Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

While planning for this day I really wanted to keep it between God and I.  My mantra was “Don’t blog it…don’t blog it…don’t blog it…” ;)

Now that it’s past, I feel OK about giving a quick recap of the day - both in hopes that others will consider doing something similar, and to announce a new mission for me that came out of it.

Please, though, understand that I don’t mean to sound pious or boastful and this was one day of obedience to God in a stream of many where I’m not always.  I’m posting this as much for my own sake as yours—I want an account of it that I can come back and read as a way of getting motivated to do this on a more regular basis.

God had placed this day had been on my mind for a couple of weeks.  I’m not a hunter or “outdoorsman”, so have never just spent a day just sitting in the woods.  While my male side wanted to kick in and find some National Forest land where I could hike 2-3 miles off the beaten path and really get away from it all, common sense prevailed and I chose a local park that has a few miles of hiking paths alongside a river that eventually feeds into Lake Michigan.

I grabbed the kid’s wagon, and packed enough food for the day, a camp stove, my Bible, a book of mysteries, a pad of paper, strapped a lawn chair to the top and had my family drop me off right at daybreak.  The picture above was the scene as I headed down the trail.

Just as I found a spot to call home for the day, the sun broke over the tree line and lit up the forest:

This was my view for the day, along Pigeon Creek which is a few miles north of Holland, MI.

In full sun:

My office for the day, and the birthplace of what I hope is a very special project (such a tease, aren’t I ;):

My morning was a combination of just sitting there, drinking coffee hot off the Coleman stove and reading some short mysteries.  After a short time, though, it didn’t feel “right” to be reading stories of that type in such a beautiful and peaceful setting so I grabbed my Bible and flipped to Psalms.

I had to chuckle reading the first few verses.

It was Psalm 39 that really spoke to me, though, and coupled with Psalm 90:17 (which in my Bible uses the “give permanence to” phrasing) made me start to question and pray about whether I was doing anything “permanent” to further the Gospel.  I know that God has chosen to gift me with a vision for how the Church could be using the Internet to spead the Gospel, but had I been doing anyhing permanent?  Suddenly all the snarky comments while reviewing bad church websites, or articles complaining about the shortcomings of the Church on the Internet didn’t seem so permanent.  Oh, they’ll be around on the ‘net for awhile, but buried, date and time-stamps showing their age, and even if found aren’t positive contributions.

I took a walk and thought/prayed more:

Essentially, God convinced me it was time to take my ideas for how the Church could use the Internet and “put up or shut up”.  If I thought the notion of the Church using the web for storytelling was such a great one, what could I do about it that was “permanent”?

Launch a new website, as it turns out.  No, it’s not what I wanted to hear.  The web is full of places where people can talk - email, email lists, discussion forums, blogs..does the web really yet another website just for people to “tell stories about God”? 

I prayed more about it…and continued reading through Psalms.  I started noting the verses where the Bible talked about how we should tell each other stories about God as a means of praise, remembrance, witness to future generations. Psalm 145: 11-12 is a good example.

Still considering this task…my day came (too quickly) to a close.  I packed up camp and got out to the parking lot just as the sun was setting:

My family came and got me…and once home I started to discuss the day and this web site idea with my wife.  It seemed pretty clear that the best URL for the site would be “StoriesAboutGod.org” as it was a simple and descriptive address for what the site’s purpose would be.

Crissa grabbed the laptop and found that both StoriesAboutGod.com and StoriesAboutGod.org were available.  I took this as pretty good confirmation that this was my new task - to build “StoriesAboutGod.org” for people to come and do just that - post stories about how God has showed themselves in their lives.  Big stories, little glimpses, examples of His power, His glory, and His majesty. 

My hope for the site is that, by reading these stories, visitors will be brought to tears and brought to their knees, crying out “You Are Holy” to the God of the universe.

