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Greg Smith

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Daily Blogging – Reflecting on the Discipline (#2061)

2023/06/20 By Greg

I just finished a week of daily blogging. Over the last seven days, I posted once a day:

  • Where’s Greg Worshipping? 8+ Congregations in 3 States
  • My Experiences with 14 UCC Congregations
  • Midlife & MiD Life: A 9th Update
  • My Religious Traditions Are Missing 8 Million People!
  • The ELCA is Missing 4 Million People!
  • The PC(USA) is Missing 2.6 Million People!
  • The UCC is Missing 1.3 Million People!

This routine was quite different from my norm. For the last several years I’ve averaged writing just over one blog post a week.

Home Office (photo by Greg Smith)

Pushing myself out of comfortable routine to the discipline of daily writing was harder than I expected. A couple of the posts took longer to write than I’d prefer to admit. And, yet, the overall experience was positive.

The first half of the week focused on a series of four posts about how the religious traditions I’ve been a part of have declined in membership more significantly than is often reported when placed in the context of population growth. Adjusted for population growth those three denominations would have 8 million more people today than they do if they had retained the market share they had just over 30 years ago.

The second half of the week I wrote about more personal matters sharing my recent experiences. I started with reflections on seeking ordination following my recent birthday then moved on to a longer form reflection on my experience in 14 congregations in this denomination before concluding with my experiences in 8 congregations affiliated with multiple denominations so far in 2023.

This week’s content was not pre-planned but is consistent with what I’ve written about over the years: matters of faith that matter. These have always been and likely always will be a blend of recent research or news alongside my own lived experience.

Daily Blogging – From a Week to 1,000 Days

The last time I blogged for more than a week straight was over a decade ago. In fact, nearly half of my total blog posts were written during a time when I blogged on a daily basis.

As I reached major milestones, I reflected on the experience

  • What I Learned from Writing 100 posts in 100 days (February 2011)
  • Reflecting on 365 Days of Daily Blogging (October 2011)
  • Celebrating 2 Years of Daily Blogging (October 2012)
  • 1,000 Days of Daily Blogging (July 2013)

So What?

I enjoyed blogging on a daily basis for a week, but don’t plan to continue on to 100 days much less to 1,000.

You can expect new content at least once a week for the foreseeable future.

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Greg Smith

Greg is a follower of the Way of Jesus who strives to make the world a better place for all people. Currently, he serves as Chief Executive Officer of White Rock Center of Hope and as Interim Senior Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church. He has served ten congregations, taught religion to undergraduates for eight years, and helped three organizations provide quality healthcare to underserved populations. (Read More)

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