- You may have noticed that there was no Monday brief yesterday — it’s because I’m taking a short holiday (semi-)hiatus from blogging. The posts here will be few and far between this week and next. BUT, look for lots of new content from Ireland beginning very early in the new year. 12/23/2008
2008 Emergent Theological Conversation: Reclaiming Paul
October 6th, 2008 | Comments (6)
I will be attending the 2008 Emergent Theological Conversation, Reclaiming Paul: The Apostle in the Emerging World, later this month in Kansas City. The event “brings together Pauline scholars and emerging church leaders for a robust theological conversation on Paul and the Church… [and includes] four major presentations by Pauline scholars, responses by emerging church leaders, and a variety of related workshops/breakout sessions.”
I plan on blogging my notes/reflections/recordings while I’m there, and no doubt I’ll be Twittering as well. The purpose of this post is to act as a hub for all those attending who plan on doing the same (blogging, Twittering, etc.).
If you’re going to the conference AND plan on blogging and/or Twittering, leave a comment on this post with your name, blog URL, and Twitter profile URL. I’ll update the bottom of this post as the comments come in.
Twitter users: We’ll use a Hashtag to keep track of the Reclaiming Paul conversation on Twitter. For this to be effective, you need to follow @hashtags on Twitter and include “#evpaul08″ (without the quotes) in any tweet related to the conference. You can follow the Reclaiming Paul conversation via Twemes (as of this writing, Hashtags isn’t working).
Interested in live-blogging a session or two? Let me know in the comments.
Attendees (✠ denotes conference presenter):
Jake Bouma (blog | twitter)
David Capes (blog | twitter) ✠
Tim Ghali (blog | twitter)
Mike Gorman (blog | twitter) ✠
Don Heatley (blog | twitter)
Tony Jones (blog | twitter) ✠
Tim Keel (blog | twitter) ✠
Mike King (blog | twitter) ✠
Daniel Kirk (blog | twitter) ✠
Doug Pagitt (blog | twitter) ✠
Erik Ullestad (blog | twitter)
Vote for JakeBouma.com in the Iowa Web Awards!
September 30th, 2008 | Comments (2)
Exciting news in these parts: Your very own JakeBouma.com is up for a 2008 Iowa Web Award in the Best Religion Blog category.
It’s a tight race, and I’m up against some stiff competition, so I need your help!
Cast your vote for JakeBouma.com by clicking on this link and then checking the box next to my name and hitting “Vote”! Yes, it’s really that simple, and every vote counts — so what are you waiting for?!
Thanks in advance for your support. If I win, I’ll take you all out for dinner. Figuratively.
Oh, and while you’re there, take a look around the other categories and cast your votes!
- You Might Be A Faith-Blogger If… “Your sermons allow both comments and trackbacks”. Yep, that’s me. Related: Everything I need to know I learned from the emerging church 09/06/2008
- Exciting news today: this humble blog was accepted into the BlogBurst network, which syndicates blog content on several major news sites, meaning posts from JakeBouma.com could be featured on Reuters, USA Today, and (*cough*) Fox News, among others. 06/05/2008
The Blog of the Lord
June 1st, 2008 | Comments (0)
About the comic, artist Dan Piraro says,
I have no idea if the pope has a blog, but it is always interesting to me how organized religion can embrace modern ideas and technology, while keeping one foot so firmly planted in the dark ages.
Related: Just a sec, God and Bizarro as prophet/critic
Subversive Blogger Awards, round two
April 17th, 2008 | Comments (5)
It’s time for round two of the Subversive Blogger Awards.
American author Henry Miller (1891-1980) once said, “The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive.”
Subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) - even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.
For round two of the Subversive Blogger Awards, I am tagging the following five blogs/bloggers:
1. Sarcastic Lutheran by Nadia Bolz-Weber (e.g., Why she isn’t that kind of Christian)
2. The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus by Jon Birch (e.g., Hamster Wheel Church)
3. Missio Dei by Jonathan Brink (e.g., Top 50 Possible Reasons Why You’re Not Emergent)
4. Nate Ritter (e.g., Ideas that Change the World via Twitter)
5. novus•lumen by Jeremy Bouma (e.g., The Good of Affluence: A Critique and Evaluation of Capitalism)
The rules of participation are pretty straightforward:
1. If you are tagged, write a post with links to five subversive blogs.
2. Link back to this post on JakeBouma.com so people can easily find the origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the “Subversive Blogger Award” somewhere on your blog (images below) with a link to the post that you wrote.
That’s all there is to it. Keep in mind that this award is meant as an encouragement to bloggers to keep doing what they’re already doing - being subversive (however you interpret it). May we never forget that Jesus (and His message) was the original and ultimate subversive.
