Networking

Last Wednesday was a good day for Summit to Shore for at least two reasons. As I have already noted, on Wednesday Google Analytics recorded the first visitor from South Dakota, the only state that had yet been logged as being the home of a visitor to this blog. Thanks to Kathleen Turner, the visitor for South Dakota, Summit to Shore can boast of having been visited by someone from every state in the United States during the first year Google Analytics was logging such information.

For the record, Google Analytics does not record the name of visitors, only their location. Had Kathleen not left a personal comment, all I would have known was that someone from the Sioux Falls area had visited twice on Wednesday, or that two visitors from the Sioux Falls area had each visited once. I would not have known the identity or any other personal information about the visitor(s), so your privacy is well protected unless you choose to leave a comment.

The other good news I received last Wednesday is that after months of waiting, Summit to Shore is finally listed on CC blogs, a network hosted by The Christian Century. I had applied to be listed on the CC blogs network soon after starting Summit to Shore only to be told I needed to have a bit of a blogging history before the application could be considered. After three or four months and several posts worth of blogging I reapplied, but at a time when CC blogs was experiencing growing pains and personnel changes. I think my application material, along with some e-mails, were lost in the process. I eventually had to follow up with additional e-mails to move the process along. CC blogs finally figured things out and as of last Wednesday, Summit to Shore is part of the CC blogs network, one of about 109 blogs so listed. Thus the icon and hot link in the upper right corner of Summit to Shore.

Even though I am a blogger and now part of the CC blogs network, I still think of The Christian Century as a print publication, one that in the past couple of years has become one of my favorite reads. That is when the United States Postal Service manages to deliver it in one piece. A recent issue had half of the front two pages totally ripped off and missing.

I read some issues of The Christian Century more than others and never read every page. What I like about The Christian Century is that it offers a variety of reading, from short one paragraph news summaries in “Century Marks” to full page and multi page think pieces as well as interviews and reviews of books, films and music. It also publishes cartoons, poetry and graphic art. I usually find the “Living by the Word: Reflections on the Lectionary” helpful as I am preparing sermons and occasionally quote from it. Believe it not, I also appreciate the advertisements for recent publications and especially workshops and other continuing education events. I learned about the most recent continuing education event I attended, and one I found most helpful, “Delivering the Gospel”, when I saw it advertised in The Christian Century. Had it not been for The Christian Century I would not have known about the workshop.

The Christian Century brands itself on the cover as “Thinking Critically, Living Faithfully” and I think that pretty well sums it up. I also think of the Christian Century as a progressive, somewhat intellectual, mainline conversation among well read and educated Christians as they seek to understand and be in conversation with and about our wider culture while keeping their eyes on emerging trends in both church and society.