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Some Cherokee County pastors are using more than just the pulpit to communicate with their members.

Several local pastors have created blogs where they post messages several times a week as a way to stay in touch with their congregations.

Pastor Gary Lamb of Revolution Church (formerly Ridge Stone Church) in Canton started blogging in March 2005, and last year, his blog was named one of the top 20 Christian blogs in the country by Outreach Magazine.

With his church growing to around 1,000 members, blogging is the easiest way for him to communicate with them and to let them know what's on his mind.

"It's a great way to share," he said, noting his blog gets 2,500 hits a day. "We've grown so much so this is a great way now for me to communicate with everybody. It lets them know I'm a real person."

Blogging also is a great networking tool, he said.

"I've met pastors all over the country who are great, great friends now," he said.

Lamb, who posts "snippets" of information sometimes two or three times a day, said he writes about all kinds of things: tips on starting churches, leadership principles and things happening in his life.

"I'm pretty open on my blog," he said.

The Rev. Charlie Pharis, who was responsible for Lamb getting into blogging, has been posting his thoughts online since the spring of 2003.

"I just saw other people were doing it and saw a lot of them on the Web," he said. "I thought it was a cool thing and thought I'd jump right in."

It also filled his need to be a writer, and "this is a way for me to write, and nobody would have to approve of what I write," he added.

The pastor of Stonecrest Baptist Church in Woodstock said he has two blogs going right now.

"A personal blog where I write about leadership and stuff that interests me and music, and a blog for the church that's actually our church Web site," he said, noting he posts entries a couple of times a week. "It's stuff that pertains to the church - activities, things we're doing. My latest post is about a Bible reading thing we're doing together as a church."

Spencer Nix, pastor of the newly formed Isaac's Keep church in Canton, is another longtime blogger.

He began writing a blog three years ago for his Grace to the Nations organization as a "way to keep in constant contact with our support base," but he also started one for his church when it formed a year ago.

"It helps me communicate about issues in the church, the types of things to me that need to be addressed but don't need to be a series or sermon, per se," said Nix, who usually posts two or three times a week. "I can add it in the blog, and it's accessible to everyone."

He might give a pastor's perspective on a controversial movie that's been released or some other contemporary issue that's in the news, or he might post a devotional or a note about an upcoming church event, he said.

While these pastors have been blogging for a while, the Rev. Charlie Marus is brand new to it.

The senior pastor of Liberty Hill Church said he started a blog last week for members who are participating in the church-wide 21 day period of fasting and prayer "so we could share our thoughts back and forth."

"This is all new to me," he said, noting he's trying to post entries every day. "But we've had good participation so far."

Marus said he uses the blog to encourage and support the members who are participating in the Daniel fast - no meat, no sweets and no caffeine for three weeks.

"The first day or two of a fast, you get headaches and things like that," he said. "But you get some clarity and things are more clear because you are more focused on God than you are on how you're feeling physically."

The blog is "confined to our specific group of people who are participating in the fast" but will probably be added to the church Web site later on if it's successful, he said.

"We worship at Cherokee High School so we don't have a common place to meet," he said. "I figure blogging will be a common meeting place for us."

All the pastors said they've received positive comments about their blogs from members of their church and community.

"The ones who read them seem to have a pretty positive reaction," Pharis said. "It's helpful because they've been able to kind of see my heart a little bit, and they kind of like that, I think. Of course, you've got a bunch of older people who go 'Blog? Web? Computer? What's that?'"

"My church loves it," Lamb said, noting it makes him "more accessible" to them.

But blogs can cause problems, mainly with misunderstandings and a difference in beliefs.

Lamb said he's "taken a beating" for some of his postings.

"I take a lot of heat anyway (for having a modern church), and there are blogs out there devoted to anti-modern churches," he said, noting he's stopped allowing comments about his blog to be posted. "There are all kinds of posts against me, the things I said and the series I've taught."

Pharis said it is "very easy to be misunderstood" on a blog since the writer "can't put body language in there."

"And there's just some people looking for a fight, and they're going to find something to be negative about," he said.

"It's no different than any other type of medium," Nix said. "A lot of times, people misunderstand. But the benefits quite outweigh the disadvantages."

dharris@cherokeetribune.com

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