Category — Random

At some point this summer, I decided that I needed to produce a newsletter in order to stay connected with friends, former students, current students, CSI-Xers, and people I have met along the way.  I wanted to pass along thoughts about what I was reading, conferences that I thought would be worthwhile to attend, and contacts that might be valuable.  I even wrote a draft of the first newsletter.  Well, as a good friend and I were having a pita sandwich in a rather quaint deli in Hico, Texas, I told him what I was about to do.  I was sure he would blurt out, “Wow, Stroope.  That is such a great idea.”    Instead, he politely informed me as to how arcane and old school I was.  “If you really want to go public, get your ideas out there, and stay connected,” he said, “then blog!”  I considered blogging as only a fad for the young and excessively verbal - and certainly not something I would ever do.  Well, my friend spent the rest of the lunch hour (and several encounters since then) convincing me to blog and then teaching this old dog to do new tricks.  So, you have before you my first post.  If you look left, you will see the important stuff that I am bequeathing to you …

• explanation about mereHope
• my reading list
• some of my all-time favorite quotes
• notices of events and conferences
• friends, bloggers, and churches I want you to know.

As you look right, you will see current stuff …

• who I am (for those who stumble onto this blog)
• what I am currently reading
• what books you must read

And down the middle, I hope to have a running conversation with you.  I will let you know what I am reading (quotes and comments), what questions are in my mind, the issues that I feel must be addressed, and my musings on the church, mission, culture, poverty, etc.

More than anything, I am looking for signs of hope that are within the church, mission, culture, poverty, etc.  I am thinking alot about hope these days … but more on that later.

So, thanks to Jayson and Michael (http://threestream.com/) this old dog is blogging.