Thou Shalt Blog

Growing up my father was a pastor, and nary a weekend went by that we were not in church. I've heard a lot of preaching from a lot of different preachers in my life and this past Sunday I realized that bloggers have a world to learn from preachers.

1) Bad preachers are preachy. I know you are on a stage behind a pulpit but don't talk down to me. I know you have cool pastor hair but please don't be suave (or worse slimy).

2) Good preachers are not all the same. In my book there are a number of different kinds of preachers including but not totaling: Fire starters, teachers, story tellers, scholars.

Fire Starters - Tend to get yellie, and I like it. They preach in an upward slope reminiscent of googles growth. When their done I feel bad for the unsaved person who is loitering outside because they are going to get religion faster than an NBA player who just got a DUI. Tim Ferriss is a fire starter, you leave his blog looking to hold your breath for ten minutes or throw away everything but ten pounds of possessions.

Teachers - These preachers just want you to leave knowing more than you came in with. They appeal to logic and usually talk a little quietly. John Jansch is a teacher who loves marketing. He likes you sure, but he's really happy you show up so that there is somebody to teach.

Story Tellers - The story teller wants you to relate everything they are saying back to your own life. They tell stories from themselves, from their friends, from books, wherever they can find inspiration. Leo is a story teller with a congregation of 100,000+ readers. Tell a good story around a warm fire pit and people will come to you.

Scholars - Teach with passion, they implement much in terms of story telling and teaching but more than anything else a scholar wants to make a new connection. Between you and a peice of knowledge, between two pieces of seemingly unrelated knowledge. Seth Godin is the ultimate scholar. In a short burst every single day he implores his readers to go on a search with him for connections. He looks at everything and pulls it together.


So as a blogger what kind of preacher would you be. If you don't know you now have goal number one. Preachers like bands succeed from a sound not a song, find your sound and then write some songs. Don't talk down to me, don't pass the offering plate around six times a post, you have more leeway with your hair but don't celebrate it. Guy Kawasaki has been telling us for years to be evanglists, so go out, grab your blog pulpit and save the internets soul.