All About Psalms 23 - Christain Group Writing Project

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gwppsalms23

This group writing project had been so much fun and I have loved reading all of the entries.  I've been encouraged, inspired, and moved to tears. I highly encourage you to read all the posts submitted, you won't be sorry.

We had 25 bloggers submit their posts to the group writing project.  Not bad for the first time. :)

Without futher ado, below are all the bloggers who participated and a link to their post.

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:1

"The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want."

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:2

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters."

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:3

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake."

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:4

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:5

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

All of these bloggers wrote on Psalms 23:6

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

I am in the process of compiling all the entries into a special report.  If you do NOT want your post included in the special report, please email me using the contact form and let me know.  The special report will be free for everyone to give away on their own blogs.

I have contacted the winner of the Twitter background but do not want to reveal her name until I hear back from her.

This group writing project has been so much fun and such an encouragement to me.  We will be doing this again!

courtneysig
courtneysig

Faithful Devotions

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submitandwin
submitandwin

I want to introduce you all to Faithful Blogger's new sister site, Faithful Devotions where we are sharing the Word of God one post at a time. I hope that you will find encouragement and inspiration at Faithful Devotions. I am also looking for some guest posts and regular contributors to Faithful Devotions. I'm even holding a little contest just for that. Everyone who submits a guest post at Faithful Devotions over the next two week period will be entered to win a free 30 minute blog/online business consultation with me. You can ask me any questions about blogging or running an online business you want. You can get my feedback on anything you wish. We can even just spend the time brainstorming ideas. What ever the winner wants.

If you are interested in becoming a regular contributor at Faithful Devotions, just visit www.faithfuldevotions.com and follow the links for "guest posting".  

I hope you click on over read some of the devotions already posted, subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't mess any new devotions, and even submit a devotion to be posted.

courtneysig
courtneysig

A Must Have Blogging Tool

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Last week I asked you to take a short one question survey telling me what you want to learn more about.  So far the number one thing Christian bloggers want to learn more about are the different types of blogging tools available. In my personal opinion if you are going to blog, especially if you are going to blog for a profit, you need to use WordPress for your blogging platform.  While WordPress is free you do have to have a web hosting account.   A web host is a company that stores all your  files and content to be shown on the Internet.  Depending on the company you go with you can get a web host account for as low as $5 a month. You also have to purchase a domain name, which is your url, and that cost is usually around $10 a year.

For me, reliable web hosting is a must have blogging tool.  I need a web host that I can count on to be up and running on a consistent basis, that has excellent support, and is affordable.  While their are many excellent web hosting companies available such as Host Gator, my web host of choice is MomWebs and here's why.

  1. Affordability - MomWebs smallest package starts at $15/quarter which comes out to $5 a month.  Super affordable.  I am on the Mult-Plan, only $10 a month, which allows me to host multiple domain names/websites under the same account.  This is important to me because it helps to make managing multiple sites simple and I don't have to have multiple web hosting accounts which can add up money wise.
  2. Support - I have never had support as great as the support offered by MomWebs.  Scott, their tech guy, knows his stuff and is very quick to reply and happy to help.  I have never not had my email replied to or issued acknowledge and taken care of in less than 24 hours.  MomWebs will even move your site over from another host for you.   I have tried many different web hosts before and MomWebs has the best support, hands down.
  3. Uptime - I use a service called Service Uptime to notify me whenever my websites go down.  Service Uptime monitors your website 24/7/365 and alerts you immediately by email if your website is unavailability or is having performance problems.  The entire time I have been with MomWebs, about 9 months now, I have gotten one email from Service Uptime telling me my site was down.  Then less then a minute later I got another email telling me the site was back up.  MomWebs has excellent uptime!
  4. Owners- MomWebs is owned is by 2 ladies well known in the work at home mom world, Kelly McCausey and Nicole Dean. Not only do I admire both of these ladies and the online businesses they built for themselves, but Kelly is also a believer.  I want to support fellow Christians in their business endeavors.  I know I can trust Kelly and know that she has the work at home mom community in her heart.

