Scott, those are some really good "Thots" (isn't that how you used to spell it? :) And just for the record, I'm not saying we can't block or edit *anybody*. Every major blog I've been a part of had posting regulations, almost always pertaining to language. For example, If you drop the f bomb, your post is gone. Drop it again, and you're likely to get banned. I've got no issue doing something like that on a ministry blog. But the specific posts I've heard people wanting to get rid of, edit, and delete are for *theological* reasons. And I am just not down with that at all.

If we are gun-shy about open conversation online, I think it just shows that we are gun-shy about open conversation period.

About distractions in a service: John Piper wrote an article last year about why Twitter would never be allowed in his church. I usually agree with John Piper, but it seems like he went off the deep end a couple times last year and this was one of them. He said it would be too much of a distraction and would break the fragile bond that was being built between the parishioners and God. Then he went on to say that other things are distractions that could break that bond and must be minimized too: crying babies, people wearing too much perfume, coughing...

Call me crazy, but I don't want to be a part of a church that tries to regulate how much perfume somebody is wearing, and that's the logical end of arguing against Twitter in a service because it would be a distraction. We try so hard to create this perfect little sterile environment for people to come in and experience God and we fail to realize it looks nothing like the real life they're already involved in and that we are implicitly teaching them that they can't experience God amidst the distractions of that real life. What happens when a coworker wears too much perfume? Does that suddenly mean that "fragile bond" connecting you to God is gone? Hardly.

I agree wholeheartedly with the slippery slope of fear line of thinking, especially this line: "Church leaders sometimes act like they need to "protect" God from the big, bad world, and protect their followers from the darkness. Only God can keep us from the darkness, and sometimes I believe he even uses it to teach him more about himself, to reveal more light."

Amen.

"Some of my greatest "aha" moments involve dialogue I've encountered sitting around in a group"

It's the same for me, and it's why I keep pushing interaction and dialog so much!

"and for the record, I was all for our church using "Twitter""

Hence the "almost every staff member" -- thanks for getting my back! :)

Ha! Good point. I have to imagine a group of old white guys sitting around coming up with that sign verbage.

Tough call on favorite movie, but I'll go with Crash.

Viva La Vida by Coldplay. I could listen to it on repeat all day long. That and the theme from Jurassic Park by John Williams, played by the Boston Pops. Nice.