I’ve been reading the IMonk since 2002, and it’s been fun to watch his journey.
He’s become quite well known in the god-blogosphere.

At stages in our blogging most of us post on why we blog, and why we find this medium so interesting.
When I first started, I didn’t have much patience for what I called ‘the me and God’ blogs.
I’ve learned in many ways I was wrong. Ego-centric ‘me and God’ blogs don’t last very long and I originally lumped in blogs that are far far from ‘it’s all about me.’

I really haven’t thought much about the role of the Christian blogosphere until my recent run-in with those who considered it very important that I know “people are reading what you write.” Wow. Now I’ve had some time to think…and I’ve decided I’m a pirate.

I always loved the idea of pirate radio. Here at the school where I work, we used to have boys occasionally broadcast on a pirate radio station in the dormitory. I loved the idea of some kid with a radio station under his bed, playing illegal music, making fun of the administration. I wished I’d been able to do something that exciting when I was a teenager. There was something wonderfully subversive and dangerous about broadcasting where you weren’t supposed to have a voice, right there alongside the real stations.

That I can identify with.:^)
Micheal Spencer adds his voice of celebration with five points that most of us have mused over in our own way.

The Internet brings the little guys up, and the big guys down. All sorts of well-known people are suddenly finding they have to blog, because bloggers are creating an entirely new wave of information and cultural analysis, one that isn’t controlled and dominated by the official portals or the famous names. Bloggers are now a huge chorus of opinion that the big dogs find intimidating. Bloggers have signalled the end of the force feeding of a huge segment of evangelicals. We can think and speak for ourselves now.

We always could, we always have. The internet has provided a way for us to do so that was not possible before, and blogging has it’s own identity we have no need to apologize for.

This is, of course, very threatening to the world of big chuches, spin doctors, academia and the power of experts. Who wants to think that some guy writing a web page has more credibility and influence than a teacher or a pastor with real credentials? How does it happen? There is no map or method. Did Real Live Preacher or Joe at Evangelical Outpost know that the internet would change their lives?

His third point hits hard. It’s where I’ve come to understand what I originally dismissed as some ‘me and God’ blogs have had a profound impact on my own journey.

Millions of bloggers say things in print for the eyes of fellow readers they would never say in church, in the pulpit or to someone they know at work. Why are we attracted to this? Voyeurism? Boredom? Or is it simply because it is an authentic fingerprint of the human journey. It’s an expression of real faith. Like poetry, it might be criticized for its content, but it stands or falls on its “trueness” to human nature.

I think the honesty of confessional bloggers is an amazing gift to the church, and I think the internet has allowed far more honest confession of what real life is like than any number of theology books. There is a desire to say things on blogs that we say no where else; to live in the moment and to report on the moment.

I pray that God blesses millions of confessional bloggers to tell the story of the faith and their faith journey in a way other people will recognize for its honesty and authenticity.

He notes that the blogosphere has the potential to create community. There is no argument with that at all. I’ve been scorned, mocked and shunned for promoting that concept. The nay-sayers will never make it less true.

Spencer finishes with something that is most true in the US.

I love getting mail from fans of some famous preacher or teacher saying, “You shouldn’t say blah blah blah…” They aren’t talking about profanity or lies. They are talking about simple disagreement and criticism. I - the pirate blogger down here in the woods- shouldn’t write about their hero. I shouldn’t write about the people who have written books and have big churches. I shouldn’t speak out and speak up.

I’m inclined to think it is a bit less true outside the US, but it is something the rest of us can take note of learn from and rejoice with. His post is a happy dance. And echoing Spencer, I’m grateful too.