Top Church of Christ Blogs

Matt Dabbs has released the latest rankings for church of Christ bloggers, at his blog Kingdom Living. 

If you'll remember, back in July, was the first time I made the list.  Actually, Matt did a huge favor to me and Matthew Morine by extending the list in July to 48 blogs because that is where we fell #47 and 48!  Thanks to this exposure and some other factors Matthew and I have skyrocketed up the list!  Check out the new list where you will find me at #6 and Matthew at #8!

I personally find this very humbling as well as exciting.  I like the fact that people are visiting my blog and reading what I am writing.  May God be glorified!

You will also find this list a great resource for finding other members of the church of Christ who do an excellent job of presenting thoughful messages in written form.  Do as I have done and bookmark the page for easy reference.  You will also find Matt Dabbs' blog contains excellent articles for your uplifting as well.

Top Church of Christ Blogs

Matt Dabbs and Jay Guin have both posted a list of the top Church of Christ Blogs.  How shocked was I when I looked at the list and found myself ON THE LIST!  All of a sudden #47 doesn't seem all that bad!  You might know #46 as well so check it out.  Also check out all of those guys on the list, there are some good thoughts coming from these blogs.  You can read the list by clicking either Matt or Jay's name above.

GraceConversation.com

A new blog that should interest everyone, especially those of you who are members of the Churches of Christ, is GraceConversation.com.  This blog is self-described as "A conversation regarding the disagreements that separate the conservative and progressive branches of the churches of Christ." 



It's participants are Jay Guin, an elder at the University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, AL and author of the blog One in Jesus; Todd Deaver, (son of Mac Deaver and grandson of Roy Deaver) minister for the Oliver Springs Church of Christ, author of the blog Bridging the Grace Divide and the book Facing our Failure: The Fellowship Dilemma in Conservative Churches of Christ; Phil Sanders, author of the blog Phil Answers and evangelist with In Search of the Lord's Way; and Gregory Tidwell a columnist for the Gospel Advocate and the minister for the Fishinger and Kenny Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio.



The conversation has already started so check it out.  You can even get in on the conversation yourself by commenting on each of the posts.

Technorati Tags: blog,debate,unity,fellowship

Every Vote Counts

Matthew Morine, minister for the Castle Rock Church of Christ in Denver, former minister at Waynesboro and one of my dear friends, has received some exciting news!  Matthew's blog, Musings on Spiritual Matters, has been nominated for an award at this year's Christian Bloggers Luncheon at the Tulsa Workshop in the category, Best New Blogger. 

I am so excited for Matthew.  Matthew has always been an encourager to my ministry, a modern day Barnabas, he deserves this award.  If you haven't read Matthew's blog then follow the link above and prepare be entertained and challenged.  I also encourage everyone to vote!  Visit http://vote.theobloggers.org/ and vote today.

CYC '09 - Fellowship, Friends, and Fun

Christian Youth Conference is an annual event that takes place in Gatlinburg, TN put on by members of the churches of Christ.  This year was my first year attending CYC and the first year that the church at Waynesboro has ever sent a group, it will not be our last.  CYC was a positive and motivating experience for everyone who attended, not just the young people.  I highly recommend that you make plans now to attend next year.

Our trip afforded us with many opportunities I never imagined at first.  My first surprise was running into so many of you who are regular readers of this blog.  It was great to finally meet you all!  Blogging has added a new dimension to my ministry and has expanded my circle of friends (more about blogging in a few days).

We left Waynesboro on Thursday afternoon immediately following school, with the time change encountered as we hit east Tennessee is was past midnight when we finally got to our cabin.  This was the first "bonus" of the weekend, our cabin was awesome!  This thing was nice, it was big, and it had a pool table, air hockey, and foosball table; the kids (and some of the adults) kept those things hot all weekend!  Friday morning we all got ready and went to eat breakfast at the Log Cabin Restaurant (I recommend the Caribbean pancakes).  Following breakfast we went up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg for some ice skating, we had a blast.  The rest of the day the kids and ladies all walked the streets of downtown Gatlinburg for the all important shopping session.  My friend, Sam Haines, and I hung out in lieu of shopping and just talked; we learned a lot about each other and became closer friends as a result.  Friday night was the first session of CYC and it started with a bang!  My favorite part was the singing, very moving!