For me MomWebs is the only web hosting company I would recommend to my fellow Christian bloggers.  I know there are a lot of choices to choose from, but you have to take into account reliability, support, and affordability.  MomWebs excels in all these areas.

This post is part of a contest happening at MomWebs.  Links above also contain affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of those links, I may make a little bit of money from that sale, which goes to support Faithful Bloggers.

Why Do I Blog?

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The last couple of days I've been thinking about writing this post but I just wasn't sure what to write. Whenever I would think about creating a post this topic would always come to forefront of my mind making it almost impossible to write about anything else. So I figure this is what the Lord wants me to write about.

Why do I blog? I know why I blog. The Lord knows why I blog. However when planning this post out, I just couldn't come up with the words to express my reasons. I started blogging in 2008 after my 2nd child was born and I quit my full time job to become a stay at home mom. At first blogging was just something new to learn and something that was just mine. Not my kids, not my husbands, just mine.

Quickly I discovered the world of work at home moms and began trying to build a work at home business. It took me a while, but I have finally found my niche. Looking back at all that I know now, I understand why the Lord had me go in the direction He did. Without experiences those wins and loses there is no way I would be here now doing exactly what the Lord intended all along.

So what am I doing? I'm praising the Lord. I'm helping other Christians get started in their online businesses and blogs. I am able to use my WordPress and web design skills to help other Christian bloggers and entrepreneurs. I'm able to do what I love while serving the Lord at the same time. It's an awesome thing. If you would have asked me 2 years ago where I would be today, I would have never imagined where I am at.

So when I am asked, "Why do you blog?" I answer to serve the Lord.

What Do You Want To Know?

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Blogging is a very simple yet complicated tool depending on your technical skill and what you want to do with it. With blogging comes a lot of choices.  Blogger or WordPress?  Free themes, paid themes, or a custom theme? And a lot of questions.  What is SEO and how do you use it?  What is keyword research?  Can I create my own graphics?

Faithful Bloggers is a community for Christian bloggers and as such I want to make sure your blogging questions and concerns are answered.  I want to include tutorials and workshops.  I want to help you succeed as a Christian blogger.

So what  about blogging do you want to learn more about?  Please take a moment to fill out the form below and let me know.

Thanks for your input. It is invaluable!

Christian Group Writing Project

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I have a fun project for all of us Christian bloggers to contribute on together - a Christian Group Writing Project. How this works is that a blogger will choose a topic from the list provided and write  a post on that topic on their blog.  Once the post is up, the blogger will need to leave their link in the comments section so that everyone can read it.

Bloggers will have a couple days to choose a topic and then 1 week to write the post.  Once everyone has submitted their posts, I will publish  a round up of all the posts with links back to the blogger's blog. The entire writing project will then be complied into a special report for the bloggers who contribute to giveaway for free on their own sites.

The topic for the first ever Faithful Blogger's Group Writing Project will be Psalms 23.  Each blogger will select a verse and write a post explaining what that verse means to them.  It can be as long or as short as you want.  It can be a personal testimony, a devotional, or Bible study in nature.  It can be a photo that you believe describes the verse.  Anything goes.

Psalms 23

1. The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want.

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

If you choose a verse, please leave a comment saying so.  I understand we may have more than 6 bloggers who are interested in participating and that is fine.  Duplicates are fine, but please make sure all verses are accounted for at least once before duplicating choices.

You will have until Monday, July 5, 2010 to choose and claim a verse and then until July 12, 2010 to write your post and leave a link here in the comments to the permalink of your post.

Oh yea, their is a prize for participating too.  Everyone that participates (as in actually writes a post and submits the link) will be put into a drawing to win a free custom Twitter background!

I can't wait to read everyone's thoughts on Psalms 23!

