This morning as I began to read through some of the articles and posts from yesterday’s events in San Antonio, I was surprised to see that Marty Duren is shutting down his blog, SBC Outpost and Art Rogers is taking his blog Twelve Witnesses in a totally different direction, away from denominational politics and into the life of his church, family, and missional living. This honestly took me by surprise, since these two men have sustained two of the most widely read blogs in the SBC.
The transition from partisan, denominational politics to focusing on the gospel and the local church is a good thing, for as they mentioned, change in the SBC will never happen simply with raw political power. Steve McCoy sounded this loud and clear a couple of years ago when he “killed” Missional Baptist Blog which was at the time the leading conversation center for young Southern Baptists. His clarion call for those of us in the SBC is to focus our lives such that our churches and ministries are louder than our blogs. Steve has remained true to that focus, and that kind of leadership has done much to influence other bloggers like Art to see the fruit of our labor not in a blog stat page but in the changed lives of God’s people. Other bloggers have also backed away from denominational politics, such as Nathan Finn, although you can still find him posting his excellent commentary on SBC Witness. Even still, some Southern Baptist bloggers have become disappointed with the way the “SBC Young Leaders” have shifted from being gospel-centered to a preoccupation with partisan SBC politics. More than three years into the development of the SBC blogosphere, much as changed; however, what cannot be said is that blogging is simply “internet graffiti.” For good or bad, SBC blogs have become the leading place for discussion and information about issues pertaining to SBC life. Jason Fowler, SBTS archivist, recently wrote on his blog the following statment:
“[F]or many Baptists, blogs have replaced denominational newspapers as the default source for theological and denominational information and engagement.”
Moreover, in an interview with SBC Outpost, Chris Turner, Media Relations Manager for LifeWay Christian Resources, addressed the role of blogs as news sources:
“I think the first way is to see many bloggers as legitimate news outlets. Granted, the quality of information disseminated and the accuracy varies, but there are many bloggers doing an excellent job of rooting out facts and getting their stories straight. I see these people as legitimate news outlet because they have a publication, they have an audience and they are exerting influence within that audience.”
As SBC bloggers were geting such attention that Time and the Washington Post was reporting on their influence on last year’s election of Frank Page, SBC historians and archivists alike were brainstorming about how to archive SBC blogs as they have now come to replace traditional media and print newspapers such as the denominational and state papers of yesteryear. When the next generation looks back on the events in recent years, will they have the digital microfilm (i.e. blogs) to look back and learn how Southern Baptists addressed controversy and discussed important decisions? As I have been researching state papers online, I noticed that most if not all online articles are not available after three years, but you can still find them in print or on microfilm. However, when a blog such as SBC Outpost, having been a centerpiece of discussion presenting various perspectives and opinions, is removed from the Internet, is there any way to reference an article two decades from now?
I don’t know what the future holds for SBC blogs. I don’t think the aftermath of San Antonio will produce the litany of new bloggers like it did last year. Actually, as we are seeing, this year the reverse effect is occuring. Some bloggers have exposed bias and advanced their political spin, and my guess is that Southern Baptists are not interested in such one-sided, skewed perspectives. Does this mean that Southern Baptists will have less places to dialogue and discuss matters important to them? Can there be a place where Southern Baptists can talk about our Baptist indentity with political motivations, have robust theological discussion without resorting to reckless rhetoric, and provide a platform for greater involvement of all Southern Baptists to express their thoughts, opinions, and concerns about the future of the SBC? I think that is a legitimate question, and I would like to hear what you think about that prospect.
Speaking of SBC blogging, I have one more post I hope to write regarding the SBC. I hope to post it before I leave with my wife and her family to enjoy next week on vacation. For more on Baptist blogging, check out Marty’s post from earlier this week.
Update: I recently discovered that Alan Cross of Downshore Drift has also communicated that he has come to the end of the road (regarding the SBC).
Timmy-
Nicely said.
Timmy,
I agree with Marty. Nicely said.
Also, I have given permission to Nathan Finn to archive my blog, but it is not leaving. I am not taking it down, nor erasing what was said. All that I have said, even that of which I was ashamed, will remain on the net for quite some time, at my expense.
I am working on how to archive hard copies of the articles and comments and what is the best way to do it, for those who may wish to have it.
See you around.
Art
Timmy,
Tom Ascol, I think, and I had a conversation about archiving the blogs last year about this time. He, I believe, mentioned it to Dr. Nettles who, I believe, was to ask Dr. Wells about it. If my memory recalls, Dr. Wells is in charge of the appropriate dept. at SBTS for this. You have the easiest access to him of anybody I know, since you are right there. You should get with him about setting up an archive of the blogs, and the bloggers (of all parties) could send their work to him and/or a central source at your library.
Marty and Art,
First let me say thanks for the work you have done to bring more Southern Baptists into the conversation. You are both correct to say that we all bear culpability for shameful things said or un-Christlike attitudes had. As I have reflected on the past three years writing publicly and interacting, I can see how God has used this as a tool for my sanctification, to help me learn how to disagree in love and to listen rather than offer what I thought was “wisdom from above.” There is still much that I have to learn, but the painful experiences of the past are a reminder of what God has taught me and how He has used such expereinces to humble me. May the Lord use our feeble and weak attempts to use your minds, hands, feet, and hearts for his glory and the good of His church.
Gene and Art,
I recently had a conversation with Jason Fowler in the Archives and Special Collections wing of Boyce Centennial Library, and Dr. Wills happened to be there when we began talking about archiving blogs. Jason is really interested in trying to preserve SBC blogs, and I am not sure how far along in the process he is in that project.
One of the best parts of a blog is the conversation that ensues in the comments. However, archiving a long thread of 100+ comments could be quite cumbersome. Perhaps there could be a meeting of archists, historians, and bloggers on how we record the blogs of the past and incorporate a running system of archiving similar to what is being done with state papers. A simple way to begin, I think, is to make a PDF of an entire post and the comments, archiving the PDF’s monthly in folders, and creating separate files for each blog. But I am sure Jason and the other archivists have a much better idea of doing it than me! 🙂
Gene and others,
Those of us who are historians and archivists have been having this conversation for well over a year. Jason Fowler and I are both working on developing policies for our respective institutions. We have both also encouraged the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives in Nashville to develop a policy. At bear minimum, we are encouraging bloggers to save at least one hard copy of everything that they post. We are also encouraging bloggers to, from time to time, save all of the information to a CD, which also preserves the “look” of the blog, comments, etc. Blogs are still a new type of primary source in the field of historical preservation, and nobody has figured this thing out yet. Jason is working on a database which hopefully will solve our problems. Until then, Timmy’s suggestion sounds as good as any I have heard so far.
Thanks for bringing up this very important topic in this public forum.
NAF
Nathan,
Thanks for filling us in on what is going on. You are right. This is an important topic – one I hope will be brought up again in the future. Continue to let us (bloggers) know what we can be doing to help you guys better archive the content for future retrieval.
TNB