Blogging Church

The Blogging Church was a one-stop resource for pastors and leaders who want to know the why, what, and how of blogging.
Content is from the site's 2006 archived pages.

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Why should my church embrace blogging?
What can blogs accomplish in my church?
How can we get started?

This is not a typical technology book that blindly sells the latest and greatest, however. We have been in the trenches of church ministry and know that there is no room for technology toys. To invest time, energy, and money in a piece of technology, there must be a true justification, a return on ministry, a problem in need of a solution. A church should not adopt blogs because they are the current buzz or the latest fad, but because of the incredible opportunity to share the story of the church.

The book is focused on practical application rather than theory. You will finish the book with clear answers to the above questions, a full understanding of how blogs can revolutionize your church, and the tools to make it happen.

Look for The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch this January from Jossey-Bass.

The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey with Terry StorchThis dynamic presentation featuring Brian Bailey and Terry Storch as they give an inside look into The Blogging Church./p>

The Blogging Church offers church leaders a field manual for using the social phenomenon of blogs to connect people and build communities in a whole new way. Inside you will find the why, what, and how of blogging in the local church.

Filled with illustrative examples and practical advice, the authors answer key questions learned on the front lines of ministry: Is blogging a tool or a toy? What problems will blogging solve? How does it benefit ministry? How do I build a great blog? and For whom am I blogging? The Blogging Church is a handbook that will inspire and equip readers to join the conversation.

Editorial Reviews from Amazon

Review

"Brian Bailey makes two things crystal clear in this book: if you've got a church, then you need to spread your story. And if you need to spread your story, blogs are now an essential tool. Time to pay attention!" ?Seth Godin, author, Small Is the New Big "I had a lot of questions about blogs and their value for my church. I'm thankful that Brian and Terry are sharing their experiences to answer those questions. Their insights are for everyone in ministry. Whether you are reading blogs, writing blogs, or just trying to figure out how to use the word in a sentence, this book is for you." ?Mark Beeson, senior pastor, Granger Community Church "My talking head is limited to the pulpit proper. I thank God that there's a tool to reach outside the church, to those that are, sadly, outside the church. Thank you Brian and Terry for The Blogging Church." Bob Coy, senior pastor, Calvary Chapel, Ft. Lauderdale

Review

"I had a lot of questions about blogs and their value for my church. I'm thankful that Brian and Terry are sharing their experiences to answer those questions. Their insights are for everyone in ministry. Whether you are reading blogs, writing blogs, or just trying to figure out how to use the word in a sentence, this book is for you."
—Mark Beeson, senior pastor, Granger Community Church

"My talking head is limited to the pulpit proper. I thank God that there's a tool to reach outside the church, to those that are, sadly, outside the church. Thank you Brian and Terry for The Blogging Church."
—Bob Coy, senior pastor, Calvary Chapel, Ft. Lauderdale

" I can see the value in using a blog to spread the word. My daughter actually showed me the value of a good blog when I sought her help in trying to find a bed for our elderly dog. She just typed in "high end" dog beds. The first site that showed up in the search was a blog post about which type of beds is best for an elderly dog. We read down through the discussion thread. One post caught my eye that was recommending a site that offered a large number of luxury round beds. I thought "Oh my!" I had not anticipated that I would need to look through so many styles. My daughter signed into the blog and explained my dogs situation. Someone immediately replied with three different online dog bed sites. Wow, that was fast. I ended up selecting an online store by the name Goodnight Dog. I loved their site's name. And although they sell only round beds, I picked their largest size and ordered it immediately. Boy, did Lumpet love his new bed. And so I see the value in a good, informative blog. Just point me in the right direction and I am totally on board.
—Sandy Laythum, pastor, Corona, SD.

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Top customer reviews

Thomas Duff VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars
February 24, 2007
A book that has far-reaching implications for your ministry...
This book is an excellent example of blogging for a specific reason... The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs by Brian Bailey with Terry Storch. I had never really considered blogging in the context of the local church, but now I can't imagine why a church wouldn't add this to their ministry outreach...

Contents: The Story of Blogging; Why Blog?; Five Questions with Mark Driscoll; Share News; Cast Vision; Five Questions with Perry Noble; Reach Out; Connect Your Staff; Five Questions with Craig Groeschel; Learn from Others; Spread the Word; Five Questions with Church Marketing Sucks; Get Started; Build a Better Blog; Five Questions with Tony Morgan; Build a Really Bad Blog; Feed Your Head - RSS; Five Questions with Greg Surratt; Podcasting; Warning Labels; Five Questions with Mark Batterson; Built to Last; The One Thing; Notes Acknowledgments; The Authors; Index

Most blogging books tend to deal with the general concepts of blogging as well as the mechanics of how to set one up. This is one of the few books that looks at blogging in a specific context, the church, and examines how it can help tell the story of who you are and what you stand for. For those who are already part of your local congregation, the blog can serve as a way to maintain a conversation outside of the normal Sunday worship experience. But more importantly, the blog can allow those outside your reach to approach you on their terms. The blog is a way to put a personal voice and face behind the building and institution, as well as a way to break down the mis- and preconceptions that many have about churches in general. And considering this can be done at little to no cost, there's no reason to seriously consider it as your next ministry outreach.

