some of this may not make much sense, but I’ve just finished rolling out the newest re-design of this blog’s theme. If you’ve been here before, you’ll notice some differences. Most of the changes took place on the backend. This blog runs as a self-hosted Wordpress-powered blog and I host it myself on a server I lease from Hostgator (aff link).

I recently had the privilege of being a beta tester for the new Standard Wordpress Theme (aff link) and decided to use it as the code base for Life Here and There. I’ve used plenty of other premium Wordpress themes before, I’ve released some of my own free themes, and most of the websites I design for others are built on Wordpress… so it’s an interest. I know a thing or two.

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Just a quick note of thanks to OnlineChristianColleges.net for mentioning my blog in their post on the top 55 Pastor bloggers. I have a few other friends on the list and they’ve collected some great blogs together. Definitely worth checking out!

Top 55 Pastor Bloggers

Recommended Books:

The following are affiliate links to books I recommend:

• Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers
  by Michael A. Banks

One of my favorite blogs to read regularly (an online magazine for ministry, really) is the Shepherd’s Fellowship, the online magazine of John MacArthur and the Master’s Seminary faculty. Today, they have chosen to relay to us an old message from J. C. Ryle, a hero of the faith, who asks the question, Do You Pray? Our answer carries a lot of weight according to Ryle…

And I say, furthermore, that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord himself has set his stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, he gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this, “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9: 11).

Do you wish to find out whether you are a true Christian? Then rest assured that my question is of the very first importance — Do you pray?

You’ve got to read the whole article, then pray…

My life tends to be divided up in half-day or day-at-a-time segments. Tuesday mornings are our food pantry giveaway at church, Wednesday afternoons are always a study hall, and Mondays are for writing. Let me share more about why and how…

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Justin Williams and I attended the local leadership conference today, which is hosted by the ministry of John Maxwell’s ministry. While there, some interesting and downright controversial things happened, all culminating in this provocative interview…

One of my online heroes is John Saddington. He’s got one of those dream jobs doing tech and social media stuff for Andy Stanley and Northpoint Church. He’s also started at least 23 blogs! One of my favorites of all belongs to John (aka, human3rror), Church Crunch.

Today, John sends out this post on Ten Reasons Your Pastor Should Blog. Not only do I agree with John’s reasons, but if you’re a Pastor and you’re new to the idea of blogging, you need to be checking John’s site often. Just wanted to pass along this great resource, now get started blogging!

I’m an avid reader, online and off. I love great blogs and I love good books even more. I may never own a Kindle because I still like to open a book with a spine. There’s a problem with reading though – it takes time, and there are way to many books and articles to read to be wasting so much time reading. What’s the solution? Speed reading.

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