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The largest annual gathering of Christian bloggers is invading “sin city” this weekend, challenging hundreds to find ways to live "Christianly" in a Web 2.0 world.
The fourth annual GodblogCon is kicking off in Las Vegas as part of BlogWorld and the New Media Expo – the world’s largest blogging trade show and conference dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media.
“It’s a really great show from the standpoint of both the content and the fellowship and networking opportunities with other Believers,” wrote Wade Tonkin of Christian Affiliate Marketers in his blog earlier this month. Tonkin will be one of the speakers during the Sept. 20-21 gathering and is scheduled to speak Sunday on how you can “Support your Christian Blog (while staying Saved).”
Since 2005, GodblogCon has been fostering community and learning through a combination of plenary sessions, table-talk sessions with web media experts, and meal-time fellowshipping.
Attendees each year are given the opportunity to meet and converse with fellow "Godbloggers," form friendships and grow communities, learn from experts to improve their web media knowledge and ability, and participate in vision casting for Christian use of web technologies.
Those who have attended previous GodblogCon events say the event is well worth the trip to "sin city."
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"I walked away transformed about what it meant to live in an online world and also be a Christian," said Rhett Smith of RhettSmith.com, a former college-age pastor, to the gathering’s organizers.
The annual event comes as more and more Christians are coming to see the potential that new media offers for Christians to impact the culture.
According to a 2004 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly two-thirds of online Americans used the Internet for faith-related reasons, representing nearly 82 million Americans.
Blogging, meanwhile, has witnessed exponential growth. Surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the blog population in 2006 had grown to about 12 million American adults, or about 8 percent of adult internet users, and that the number of blog readers had jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39 percent of the online population.
“The perfect mission field … exists on the Internet in public online services that connect people in community: blogs, personal webpages, and discussion groups, including social networking sites such as MySpace.com,” organizers of the annual Internet Evangelism Day note, citing from Mark Stephenson’s book Web-Empower Your Church: Unleashing the Power of the Internet for Ministry.
“The Web has a unique potential to reach into many unreached nations and people groups. The tragedy is that many of these opportunities … are barely yet used,” they add.
Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders and a Godblogger himself, is among the increasing number of Christians who have highlighted the importance of utilizing the internet for God’s purposes.
There may be 50 million blogs by the year 2010, Mohler said at last year’s GodblogCon, arguing against the idea that blogging is just a fad.
In an era where "new media" is changing the way people communicate and understand the world, Mohler said it's imperative that Christians communicate, especially online.
Adding to Mohler’s comments, Dustin Steeve, executive coordinator of GodblogCon, highlighted the importance of gatherings such as the upcoming one in Las Vegas.
"The blogosphere is a strange place where people form connections in isolation,” he said in a recent statement.
“It is easy to forget that there are real people at the other end of the fiber-optic highway who are experiencing the same frustrations and grappling with the same issues that I as an individual blogger am dealing with," Steeve added. "GodblogCon is the one time each year when Christian bloggers come together to encourage and equip one another."
This year, GodblogCon is moving to the showroom floor of BlogWorld. The move, said Steeve, will allow all BlogWorld attendees to benefit from the dynamic speakers to be featured at GodblogCon. It will also afford greater access for Godbloggers to the significant resources of BlogWorld and the New Media Expo.
Some of the topics at this year’s GodblogCon include “The Art of Online Conversation,” “The Missional Church in the Internet Age,” and “The Internet, Media Ecology, and Christian Consciousness.”
