For today’s post I have good news and … well … more good news.
Good news: The PIVOT blog is now live at ChristianityToday.com/Karl-Vaters.
More good news: NewSmallChurch.com is sticking around!
Yep. This website isn’t going anywhere.
It’s been very exciting working with the great people at Leadership Journal (LJ), getting ready to start blogging at ChristianityToday.com (CT). But there’s been a sense of sadness to it also. Like when a church grows and you’re thrilled about the new possibilities, but you know you’ll miss the intimacy of when it was more like a family.
But I kept moving ahead, because missing what you’ve had – in your blog, your church, or your life – is never an excuse to not grab onto a great new opportunity when you have the chance. As the old saying goes, you can’t have it all.
Or can you?
As I thought and prayed about it, I wondered…
In this circumstance, is there a way that we can have it all – and then some?
But we’ll get to that in a minute.
First, the Good News
If you click any of the PIVOT links in this post, you’ll see that my new blog is up-and-running!
It’s been pre-populated with some posts from NewSmallChurch.com (NSC). This lets us do two things.
- Give new readers a chance to explore what we’re all about
- Give all of us the opportunity to test-drive it before we start promoting it. Go ahead, try it out. We’ll keep it mostly as-is for the next week or so, to get all the kinks straightened out.
So, when you’re done reading this post, take PIVOT for a spin. Open all the tabs, read the content, click the links and see how it all works.
If you click something that doesn’t do what it should, or if something is misspelled, etc., come back here and use the comment section to let us know what’s up.
After the test-drive, I’ll start writing new blog posts, mixing them in with the classic posts from NSC. That’s when LJ and CT will start a major promotional push to draw in new readers.
More Good News! NewSmallChurch.com Is Sticking Around!
This is one of the biggest changes that has happened since my last two blog posts.
Instead of going away, NewSmallChurch.com is being re-purposed.
Here’s how it will work. As I see it now, anyway.
I will blog at PIVOT about Innovative Leadership from a Small Church Perspective, bringing you all the ideas I can find about doing Small Church well, just like I’ve been doing here.
But, just like when a church grows, while some great things come with that, there are a few wonderful things that get left behind. NewSmallChurch.com has always been about Encouraging, Connecting and Equipping Innovative Small Church Leaders. Encouraging and Connecting will happen at PIVOT, but there won’t be as much opportunity to connect with like-minded church leaders. And with that loss of connection, there will also be aspects of encouraging and equipping that will be lost too.
That’s too important to let go of. So let’s hang on to it.
Here’s the plan.
PIVOT will be my blog. That platform will allow us to bring this important information to a new audience that needs to read it. But on this site we’ll do everything else, including important, exclusive features (both ongoing and new) like…
- The Nametag Wall
- News of upcoming conferences and seminars (maybe even our first-ever camp in 2016!)
- A monthly link list of articles I’ve found helpful
- Guest articles
- Recommendations of books and other resources
- Discussion forum
- …and more ideas we haven’t even thought of yet
Basically, this website will become a free clearinghouse for all the Small Church content that won’t fit at PIVOT and a place to connect with others.
Plus, I will keep the comment section open here for every post I write at PIVOT. The traffic at CT will be much bigger, but it will also be far more generic and less intimate than the kinds of interaction we have had, and will continue to have here.
The other advantage of keeping this site live is that you won’t lose any articles you’ve bookmarked. They will all be right here where you need them.
Coming Up
In my next post (probably Monday), I’ll start answering some of the questions I’d hoped to get to a few weeks ago. I wanted to wait until these big changes settled in and the new blog was live, first.
Some of those questions will include:
- Will I Have to Pay to Read the New Blog? (I’ll answer that now. No. Never. It will always be free)
- How Do I Get Notices of New Blog Posts? (Hint: If you’re reading this, you’ll automatically get them)
- How Often Will Posts Come Out?
- …and more
I’ll also have a great word for you from Drew Dyck, the editor of Leadership Journal about where the idea for PIVOT came from and why they’re making this important investment in Small Churches and their leaders.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section. I’ll either answer them there, or add them to my list for my Monday post.
For now, click here to go to PIVOT. Test-drive it and let me know what you think.
