The problem is that I’m off focus. Between school, research, and social networking I spend a lot of time online. Probably too much. All that leads to is a brain full of information with no time to share it!

I’m going to take the week off from the non-essential internet. No blog. No Facebook*. No Google Reader.

I’ll use that time to brain dump the hundreds of issues running through my head. A group from leadership here at Crossroads is heading to the The Gospel Summit this week and it would be wonderful to have had some focus time before we arrive in Raleigh-Durham.

See you in a week internet.

(There will be automated post to Facebook that have already been set up. But I won’t be following up on them. And I’ll probably share the awesome things I learn at the Gospel Summit, but again, I’m not following up until after a week!)

The titles are :
Erasing Hell
Forgotten God
Crazy Love

Head here to get your free books!

But I’m not a throw the baby out with the bath water kind of guy. I love spending time online and interacting with others.

Here is what I’ve decided:
I can use my presence online for the glory of God and the good of people. There’s a way that I can pastor online, and that’s what I’m going to do.

My new vision for social networking and the blog is this:
To focus on discipleship in a way that leads to mission.

• We’re going to talk a lot of theology. Above that, we’re going to grapple with the implications of what we believe. Basically, what should we believe and how should we live it out.
• I’m going to post 5 days a week. Maybe more, but at least 5.
• I’m going to share a lot more of my personal struggles and victories through my blog.
• I want the blog to be a conversation, not an online journal.
• I’m going to be more concerned with content I put into Facebook than with what I’m getting out.

That’s that.

There.

I said it. I’m addicted.

Not the kind of addiction where I’m actually engaging the friends I have. But the kind of addiction that sends you to the fridge every 5 minutes after 9 o’clock hoping something miraculously appeared since the last time you checked. Truth is, all you find is crap that’s no good for you anyway, but since you’re there you grab some Snickers and the last roll of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies that you’ve been hoarding and eat that junk like there’s no tomorrow.

And I’m not better for it. By the time I go to bed I feel like an 8 year old that just went trick or treating at the rich golf club with no adult supervision to stop the candy binge.

Maybe for now I have the metabolism to handle that. But here’s what I don’t have…

I don’t have the spiritual life that mirrors my freaking “bumper sticker Christianity” status updates.
What I have is the crazy sense of needing approval and I’ll check Facebook a thousand times after posting something to see how many “likes” I get.

I don’t have the compassion that I should have for others after spending time reading 200 people talk about their day.
What I have do have is a growing impatience for God’s people. And all of sudden the things that break your heart no longer matter to me. The overload of info caused me to stop caring.

I certainly don’t have deep relationships with the majority of my Facebook friends, and when I comment on something that you posted
..it’s more than likely so the rest of my friends can see that I’m exercising some form of 21st century “ministerial care.”

This is what hit me: For the Christian, social media shouldn’t be about “you.” It shouldn’t be about how many friends you have or how many people follow you on Twitter. Rather, for us, social media should be a way that we cultivate more meaningful relationships during the times we aren’t together in a building or formal group.

What do you think? How can we use the gift of social media to establish stronger faith communities?

I’m not there yet.

Sometimes that gets the best of me, and I fall apart wondering why God would choose to use me for the proclamation of good news. How could someone as jacked up as I am, possibly serve any purpose in the advancement of the Kingdom? And at the basis of all that, how could He even love me?

Here’s what I’m coming to learn and appreciate -

The Gospel is not about me or you. It’s not about us, because it’s for us. It’s not about our strengths or our weaknesses. It’s about Jesus. Only Jesus.

So, the next time you fail or the next time you do something great, do not focus on yourself.

Focus on Jesus.

When your eyes are fixed on Him, you’ll forget about you.