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A state of the blog address, of sorts.

Blogs have a shelf life. Some are abandoned along the way. The last post remains there, a mute testimony to someone's hopeful writing. Others change in various ways. Writing is a seasonal thing, and writers have less control over their writing than some people think. You follow what is inside and write about it. Live, listen, and follow your gut. As you change so does your writing.

So this is my blog. Real Live Preacher, as I named it back in December of 2002. It has survived a number of significant changes along the way. I think of my blog as having stages, like a child.

The early stage I think of as the wild days of the salon blogging community. I was anonymous and free, and very few Christians came to read. Mostly pagans and people of our world. I loved them, and many came to love me. I shot from the hip, wrote like hell, and sprinkled F-bombs around just because I liked the way they sounded. This stage lasted until perhaps the middle of 2003.

Then the Christians found me. I really hated that. Suddenly Christian people were all over the comments, starting arguments and carrying on theological discussions. I got a lot of email challenging me to defend myself, my theology, and my views of the Bible. I took up the challenge often enough. Sometimes I was too tired. Many who came were wounded Christians who were also tired and disgusted with church politics, fighting, etc. I think I gave them a voice. Who knows? But the pagans and people of our world slowly disappeared from the comments. It broke my heart, truly. I was deeply sorrowful, but you cannot control the comments. They have a life of their own. So be it. This period was from the middle of 2003 until May of 2004.

The next big change was losing my anonymity. People found out who I was, some of them in my church. A book was coming out, and I decided that I wanted my name to be on it. And I was tired of hiding. Anonymity is hard work. I came out of the closet, so to speak, in May of 2004 with this post. Things changed. I lost a significant chunk of freedom, but writing is always defined by a set of filters and boundaries. I just had to adjust mine a bit and get used to it.

The next stage began when I started to unravel. My church is small and pays about half a salary. I was holding down two jobs – pastoring a church and running a web design and hosting business. And I was trying to be a husband and father of three daughters. Somewhere in that mix I was making time to write about 20 hours a week. Some of my essays take 10 hours of work. Some less, some even more.

I began to be emotionally unwell. I didn’t recognize the signs of it, though my family noticed that I had disappeared into a world of writing and isolation. I met with a dear friend from my faith community to talk about things. We agreed that I could do two things and be healthy, but not three.

Pastor, web designer, or serious writer (say 20 hours a week). One of the three had to go.

I decided that I would try to transition away from web design and hosting and into writing as a second vocation. This was a big change because I could no longer write for free. I had to find some kind of income from writing, though I was determined to keep the blog going.

But it’s much harder to make money writing than I imagined. I picked up a couple of regular gigs, but it was slow going.

At this time, around the summer of 2005, two angels appeared. I kid you not. Two people came to me and said, “We’ll pay you to write at Real Live Preacher. Well send you a check every month for a period of time while you try to figure out how to make some kind of a living as a writer. We think your writing is important and a good thing in this world.”

It’s a very humbling thing to accept an offer like that. For one thing, taking money from people can make you dependant. But more importantly, I had to admit that I wasn’t going to be able to do it alone. In truth, I would have done just about anything to keep writing. I wanted this…badly. So I said yes.

I will never be allowed to reveal their names, but truly Real Live Preacher exists today because they helped me with the transition. I dropped the web design business immediately. It was something of a leap of faith, because the interim money had a definite ending. But it “felt right,” as they say, so Jeanene and I decided to go for it.

Then began another stage of Real Live Preacher. I left salon.com in July of 2005 and began blogging with custom Drupal software at my own domain – RealLivePreacher.com. At the time I was hopeful that this blog might generate enough income to combine with my regular writing at the Christian Century and The High Calling and justify the time I was spending writing. It seemed like a little community had developed at Real Live Preacher, and I thought I would try to nurture it a bit. So I put in a chat room and created users with an internal messaging system. And I made it possible for people to “subscribe” to this blog. Just voluntarily send money if they wanted to help with the expenses.

