Archive for the ‘Site News...’ Category
Coming Tomorrow Night…
May 20th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Bible in a Year, My Life, Site News...
You’ve missed my Bible in a Year posts of late, haven’t you?
There’s a reason behind that, as you might imagine.
First… the burden of blogging every day was taking a pretty heavy toll on me. I wasn’t finding joy in simply spending time in God’s word, but instead finding it a chore to decide what I should write about each passage. And that’s not to mention the time commitment that only could be met by staying up late after everyone else went to bed, or neglecting another form of worship of God I thoroughly enjoy… playing guitar.
Second? Of late, I’ve felt compelled to put together a formalized discipleship program for my church, and I’d really rather study that topic and put some thoughts together instead of blogging about a daily Bible reading.
Anyway, here’s the deal… Bible in a Year has been sporadic for quite a while now. Expect that to continue for a while. But tomorrow night is where I want your focus (if you’d be so kind).
Tomorrow night, I have a post scheduled on the topic of discipleship that I want you to read, think about, pray about, dissect, comment upon, etc. In a nutshell, if you feel led to say something, I want it said. I think it will be worth your time!
See you back tomorrow night!
New Look for Toward the Goal…
April 2nd, 2008 | 2 Comments | Posted in » Site News...
With the upgrade to Wordpress 2.5, I thought I’d take time to modify the look of the site a bit as well.
What do you think?
More RSS Feed Changes…
February 11th, 2008 | 4 Comments | Posted in » Site News...
Due to a couple of bottom-feeding websites that are using my RSS feed in an unauthorized manner (namely, republishing it in an attempt to draw ad traffic!), I’ve implemented a change today that truncates what’s available via my feed, forcing you to visit the site to see full posts.
My apologies to all of you who keep up with the site through feed readers! I really hate to do this to you, but it’s the only way I can gain more control of how and where my content is published.
Site Subscriptions Available!
February 8th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Site News...
Just a quick note. Now that I’m blogging on a daily basis with the “Bible in a Year” series, I thought there might be a few of you out there who would like to receive site updates by e-mail (especially those of you reading along with me).
If you’re interested, take a look in the right sidebar, and you’ll find a subscription form. Just enter your e-mail address and hit submit, and you’ll start receiving updaThe subscriptions run through Feedburner, and send daily e-mails once a day (when updates are available), generally between 3:00 and 5:00 pm Central Time.
Of course, probably the best way to keep up with this site is to use some sort of RSS feed reader, such as Bloglines, Google Reader, NewsGator, or the like, but e-mail is just another option.
Updated Feed
January 31st, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Site News...
Just a quick note… I’ve updated my feeds using a new plugin to redirect everything through Feedburner. I believe the change will be transparent to everyone, but no guarantees. If you have problems with viewing my site through your feed reader, please let me know!
Coming Soon…
August 17th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Baptist Issues, My Life, Site News...
I know many of you are visiting Toward the Goal today, looking for the post I promised in a comment on SBC Outpost in regard to my reasons for leaving.
I hate to do this to all of you, but I’ve got to ask you to be patient… it will be a couple days yet. I plan to release it, at earliest, Sunday afternoon, although I may wait until Monday morning. My reasons for the delay will be apparent in the post.
How’s that for a teaser? 
Seriously, though, I do appreciate your patience!
New Banner… Like It?
May 28th, 2007 | 4 Comments | Posted in » Polls, Site News...
My good friend Micah Fries (a graphic design genius) has put together a new banner for me over the weekend. Do you like it?
This finally gives me a good reason to put up a new poll (and also provides a way for me to plug his site). Vote to the right, and let me know which one you like best, the new one (above), the old one, or even, I suppose, neither.
Polling Returns?
March 30th, 2007 | No Comments | Posted in » Polls, Site News...
I found an updated polling plugin last night, so polling has returned to the site, at least temporarily.
I thought the easiest test of it would be a simple opinion poll… keep the poll, or ditch it?
Check it out in the right sidebar. Vote early, and vote often!
1st Anniversary of Toward the Goal…
November 15th, 2006 | 8 Comments | Posted in » My Life, Site News...
Well, today marks the 1st anniversary of Toward the Goal, at least as it exists at toward-the-goal.net. It’s been an interesting year!
Here’s a few highlights…
- 239 posts, and 471 comments (almost a post every weekday, amazingly enough).
- 107 posts devoted to Baptist issues… something I never envisioned being involved in when I started this site back up last year at this time.
- Top posts of the year (by comments): “A Question I’ve Always Wondered About”, in regard to the experience of tongues / prayer language, and “Is it Really Worth It?”, where I ponder (out of frustration with conduct by many) whether we’re doing more harm than good to our convention through the rhetoric we’ve generated through our heated discussions about Baptist issues. Both posts had 19 comments (not a lot in comparison to most blogs, I know).
- Coming out from the fog of anonymnity. Looking back, it feels crazy that this was ever an issue for me (after all, given the site’s purpose of sharing my faith, it seemed like I was almost being ashamed of being a Christian by remaining anonymous), but it was a tough decision for me at the time (just ask Nancy).