The New and Improved Blog Directory

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The Faithful Bloggers Blog Directory is nearing 300 listings!  That's awesome!  The downside is that the WordPress plugin I was using to manage the blog directory couldn't keep up.  :(  So I have completely updated and revamp the blog directory so that this won't happen again.  The Faithful Bloggers Directory averages about 3 new listings a day so be sure to stop by daily to see the newest entries. Also, all pending blog submissions have now been approved and listed.  If you site has already been listed in the directory, please take a moment to look for your site and make sure it is listed in the correct category with the correct information.  I tried to make the change seamless but everyone can make mistakes.  If you find an error, just email me admin@faithfulbloggers.com and I will get it corrected.

One more thing about the blog directory.  From this point forward in order to be listed in the blog directory you will be required to have a reciprocal link to Faithful Bloggers on your site and also sign up the blog directory mailing list.  The mailing list is so that I can keep in contact with those who are listed in the directory about any changes or issues concerning the directory.  If your blog is already listed, go ahead and sign up for the mailing list so that you are kept in the know on all things about the blog directory. (You will not need to re-submit your blog.)

So what do you think of the new and improved blog directory?

Online Prayer Meeting

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We all know that prayer works wonders.  Prayer is our only way to speak with our Lord and Savior.   It's an essential part of life - both offline and online.  That is why I am starting an online blogging/business prayer meeting.  Once a week we will meet in my online conference room and pray for one anothers blog and/or online business. The first prayer meeting will be held on Monday, July 28, 2010 at 9:00pm CST.  Why so late?  Because my kids should be in bed asleep by then.  I don't want any interruptions when I am praying for my fellow bloggers and business owners.

If you would like to join me for the online blogging/business prayer meeting, just sign up below.  This will put you on the prayer meeting mailing list and I will be able to email you a reminder about the meeting as well as the login link to the conference room.

I hope you will join me.  Prayer is a powerful thing and something we can all use a little more of.

Edited: Due to other obligations, I am going to have to move the prayer meeting to Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 9pm CST. Sorry about. The prayer meetings will be held weekly, just on Thursday nights instead of Mondays. Thanks for understanding.

Are You Giving or Taking?

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My church has been holding Vacation Bible School this past week and my kids have been having a great time attending.  On Monday I stayed and volunteered to help out wherever I could.  I ended up in one of the 5 year old classes helping a teacher who had more kids than expected.  Which is a great problem to have, by the way.  :) The lesson she taught was about the tax collector, Zacchaeus, in Luke 19.  As the Bible story goes, Zacchaeus was a tax collector and as tax collectors were known to do, stole money from his constituents.  But all of this changed when Zacchaeus met Jesus.  Zacchaeus found salvation and even offered to give half of his money to the poor and return anything he stole with an increase.  He was a changed man.  He went from taking what he did not deserve to giving more than he had.

Are you giving more than you are taking?  The blogospherecan be a very selfish place.  It can be all about "me, me, me".  In other ways it can be very unselfish and giving such as when bloggers get together to help out another blogger who suffered a tragedy.    It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of who has what, who is going where, and how much money a blogger is making.  And while that is all exciting stuff, we have to understand what our purpose here on Earth, and by extension in the blogging world, is to bring glory to the Lord.  How best to bring glory to Lord but by doing as He did, giving more than He received.

How are some ways you can give more than you take in the blogosphere?  Here are some of my thoughts:

  • Reviews/Giveaways - If you do product reviews and/or giveaways, consider donating some of the products you receive.
  • Guest Posting - Share your knowledge with others.  No one says you only have to write on your blog.
  • Showing Support - If another blogger is having a hard time, see how you can help.  With all the natural disasters that have been happening, there are many ways you can show your support.

What are some other ways you can give more to the blogging community than you receive?  Would love to hear your opinions and suggestions.

courtneysig
courtneysig

Blogging Prayer Journal

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Relaxed pretty young woman writing in journal ...

I have always been a firm believer in prayer. I have seen prayers answered. I've experienced answered prayers.  Praying to the Lord works.  James 5:16 tells us, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."  According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words the word avail as used in James 5:16 means "to be of force, to be effective, capable of producing results".  Prayer is effective and produces results!