A good number of people did. You can see their blogs over to the right. Most are signed up for $5 a month. Some for $10. I’m grateful to them, because that helps. But truly, not many people are going to subscribe to a blog. That’s not how this culture is developing. Subscriptions peaked at about the level of a nice car payment. A few drop each month and a couple join. It stays about the same.

Now it’s been two years at RealLivePreacher.com. I think I have a good idea of the kind of money you can generate with a blog. Not much. Advertising doesn’t do much for you unless you turn your site into a freakin billboard. I love Real Live Preacher too much for that. I’ve had a couple of modest ads along the way, but I’ve avoided making the site look commercial. I don’t have any paying advertisers now. Anything you see on the menu is there by my choice.

I had a grand plan to publish my own Christmas series. Seven stories in seven books. I got the first two done, but I lost about $1000 starting my own publishing company to get them in print. I can’t afford to spend any writing time on that project right now. It’s on hold. I might shop it around to a publisher someday, but that publisher is going to want me to write all the stories at once. I like writing one every year or so. More than that is too much Christmas for me.

The crazy thing is, I get a ton of traffic now. Somewhere between (sit down) 4000 and 8000 unique visits a day. That estimate is based on two different programs analyzing my server log files. One is conservative and the other less so. That traffic has opened some doors to a new kind of relationship with The Christian Century and The High Calling. When I write for them I send them traffic, and that’s a nice bargaining chip for a writer.

I’ve had some people say, “You just need to get a publicist, get  your name out there, do some interviews, blah blah BLAH, blah blah BLABBITY blah.”

Yeah, maybe. Maybe that kind of thing gets you writing opportunities that pay. Maybe. Still, I think you either write or you spend your time figuring out how to “get your name out there.” I don’t have time to even think about getting my name out there. It feels good to let go of that and not think about it.

I’m going to write. That’s all I ever wanted to do. Because I want to write seriously (meaning with a significant amount of my energy and time), I’m willing to do various things and make some sacrifices for that privilege. I don’t have the luxury of being able to ignore money. I’ll need to take advantages of opportunities that come my way. But I think I’ll just take them if and when they come to me.

So I’m entering a new stage here at Real Live Preacher. This one is marked by my letting go of a dream that a blog like this can make enough money by itself to justify the time it requires. I need to upgrade Drupal (my blog software) because I’m getting KILLED with comment spam. A lot of my earlier essays have terrible spam in the comments now. A Drupal upgrade will allow me to take advantage of its new spam tools. BUT, that means I’m going to lose the chatroom. It was kind of a custom thing and keeping it tied to users is hard. And I’ll probably just get rid of the user accounts except for the subscribers. Why log-in? That’s kind of a pain. You’ll be able to leave your name when you comment or be anonymous, just the way it is at most blogs.

The subscription possibility will stay, and I hope some people will do that. That “car payment” helps a lot. It would be nice if that would at least hold at its present level.

I’ve got my eyes open for new opportunities to make a living as a writer/blogger. Just write and keep your eyes open. That’s what it’s all about anyway, right?

rlp

When I began Real Live Preacher, my great fear was that somehow my writing might harm our church. We were a small community. If a number of families left because of the perceived heresy or vulgarity of the pastor, that would hurt us. It hurts when friends leave the church. There is also a financial risk if you alienate people at a small church. If the budget is tight and three or four families leave, we would be in trouble. The leaders who deal with our budget would be stressed if we suddenly found it hard to pay the electric bill.

So that was scary.

I was also worried that fear would stifle my writing, convincing me to play it safe. Was I prepared to accept the consequences of looking deeply into my own heart and writing about what I found there? The anonymity of the early days gave me just enough courage to give it a try. When that anonymity fell apart, I cringed and waited, but somehow my world did not collapse and neither did the church. There were a few uncomfortable moments, but everyone was okay.

