The Gospel Coalition

If you take a look at my sidebar and peruse my blog archives by month, you might notice something odd: there is no July for 2008, 2009, or 2010. The month skips from June to August each year. That’s because, for the past three years, I have spent the month of July away from social media and the blog world. 31 days without any blogging or tweeting or updating my facebook.

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy blogging. I am continually encouraged that people find this blog useful. But my annual social-media break is beneficial to my soul.

Blogging is an act of stewardship, an act that is fraught with peril even as it is bursting with possibilities. One of the only ways I know how to check my heart and discern where blogging is potentially harmful to my soul is to get away from it.

But this year, things are a bit more complicated. I’m going to have to approach my annual “sabbatical” differently. First off, the number of people who visit and read this blog is twice the size it was last year at this time. In addition, a few months ago, I opened up the sidebar to sponsors/advertisers. Likewise, Kingdom People is available on Kindle for a small fee per month. It seems unfair to expect advertisers and Kindle subscribers to pay for a service if the blog goes quiet for a month.

I’ve considered foregoing my regular sabbatical. Why not just blog all through the summer? Frankly, I need the soul-refreshing time away from the blog world so I can focus on more important matters. I crave the silence of the summer that I have initiated here for the past three years. So what to do?

Here is my plan. First, I will re-run some older posts from my blog archive. Blogging is such a “what’s hot now” type medium that we can easily let helpful content from the past get buried in the avalanche of new information. I look forward to pulling out some older book reviews and articles, dusting them off, and offering them again during the month of July. (I can schedule them in advance, which still gives me time away from blogging.)

Secondly, I’d like to provide a platform for some other bloggers. By the end of June, I hope to schedule 10-15 posts from guest bloggers for the month of July. If you’re interested in submitting something, take a look at the following qualifications:

1. You must be an active blogger yourself. (I would link to your blog or website.)
2. You must be familiar with the Kingdom People audience and willing to write accordingly.
3. You must focus on delivering helpful, edifying content for the good of the church and the glory of God.
4. You must submit the guest posts to me by June 21.

If you meet these qualifications, then send me an email, tell me the subject you’d like to write about, and then we can discuss the possibility of collaboration. I dare say, the quality of blogging here at Kingdom People will rise during the month of July with the addition of some new voices.

About my daily “Worth a Look” posts, I haven’t figured out a solution for continuing that yet… I’m open to ideas!