If we want our blogs to be effective and to produce results, then we need to pray for it!  I don't know about you, but I always forget about what I need to pray about.  I remember the big stuff, but not always the little things.  So I have a prayer journal to keep track of all of my prayer requests.  I have even recently started a business prayer journal to keep track of all my business prayer requests. So why not have one for your blog?

Here are some benefits of having a blogging Prayer Journal:

  • If you are praying for content ideas, list your ideas in your blogging prayer journal to pray about.  Not only will it help you to remember to pray, but it will also help you to remember what those ideas are and to listen for God's answer.
  • Makes it easier to see how God is working in your blog.  When a prayer get’s answered, I cross it off the list.
  • It will help you to focus on your blog.
  • If you are praying for God's will in your blog, then that is a sign that you are giving your blog over to the Lord for His use.

Can you think of any other benefits?  Do you have a blogging prayer journal?  If so, what kind of things to you pray about?

Posting About Arts and Crafts to Celebrate Easter on Your Blog

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Studio portrait of a young blond girl painting...

How will you celebrate Easter this year on your blog?

Yesterday, we discussed using your blog to creatively inform and educate your readers about the Biblical events of Christ's last week.

Today, consider using your blog to discuss Easter arts and crafts.

Easter is a perfect holiday for arts and crafts—either to do with the kids or to decorate your home.

Discuss Easter Arts and Crafts on Your Blog

  • Post your favorite ideas for fun projects to do with the kids: things to make, egg-dying activities, and so on. Think easy and inexpensive. These can be tried-and-true activities from your family or links to favorite posts you've discovered online.
  • Find good deals on arts and crafts supplies—either online or in retail stores—and post these for your readers.
  • Create themed project posts, assigning a different theme to each day: egg activities, baskets, outside decorations, and so on.
  • Choose several of the Christian symbols of Easter (cross, crown of thorns, palm branches, and so on). Post about projects involving these specific symbols. Encourage your readers to use their arts and crafts projects to tell the story of Easter (whether to children or visitors to their homes or church).

What kinds of Easter arts and crafts posts will you include in your blog this year?

Later this week, we'll discuss sharing Easter recipes and family traditions with your readers.

image: Crestock.com

Celebrating Easter With Your Blog

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Shadow of Jesus on cross

The Christian calendar presents a wonderful opportunity to share your faith with your readers.

I have found that—even though some of my readers may not be Christians—most of them celebrate Christian holidays in a "secular" manner. What a great opportunity to tell them more about the true meaning behind the holidays (while encouraging your Christian readers, too).

A highlight of the Christian calendar, Easter is April 4 this year. Make plans now to include special Easter-related posts during the days leading up to the observation of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

Scripture is so rich with details of the events surrounding Easter. Simply focusing on the Biblical account is a great way to inform and educate your readers.

Celebrate Easter on Your Blog by Re-telling the Bible Story

Use your blog to re-tell the events of Christ's last week by:

  • Planning posts for each day of the week, using Scripture references to outline Jesus' final days.
  • Using the different gospel accounts to compare/contrast details about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
  • Having a movie marathon. Post clips from the various accounts on your blog and tell the story through film.
  • Asking your pastor or Bible study teacher or another guest to write a post on the events of Holy Week.
  • Posting a Bible study, outlining the Old Testament Scriptures that foreshadow Christ's death and resurrection.
  • Researching and writing about the medical account of how Christ would have died by crucifixion (a terribly painful thing to read but also important at understanding the sacrifice of our Lord).

How will you incorporate Easter into your blog this year?

Tomorrow, we'll look at celebrating Easter on your blog with arts and crafts ideas. Later in the week, we'll discuss sharing Easter recipes and family traditions with your readers.

Image: Crestock.com

Tonight's the Night

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Tonight we host our very first live radio show!  And we have a special guest joining us as well, Dr. Mommy, aka Daisy, from Dr. Mommy Helps You.  Daisy is a great and faithful person that I am privileged to call a friend.