For a time, my blog and my church were in separate worlds. I never mentioned Real Live Preacher at church. It was common knowledge that I had a blog, but I didn’t talk about it on Sunday. If I felt like using the word fuck or expressing some honestly held but admittedly edgy theology at Real Live Preacher, I did. I knew people in my church read the blog, but I tried not to think about how they might react to my writing.

Someone once asked me what has causes the most controversy at Real Live Preacher. Without a doubt it is my occasional use of the word fuck. I don’t know why, but that word represents the crossing of some boundary of vulgarity that makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. I don’t like to use that word, and I don’t use it very often. I always try to find some other way to express myself, but sometimes – just sometimes – only the word fuck will do.

Whenever I use that word I think about my mother-in-law, who reads my blog now. I love her, and I know she loves me. That word bothers her; it probably even hurts her to read it because she wonders what kind of a man would use that sort of language. And I am married to her daughter and the father of her grandchildren, so she cares what kind of man I am. You don’t want to write things that hurt or trouble people who love you unless it is truly necessary. I hate having to choose between writing something with all the power and punch that I feel it deserves and troubling my mother-in-law. But that is the choice I often face.

It helped me to think of the two parts of my life as existing in separate worlds. It was like a grand game of denial. Swallow hard and write. Then don’t talk about it at church or with your mother-in-law. I was happy to keep those worlds apart. If you look at the banner of my blog, the little man in the robe is me, trying to keep two worlds from colliding.

Then something interesting began happening. Occasionally someone would show up at our church because of Real Live Preacher. I remember the first time it happened. A handful of “Real Live Preacher readers,” as they described themselves, drove down from Austin one Sunday morning. The writer in me was flattered, but it was also a little frightening. Still, it’s not as though we can put a sign on our door that says, “Everyone is welcome EXCEPT those who read Gordon’s blog.”

As the months went by, more people came to our church because they had read Real Live Preacher. It became a fairly common occurrence. Some of them wanted to see something that I had written about, like George's rock, or the big cedar tree behind the church. I was a little uncomfortable with this, but nothing bad happened. I got used to it and stopped worrying about it. So what if people come to our church and want to look at a tree or something. Why should I care?

Things began accelerating in December of last year. One Sunday we had nine visiting families. At least half of them found out about our church through my blog. A few of these families have now joined the church, and a couple of others will probably do so before long. For years I put out 70 chairs each Sunday, but now I have to put out 100, which is all we have. We have some folding chairs in case we need them, but yes, we’re out of chairs. I guess we’ll have to buy some more.

I’ve been watching these developments carefully, pondering them and asking myself what all of it means. I’ve decided it doesn’t mean much. People show up at church for all sorts of reasons. How they got there really isn’t that important.

I have noticed something though. I don’t know if it is good or bad, and it really doesn’t matter since I can’t control it anyway. Real Live Preacher may have become a kind of filter for our church. Some church people put a lot of stock in the beliefs, public presence, and life of their pastor. If someone is uncomfortable with either the theology or the occasionally stark honesty of Real Live Preacher, they might not come to our church at all. Or if they come, they might not stay. On the other hand, here are these people who are coming specifically because they like the theology and stark honesty of RLP.

If indeed Real Live Preacher has become a filter for our church, then my blog will change the nature of Covenant Baptist Church over time. I don't want that kind of power. The only thing that makes this situation even palatable is that I never asked for this, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.

Worlds are colliding, and there is nothing I can do. The world of my writing and the world of my church have ground together slowly, like one galaxy passing through another. This may be good news, bad news, or just plain news, but stopping the collision is definitely out of my hands at this point.

Whaddya gonna do?

Recently I had lunch with a visiting family after church. Their son told them about Real Live Preacher, and they began reading it. Months went by, and they decided to show up on a Sunday morning. Lunch was enjoyable. They seem like the sort of people who need to find us. I noticed how relaxed I was with then, chatting about our church or Real Live Preacher, almost as if there was no longer any boundary between my writing and my life as a pastor.