Here are the images you can use for your blog, courtesy of Josh Brown and Red Cowboy Designs. All I ask is that you download them and upload them to your own server.
Blog on.
UPDATE: Nate Ritter has graciously designed an additional badge for the award which you can find below. Feel free to use it in addition to or on place of the original badges.
Damn.
March 18th, 2008 | Comments (10)
When uploading to WordPress 2.5 RC1, I apparently erased all of my themes and plugins, which means I essentially have to start from scratch. It’s my own fault, since I didn’t back up the data beforehand, but damn this sucks.
The irony of this happening a mere hours after the previous post is overwhelming.
UPDATE 03/19/08, 3:17PM:
For those who missed it, for the previous fourteen hours or so my blog looked like this:
I managed to find the folder containing the theme I had been using from it’s original upload back in October. I spent some time changing most of the things I have changed in the past 5 months, and now we’re pretty much back to normal. I still have some things to fix, but at least I can breathe now.
The moral of the story: BACK UP YOUR STUFF.
JakeBouma.com turns 3 years old
March 18th, 2008 | Comments (2)
On May 1, 2003, I hit “publish” on my first-ever blog post using the pre-Google-owned Blogger. This is what it said:
Who knows what I will post on my newly-created blog, not to mention how often. In fact, there is a fairly good chance that this is the last post I will make. I will probably just forget that I created it. There is also a good chance that I will post diligently… we’ll just have to see. I don’t really know why anyone would want to read this, but it sort of makes me feel special to have my very own blog in which I can post my most intimate secrets and most idiotic ramblings.
Just under two years (and several CMS experiments) later, on March 18, 2005, I purchased the domain JakeBouma.com, uploaded WordPress 1.5, and began taking blogging (somewhat) seriously.
Today this blog celebrates its third birthday. According to the CDC the third year marks the entry into the “Preschool” era, leaving toddler-hood in its wake. Between the ages of three and five, this blog’s “world will begin to open up. [It] will become more independent and begin to focus more on adults and children outside of the family. [It] will want to explore and ask about his surroundings even more.” Shoot, my little website is growing up so fast.
In these three years, this humble blog has racked up 523 posts and 1,079 comments, with an average of 3.5 comments per post (factoring out digressions, which don’t allow comments).
And now for a trip down memory lane. Consider this my proud father moment…
Above: JakeBouma.com 2.0. Version 1.0 didn’t last too long because I deleted the whole thing on accident, so I started again from scratch. I’m actually a little embarrassed of this design, but I’m pretty sure less than 10 people ever saw it.
Above: Version 3.0. I wanted to retain some of the visual aspects of 2.0 while moving to a three-column format. My favorite part about this design was the oft-changing banner at the top (Here’s the banner from the blog’s first birthday. I plan on making a collage of them soon-ish).
And now we’re on the current iteration: 4.0. I plan on sticking with this design for a long time; probably until after the blog graduates from preschool.
Blogging goals for 2008
December 20th, 2007 | Comments (1)
In the last four months, JakeBouma.com has gained a lot of exposure in the blogosphere. As with any blog, this is partly due to my efforts (blog redesign & contest, frequency of posting, quality of content, etc.), and party due to the readers. In addition, I was honored to be selected as a member blog for The Daily Scribe.
It is my hope that in 2008 JakeBouma.com continues to grow in popularity and readership and that I continue to be faithful to the medium of blogging. Therefore, I am laying out a few goals for 2008 to give me something for which to aim.
If you have your own blog, I encourage you to come up with some of your own goals for 2008. If you’re a reader, what would you like see for JakeBouma.com in 2008? Leave a comment and let me know!
(ht: Daily Blog Tips)
Review: Web Hosting Choice
December 13th, 2007 | Comments (0)
The following is a sponsored post:
Web Hosting Choice is an “advertisement free guide to choosing the right web host for your personal or business site”.
If you own a self-hosted website or blog of any king — whether it’s big or small — finding the cheapest web hosting service that has all of the options you need is a big priority. That’s where Web Hosting Choice comes in. They have a large database of web hosting services that you can search based upon your website’s particular needs.
Say you’re looking for a website host and you want to pay $5 or less per month with no setup fees, and you need 500mb of storage. You can simply plug all of that information in their search, and they’ll give you a list of web hosting services that match your needs, and they even provide ratings of some of the services. The advanced search page has a bunch of plan details, features, and payment options so you can find exactly what you need without paying for extra junk.
If you’re setting up a self-hosted website for the first time, the quick start guide will walk you through the process, which can be a bit scary at first. Sadly, they make no mention of blogging platforms and their respective installation processes. Their front page says they can help both small websites and large e-commerce websites alike, but it seems like they cater more towards e-commerce and business websites. If they really want to increase their market share, they’ll add information for those looking to set up blogs, which are much easier and user-friendly than messing with FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
So if you’re looking for the right web hosting option for your particular needs, Web Hosting Choice will make the process a little less painful than a Google search.
