This is the 777th post on BeDeviant.com. It’s also the last post on this site. There are also 777 words in this post. After seven years of actively posting, sharing, thinking, challenging and changing, I’ve decided to bring this journey to a close.

There are lots of reasons behind this decision, but I’ll briefly share three main ones.

Reason #1: Different Interests

It’s no secret that I’ve left my job working at a local church and joined the team at Monk Development. I’m also able to work with wonderful human beings like Charles Lee, Brad Abare and Tim Schraeder on a regular basis.

After graduating seminary, I realized very quickly that I did not want to be a local parish pastor. That might seem like the epitome of irony, or even that my experience at sem was negative. Quite the contrary, in fact. Bethel helped me to see, in fuller detail, the cost of being a pastor in the 21st century church. After graduating I quickly came to the conclusion: I am not a pastor.

Many of you reading this are, in fact, in pastoral roles. I cannot tell you how much respect and admiration I have for you. I’ve been in your shoes at one of the largest churches in the U.S. and can say, unequivocally, you have one of the hardest jobs on the face of the planet. The pressures, the demands, the struggles—you are most certainly gifted with a strength straight from God’s hand!

That said, BeDeviant.com was an online dialogue of the struggles I was facing as a pastor. The frustrations, fears and anxieties that I faced working for a church. Since I’m no longer on church staff, those struggles, thankfully, have disappeared. With that, most of my writing material has gone with it!

My focus is much more specific now, dealing primarily with web and online ministry. Rather than trying to continually morph BeDeviant into something it was never created to be, I decided it was best to simply stop the train.

Reason #2: Too Divisive

I was afraid this day would come because of the subject matter on this blog. My main intent through the years has been to challenge, but sometimes that’s difficult to do faithfully.

BeDeviant, by its very nature, causes eyebrows to raise. That can be a good thing until it isn’t. In the past 12 months, I’ve been asking the question if being divisive is what I want to be about. The answer, thankfully, is no. My intent, obviously, has never been to create conflict, simply reflection. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always translated well.

Some of  you have been hurt, angered and frustrated by the things I’ve written. I’m sorry for that. BeDeviant.com was started with the idea of challenging people to think differently about their relationship with God. I think BeDeviant has served its purpose in doing that, but at a price. Shutting this site down is me saying, “Holy Spirit, I trust you to challenge people where they need to be challenged. When appropriate, use me.”

Being a unified Body in this day and age, is more important than ever. I want to work towards doing that. I’ve tried to do that in the past few months, but moving in a direction is what’s need to make that happen more fully. Please join me!

Reason #3: Falling Flat

The traffic on this blog has plateaued for the past 12 months. I don’t think it’s reactionary to look at that and say, “This may be as high as the ceiling gets here.” If you know anything about blogging, you know that there are certain “niche” markets to get in to. I’m afraid the “Lutheran-postmodern-ex-pastor-theologically-generous” niche is all dried up .

That’s not to say the only reason that I write is for traffic, but the amount of time and energy that goes into writing a blog like this is, in a word, substantial. There are so many of you wonderful people who have read this blog since its inception and I cannot thank you enough for it. Your emails, notes, tweets and encouragement blesses me more than I can say. But sometimes, “You gotta know when to fold ‘em.”

So, What’s Next?

I’ll still be blogging. Quitting that would be next to impossible. I’ll be at JustinWise.net talking about blogging, social media, productivity, and my life (on occasion). I want to share what I’m learning in the space with all of you. I’d love it if you joined me or grabbed the RSS feed.

You can always reach me on Twitter as well. @JustinWise for those who don’t know!

Words cannot express what our conversations through the years have meant. I’ll simply wrap things up by saying “Thank you!”

May God bless you and yours.

Peace,
Justin

Blaine Hogan is an artist’s artist. A creative. A writer. A pastor.

But did you know he’s also a dancer? Like, a sweet dancer.

Don’t believe me? Just watch this video and tell me he doesn’t have some of the sweetest moves since Napoleon Dynamite rocked it to Jamiroquai. (Video after the break).

Blaine’s not just a gifted artist, he’s also a giver. He’s such a giver, that he wants to give you the chance to join him for a Friday Dance Party. Yeah, that’s right. You now get the chance to fire up the webcam, crank the song-of-the-week on iTunes, and dance til your little heart can’t dance no mo’.

Want to join in? Here’s the instructions from Blaine’s blog:

1. Watch the video in this post for some inspiration.
2. Download this week’s song here.
3. Get your kids and/or you in front of a camera and dance your little butts off.
4. Even if you don’t dance for the whole song, be sure and take a bow at the end!
5. Upload the video to our Happy Friday Dance group page on Vimeo, or email Blaine your video.
6. Be sure to upload or send in your video by Wednesday Oct. 13th!

It’s that simple.

This is genius on so many levels, not the least of which is that Blaine’s leveraging the power of social media to hold a cyber-centered dance party. A colossal movement of joy that will sweep the world wide web. They won’t even know what hit them!

Dust off the dancin’ shoes. Get to it. And party on!

It’s a single shot. One take. Tour through the entire building. Using nearly all of their staff.

Impressive. Great job, guys!

Take a few minutes and watch this of video mastery. Isn’t it amazing what happens when a staff works together? “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity!”

If you want to see how they made it, check out the behind-the-scenes video after the break:

• This guy. Don’t ever be this guy.
• Chris Brogan brings a good word for the entrepreneurially-minded: “Don’t quit your job.”
• Merlin Mann suggests to a college student that the more appropriate career path is to take the opportunities that come to you, regardless of your major. I agree.
• The title doesn’t fit anymore. Leaders lead by doing, not by classifying themselves as a leader.
• iPhone in the womb. A “womb with a view”!
• Seth Godin gives us five rules for an “About” page. I need to revamp ours!
• The BeDeviant Social Media Summit now has details for hotels in downtown Des Moines. Now you all won’t have to stay on my couch.
• Noodle Cheek!

My father-in-law sent this to me. I happen to think it’s hilarious.

A little sacrilege, but who’s counting? Enjoy.

The Pastor’s Ass

A Pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.

The Pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race
again, and it won again.

The local paper read:

PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the Pastor
not to enter the donkey in another race…

The next day, the local paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASS.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the Pastor to get rid
of the donkey..

The Pastor decided to give it to a Nun in a nearby Convent..

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The Bishop fainted!

He informed the Nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she
sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the papers read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the
donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The Bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is ….
Being concerned about public opinion can
bring you much grief and misery. It can even shorten your life..

..So be yourself and enjoy life to the fullest.

Stop worrying about everyone else’s ass and you’ll be a lot happier and live longer!

This 60-ft. statue of Jesus at a Cincinnati church burned to the ground after being struck by lighting:

Charred remnants remained this morning, June 15, of the large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 that was destroyed following an apparent lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday night.

As one on-looker said, “It was like God striking God. Jesus striking down Jesus … I like the irony.” Here’s a picture of the statue burning: