Friday, June 13, 2008

Blog Reading Efficiency (or A Cry for Help)

OK. I blog. And the rant that follows is too ironic, I get that. But I'm going to say it anyway because it's true. And I need your help. The fact is, that no responsible and productive member of society can possibly read all the great blogs out there. And by "great" I mean well-read and influential. By "great" I mean the "what did you think of the latest post on abcdef today?" kind of "oh, I assumed you had read it" sort of "doesn't everybody read it?" kind of great. The fact is, despite posting with fair regularity on my own blog, I just haven't paid much attention to the blogosphere. And, perhaps to the shame of those that call themselves my friends, I can't muster the motivation to even care that much. But, in returning to the web after the 36th GA, I decided to see what the buzz was on the events of this week. It was then that I realized that I didn't know where to begin reading! I follow half a dozen friends' blogs. Only 3 are Presbyterian and none of them have even commented on GA. So I am issuing a

CRY FOR HELP

Please post in the comments section of this post what you believe to be the top three must-read PCA blogs. Yep...I said PCA. I'm tired of reading famous reformed baptist blogs (read: Tim Challies...no offense intended Tim). If you can't come up with three PCA blogs (or OPC or any other reformed and Presbyterian denomination), then let's at least stick with reformed and covenantal and not baptist (no offense Gunny). I'm not a baptist hater. It's just that I'm trying to immerse myself right now. And since I've come out of a baptist context, every time I read a reformed baptist blog it feels like this hand from the deep trying to pull me back into that world. I'm trying to get something different. Any help?

14 comments:

M. Jay Bennett said...

I only know of a couple:
Reepicheep
Jollyblogger

Matthew Bradley said...

Thanks Jay!

Anyone else? Jared?

Pastor St. John said...

Don't forget Green Baggins and Bayly Blog, also Ligon Duncan and David Sarafolean. There's a bunch here, if you sort through....

http://www.waysidechurch.org/femdeacs/blogs.htm

Marshall

Matthew Bradley said...

Thanks! I'll be posting a list of the top five (which will also be the five that go into my regular blog reading rotation). Keep the suggestions coming!

Jared Nelson said...

Actually, I would be interested in seeing the responses to discover more Reformed or PCA specific blogs. Most of the ones I visit now are broadly reformed or ecumenical:

Reformed Catholicism

Evangelical Catholicity

Sacra Doctrina

I actually like to visit Christianity Today's blog. It is very broad, from Tim Keller (good) to Ed Young (bad), but it is interesting to see the latest news in the Evangelical Circus.

GUNNY said...

What?!

There are other great blogs that are not Reformed Baptist?

Is this April Fool's Day or something?

"every time I read a reformed baptist blog it feels like this hand from the deep trying to pull me back into that world."

Is that hand, by any chance, wearing an Aggie ring?

;-)

Jared Nelson said...

Hey, maybe we should start our own. Team blog about Reformed matters, PCA, etc. If one doesn't exist, create it.

Jeff Wright said...

With Jared, Jay, & Mark, I was going to suggest CRM! ;)

Jeff Wright said...

Matt, could you shoot me an email? I want to ask you something. Thanks.

Jeff

Matthew Bradley said...

Gunny...do you remember the movie Deliverance? The TV version back in the 80's had this thing they would do when you were at a commercial break. About half way through the break they would tell you that it would be back in a moment...remember how TV used to do that? And for Deliverance the shot they gave you while they were assuring you they would return was this hand reaching desperately up out of the water. It scared the snot out of me...I was probably 7 or 8 years old. Hmmm...is it even possible to clean Deliverance up enough for a 7 or 8 year old? Anyway...that's the hand I am imagining.

Jared...I like the idea...let's see what crops up int he search.

Jeff...got your note and I'm thinking about it. Thanks for the consideration.

I also received two other sites by email from friends. The first is Reformation21, the blog of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (not PCA, but includes a few well-known Presbyterians among it's contributors). They also recommended Common Grounds, which looks mostly Presbyterian, but I've only given it a cursory glance so far.

Thanks all! Keep 'em coming. I'll post a list sooner than later.

Hal W. said...

"And, perhaps to the shame of those that call themselves my friends, I can't muster the motivation to even care that much."

Dude- that is probably the funniest thing I've read all week... it's been great spending some time with you this week. I finally added an RSS feed to my Google Homepage... now maybe I'll be a more frequent reader... ! Take care-

Matthew Bradley said...

Thanks Hal!

I had a great time as well. Looking forward to the next get together already.

Omar Ortiz said...

Matt, I recently came across your blog through a friend. I am one of the pastor's at Janie's church in Miami. This is a great question. I have already looked up several of the blogs mentioned. Here are the blogs of PCA pastors I have in my google reader account:

http://rick-hunter.blogspot.com/

http://unfinished1.wordpress.com/

The third blog I would mention would be my own:

http://vomarortiz.wordpress.com

Matthew Bradley said...

Thanks, Omar! I'll check those out.

I'm glad to know at least one of Jani's pastors knows she's around. Keep her in line!

If you ever need incriminating pictures from her childhood, just let me know.