The Daily Scribe
December 6th, 2007 | Comments (5)
I am proud to announce that JakeBouma.com has been accepted into The Daily Scribe, which bills itself as a “growing compendium of exceptional Christian expression”. TDS currently aggregates content from 23 different blogs. Most (if not all) of them are far superior to mine, and I am humbled to have been accepted. From the website:
Only the highest quality Christian writing and expression is aggregated on the pages of The Daily Scribe. All of the writers featured are dedicated activists in their respective fields and faiths. Their’s is a passion which is obvious, mature and tuned - well tuned. Each aggregated member represents quality and honesty.
You can learn more about The Daily Scribe on their “About” page.
You’ll also notice the new badge on the right sidebar, just below the subscription section. Fancy, huh?
I encourage you to head over there and check out some of the other blogs; there’s some really good stuff. If you’re interested in becoming a member of TDS, you can submit your blog here.
The Subversive Blogger Awards
November 26th, 2007 | Comments (7)
Today I would like to officially announce a brand-spanking-new blog meme called the Subversive Blogger Awards.
American author Henry Miller (1891-1980) once said, “The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive.”
Subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) - even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.
To kick off the Subversive Blogger Awards, I am tagging the following five blogs/bloggers:
1. Pomomusings by Adam Walker Cleaveland
2. Mattopia by Matt Cleaver
3. iamjoshbrown by Josh Brown
4. Headphonaught’s Nanolog by Thomas Mathie
5. soupablog by Paul Soupiset
The rules of participation are pretty straightforward:
1. If you are tagged, write a post with links to five subversive blogs
2. Link back to this post on JakeBouma.com so people can easily find the origin of the meme
3. Optional: Proudly display the “Subversive Blogger Award” somewhere on your blog (images below) with a link to the post that you wrote
That’s all there is to it. Keep in mind that this award is meant as an encouragement to bloggers to keep doing what they’re already doing - being subversive (however you interpret it). May we never forget that Jesus (and His message) was the original and ultimate subversive.
Here are the images you can use for your blog, courtesy of Josh Brown and Red Cowboy Designs. All I ask is that you download them and upload them to your own server.
Blog on.
Four point oh!
October 27th, 2007 | Comments (12)
The picture, as you have obviously inferred, represents me turning on the power to JakeBouma.com 4.0 (in reality, I was turning on the power to Milwaukee). If you’re reading this in a feed reader or email, click through and test drive the new design!
First of all, I would like to offer a sincere “thank you” to everyone who participated in the JakeBouma.com 4.0 prize giveaway. All of the winners have been selected and notified via email. Thanks to all of the prize sponsors as well. The prize giveaway obviously couldn’t have happened without them.
The new iteration of JakeBouma.com is the biggest overhaul to the website in nearly two years, when i switched to the previous theme. Before that, the design of JakeBouma.com was disastrous - like watching Ben Affleck try to act.
The design is based on Nathan Rice’s WordPress theme ElegantBlue, which I modified a bit to my liking. Much thought went into choosing this particular design (see below); I actually tried a couple of different themes before settling on this one. In addition to the new theme, many things have been added/enhanced/tidied up. I encourage you to poke around a bit, but here are a few of the modifications and reasonings:
Anyway, it’s really late and I’m really tired. Rather than continuing to list increasingly minor redesign details, I’m going to go to bed. Leave a comment and let me know how you like (or dislike) the new design!
The JakeBouma.com 4.0 prize giveaway
October 16th, 2007 | Comments (2)
To celebrate the redesign of JakeBouma.com (sneak preview above), I am holding a prize giveaway as a way of saying “thank you” to everyone who reads and supports this blog. Check it:
The prizes:
How to enter:
You will receive one entry for subscribing to my website either by RSS or by email. In the first update, you’ll see a secret word at the bottom (e.g., “The secret word is _______”). Just email me the secret word for your entry into the giveaway.
You will receive two entries for blogging on your own website about this giveaway. You can describe the giveaway any way you want to, but you must link back to this post from yours. After you’ve posted, email me the URL so I can verify and add your entries.
To maximize your chances of winning, subscribe to JakeBouma.com by RSS or by email, then email me the secret word, and write a blog post of your own about the giveaway. You can have a maximum of three entries.
Details:
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, October 24th 2007, and the winners will be announced here on Friday, October 26th 2007. Winners will be selected using a random number generator (random.org).
There is a maximum of one prize per person, and prize sponsors are more than welcome to enter the draw (but obviously not to win your own gift). When you submit your entries, feel free to let me know which item(s) you would prefer, and if you’re selected as a winner, I’ll do my best to award you that particular prize. Good luck… and tell your friends!
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