Busy time with the snow and all... digging out from a blanket of snow to digging through a blanket of seminary assignments. We have moved from Valentine’s Day to Ash Wednesday. The ordo of seminary life is approaching harmony once again. This two week sabbatical from blogging has given me time to focus on what Burnt Church should present to the world of internet users. The challenge is do we honestly present what Burnt Church is today or do we put forth the church that the saints of Burnt Church desires to be. And then again, how about the church that God calls out?

Two months before his famous Aldersgate experience in 1738, John Wesley was ready to give up on preaching altogether. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of salvation by faith alone, and he told himself, "How can you preach to others if you don't have faith yourself?" His friend Peter Böhler, a Moravian missionary, didn't let Wesley off the hook so easily. When John asked Peter if he should stop preaching, Böhler replied, "By no mean." So Wesley asked, "But what can I preach?" Böhler answered, "Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." [www.wesleyreport.com]

So we ask, should we profess to be the church we want to be till we are the church we should be? Lynne Baab in her work “Reaching Out in a Networked World” peels back the myth that communication reflects reality. Baab’s specific example was the formulation of mission statements. “Research shows that communication not only reflects reality but it also shapes it.”

With that in mind I believe that as we communicate our perceived identity to others it should reflect who we are, where we are going and most importantly… how the reader can help us reach that identity. With this in mind, I go now to map out our church facebook and website design.