We are going to be talking about the fruits of the Spirit and how we can incorporate them in our blogs.  So come join us at tonight at 8:30pm CST.  You can join us one of two ways, online at TalkShoe, or by calling in.

If you would like to join us online you will have the option of also joining the live chat.  To join us online just go to our Faithful Bloggers Show page.  If you would like to call in, call (724) 444-7444 and use the call ID: 72153.

Hope to see you there!

But don't worry if you can't make it, we will be posting a recording on Thursday to the blog.

Discover Your Blog’s Purpose: To Equip

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Closeup of a section of a bible. Low key shot ...

Have you discovered your blog's purpose yet? This week we've talked about ways your blog can encourage others and educate others.

Today we conclude with ways your blog can equip others for ministry.

How Can Your Blog Equip Others for Ministry?

  • Know your audience. Survey your readers. You can create a free, simple, and functional survey using a website such as Survey Monkey. Ask general demographic questions and questions about why they read your blog. In what ministries are they engaged (these can be as vast and varied as overseas missions to writing children's curriculum)?
  • What's your area of expertise? Do you have a particular area of knowledge about which you can write? Think about how your audience's needs match your skills and experience. Your entire blog doesn't have to transform into "The Blog About _____." But you could begin to devote one post a week to this goal of equipping others for ministry.
  • With each post you write, answer the question, How does this equip others for the good works God has prepared for them? Writing with the goal of equipping others will give your posts new depth and breadth.
  • Frequently feature meaningful and important Scripture in your posts. When you do, you help others:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. --2Timothy 3:16-17 (emphasis mine)

How does your blog equip others for ministry?



image: crestock.com

Join Us Live!

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We are changing things up a little bit here at Faithful Bloggers.  Mary, our contributing editor, and I are going to start a live radio show!   This will replace our weekly podcast, though we will still post the shows on the site for you to listen to and download if you are unable to attend the live show.

We have a great line up of Christian bloggers to interview and are excited to add this new interactive feature to Faithful Bloggers.  Our show will broadcast on Blog Talk Radio on Monday evenings at 8:30pm CST.  If you attend the show live, you will have the opportunity to call in with questions and to chat with other listeners as well.

I hope you will join us Monday, March 1, 2010 for our first show on Blog Talk Radio!

Don’t Be Someone Else

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Yesterday while I was searching on Google for some Christian blog related topics I came across a post at Magnanimity about Safe & Secure Christian Blogging. It is a great post but one sentence stood out to me:

"Christian blogging is not a place to be someone else, or create an alter ego who is some fantasy person. It IS a place to continue to be real and honest."

Wow! How true is that statement? Romans 12:2 instructs us to be, "..not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

If we are trying to be someone we are not, we are conforming to "the world" and not God's will. God made us they way He wants us and that is what is important. He gave us each talents to use and if we are not being true to ourselves, we may never discover those talents. (Romans 12:6).

Besides it going against the will of God, why would you want to be someone else in blogging? Why wouldn't you want to be yourself? I'm not talking about using made-up names to keep your identity safe, but creating a persona that is not you. I've never done it, I've always been myself and pretty transparent, so I just don't understand the appeal. It seems like it would take a whole lot more work trying to be someone else then yourself online.

Discover Your Blog’s Purpose: To Educate

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A red apple on a book of blue color.

Yesterday we discussed focusing your blog's purpose towards a ministry of encouragement.

Today, let's look at the purpose of education.

Maybe you've never thought yourself much of a teacher, but don't sell your blog short. Your readers can learn a lot from your insights and experiences. You can also create an atmosphere at your blog where your readers learn from each other.

Has God called you and your blog to a ministry of education?