- The 2006 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. What can I say except that it was an AWESOME experience? I met a ton of wonderful people there (almost like a family reunion of bloggers, strange as that may sound), had a lot of fun shooting and producing video footage for Baptists everywhere (see sbcvideos.info), met some Baptist leaders (and was blessed to pray over them), experienced a Westboro protest (and filmed an interview with Shirley Phelps-Roper), met Paul Strickland (an incredibly inspirational soul-winner if ever there were one)… oh yeah, and got lost somewhere outside Greensboro TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW after midnight on the way back to the hotel (I blame the driver, Micah).
- Implemented a complete site re-design (definitely needed!).
Most importantly though? Blogging here at Toward the Goal has brought me into contact with some absolutely awesome people. I can’t say enough about all of you. A few I want to mention in particular, though…
- Micah Fries. Yeah, you’re my pastor… but over the past year you’ve also become one of my closest friends. This blogging thing gave us yet another commonality. Tracy and Nancy may not appreciate it all that much (we both spend WAY too much time online), but hey… that’s yet one more thing we’ve got in common. I can’t wait to see how God continues to grow the friendship not only between you and I, but between both of our families. That’s not even mentioning the excitement I have about seeing how He uses us in the St. Joseph area…
- Kevin Bussey. We had some great times in Greensboro… you introduced me to Carolina BBQ (that sauce just has to grow on you, I guess!). You were fearless and incredibly composed in the interview with the Westboro folks (there’s no way I could have held my composure the way you did). But your heart man… that’s what I like best about you. You love God, you love people, and you want to make a difference in this world. Your church is blessed to have you as their pastor. I really hope we’ll have a chance to see each other again someday! In the meantime, I look forward to our continuing online interactions!
- Judah. My Kiwi friend (New Zealand for all of you that don’t know the Kiwi reference)! You’re the first person I really got to know online very well at all (good old e4god.com… too bad it got overrun by spammers / hackers). I’ve always appreciated your passion for defending and explaining the faith to the searching online. You’re solid Biblically, and you’ve challenged and encouraged me in my walk with Christ. We may not correspond much nowadays, but do know that I have appreciated our online friendship.
- Bob Cleveland. We may be seperated by a generation or so in age, but brotherhood in Christ bridges all barriers. I appreciate all of the encouragement you’ve sent my way (especially those personal experiences you’ve shared via e-mail), and I’m more than pleased to know that some of the things I’ve shared here have been of benefit to you in your own walk with Christ.
- Bryan Riley. Man… your faith is an inspiration. You and your family have made sacrifices most would find nearly impossible. I can’t help but be encouraged as I’ve learned about your journey from Arkansas businessman to missionary in Hawaii, where you’re now finding ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Your journey and sharing reminds me that honoring God by following Christ is what matters most, and that it’s worth it… no matter what the cost.
- Alan Cross. You, like Bryan, are an inspiration to me. What you and your family have gone through with Caelan would tear most people apart, but you’ve consistently shown us through what you’ve shared that God’s grace and provision is sufficient, and that He truly is there for us in our most difficult times. As I mentioned to Kevin, your church is blessed to have you as pastor.
- Dorcas Hawker. The way you use your blog is a shining example for us all. You’re open, honest… real. You share about your life… and glorify Christ through doing so. Thanks for showing all of us what blogging is all about.
I have no doubt overlooked some people I should recognize, so please don’t be upset with me if I haven’t included you on this list (or even if I have!). I appreciate everyone whom I’ve interacted with through this strange media we call blogging. As for those of you who read this blog with whom I have not conversed? I appreciate you as well. Why not introduce yourselves, though? I’d love to have the opportunity to get to know you.
As for the future of Toward the Goal? I couldn’t have imagined where God would take this last year, so I can’t begin to guess at where God will lead me with this in the coming year. The good thing? I don’t have to know… I just have to be willing to follow as He reveals each subsequent step. The future is in His hands… and I trust Him.
Anyway… I pray that Toward the Goal has been and will continue to be a blessing to all of you.
Bad Joke of the Day
September 5th, 2006 | 7 Comments | Posted in » Just For Fun..., Site News...
Okay… here’s a new site feature for you… the “Bad Joke of the Day”. Check it out on the left sidebar, or from either of the following links:
- Bad Joke of the Day (updated daily with the latest joke… if possible, of course)
- Bad Joke of the Day Archives (containing links to every audio file)
The backstory? Well… I usually listen to a local Christian radio station on my way to work each day. As part of their morning show, they have a “Joke of the Day” feature. Quite honestly, I just can’t help but listen… wondering if they’ll ever have one that’s good! Seriously. This feature is full of jokes so bad that they actually advertise something to the effect of, “and don’t miss the morning show with so-and-so, who proves that there is a big difference between funny and trying to be funny.”
Anyway, thought I’d share, so I started recording them this morning. Maybe you guys will find these futile attempts at humor as funny as I do.
Enjoy!
(BTW, don’t get me wrong, the station is great as a whole!)