How’s that for a mission statement?  ;)

The work began over the weekend - the domains have been purchased, a good friend has generously donated hosting, and I’ve begun to assemble some ideas for a design.

While I’m “doing that thing I do”...I’d covet your prayers for this project, both in general and specifically for:

- A pastoral resource to connect site visitors to, if they feel led to speak to someone.  I need pastors who “get” the Internet, and can quickly respond to any needs that come up.

- People to “seed” the site with some stories, so when it’s officially launched there’s enough content there to communicate the purpose of the site.

Thanks!

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. Clay Clarkson on November 07, 2005

   Thank you for sharing your very personal day away with God and nature. The photos really put me there with you and helped “tell the story” of how God met with you there. I will be anxiously awaiting the incarnation of your idea online (I guess “internet incarnation” is a bit of an oxymoron). I think many Christians would love to tell their stories about God in their lives, maybe because it’s so hard to find people who want to hear them in their everyday lives. More than just passing testimonies, it could be a place of spiritual affirmation, renewal and encouragement. I feel privileged to have heard about it “first heart” and would like to be a part of it somehow.

   I also appreciated the simple reminder that God does meet us when we make time for Him in our busy lives. Your example convicted me that I need to turn off the activities for a day so I can reprogram my neural transmitters and turn on my spiritual receivers. Thanks for your good example (and you don’t need to apologize for the inconsistency that we all feel). Wholehearted blessings!

2. Michael Boyink (Author) on November 08, 2005

   Clay - I’d love to have you be one of the “seeders” when the site gets to that point, and once launched any promotion you could do would also be appreciated.

3. Robert on November 08, 2005

   Mike, this was a great read! I really enjoyed it. If allowed, I would love to participate with your new venture of serving God, here in the open space we call the internet.

   God be with you!

4. Michael Boyink (Author) on November 08, 2005

   Heckya you’ll be allowed..;)

   The site will be open to all, and it looks like you’ll be able to either submit your story via text, or “moblog” it by calling in on the phone, where it will get posted to the site as a audio file and hopefully a podcast feed as well.

   Working on the design as I type this…it’s turning out to be somewhat of a challenge to find imagery that is Christian without being cheesy or stereotypical…

5. Robert on November 08, 2005

   What kind of imagery do you have in mind? Not sure if you have been here or not, but at http://www.freefotos.com you can find some very nice nature pictures that might capture what you are looking for.

6. Robert on November 08, 2005

   Oh no!

   it should read http://www.freefoto.com

   I’m so sorry!

7. Michael Boyink (Author) on November 08, 2005

   No problem Robert…I spent hours looking at iStockPhoto.com and morguefile.com…because I didn’t have a clear idea of what I want..only what I *don’t* want—which is mostly anything labelled “Christian” at those sites (churches, bible pictures, people with their arms extended towards the sky, etc). 

   99% of what I ran across seemed either cheesy or stereotypical.

   I found some images that I liked, and put together a basic site layout this afternoon using one of the images, and then found that the design worked much better without the image. 

   So…at this point that’s the direction I’m going to keep going - I think the lack of images might help put the focus more on the stories anyway.

8. Clay Clarkson on November 09, 2005

   Take a peek at http://www.rabbihixon.com for some really nice nature and more photos by fellow believer. Don’t know if Steve licenses any of the images, but since you’re obviously a good amateur photographer, I think you’ll appreciate his work. FTR, he’s not a rabbi…just a nickname. He’s currently a pastor-at-large here in our area of CO. We were in a singles group together 25 years ago, and he married Sally and me in 1981 (and to my shame, I haven’t called him for lunch yet since being here).

9. James Higginbotham on November 10, 2005

   Thanks for sharing, Mike! I, too, had a sabbatical that I’ll be documenting shortly. In the mean time, I’ve been blogging about this very concept of converging with God. You can check it out using the Convergence category at http://www.agileministry.com/?cat=5

   My next post will be coming shortly as well. Thanks for sharing and inspiring me as well!

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