Good thing? Bad thing? Just a thing?

I don’t know. What does it matter? It’s happening, and as usual, I feel that I am just on for the ride.

Who knows where this is going?

Rlp

There are a few things going on right now.

Sage Chapel:
I've been invited to preach at Cornell University's Sage Chapel on Sunday, April 9th. This seems very funny to me because no one has ever asked me to do anything fancy like this. Heck, I don't even own a suit. I hope it's not too formal or anything. Maybe I can borrow a robe from someone. (Hey, don't tell anyone at Cornell that I don't have a suit, okay? Cause that's kind of embarrassing)

Cornell University is in Ithaca, New York. I've never been to Ithaca, and I don't know how to get there. Jeanene and I will fly into some airport, obviously, and rent a car. I guess we'll just buy a map and find our way. I think the nearest airport might be like 100 or maybe 200 miles from the University. OF COURSE I'll take pictures and tell you about it when I get back. Doubtless something funny will happen to me.

Current Writing:
I'm working feverishly on a new RLPD story based on this text. This story will be my sermon at Cornell. I'm not going to have a lot to say myself. Instead I'm going to try to make the gospel come roaring to life right before their eyes. What happens to people after that is really not my business, thank goodness.

I got the idea behind my interpretation of this text from Walter Rauschenbusch. I'll post the finished story here of course.

Audio File Available:
I've put a new audio file sample online. This one is my Jeanene and I sitting around chatting about Real Live Preacher and how it has changed our lives. It's DEFINITELY conversational with laughing and goofing around. We're silly people.

Book Reviews:
I am about to open the Book Review Section to anyone who wants to submit a review. I think that's about a week away. You'll be able to email me a review and have it posted online. You can submit a link to your own blog address at the bottom of your review, which will get you a little traffic for your trouble.

What kind of books do I want reviewed? Anything and everything. Whatever you are reading that is meaningful to you. Viva Books will edit the reviews and have the final say about what goes online.

Forums:
The long-awaited discussion forums are now online. (See new menu item on the left) The discussion forums work pretty much like the comments. So if a discussion arises from something I wrote, let's continue to use the comments like we always have. However, if you are a registered RLP user, you can launch a discussion topic of your own. I have no idea how this will work or if anyone is interested in it. I guess we'll just wait and see.

rlp

I admit this is a little self-indulgent of me. I'm writing this in part so that I can simply send a link to it in response to the emails I'm getting from people who say they miss the old Real Live Preacher blog. They range in tone from wistful to accusing. Last night a woman took the time to write me and let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I've become just like the televangelists. I wish I were healthy enough to say that I laugh that sort of thing off. I'm healthy enough not to care about the usual critical emails, but since I have such a deep fear of commercialization and its cheapening effects, I admit that stung a little. And I wrote her an angry response that was meant to hurt. I wanted to sting her back. I don't like it when I get like that.

So let me say this as carefully and clearly as I can. I've said it before, but not everyone reads everything I write. So if you've missed it, here it is again:

I miss the old Real Live Preacher site too. It was nice to launch a blog and throw myself into it with wild, anonymous abandon. It was fun being the cussing, edgy, Texas preacher. It was fun when people were trying to figure out who I was. It was fun, but that's over now. There is no going back. We might as well stop talking about it as if going back was an option.

There is no option for me that involves going back to the old days. The old Real Live Preacher was fun, but he took everything from me. I wonder if anyone but a writer can comprehend the absolute and uncompromising commitment to the craft that it takes to produce the amount of writing I've done over the last three years. It's not a little bit of work. It is everything. It is one gasp short of selling your soul. I would have lost my marriage if I had kept it up. The three sisters would not have their father. I'll never forget the sad day that Jeanene turned away from the computer screen and said, "It's beautiful, but it's hard because this is what you used to give me. This is my Gordon and now you're just handing him out to everyone."