An additional value of this book is the wealth of practical advice you'll find here. Since this is written by a pair of authors who have "been there, done that", you gain their experience and insight to help you avoid the potholes and landmines. There are also a number of interviews with other church bloggers, again reinforcing the practical nature of the book. The authors have had numerous interactions with A-list bloggers such as Robert Scoble and Kathy Sierra, so if you think these guys aren't plugged in to the leading edge of the blogging world in general, think again.

This is an extremely well-written book, with far-reaching implications to your ministry. For anyone who is serious about using every available means to extend your outreach, this is a must-read book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars
Effectively teaches how to further your ministry through blog technology
ByJ. MinatelVINE VOICEon January 15, 2007
I just finished reading this and I'm fantastically impressed with the book. Well done guys. I bought 3 copies: 1 for myself, one for the minister at our church who blogs and also one for our senior minister. I think that much like we saw with the sales of the business blogging book Naked Conversations, we'll see many people buying multiple copies of this to evangelize blogging within their churches.

Some of the things I really liked about this were Brian and Terry's passion for blogging and for ministry. It really comes through in their writing. That does a great job of showing how meaningful this is to them and also of underscoring one of the points they and many of their guest experts make in the book: for your blog to be successful, it has to be passionate.

Brian and Terry speak with some real authority on the subject, since both are experienced church bloggers who also have a deep understanding of ministry and technology. So they're also able to looking at blogging as yet another tool in your technology tool chest for spreading the good news.

I really enjoyed their interviews with some of the other big-time blogging pastors. Those were scattered through the book every other chapter. I forced myself not to skip ahead and read all of those first so it was a real treat to come to each of them. And likewise, they authors did a stunning job of assembling some top bloggers to give blogging advice at the end of the book. Robert Scoble, Shel Israel (2 favorites of mine) both contributed. And other stars in the blogging world including Guy Kawasaki, Dave Winer, and Kathy Sierra gave fantastic insight.

I loved the "build a really bad blog" chapter. That was genius titling and approach.

It's a short book, you'll find you can probably read it all in a couple of hours. I admittedly didn't read deep on some of the technical how-to chapters near the end of the book, just skimmed them enough to be convinced that a beginning blogger would indeed be able to get started with these and nothing else. And although experienced church bloggers might look at this at first and think you don't need this book, I guarantee that Brian and Terry have some ideas that will help any church blogger improve their blog and their mission through their blog.

What I would have liked to see more of and hopefully the authors can continue to explore in their blogs is the the role of the layperson, the non-staff church member, in church and faith blogging. And also some discussion of in what settings church blogging may not be right for a pastor or congregration.

In the final analysis, it's a great book, one I'm proud to recommend to anyone involved in the ministry especially the 2 pastors at our church I'm sharing it with. I'm also thrilled to have played a small part in bringing this book into being, from recruiting Brian after the initial introduction from Shel and Robert to introducing them to their eventual editor at Wiley and publishing home with Jossey-Bass.

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N. Hyde
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat for churches, or anyone interested in blogging
April 2, 2007
What an extremely useful and helpful resource!

The book begins with an explanation of what blogging is and why it's important. They do a great job of showing how blogging can be an amazing resource for the church, and they cast the vision for how churches can use blogging to cast their own vision.

The authors then proceed to answer every conceivable question you might have about blogging. I'm not a technical guy at all and I don't understand technical mumbo jumbo, yet even I didn't have any trouble understanding anything in the book.

Bailey & Storch support their writing with lots of examples from actual blogs. One of the strengths of the book is the way they consistently turn to other veteran bloggers for input, which they do through some "5 Questions with..." sections scattered throughout the book and a "One Thing" section at the end.

As I read, I was constantly taking notes because there were so many great ideas for producing a great blog, as well as numerous suggestions for writing topics. They also give some great tips for finding the best blogs and managing your reading time.

There's even a section on podcasting!

The Blogging Church is an enjoyable read, but it's also a practical manual that I'll be turning to time and time again.

One of the things that impressed me most was not only the book, but author Brian Bailey. I had emailed him with a question I had about blogging, and he took the time to write a very helpful response. That's how I ended up with my blog on WordPress.
Read more

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Mac Williams
4.0 out of 5 stars
Practical primer on the art of blogging
July 15, 2013
This book actually has a much broader application than the title implies. It serves quite well as a very practical general primer on the art (and technology) of blogging. It is highly informative without being technical; the writing style is casual and engaging.

