Missionary Blog Watch

Here's another idea for those who want to keep a certain amount of anonymity online.  It's always a challenge to try to keep people informed about your ministry, and yet keep your information from becoming public online.  And the problem's only going to get worse.  This from the Web Evangelism Bulletin:

SENSITIVE LOCATIONS: missions staff in sensitive countries can keep a running check that they are not being written about online by name, by subscribing to Google Alerts using their own name. Then they can ask for references to be deleted.
http://www.googlealert.com/

I tried out the free version, and was able to enter several search terms.  You could enter various forms of your name, along with your country of service, for example.  Then, you're automatically emailed when any of your search terms appear online.  The email contains a short excerpt from the page.  Very handy.

By the way, if you're not already subscribed to the Web Evangelism Bulletin, you oughtta be.  If you're reading this you're already doing something online, evangelism or not.  The bulletin contains links to great new sites, tech tips, thoughts on evangelism, and much more.  I'll make it easy for you - you can subscribe here!

Web Evangelism Bulletin
  - every 2 weeks news | ideas | page promotion

Previous issues | Privacy

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|

Season for thanksgiving
December 9, 2005 08:38

All around the world people celebrate harvest and thanksgiving festivals.  The UK has their Harvest Festival.  Canada has Thanksgiving, as does the USA.  Many other countries have celebrations of thanksgiving for harvest in general, or for specific main crops.

Since I report on blogs, I'm always a little behind (many of these were celebrated between September and November), but I finally decided to share with you some of the best blog entries on these harvest and thanksgiving celebrations from this season.

Many people had lists of things they were thankful for.  Here's one from The Rothchilds Blog (Nigeria) - Thanksgiving

Jessica (from Jessica's Adventures in Language and Travel) claims that this is a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner - if you disagree, comment!

In Thailand, the Akha tribe celebrates a harvest festival.  Read all about it in The Vernon Journal entry, Turkey Day & the Eleventh Month

Quick thoughts on Charlie Brown and Pilgrims in the Huber News post, Theology of a Pilgrim

Hanging on to traditions from their home, this post from Mission Safari - A Kenyan Thanksgiving

Struggling with giving thanks in the face of tragedy - this entry from The Latest - Giving Thanks

A number of people quoted Psalms for Thanksgiving.  I mentioned several in our family blog - see Which One Are You?  But the winner was Psalm 100.  It was quoted in such diverse places as Bangladesh in Kevin's Web Log - All Lands Summoned to Praise God - and in Chile in News 'n' Views Online - Thanksgiving.

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|

The zodiac, and why you should care
December 13, 2005 10:53

I've wondered on a number of occasions why so many missionaries on Blogger have their zodiac sign listed in their profile.  Many Christians I've met prefer to stay away from astrology altogether.

Finally, I understand, thanks to Billy Haas' post Apology (he should have called it Astrology Apology - what do you think?).  Apparently Blogger asks for your birthday, and then automatically includes your horoscope information in your profile!

No matter what blogging service or program you use, take the time to poke around it and see what your visitors see.  Most of your new visitors, and many older ones, will visit your profile or about page - make sure you know what's on it!  Get a friend at another computer to visit and give you their impressions.

Recently I discovered a problem with my blog in Internet Explorer.  Since I rarely use IE, it took me a while to notice.  Don't rely on your visitors to point these things out (and bless those who do!), keep an eye out and take the time to learn how to use your blog a little better.

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|

Evangelical blog awards
December 13, 2005 11:33

Stop what you're doing!  Have you nominated your favourite (or favorite for you Americans) missionary blog over at Eric Ragle's site?  No?  Well, let's get moving.  The interest in the awards has been somewhat half-hearted this year, and it's time for that to change.  Why?  Because many people were first introduced to some excellent missionary blogs (myself included) after these awards last year.

As far as I understand, you don't have to nominate in every category.  Just swing by and nominate your favourite missionary blog, then go back if you think of something else.  It's just a nomination - it won't go on your permanent record.  And it will only take 5 minutes or less.

How to nominate:
Nominations are open until January 5 2006 (but don't wait until then!).  You'll need to go to Eric's forum and register, then post your nominations in the appropriate thread.  That's it!

I strongly encourage you to click on a few blog entries that you see on the front page to refresh your memory.  Also, you can see the partial list of missionary bloggers here.  There are almost 70 blogs on that page, and well over 110 represented on this site.

Note:  Please don't nominate this blog.  Nominate one of the excellent missionary individuals or families that blog that I've written about or listed.  This site exists for them!

If you have a blog, or people you can email, please mention the Evangelical Blog Awards.

Here's the full list of categories.

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|

Family issues, Angola and new photos
December 17, 2005 16:09

There have been so many great posts lately, I'm not sure where to start!  You have to remember that I can only give you a sampling of what's out there.  So here's another eclectic mix:

Rollercoaster is right - many of you will relate to the challenges of adopting.  Read these three from Adventures with God - Baby Finnie, Adoption Rollercoaster, and finally The Rollercoaster.

Insight into Japan from two sources - first, from Cassidy Family Japan:  Prayer Request.  Then a couple of interesting posts from graceNotes:  Two-thirds of Tokyo dads spend less than 2 hours a day with kids - MSN-Mainichi Daily News, and this one - Achikochi: 'My husband lives at the office'

Thoughts about how we treat guests from Scottspiel - give your opinion for the post Guest or Family?

A visit to Angola with the Knightlys - check out their December Update

Finally, some great photos.  Check out a few recent entries at Kevin & Crystal Elworth Missionaries to Mexico - start here and work backwards.  And we end with a safari - visit Simplicity and follow the link to flickr in this post - Safari.

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|

Lead up to Christmas
December 24, 2005 08:15

It's that time of year again - many missionaries are stopping by their blogs to apologize for being too busy to blog. :-) In spite of all that, in the lead up to Christmas there have been some very interesting posts.  So we'll celebrate Christmas Eve here at Missionary-Blogs.com by enjoying some posts from around the world.  Some are specifically about Christmas, others are prayer requests and other news...

From Asia:
The Joys of Language Learning (Japan)
New Level (Taiwan)

From Africa:
Christmas in Nigeria
Christmas in Cameroon
My Least Favorite Thing: Evangelize a New Village (Benin)

From Europe:
Did you know this about France?
¿Dónde está el Hospital? (Ireland)
Christmas across Europe (from France, but photos from all over)

From North America:
God at Work in People's Hearts (Mexico)

¤ To reference this entry use this permalink

|