The truth is that blogging is “aliver” for me than it’s ever been. In recent months, blogging, Facebook and Twitter have been key to several real-life projects:

1. Wycliffe Discovery is sending a team to Mozambique next year because the director is a reader of my blog.
2. Thanks to a post on Better Bibles Blog, there is now a SWORD module available (currently being tested) for the Portuguese New Testament.
3. EthnoLinks, a “social Ethnologue” is in alpha testing stage thanks to help from a friend I met through blogging.
4. More people now read our missionary newsletter on Facebook than through email.
5. Twitter is becoming an increasingly important point of connection for me outside of my normal closed circle of acquaintances.

Now, as you recall, on Saturday I called blogging a dead art form. And in a way it is. So, explain the contradiction here. Social media has largely moved over to Facebook. The wonderful old days of trading badinage in the comment thread of my blog are largely over. However, Facebook and Twitter can not replace extended discourse (essays, rants, etc.) that blogging is so good at. My blog will continue to be the place where I gather my thoughts, step up on my soapbox, and generally do the court-jester thing.

One thing that I’d like to see more of on my blog is advocacy. While I enjoy trading memes, posting about other people’s posts, etc. I’m starting to feel like I’d like to “do something.” It’s fine to hone our rhetorical and writing skills and expand our horizons through the academic art of online publishing. But folks, the clock’s a-tickin’. I want to use my time well and I’m sure you do and so it would be good to leverage our online influence to make a positive impact in the real world.

A recent example has been the Portuguese Bible posts on this and other blogs. We were able to go beyond just blabbing to see real change made. I’d like to do that more often. I’d like to propose an online advocacy movement for increasing the accessibility of Bible Society translations. I’ve posted an idea at futurebible.org for you to have a look at:

NOTE: Based on advice from friends, this idea is being reviewed and the post has been removed from futurebible.

Boycott the Bible

Our initial goals are:

1. The release by the Brazilian Bible Society of the 1993 João Ferreira de Almeida Revista e Actualizada as a publicly accessible version for use on Bible Gateway, SWORD, and other online portals.
2. The release by the German Bible Society of the Critical Edition of the Koine Greek New Testament.
3. The release by the International Bible Society of the New International Version in English for download or use as a SWORD module.

Source: Bible Boycott at http://futurebible.org/bibleboycott

Here’s a graphic I put together to help promote this idea:

Now I know that we talked about putting together a taskforce or signing a petition, but it seems to me that we need to be willing to change our behavior, if we’re going to be asking Bible Societies to change their behavior. That’s why I propose that we actually boycott Bible purchases. This will make it more real for us and more legitimate for those we are asking to change.

What do you think?