A friend of mine turned me onto this book. Interestingly , he happens to work at a Philadelphia showroom that sells the latest contemporary dining furniture. Now I am talking about the world’s finest Italian designed modern furniture which is pretty pricey, to say the least. Nevertheless, a pastor from one of those huge Texas evangelical churches had been into the room service 360 showroom looking for an executive desk. He chose a $14000.00 ultra modern Luna desk designed by world renowned Ferrari designer Paolo Pininfarina. Wow. I looked up the style which has a monolithic asymmetric arch structure, in silver painted aluminum with a matte red lacquer modesty panel that enhances the elegance of the hardened glass surface, which accordingly creates original light and transparent effects. So while the pastor was waiting for his order to be finalized he pulled out the Blogging Church book and sits down to read. When my friend asked him what he was reading the pastor launched into how great it is . Apparently lots of his pastor friend are mentioned in it. So my friend who knows I am a relatively new blogger thought I wound find lots of very useful information on "getting started" (importance of brevity, the value of providing links to new ideas & cool people, blogger etiquette, etc.). He was right.

Adding to the practicality of the book are chapters on "build a better blog" and "build a really bad blog" (i.e., pitfalls to avoid). Both chapters are filled with insights on how to maximize both the value of your blog to others, and the personal satisfaction one can derive from blogging. A few of the helpful points shared here are the value of soliciting (and promptly responding to!) comments, providing a list of blogs you read, and developing an authentic voice (don't try to mimic others; be original, honest, informative, enthusiastic [passionate!] and entertaining in what you write).

Another helpful feature of the book is its referral to particularly informative and popular sites that exemplify the best in the art of blogging (Technorati.com, blog.guykawasaki.com, to name just two.) But herein lies a weakness of this book: it was published in 2007, and some of the blogs referred to are no longer active, and some of the technology issues addressed are dated. Might we expect a 2nd edition soon? Still, the book's coverage of blogging basics--the main attribute of the book--remains relevant. Recommended!

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Dave Anthold
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 starsBlogging Success
March 5, 2007
I just finished reading "The Blogging Church" and I found the book to be inspiring and realistic. The examples of how pastors and corporate bloggers use the tools of blogging to expand their vision was "inspiring". I work in Corporate America and I found that the ideas mentioned for the church were creating ideas for how we may integrate blogs into our work processes. Brian and Terry's passion for blogging, and more importantly, the global church is evident in his voice. This book is a homerun for church's and should be on the shelf of every pastor.

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Lyssa Rutland
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
August 20, 2017
Great stuff

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Allen H
3.0 out of 5 starsThe Blogging Church
January 24, 2011
This is a good introduction to the concept and practice of blogging directed at church ministry. It is easy to read and understand. Those who are moderate to advanced at social networking through blogs will find the book too simple. Some techincal and practical suggestions and instructions have already become dated.

June 23, 2006

The One Thing, No. 5

I'm thrilled to announce the fifth contributor to the final chapter, The One Thing. He is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, start-up maestro, A-List blogger, and integral part of the original Macintosh team at Apple...

Guy Kawasaki

I have read many of Guy's books and have loved his work for years, so I was truly honored when Guy agreed to write a contribution for The Blogging Church. Who better to write about blog evangelism than one of the first corporate evangelists?

Other contributors:

Kem Meyer
Merlin Mann
Ben Arment
Jeremy Wright

June 10, 2006

June 06, 2006

Manuscript? Check!

The manuscript for The Blogging Church is done! We submitted it to our publisher, Jossey-Bass, on Monday morning. It was "on time and on spec" according to the editor, which was good to hear for a couple of first-time authors.

The final total was 63,000 words, which will become a 250-page paperback this January if all goes well. We're now entering the editing process, so we're eager to see what the final version looks like after this month. A few of our favorite blogging pastors have reviewed a short excerpt, and so far the feedback has been great. We want the book to truly be helpful - whether you've been blogging for a year or are tired of hearing about blogs and not knowing what they are.

Terry and I are both incredibly thankful for this opportunity - it's truly been a God thing from start to finish. Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive throughout the past year. Also, thanks to the many people who have contributed to the book and been part of our podcasts. All of you have made the book much better!

If you want a sneak preview, check out The Blogging Church on Amazon! We'll let you know as soon as it's available for pre-order.

I'll post the final Table of Contents later this week.

June 03, 2006

The One Thing, No. 4

The fourth contributor to the final chapter, The One Thing, is Kem Meyer. Kem is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church. She shares her insightful thoughts on church marketing on her blog, Less Clutter & Noise. She also speaks often at conferences and workshops for church leaders.