Saturday was an early morning as we were in session by 8:00 AM for more motivational speakers and awesome singing until the lunch break at 11:30 AM.  We were so wore out from the day of travel on Thursday and our all day fun fest on Friday that we went back to the cabin, ordered pizza for lunch and basically "vegged out" the entire afternoon.  Saturday nights session of CYC was the best, more great singing capped off by a sermon by Lonnie Jones.  Lonnie is always great and this night he was exceptional.  I don't think I'll ever forget his story about the snake and the .45 pistol!  Hilarious! (Ask me or one of the others and we will be more than glad to share it with you.)  After the session we were invited to one of our Wayne County sister congregation's cabin for a devotional. (Collinwood's group was also invited.)  This was a great way to cap off the night, Clifton was a great host and this was a spectacular way of promoting unity within neighboring congregations.  I love all the brethren at Clifton and Collinwood, both congregations have been good to me and I always love speaking for them.  Hopefully, our efforts toward unity will continue and God will be glorified as a result.  Jake Wilbanks, one of Collinwood's teenagers and my cousin, spoke at the devotional.  I was taken aback by Jake's speaking ability!  He did an outstanding job and I pray that he continues to use his talents for the Lord.

Sunday Morning we again woke up early as we were hosting a worship service at our cabin.  Clifton's group came over to join us in worship as well as Will Tidwell and three students from Heritage Christian University.  Wes, one of the HCU students led singing for us, Jeff, another HCU student, led us in prayer, as well as Chad Love from Clifton.  I enjoyed speaking for the group in such a loving atmosphere.  We shared a meal and laughter before worship and the family feeling just seemed to carry over into the service.  It was great!

CYC provided an awesome opportunity for everyone involved to grow spiritually.  The structure of the conference provided the main spiritual food, however, the part I enjoyed the most was the fellowship with friends and learning more about my brothers and sisters in Christ.  If your congregation doesn't attend CYC then take it upon yourself to organize the trip next year, I guarantee it will be a huge success.  If you had the opportunity but didn't take it this year be sure not to miss it next year.  Just some "sage" advice from a one year CYC "veteran!"

Technorati Tags: blog,faith,Family Life Ministry,unity,youth,worship

Podcast Now on iTunes

My podcast is now officially a part of iTunes!

Until today you could use your iTunes software only to subscribe to my podcast through the RSS feed but as of today I have been officially approved by iTunes! 

This means that you can go directly to the iTunes site and search "Mitchell Skelton" or "Waynesboro church of Christ" and you will be taken to a page on the iTunes site that contains my podcast and from this page you can subscribe for automatic downloads each time a new podcast is added.  For a direct connection you can click the iTunes link here.

Technorati Tags: blog,church of Christ,evangelism,iPod,iTunes,podcast,technology

Podcast Now Online!

Thanks to you my first podcast has been wildly successful! Thanks to everyone who has subscribed, downloaded, and iTuned my sermon. Keep checking each week for the latest update and periodically I might even throw in a bonus.

You can now listen to my sermons here on the blog, at a separate web address, or on your cell phone or PDA. You can even subscribe to the podcast through RSS or through iTunes! I hope you enjoy.

Everything New is Old in Ten Minutes

I graduated from Lipscomb University with a degree in Marketing. One bit of information I learned from my major studies was, according to federal regulations, a product could only be advertised or promoted as new for a period of six months. I can remember thinking that six months seemed quite a long time for something to still be considered new but who was I to question federal regulators. My how things have changed! In todays age of instant information and constant reformation six months seems like ages.

Today information flows as fast as one's fingers can tap the keyboard. People don't need to wait until the nightly news at five or six to get information, you simply log on to the internet and google it, twitter it, facebook it. . . well you get the idea. I love technology and I love being able to get the information I want any time day or night. However, there is a downside to this fast and furious flow of information. Anyone can set up a blog in about ten minutes and begin to "report" the news. In a perfect world this is great but in our world it has created a group of people desperate to stand out from the crowd. As a result, information is reported with no regard to the facts. Some blogs in cyberspace make the National Enquirer seem as reputable as the Washington Post. This doesn't mean that you should discount all blogs it just means that the old adage we learned as children rings even more true today, "You can't believe everything you read."

This mindset of constant updates and continually evolving products is good for the consumer in the marketplace but what is it doing for the mindset of the individual who is seeking information regarding Jesus Christ? How receptive will a person be to the gospel of Christ, which does not change, if they have grown up in a world where they expect the latest and the best at their fingertips? This is the challenge we face in proclaiming the gospel in a post-modern world. How do we spread the gospel message laid down over 2,000 years ago to the person who believes that everything new is old in ten minutes?