Here's the harder part. I can't write in a half-ass manner. I cannot. I won't. And if I gave myself the chance, I would sell my marriage and my children down the river for just one more essay. Oh, I wouldn't say that out loud, and the transaction wouldn't be that obvious. I wouldn't sell them all at once. I'd sell them piece by piece until there was nothing left. I would sneak out of the house to write and say I was going to visit the sick. I would stay up until 3 am to finish something and be sleepy and irritable the next day. I would hide essays around the house, behind books and in little plastic bags floating in the toilet tanks.

Do you like my writing? This is what it takes. I have no idea how to be balanced and do this.

So yes, the old Real Live Preacher site is gone and the new one is all we have. And sure, there's a couple of money things cluttering up the works now. There's a bookstore, and now some audio files for subscribers, and a fair amount of my energy goes into the Christian Century work and into some other paid writing gigs that I get from time to time.

It's bottom-line time for me, folks. I had nowhere left to run. I had nothing left to sell. I had no more tricks up my sleeve. I either find a way to make a little money as a writer to justify the time it takes, or.....

Or what? I don't know. I don't want to know because you and I both know that I can't stop writing. So I'm trying not to think about "Or What?" I don't want to think about it. I'm not going to think about it.

So RLP is what it is. It's not like I ever had any say in the matter. I just wanted to write. It's different now. Less cussing, more polish, whatever. We can like it or not like it, but let's not pretend there is any other option.

The old Real Live Preacher is gone. He went away and we can't have him anymore. He took a long, wistful look at the horizon, but then he turned his horse around and rode home to Jeanene and the girls. He is turning back to them. He is trying to do the right thing.

Do you know why I chose this image to represent RLP? He's a small man holding two forces at bay. His writing and his life. The pressure of the impending collision is causing all sorts of creative sparks and stars. He is trying to live inside of that collision. And he's willing to do just about anything to stay in that sweet spot for as long as he can.

rlp and me

I've created a new audio file and opened an audio section here at Real Live Preacher. For the next year, I'm going to be producing AT LEAST one audio file a week, and probably more than that. Once I get this down, it shouldn't take me long.

Next up, my wife Jeanene and I are going to sit in front of the microphone and talk about what Real Live Preacher has done to and for our family. You'll get her perspective on this thing. Neither of us have felt very much in control of it. Real Live Preacher kind of took over our lives. We're still trying to figure out what this means for us. It will just be casual conversation. Like you were sitting down and talking with us.

The RLP podcast will probably be ready by the end of the month.

As I said in my recent State of the Blog Address, the audio section is a way of saying thank you to RLP subscribers. But the first version of it is open right not to anyone.

rlp

January 2006.

So where am I with the whole Real Live Preacher thing? It’s a good question and one that I ask myself quite often.

For you newcomers, here is a short version of the story so far:

In December of 2002 I launched a blog that I called “Real Live Preacher.” This was my first entry. I had no grandiose plans at the time. I simply wanted to write, and I had an idea that if I had a blog I would be driven to write. Writers need motivation and I wanted some. It worked. I wrote hard for two years as an anonymous blogger. My original salon blog is still online here.

But things always change, don't they? People in my church found out about RLP. People in the blog world found out about my church. And a lot of people started showing up to read what I was writing, which was scary and thrilling. There was a book and a chance to write for Christian Century and now a couple of other publications. It was very exciting up until the time that I started falling apart.

Potential bloggers listen to me now - there is no way you can anticipate the unholy and wholly consuming way that a blog can take over your life. I was trying to hold down two jobs, be a good husband and father, and maintain the juggernaut that was Real Live Preacher. I couldn't do it, and I couldn't stop doing it. So my body shut down and I became physically and emotionally unwell. I still am a bit, but getting better. Compulsion is a part of serious writing; I'm convinced of it. I do not know how to be healthy with this yet, but I'm working on it.