Kem brings a terrific perspective on how blogs can be used in the church. Her contribution has been a great addition to The Blogging Church.

Other contributors:

Merlin Mann

Ben Arment

Jeremy Wright

May 28, 2006

The One Thing, No. 3

The third contributor to the final chapter, The One Thing, is Merlin Mann, the brilliant blogger behind 43 Folders.

43 Folders is a site about personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better. The blog is a member of the Technorati 100 and is the original source of the now famous Hipster PDA. A talented writer, Merlin's work has appeared in WIRED, Macworld, and many other fine publications.

Merlin was great to work with, generous with his time, and he wrote a first-class piece. Thanks, Merlin!

Visit 43 Folders

In case you're wondering, the contributors aren't in any particular order. Each of them brings a terrific perspective and I'm proud to have all of them involved. I'm just picking the next cool person to write about.

Other contributors:

Ben Arment

Jeremy Wright

May 23, 2006

The One Thing, No. 2

Two weeks ago, I told you about the book's final chapter, The One Thing. The chapter is a diverse collection of advice from 18 bloggers. The contributions have been truly incredible - the chapter is at the end because I'm afraid you might stop reading if it was at the beginning.

I'm so thankful that these talented women and men have generously agreed to be part of The Blogging Church. I'll be introducing you to each of them over the next few weeks. Jeremy Wright was first; the second blogger is Ben Arment.

Ben is a church planter who started History Church in Reston, Virginia five years ago. Ben is one of my favorite blogging pastors. His blog is a great read and History seems like a thriving, joyful community of people with a heart for their community.

Visit BenArment.com

May 19, 2006

The Wall Street Journal on Web Outreach

The Wall Street Journal published an article this week on how churches are using blogs, podcasts, MySpace, and other web tools to reach people. It's a very interesting overview of what different churches are doing. I was fortunate to be interviewed for the piece, along with other Blogging Church alumni, including Mark Batterson of National Community Church, Bobby Gruenewald of Life Church, and Brad Abare of Church Marketing Sucks. It's like we all got together for our 1-year reunion or something. Check out the article while it's still free!

Holy Sites: Churches Embrace the Web in Bid to Attract Members

Really Simple Success

Phil Gomes wrote a great article about using RSS Today.

Why is RSS Important?
RSS is Incorruptibly Opt-In
It Saves Users Time (Yours Too)
RSS is Measurable

Sorry, if you do a marketing site and you don't have an RSS feed today you should be fired. I'll say it again. You should be fired if you do a marketing site without an RSS feed. Saying that RSS is only for geeks today is like saying in 1998 that the web was only for geeks. - Robert Scoble

May 16, 2006

Local Church- pointless?

According to the latimes.com, a recient national poll found just 17% of adults view the local church as essential for developing faith.

Maybe this is the time I could talk about how much I don't trust polls, or how misleading they can be... Anyway, that was a shocking number!

Posted by Terry Storch at 6:37 PM

May 06, 2006

Countdown

The deadline for the complete draft of The Blogging Church is just four weeks away! When we launched this site on August 30, we had little idea what the next nine months would bring. We greatly appreciate all of the support and feedback you've given us throughout. We can't wait to wrap this up and share it with you!

I'd love to tell you that the only thing left is some proofreading and photoshop work on the jacket photos, but like most first-time authors, it's definitely going to be an intense 30 days. The final chapters are being written right now and there are a lot of pieces to be finalized.

Some very cool people have gotten involved recently, though, that should make the book a lot more fun and helpful. The last chapter of the book is called The One Thing. In it, you'll find an incredible collection of advice from nearly 20 different bloggers. Each person answered the question, "What is the one piece of advice, the one thing, you would tell another blogger?" The answers are as diverse as the bloggers who are involved - from school teachers and writers to pastors and proud members of the Technorati 100. This chapter should be both entertaining and inspiring - and a great way to end the book.

Who's involved so far? I'll be sharing some of the names over the next few weeks, but since it would be cruel to keep you waiting, the first contributor is Jeremy Wright. Jeremy is a top blogger who not only runs a blog marketing company, but has written a blogging book himself, Blog Marketing.

There are still a few spots left, so feel free to nominate anyone who you think would offer a great perspective. The Blogging Church is scheduled to be published in January. More soon!

BloggingChurch.com

Blogging Church

Editorial Reviews from Amazon

Review

Review

Top customer reviews

June 23, 2006

The One Thing, No. 5

Guy Kawasaki

June 10, 2006

TOC

June 06, 2006

Manuscript? Check!

June 03, 2006

The One Thing, No. 4

May 28, 2006

The One Thing, No. 3

May 23, 2006

The One Thing, No. 2

May 19, 2006

The Wall Street Journal on Web Outreach

Really Simple Success

May 16, 2006

Local Church- pointless?

May 06, 2006

Countdown