Biola
University in La Mirada, CA is beautiful. However, I kinda’ feel like a 6th grader at a kindergartner’s party: Everyone here is so young and thin. When did I
become so aged?

The orientation was business-like and too the point. Conference organizer Matthew Anderson, who has been recently
married, suggested that we might blog any suggestions about how the
conference could be better. Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Anderson.
God may use 50 gripe posts about lacking wireless connectivity to prepare you for the joyful rigors of wedded life.

Met Pat Sikora of Mighty Oak Ministries, a freelance journalist covering GodBlogCon for several dead tree mags, including Christianity Today.
She says she’s never blogged before. I’m not sure if I should encourage
her to get into it or not: a natural writer will naturally take to
blogging immediately…..usually till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Do I
pass onto her the blessing of blogging and the curse of day-after-blogging fatigue and crankiness? She’s an adult and
capable of making her own decisions. I suggest she should start a blog.
The matter is now in God’s hands.

Hung out at dinner with Matthew Eppinette and Joe Carter of Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (the latter also of one of my inspiration blogs, Evangelical Outpost) who have the coolest jobs ever, fellow tech-head Brant DeBow of
sarcsmagorical.com and an ebullient, sanguine man who does not have his name on his card (please forgive me for blanking on your name!). He’s pretty bright, though, check him out at http://www.biblestudyemail.com. They seemed interested in Austin. I guess living there all the time, I
kinda’ loose site of how cool it is. Maybe I’m becoming too jaded by
the stark raving madness that also indwells my chosen city of residence. Perhaps it clouds my vision
so that I miss the beauty and grace she possesses, with her emerald necklace of greenbelts and spice-laden mountains.

We chat for a bit about how to use the medium to preach the Gospel and how exciting it is to be among the first people to embrace blogs, wiki’s,
and podcasts as a communications medium. It’s kinda’ like being involved in TV back in the 1950’s. Like then, we are starting by transmorphing existing paradigms into the new media. With TV, it was
stage, movies, and radio. TV shows from that era came off as part radio drama, part stage production. Over time, innovative minds figured out
how to tailor the production to the medium. With blogs, it’s print
media and, more specifically, the printed essay. The hyperlinked nature naturally enhances the cross referencability (I don’t think that’s a
word), thus making the arguments presented more immediately verifiable
and confirmable. So, we have pretty, highly annotated online essays. From here, what?

Prior to the John Mark Reynolds keynote address, I make a dreadful discovery: no WiFi in the auditorium! I
begin to go into convulsions and other withdrawal symptoms. I feel as
though I’m missing a part of me! I must reconnect to the collective!
Like those reviled smokers who have been banished to 15 feet outside
the door, I find some fellow connectivity-deprived souls huddling
around a small, outdoor hotspot getting their wireless fix. I can’t
believe what a WiFi addict I am.

Thus, it looks like the liveblogging is a no-go for this eve, so I’ll have to cover it the old fashioned way. Stay tuned……