Some ways that your blog can educate others:

  • Host Bible studies by making "assignments" from a Scripture selection. Discuss your thoughts and insights on the Scripture, then invite comments from your readers. Continue until you've studied an entire book of the Bible.
  • Host book studies and discussions. Choose a favorite book (either Christian or non-Christian) and post discussion questions. Engage in conversation about the book's objectives and themes. If the book is not a Christian book, ask your readers to make contrasts and comparisons to Christianity, find Christian symbolism, and so on.
  • Explore church history with your readers.
  • Write about today's culture from a Christian worldview. Tackle tough topics (politics, entertainment, money, etc.), offering ways to navigate today's world while living biblically.
  • Offer your readers a steady stream of your favorite Christian websites. These can be in your particular area of interest (sermons, homeschooling, devotions, etc.) or from multiple topics. Do some research and give your readers suggested sites that will teach them something new.

How does your blog educate others?

image: www.crestock.com

Discover Your Blog's Purpose: To Encourage

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Closeup portrait of hands showing thumbs up sign

Maybe you've been blogging for a few months now and are bored.

Or stuck. Or distracted.

You'd like your blog to be something more, except you can't quite put your finger on exactly what that is.

I want to challenge you to intentionally seek to define your blog's purpose.

As a Christian who blogs, your primary purpose should be to glorify God (as is our primary purpose for all that we do).

But exactly how can your blog glorify God?

This week, we'll highlight three specific missions for your writing that are unique to blogs by Christians.

You may want to devote a specific day each week for each "purpose" with targeted posts or simply keep them as an underlying standard for everything you write.

Writing with a purpose in mind keeps your writing focused and effective.

Today we'll look at the gift of encouragement.

Has God called you and your blog to a ministry of encouragement?

Some ways that your blog can encourage others:

  • Sharing your trials and triumphs of experiences that are common to your readers
  • Writing about ways God has blessed you, revealed an answer to you, and/or answered your prayers
  • Emphasizing the significance of otherwise "mundane" tasks and events
  • Posting your favorite Scripture verses and what they mean to you
  • Highlighting experiences of women from Christian and church history

How does your blog encourage others? What types of posts encourage those who need to be lifted up? In what areas do you see today's Christian woman needing the most encouragement? How can your writing help?

Does Social Media Create Authentic Christian Fellowship?

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Goup of hands in circle-uniqueness

I coach my daughter's Upward cheerleading squad (Upward is a Christian-based sports program). At each practice we have a devotion, recite Scripture memory verses, and pray.

This season's theme has been light. I'm sure you can guess what we've discussed: God is light, live in the light, walk in the light, moving from darkness to light, and so on.

This week's devotion was centered around Christian fellowship. Our memory verse this week was

If we live in the light, we share fellowship with each other (1 John 1:7b).

The verse in its entirety and from the ESV is this:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

I thought our week's memory verse was a perfect tie-in to this week's Faithful Bloggers' discussion on the use of social media to grow our blogs.

Obviously, Facebook and Twitter are social media—meaning they are designed to function best when people are engaging others and giving of themselves.

But I got to wondering: How do these interactions contribute to authentic Christian fellowship? Or should it even matter?

I'll answer the second one first: Yes. I think it does matter.

Created for Community

We know that God created us for community. According to the verse above, walking in the light with others who are walking in the light brings fellowship. We need each other for encouragement, especially in the Blogosphere.

I have actually seen my activity on Facebook and Twitter contribute to authentic Christian fellowship. I wrote about the opportunities for prayer and worship as I engaged in a few communities on Facebook.

And who would have thought that only 140 characters (typed in the form of a meaningful Bible verse or quotation) would be just the word I needed for encouragement on a difficult day?

Finding Courtney and Kelly here at Faithful Bloggers has been the beginning of wonderful Christian fellowship that only God could have orchestrated.

So I would say, YES! Authentic Christian fellowship is not only possible through social media; it's inevitable when you approach your participation with that as your goal.

Use these and other social media platforms to invite your followers to walk with you in the light. When you do, you'll find authentic Christian fellowship.

How has your participation in social media brought you into authentic Christian fellowship?

Image: www.crestock.com