So I had to make a choice, and I did. I quit my second job (web design and hosting) to devote myself to writing and maintaining Real Live Preacher. It's a risk, but it's my own risk, and I don't ask for sympathy or make apologies. This is what I want to do, and it seems like a good thing to be doing. That's the deal.

And now to the state of the blog address:

In August I put some fairly serious money into launching this new blog software and began trying to make money as a writer without losing my soul. That ain't easy, but if it can be done, I aim to be one who does it. (Pardon the "Texas twang" to that last statement, but it feels right to say it that way.)

So how does one make money as a writer/blogger?

1. See if you can write for a magazine or in some respectable way that pays. (Not easy and takes time to build a network)
    
2. See if people will click on a Paypal button sometimes and just give you money. Like magic.
    
3. Start publishing your own stuff and sell it in your own network instead of through a publisher. You'll make a few dollars a copy instead of a few cents a copy.
   
   In case you're wondering, I made a grand total of $3600 on the Eerdmans book, "RealLivePreacher.com." And this is a book that won the Independent Publisher's Award for essay/nonfiction in 2005. It's a tough world out there for writers.
    
4. Try to make your blog into something that people will enjoy. Include some fun features like chatting and the ability to send each other messages and the like. Hope that number 4 will entice a few people to think about number 2.
    
5. Setup some kind of bookstore where you get a commission on books bought there. Not much money, but every bit counts.
    
6. Never never never never forget your basic commitment to writing and to the blog. Dance with the one that brung you, as we say here in the Lone Star State. Write like hell; be brave; take risks; make people angry sometimes; put yourself and your work out there and see what happens; write down the bones, as Natalie Goldberg says.

So how has it worked so far?

Well, there is potential, but things aren't happening as quickly as I had hoped. I make from 200 to 500 dollars a month from Christian Century for writing and sending them some traffic. The paypal thing was awesome for the first month (about $3000!) and then nothing, really. That's kind of the way it goes with Paypal buttons.

The Christmas CD sold about 300 copies. I was hoping for 1000, but I learned something about what my own network can do. There was no real publicity for it. And I paid for producing the CD and finished paying Matt for his work on the blog. That's all good. The Christmas CD has a life of its own. It will be here next year, along with the Shepherd story.

The RLP bookstore is just getting started. I don't really anticipate making much money there. It serves a nice purpose though.

What does the future hold for RLP?

Unknown at this time. I'm trying to bring my writing income up to about $2,500 a month from an ever increasing number of sources. That's ambitious I know, but that amount would justify my brash and perhaps foolhardy dumping of my web design income and the jump into the world of writing.

I have a few more ideas to try:

1. Voluntary Subscriptions - You may now subscribe to Real Live Preacher. That means you can let Paypal grab a few dollars a month or a quarter out of your account to support this blog. There will be a special email list for subscribers. I'll send these folks more regular emails (if they wish to receive them) to let them know what's coming up and what's happening behind the scenes as I try to make this thing fly. Click here to see the new subscription page.
    
2. Audio Files -As a way of saying thank you to subscribers who give $5.00 a month or more, I have begun making audio files of my essays and stories. I'll make them available along with a podcast for subscribers. I'll include some commentary and chat at the end of some. And maybe tell some of the stories behind the essays. (And yes, if you want to drop $60 in a one time payment and get access to the audio files for a year, that will be fine.) Click here for a sample audio file.
    
3. RLP Blogs - Christian Century will be the first to have a blog here at Real Live Preacher. They will have the same software that I have and will be listed on the left menu. I feel that others may be willing to pay for the opportunity to be dropped into a pretty heavy stream of internet traffic. We'll see where that goes.

I hope you've noticed that I have not abandoned my first commitment to write as well as I can and to put that writing online where anyone may read it. It still costs nothing to read Real Live Preacher. These other things are extra and simply my attempt to find a creative, new way to make a reasonable living as a writer.

