Said At Southern.com - Is now open

ON the third try I think I've found a design that I can work with and build upon at the new site. Stop by and let me know what you think. All new content will be appearing at Said At Southern.com

Said At Southern - Take Two

Day 2 - design #2

I've reworked the site based on feedback. It is much cleaner. The only big drawback is a two column theme. What do you think?

7 Posts For the Weekend

Here are my top seven posts from 4/20/2007 - 4/26/2007. If I've missed your favorite post - just let me know in the comments. These are in no particular order. You can see all my "Well Said . . . " picks here.

1. "Laden With the Power to Devalue Human Life" -- The... from Albert Mohler's Blog. Dr. Mohler addresses the Supreme Court decision on partial birth abortion.
   
2. An Open Letter to Morris Chapman on Biblical Eldership
   from Provocations & Pantings. Another well written 'provocation' by Timmy reminds us of the historic baptist understanding of elders.
3. MUSIC AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD In the modern e... from Ron's Blog. How does the music ministry of your church relate to God's Word? Here is an important issue that is often a casualty of the worship wars.
4. The Authority of the King: Jesus and Divorce (Exposition... from Pastor Steve Weaver's Blog. Steve's sermon is a great example of how SBTS alumni don't shrink from unpopular texts when preaching.
5. Reading Books Instead of Blogs from consumed. Owen reminds us we give us when we read too many blogs.
6. Mockingbird: The Postlogue from Off The Wire. Matt finishes his Derek Webb review. If you're interested in doing cultural analysis on music check out his whole series on Mockingbird.
7. “Should the Water Divide Us? Baptism, Church Membership, and the Glory of Christ” notes on a lecture by Dr. Greg Wills,... from Strange BaptistFire. Andrew provided another excellent live blog from Southern Seminary.

Thanks for your links to Said At Southern:

• The Christian Blogosphere: A Place Where...

• Introducing Said @ Southern Seminary

• Ramblings, Thoughts, and What We Think . . .

• How old is your pastor?

• The (Possible) Spiritual Benefits of Blogging

• Tory D. Giddens

You can subscribe to our feed or get Said At Southern updates via email.

Comments are open. Be sure to review our User Expectations.

- posted by Tony Kummer

Said At Southern User Expectations

The Said At Southern team has written this list of expectations to define how our blog works.

You can think of this as a user agreement or blogger covenant. Either way - we want to clarify how our blog works, who gets linked, how we moderate comments and how you can participate in this project.

Said At Southern User Expectations

1. We insist that all participants maintain their personal blogs in a way that honors Christ. We want to only write in a way that is appropriate for Christian witnesses. "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29 ESV
2. We insist that all participants clearly identify their real name on comments and on their personal blogs. We want you to avoid anonymous opinions. We do not encourage bloggers to have an autonomous virtual identity. For example I use "Tony Kummer" or "T. Kummer." It is not acceptable to use initials only or an assumed nickname "Super Seminary Smarty" unless your blogger profile or personal blog clearly states your real identity.
   
3. We insist that all participants be willing to receive and give correction when these expectations are not met. As believers in Christ we are responsible to confront one anther when our blogs do not honor Christ.
4. We insist that all participants avoid useless conversations. There are many topics and opinions that are out of bounds for Christians. “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.” 2 Timothy 2:23 ESV
5. We invite all participants to fully support and contribute to Said at Southern. We have structured our blog to allow multiple levels of participation
• Open Comments: We encourage humble, relevant and thoughtful comments by anyone who reads this blog. This extends beyond the SBTS blogging community. We want to interact with readers from diverse backgrounds.
  
• Linked Bloggers: This is the entry level of participation. These blogs get linked from the aggregator boxes. We request that all linked bloggers reciprocate by linking us on their blogs.
• Contributing Bloggers: In addition to linking Said At Southern, these bloggers contribute via comments and backlinked posts. On our sidebar we will display the last several posts from our contributing bloggers. They are invited to submit guest posts for Said At Southern.
• Featured Bloggers: At its core Said At Southern is an echo-chamber for what SBTS bloggers are saying. On our sidebar we will display the last several posts from our featured bloggers. Our design is to give better exposure to better content. This group of students, faculty and alumni are increasingly important voices in the blogosphere. Inclusion in the "Featured Bloggers" category is by the discretion of the Said At Southern team.
  

If you have suggestions on how we can improve these expectations please contribute them to the comment section.

Be sure to subscribe to our feed in a reader or Get Said At Southern via Email.

Comments are open.

- posted by Tony Kummer

Top 10 Posts For The Weekend - plus 7 extra

What a week. I'm featuring 17 posts with the sincere promise that I will be more discerning next week. But as I reviewed my "Well Said . . ." file I realized this was a special week.

The blogosphere exploded with stories and comments about the Virginia Tech shootings. We're still seeing and feeling the magnitude of this event. I am so pleased that the God-centered bloggers were prepared to give an answer for their hope. I tracked 31 posts dealing with VT. You can browse them with my google reader if you like. Here are the highlights:

Top 5 posts about the VT tragedy

1. Virginia Tech - Our Home for Six Years from Power of Change
   
   
2. Virginia Tech: A Biblical Response from The Silent Holocron
   
   
3. Therapy or Theology? Responding to the Massacre. from Denny Burk
   
   
4. On Faith -- Facing the Reality of Evil from Albert Mohler's Blog
   
   
5. Living in an Unseen Storm: Christians and the Disturbed from consumed
   

That news rightly dominated the first half of the week. But Wednesday blogging was returning to normal. Here are a few more posts we linked that deserve your attention. If I've left out your greatest blogging achievement - leave a message in the comments.

