New Sidebar

I've been meaning to do this for ages! Finally a friend asked me a question about which blogs I read, and I told her that I keep most of that information on Bloglines (though that is outdated as well.) But the links on the side of the page do reflect something about the author of the blog, and in my case they said the following--Does not stay up to date on her material (some of those blogs were not even in use anymore); Ignores her blogging friends--there are several people that I read that were not on the sidebar (but they are now :) ).

Anyway, I decided to put the other blogs or bloggers into categories. BUT as you know blogs are usually much too broad for these categories to be rigid. Plus I'm not one to particularly like being labled, so I do this with a little bit of misgiving--but here goes:

"Dinner Club" If I were to start a dinner club, I'd get these people together because I think they would enjoy each other's company. These are people (well all women actually) who share similarities (Most are moms. Most have children still at home. All have blogs.) I look forward to adding more to this list, I like big gatherings. That being said, most, though not all in this group, read each other to some degree, so I'll move on.

The second group includes blogs where I frequently lurk (and sometimes post)--if I saw these people at a coffeeshop I would take my book and my extra-hot cafe mocha with whip . . . oh, and decaf and (I hate to admit this) eavesdrop. Or I might introduce myself and join them depending upon circumstances. Chris and Steve: are from my church and have great blogs. Chris's oftentimes tackles controversial theological issues in a way that makes sense to average people--like me. Bowden McElroy is a pastor and a counselor (which qualifies anyone for sainthood in my book) and he provides useful material about family and child matters. He also posts a sort of "interesting blogs of the week" post once a week.

Andrew Hamilton is in Perth, Australia, so I am reading him a little bit more right now. One note: Australia is as big as the continental United States. Andrew is in Perth and we are moving to Sydney, so it is as if I am reading someone's blog in San Francisco to get a feel for what it is like to live in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Scot Mcknight After one days' reading of this, I think you can just walk across the stage and grab your Divinity degree diploma.

Brian McLaren's a bit controversial, but I think he is often taken out of context. Big Emerging Church leader. Plus he is (I believe) an English major who is now a preacher, so, there is hope. Here's at least one that is gainfully employed and not an English teacher.

Amy Scott is funny, funny, funny and writes beautifully. Also, by all indications has a huge readership among people with large families. She homeschools too.

Tim Challis says he started out blogging as a way to let the relatives know about his kids, now look at him!

The Help Desk list refers to people who frequently provide useful information of various flavors. I'll let you look at your leisure.

UPDATE: Just added--had trouble finding him--Rick Cassels who just led a youth weekend at a very unique locations. Ummm . . . If Rick wanted to come with Terri to the dinner party, I'd let him in.