One thing we cannot do is change the message. The gospel is set in stone, unchangeable, with dire consequences for anyone who tampers with what God has done. While we cannot change the message, we absolutely must change the way we communicate the message. The message is timeless but the conveyance of the message is not bound by time. On of the apostle Paul's more famous statements is "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22) I think we at the Waynesboro church of Christ are using technology in a pretty advanced way. Not that there aren't others that do a better job but, all in all, we are above the curve. The use of PowerPoint in worship is an absolute must in today's culture and if you aren't using it yet you should be. This, in my opinion, is the one thing no congregation should be without if you want to be able to communicate the gospel to our new culture. Blogs are another form of communication that multitudes of people are taking advantage of today. Matthew and I both use blogs and they have been a huge success (Matthew is much better with his than I am, you should check his out). Facebook is huge! Again, Matthew and I both have facebook pages and it is amazing how today's generation likes to communicate through this medium. We have also set up a facebook page for the church, while this is new for us I believe it will become one of the major forms of communication for the church. (Waynesboro church Facebook Page, Mitchell's Facebook, Matthew's Facebook)

Our times are changing fast and we must change with them. If we don't change the way we communicate the message of the gospel will be lost.

New Items Added!

Although I haven't been able to post much recently, I have been working behind the scenes to update various aspects of this blog.

I've added two new widgets to the right hand column you might find useful one to facilitate daily bible reading and another to satisfy your sports itch. The bible widget is called B.R.E.A.D. which stands for Bible Reading Enriches Any Day and the scratch for your sports itch is the ESPN headline generator. Enjoy!

More items have been added to the del.icio.us tags as well as to my Technorati favorites as I continue to scour the web for sites of interest.

You can help make this job much easier and faster by sending in your favorites. What blogs and/or sites do you find helpful? What sites do you keep returning to in your studies or everyday surfing?

If you haven't already done so, send in your favorites so that everyone can benefit. Many of you are already enjoying the links on a daily basis, if you haven't tried them out yet, take a minute to do so.

User Friendly

I have set a lofty goal for myself, one that I intend to achieve.  I have decided to transform The Mind of Mitchell from a simple blog into the site to go to when looking for all things church related.  My primary focus will be on the churches of Christ but not limited to that alone.  My overall intention is to give people a "go to" site when looking for Christian blogs, church information, research, etc.  Don't despair loyal readers, I will still continue to post articles regularly as I made a renewed commitment to you this month to increase the number of articles that I write.

 

Right now I'll be using three ways to accomplish this and I may add others as needed.  The three mediums are:

1. A simple Web Log with an extensive list of blogs and sites.

2.  Technorati Favorites featuring new postings of listed blogs.

3.  del.icio.us tags.

 

I need your help in this process.  Please send me links you would like to see included on this site.  Of course, I'll need to evaluate the sites first, but as long as they fit the purpose and don't contain profanity, etc they'll be added.  Also, make sure that sites you submit are updated regularly, no dormant or out of date sites please.

 

Please email your links to mskelton@live.com

Technorati Tags: church of Christ,church,blog,theology,Technorati,del.icio.us

Distractions

It's been a while since I last posted and that is an understatement. Call it what you want, "too many irons in the fire," "worky work, busy bee," basically, I have let many distrations keep me away from what had become a form of therapy for me, blogging.

When I first started this blog I was afraid of getting too personal but I found out quick that the more personal I get, the better response I get from you. I also find blogging a great way to deal with stress. I can get things off my chest and out into the open. Since my dad's heart attack two weeks ago the topic of stress and healthy eating have been in the forefront, so I have commited myself to dealing with these two topics in my families life.

So I'll be blogging regularly again. One other way I have determined to deal with stress is through music. I have always been a fan of all genres of music, Rock, R & B, Pop, Country, etc. I just love good music.

Since Sheryl and I have an anniversary coming up February 24th we decided to combine Valentine's Day and our anniversary this year and bought each other iPod Nanos. We love them! I have also added a couple of neat widgets in the right column that shows what I have purchased from the iTunes website. I hope you enjoy this look inside my iPod.

So, what's on your iPod? Drop me a comment and let's compare.

1000 Visitors Can't Be Wrong!

It's hard to believe but, sometime today "The Mind of Mitchell" blogsite will record it's 1000th guest. I started this blog in June of this year but didn't really get going until August/September (basically what that means is I didn't know what I was doing when I first started and it took me a good two months to figure things out).

One of the things I learned was how to gather and analyze statistics for my site. I am amazed every day at the number of people who read my blog as well as the reach I have made worldwide. Yes, worldwide! I have visitors from all over the United States, Racine, WI to Biloxi, MS; San Bernadino to San Marcos to Spring Hill; Nashville to Los Angeles; Pascagoula to Chicago and many points in between. I also have recorded visitors from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, South America, Honduras, Germany, and England.

I reached another milestone today, since I began keeping stats(on Sept. 3rd), I have flirted with 100 guests in a day but never quite made it, today (Thursday) the site recorded 103!

When I started this blog I never dreamed of the impact and reach I could have on so many people, from so many different places. God willing I will continue to write with my purpose remaining to glorify God and Christ, to bring a little humor into your life and to help us all gain perspective on the things happening around us. Thank You for stopping by and reading. Let me know how I'm doing and what you would like to see me discuss in the future.