Some of you know that I’m one of the editors of the High Calling Network. It’s one of my gigs. The people I work with are just great. And I love the basic message of the High Calling, which is that Christianity is a way of life more than a series of doctrinal statements. Christianity is something that is lived, day-by-day. I thought I’d introduce three of the people I work with at HCB. We three comprise what you might call the managing editorial team. I think my title is “founding editor”, which sounds delightfully important, so I’m quite happy with it.

Marcus Goodyear. Marcus and I go back years. He works for the High Calling and is my editor there when I write. Marcus and I envisioned the High Calling Blog Network years ago sitting in Benigan’s and drawing on napkins and bits of paper. Marcus is the senior editor of High Calling Blogs. He’s the guy at the top.

Chris Cree is our technical Wordpress guru. Chris has many talents and is the brains behind our current, very complex, Wordpress theme. I happen to love a thing he did back in 2008 when he recorded 40 days of bed head.

L.L. Barkat is our managing editor. She is also a poet, a wonderful writer (That sort of goes without saying with poets), and a lovely person. I’ve interacted with her online in numerous meetings. She always has a smile on her face. That may seem like a simple thing, but I’ve come to appreciate that about her.

Currently I’m exploring something new at the High Calling…

I’ve done just about everything over the years at the High Calling. Currently my assignment is to explore something that seems, at least when you first think about it, impossible. An online retreat. How might something like that happen? I posted something there today. If you have any ideas, please stop by and leave a comment.

I’ve been hearing variations of the same conversation for years now. And It always starts the same way. Someone refers to facebook or a blog network or some other online social experience as a “community”. Immediately, someone from a church or a club or some other traditional social group becomes agitated and defensive for some reason. That person responds in a tone of righteous indignation.

“That’s not a community! You can’t have community unless you’re relating to people in person.”

If you’re lucky, that’s all you will hear. Occasionally though, this exchange will be followed by a lengthy diatribe on the nature of community, how essential it is to humanity, and how it definitely cannot happen online.

<Sigh>….  Read more at High Calling Blogs