I eat these talks up for breakfast. Here are two of my favorite people doing an hour long Q&A.
Enjoy your saturday and enjoy this video.
I am on a plane to St. Louis to go and see U2. Speaking of U2, have you seen this awesome U2 video yet? Watch it here

This is a guest post from Stephanie S. Smith. Stephanie is a twentysomething writer, editor, blogger and independent book publicist. She runs her business, (In)dialogue Communications and is a blogger  at www.stephindialogue.com where she blogs about embodied faith, creative life, and millennial culture. Give her a follow on Twitter @stephindialogue. 

In high school I had a journal with a verse quoting John the Baptist emblazoned across the front, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” During my teen years, this was my creed: serving on the sidelines, pointing to Christ.

But this was before the advent of social media. Before I became a book publicist and promotion became my profession. Before I got wired to my laptop and began internally cheering at every blog hit, Facebook “like,” and new Twitter follower. It seems everyone is clambering in some way or another for influence, and I, like many writers and bloggers, began to develop a love/hate relationship with social media. To me it seemed like the two causes are held in tension:
How do we reconcile building our own platform and building Christ’s Kingdom? Are the two mutually exclusive or can they work in harmony?

As much as people might like to champion social media or blame it as the scapegoat for our culture’s vices, I’ve learned that social media is what you choose to make it. Like all things on God’s green earth, we can either use it as an instrument to further God’s Kingdom, or we can fashion it into an idol for our own self-worship. And the deciding factor is often a posture of the heart.
Back to John the Baptist, his life is a primary example of this. In John 1, the religious leaders insist on finding out who exactly this prophet is, and John replies by defining himself as the voice merely introducing another: “John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (John 1:23). Like many authors, pastors, and bloggers today, John the Baptist was building a “platform” of sorts; Scripture tells us that when he preached, whole cities went to listen (Mark 1:5)! But John’s purpose was not to draw attention to Himself. He was preparing the way for a greater Word, a Word from heaven. John knew that he had a voice of influence, and he used it to usher people into the presence of the Savior.

The same choice is ours today in the digital realm: we can either use our voices of influence for our own self-promotion, or for a sacramental purpose: as an avenue of grace extending beyond ourselves. I know that I have been guilty in the past of using my voice simply because I had been handed a loudspeaker, but my online interactions were not ministering to anyone, they were simply adding to the noise (to borrow from a Switchfoot lyric).

I’ve learned that when it comes to social media and ministry, the medium is NOT the message. If we’re ever blogging just to fill the empty space, or speaking into cyberspace just to tally up our influence, we have forgotten the life-saving message of redemption. But there is a third way. Let’s use our voice to usher others into love, to speak truth and meaning, and to prepare the way for a greater Word.

Stephanie S. Smith is a twentysomething writer, editor, blogger and independent book publicist addicted to print and pixels. After graduating from Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Communications and Women’s Ministry, she now runs her business, (In)dialogue Communications, from her home in Upstate New York where she lives with her husband. She blogs at www.stephindialogue.com about embodied faith, creative life, and millennial culture, and you can follow her on Twitter @stephindialogue.

Forever ever….Forever ever….well maybe

So call me a late adopter or the fact that I am lazy, but today I am sharing with you a band that I hope that you are familiar with. The band, Foster the People has been as hot as the heat index in your city lately and have been tearing up the charts and setting the twitter and rdio world on fire.

This band was recommended to me by a friend of mine name stephen lynch about a month ago. It took me a while to catch on, but man am I glad I did.

So today, while you are trying to stay cool take some time to chill with Foster the People (this post is full of cliches, sorry)

you cannot hear this in your google reader or smart phone, come here to listen

How hot is it where you live?

*kyle

Do you want to know what life will look like 10 years from now? Ya me too.

The obsession with what is next can often consume you to the point of madness. Figuring out the next “big thing” could be what drives you to being apart of the next big thing. The race to success is what is on peoples minds and unfortunately what is missing is the focus on what is to come.

I would describe the current race that we are in today as the groupon model way of life. Groupon simply lives on the idea that we (groupon) have influence with customers so you should come to us for help to get your business in front of users. Groupon paints the picture of “win win” for everyone. You get more business and the consumer gets great deals. What a great system for gaining traction right? But what is starting to surface is the lose lose for businesses. The profit is low and the return is almost zero (some whould disagree, like this site here). Simply put, groupon has become a quick and easy way for businesses to take the easy out for instant gratification. The implications from this are huge.
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There is a hidden truth about blogging that seems to be hiding under the layers of the internet.

It dawned on me Sunday night as I realized I did not have a blog ready to go for Monday.

The truth is: the pressure of posting every day brings about the feeling of non-existence. Let me explain.

For most of us, the reason we are known online is for our blogging, twitter or facebook. Most likely you (ya the person reading this) have a day job that does not have much to do with the online world. You take part in social media on your free time and do your best to put your content out there for others to read. You haven’t written a book, spoken to thousands or made a killer album. That is okay. Because you are like everyone else. You take part in social media because you enjoy the conversation and sharing.

But sometimes we get caught up in this idea of worry. “What if I do not post? My traffic will go down for the day.” Or how about this, “my readers are expecting me to have a post ready for them. If I don’t post they will stop reading and never come back.” You ever felt that way? Ya me either :)

But if we are honest with ourselves we would realize our blogs, tweets and other social media aspects are just a small blip on the map. And if we really get honest with ourselves we would admit that we have let our identity creep into our stats and followers. If you do not want to get that honest, don’t worry, I will do it for you.

I realized this because sometimes I really do not want to write. It becomes such a choir that I just don’t feel like spending time writing. Somethings I would rather watch television, read a book, or go for a run.

But my thinking on this has shifted. My ideas, my identity, and my hustle is not caught up in my blog. My blog is a small piece of everything else. Because for a while my blog was all I had. I held onto it as my thing. It was what I was known for and what I took pride in. But the more I become honest with myself the more I realized that everyone has a blog, and that everyone wants their blog to be “the thing” in the blog world. I am slowly starting to let go of the idea that my blog is my identity and starting to grasp on to the thought that it is just one small thing that makes up a part of all the things I do. Once I started to think this way the pressure was released.

The most freeing thing in the world is realizing that you do not have to put all your chips on one thing. That all your eggs are not in one basket, and that simple you do not have to pick one thing and make it work.

Maybe the biggest thing that we need to do today is start letting go of our blog being our only identity and start looking at how we can take all of our ideas we talk about and start executing them. And then you can see your blog turn into just a piece of what you do.

Am I alone in this feeling?

*kyle

I thought it would be fun to turn Music Tuesday over to you today.

So I want to hear it…what is your Music Tuesday suggestions?

Let us know in the comment stream.

*kyle