Dialogue also doesn’t happen in person. The gentle art of conversation seems to be dying out. If, by chance, you do get some time with a friend, the cell phone will ring and torpedo the conversation.

As for competition, we are raised as competitive, judgmental people. One way to judge effectiveness is to count the number of comments. I’d like to think it doesn’t matter, but it does get lonely, post after post that it seems no one notices.

And then there’s the idea of who has the cleverest posts. Mine range from just bread-and-butter stories to those that are built of disparate pieces in a rather fey style. These latter usually tank at the box office, but they’re fun to write.

Vox is an interesting experiment: building a community from scratch. My other Blog is part of a small home-grown community: first Lu, then me, then one by one others. It will take time for this community to develop. Right now the houses are all new, no lawns, no chalk drawings on the sidewalks. It hasn’t been lived in long enough.

Michael, I agree that people are desperate to be known. Our world provides few real opportunities for connection. Even followers of Jesus often confuse busyness with productivity. As for competing to create the church that’s most on the edge, it seems to be human nature. As soon as someone does a new trick of any kind, everyone else tries to outperform that.

Nathan, “getting back to square 1″ is a great idea. My hope for this Blog community is that it will help people do just that: to come face to face with their savior God and converse wtih him, encouraged by the examples shown here. God’s radical love is shown in people’s stories, no matter how small they are, and God sees the value even if no one else reads it. Or perhaps the story is there for just one other person. Leave the 99 and go after the one. If God hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here.

I miss working with the exchange students like I did last year. The Father opened up that door and gave me a vision… and now I stand in awe of what He did and is continuing to do… Now, I feel like the Father has closed so many doors and I’m here waiting.

Thanks again for the comment.

i followed you here via Sam R’s post and was really intrigued by what you say — and agree w/ the dangers you’ve outlined. i wonder if the kind of competition (real or potential) you describe has something to do with the fact that many/most/all vox readers are involved in church leadership at some level. (at least i suspect that to be true…?)

one of the hallmarks of leaders is that they push the envelope of ideas - it is one of the ways God gifts them in order to keep the church moving and growing into the future.

For those of us who do lead, we recognize that instinct or drive that pushes us to be out front. sounds kind of self-centered - and can be when not kept under control of the Spirit.

all of that to say, thank you for raising the question and creating a forum for all of us to step back, take a look at why we do what we do and become a body of encouragement for the sake of Christ.

i resonated w/ Larry … tell the stories, see where it takes you…

competition rocks.
especially the kind you describe.
imagine: competing to be the most missional, thoughtful, selfless, generous.

what would we say to such competitors? “ok, everybody stop that. after all, what kind of world would competing to be the most decent kind of human lead to?”

in the end though, that competition would most likely be a lonely one. Think of it.. the depth of humilty and love one would need to enter that race would turn some away.

excellent post, nathan. one of my favorites of today. keep it up.

Is this is our (my) understanding of greatness?

I definitely agree with that, who wouldn’t want to be known as the one closest to Jesus. Maybe this is obvious, but I think it has something to do with every persons desire to be known in meaningful ways. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think there is some connection between all the talk in missional theology about relationship, and the way the blog world has taken off, and the idea of meeting in people’s houses. I think the cause in part is a reaction in western culture of a deep loneliness, deeper than we even acknowledge. I think people are desperate to be known and to know, and the competition for some people is an effort to just be known in a meaningful way. In many ways, I think that being known and knowing is the same thing as returning to the first century and recovering the mission of the church.

Not sure if that makes sense; it did when the thought hit me. What are YOUR thoughts on the matter? Again, thanks for contributing to the dialogue!

Good thoughts, I agree. But what do you think causes that competition? Why do people want to have the blog everyone reads? I think there are some signficant parallels with many other things that I see happening, even in the “missional movement”. People want to be the one to create or be part of the church that is most on the “edge” of the movement. But why?