What will happen if it doesn't work? I don't know. For some reason I feel certain that I shouldn't spend any energy worrying about that. Today's worries are enough for today, and the future will bring what it will bring, as it always does.

So that's where things stand right now. I appreciate your kind affirmation and support these last three years. It's been a wonderful and very affirming journey so far. And hey, I'm open to suggestions and ideas. Email me if you have some.

peace,

Gordon Atkinson (rlp)

Click to Subscribe to RLP

Hey there. I've written a "State of the Blog" address, so to speak, wherein I talk about the future of Real Live Preacher. What are my plans? What do I see ahead? That sort of thing. Everything changes, including the life and voice of a writer. This blog has certainly changed over the last three years. I went through a time where it seemed like everything I wrote had a more obvious "Christian" feel to it, which bothered me for some reason. Lately I feel like I'm finding my old voice again. That makes me happy. It's not like I have a whole lot of control over it. I rarely plan my writing, preferring to just follow what's in my guts.

Today I'm trying to create an audio file using a compressor along with my MBox. I'm planning on a more regular production of audio files and, hopefully, a podcast. I think that would be fun. First I have to master the process of recording, which isn't as easy as it would seem. After that, it's just a matter of taking a little extra time to record the stuff I write.

So today I'll be doing that. I'll probably post the state of the blog address either tomorrow or Thursday. And then there are two finished essays coming right on the heels of that.

See ya soon,

rlp

I've added another little feature that some have asked for. Over on the right menu under "New Feature!" there is a link to a page where you can search for a specific user. We're closing in on 1300 registered users here, which is cool. You can pull up all the users from a particular state or country (some of the countries are obviously false, but that's kind of fun as well), or you can search for someone by user name or even by a partial user name. So if someone leaves a comment that intrigues you, you can find them and send them a private message if you like.

Note: You'll have to use the internal message system, because I can't make the email addresses public for obvious reasons. You click on a user's name and then click "send private message."

I also plan to send an email to all of you who are registered in a week or so. I'm VERY sensitive about spam and junk mail, so I'll only do this on rare occasions. I'm thinking a couple of times a year. In the email I'll tell you about some things that will be happening here in the near future.

Online Interviews from the Wittenburg Door - Viva has been given permission to publish Wittenburg Door interviews at the RLP bookstore. The first one is online now. Those familiar with the Wittenburg Door know how insightful and funny they can be.

rlp

Yesterday a seminary student from Georgia became RLP's 1000th registered user. His user name is goghdawgs.

And there was much rejoicing......yay.

Okay, go back to what you were doing. Nothing to see here.

It's no big deal, but I admit I was watching for it. I'm going to send him the Christmas CD if he wants it.

rlp

My server was compromised by a security weakness in the Real Live Preacher XML feed. The person or persons involved were using our server to route spam. Grrr! There were a million emails in our mail queue this morning.

I was forced to disable the feed. I'll have to get Matt to find a more secure way to offer a subscriber feed to you. Of course, those who rely on my XML feed to know when I post things won't get this message for awhile.

There are a number of pretty serious techies out there who read rlp. If you have a suggested script, let me know.

rlp

It was two years ago today that I downloaded blog software from the salon server, took a deep breath, and launched Real Live Preacher. Here is my first entry. It seems light-hearted and hopeful to me now. And a little mischievous.

I had no idea what was going to happen.

I've never said anything about my ranking among the salon blogs or my page reads before, but I will say something now. I notice the Salon server says I'm approaching 900,000 visits. That amazes me. Thank you for honoring me with your time and by reading my work. You have encouraged me, challenged me, and most of all given me a motivation to write.

As for the future, we shall see what we shall see. I've given up trying to figure out where this thing is going.

love,

rlp and me

ps - Check out the comments from that first day. You'll see my first contact from Hugh Elliot, whom I wrote more about here and here and who appeared at the end of this one. Also a tough question up front from The Raven, a now defunct but once popular salon blog. Yeah, in those early days, no one knew quite what to make of the preacher.