12 More Posts For The Weekend

• The “Heresy” of Particular Love from The Silent Holocron
  
  
• Family Driven Faith from sixsteps | 2 Samuel 6:13
  
  
• Justification by Faith Part 5: Exposition Romans 4:1-8 from Christ, My Righteousness
  
  
• Should churches intentionally pursue ethnic diversity? from Excogitating Engineer
  
  
• Book Review: The Brothers Karamazov from Kingdom People
  
  
• Study says pastors are actually the happiest and most... from confessions of a recovering pharisee
  
  
• Why Are You Reformed? from Provocations & Pantings
  
  
• How Suffering Glorifies God - a Fighter Verse meditation... from Will The Next Generation Treasure Christ?
  
  
• How Blogging Can Be Narcissistic from consumed
  
  
• God is Great, God is Good...(Or, Sovereign Providence) from Culturality & Missiology
  
  
• Joy Defies the Prosperity Gospel from Larger Needle...or Smaller Camel
  
  
• Ten Great Christian Biographies from Dr. Mohler

These are in no set order. If we've left out a post that changed your life just leave a comment to that effect.

New backlinks to Said at Southern found at Technorati this week:

• Worship Blog linked our coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings
• .xaueious. snippets linked our John Piper video
• Colossians Three Sixteen linked our 5 Questions To Ask Before Your Next Post
  

Be sure to subscribe to our feed in a reader or Get Said At Southern via Email.

Comments are open. We still need a catchy phrase for our blogspotting.

- posted by Tony Kummer, April 20, 2007

5 Ways We Can Help Your Blog

Blogging isn't fair.

SBTS bloggers are engaging culture like few others can: from a Bible-saturated, God-glorifying, Truth-defending, Church-serving, Christ-exalting worldview.

These are the best blogs that NO ONE READS. How will your voice be heard above the noise of the blogosphere?

We can help.

We’re building this blog to serve you. Our site is an open door to all that is being Said At Southern. We only started last month but the response had been strong. View our traffic and links. That said, here are 5 ways we can help your blog:

1. Growing Traffic
   Our site is designed to drive traffic to your site. The aggregator boxes, the RSS feed displays, the weakly reviews, the top secret features we’re developing – all of this is will send readers your way.
   
   
2. Our Network
   At its core blogging is a social expression. Intelligent conversation will make you a better thinking and a better blogger. When you read Kingdom People, Consumed, Col 3.16 and P&P you will grow. Interact with these guys and it will happen faster.
   
   
3. Comment Threads
   Add relevant, thoughtful and humble comments to all our posts. Readers will want more. This is old news if you watch your traffic. Regular comments here will payback with comments on your blog. Because we're building a conversation, the S@S team replies to comments several times per day.
   
   
4. Guest Blogging Opportunities
   We're seeking guest content for Said At Southern. Your content can be a regular part of what we publish. This is open to alumni, students and faculty. Just email TonyKummer@Gmail.com
   
   
5. Expectations
   This week we will post our “Said At Southern Blogger Expectations.” This document will bring accountability and quality control to our growing network. How does a Christian blog? What scriptures should restrain and compel us in what we write? Our user agreement will help you glorify God when you blog.

All this begs the question, "How can I help Said At Southern?" We'll have to get to that in another post. For now subscribe to our feed in a reader or Get Said At Southern via Email.

Comments are open. Where would you like to see this Said At Southern? What new features would you suggest?

- posted by Tony Kummer, April 16, 2007

Eleven Posts For The Weekend

Here is my version of a Said At Southern Top 11 for this week. It seemed like this week everyone was publishing lengthy and well conceived posts. I am amazed to see the diversity and quality represented by the SBTS blogging community. Students and alumni who can produce this kind of content are a great endorsement of Southern Seminary.

Here are my top eleven in no particular order. If I've missed your favorite post - just let me know in the comments.

• Sam Storms on the SBC also from P&P
  
  
• My Deaf Church Is Dying! from The Silent Holocron
  
  
• Is the Movie 300 Speaking Truly About Men? from Consumed
  
  
• God Who Holds the Hurricanes . . . and His People from P&P
  
  
• “My Enemies are Men Like Me”: A Dialogue from Off the Wire
  
  
• A Humble Plea to Southern Baptist Politicos: Observations and Proposal from Nathan Finn
  
  
• Happy Birthday Paul from Reactions and Worship
  
  
• The Masculinity of Study from Colossians Three Sixteen
  
  
• how to do missional church ... annotated bibliography from I'd rather laugh than cry
  
  
• VBS nightmare - a disturbing account of a dangerous new trend in Children's ministry from Will The Next Generation Treasure Christ?
  
  
• The Myth of the Church-Hopping Pastor from Kingdom People

- posted by Tony Kummer on April 14, 2007.