I’ve also gone to a shorter post format with this blog.  Instead of fighting it, I’m giving in.  Microblogging is working better for my current lifestyle.  This blog is an important part of what I’m doing personally and with the church so it needs to keep going.

This is the reason for the new layout.  It’s set up to display shorter posts and track my twitter updates automatically.  It’s becoming sort of a hub for me to connect with people in ways that actually work instead of forcing myself into something that worked for a while but no longer does.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t be doing longer posts from time to time.  I’m working on some final thoughts on Lakeland and some other things.  But, by and large, the posts will be more distilled.

Cheers.

Every year the WordPress community takes a month to honor the creativity and brilliance of WP plugin authors. In support of the community, I thought I would list for you the plugins I use (and could not/would not live without).

1. Akismet – spam filter extraordinaire. It uses a database of spam definitions that is fed by every akismet user. It’s a brilliant idea. Every time I flag a comment as spam, that definition is added to the database so that every other akismet user will not get that spam. It’s works flawlessly for me.
2. Subscribe to Comments – Allows a commenter to subscribe to a comment string by checking a box when they comment. Then they get an email when other comments are made on that post. It’s a great way to encourage commenting.
3. WordPress.com Stats – Gives you all the stats you care about without a bunch of information you don’t need. In addition, the stats are generated on a WordPress server, not your own. So no wasted bandwidth.
4. WordPress Mobile Edition – This is an awesome plugin. It detects if someone is viewing your site with a mobile browser and displays a mobile-friendly theme that is formatted to fit a small size screen.
5. Ajax Edit Comments – I love it and users love it. It allows me to edit comments without using the admin. I can do it all right from the post itself. It also allows a commenter to edit their own comment for a set period of time. I also love how it integrates so nicely into my theme.
6. WP PageNavi – Allows me to use the page navigation that you see at the bottom of the page instead of the default WP one (Prev Post – Next Post).
7. Share This – Puts all the social bookmarking functionality in one package under one button. It also allows a user to send the post by email to a friend or post about it directly to their blog. You can completely customize the look of the pop-up box to fit your theme too.
8. WP DB Manager – After Akismet, this is the first plugin I install on a new blog. It goes way beyond a simple backup manager. It does scheduled backups that you can choose to have emailed to you. it will schedule database optimizations and more. It’s insurance for your blog.
9. Lightbox 2 – Automatically converts all linked images in a post to use the lightbox effect. It’s pure eye-candy, but why not? Just install it and forget about it.
10. Maintenance Mode – This ought to be built into WP. Turn it on, and visitors will see a message saying that the site is undergoing maintenance and to try back after a set amount of time. It’s great to use when you are upgrading or tweaking your site.
11. Best Foot Forward – Allows you to display a list of best posts as a widget in the sidebar. Lots of configuration options for how you want it to display. This is a good way to introduce first-timers to your best content.
12. Full Text Feed – Allows you to deliver full text RSS feeds even when you use the “Read More” divider. This also should be a built in option in WP, but isn’t yet. This option is now available.
13. Scripturizer – Automatically converts scripture references to links. You can also opt to have a javascript drop-down appear that displays the scripture from your choice of translations. John 3:16
14. Similar Posts – This plugin displays a list of posts related to the current one.  It’s the most sophisticated one I’ve been able to find.  It generates the list based on keywords found in the post, category, title, tags, etc.  There are lots of config options too.  This will make it easier for visitors to get lost in your content.

Those are the main ones. There are a few others that do little things that are conveniences to me. If you use WordPress, feel free to add to the list in the comments.

[tags]WordPress, favorite plugins, plugins, plugin month[/tags]

Here are some nice images of the site.

According to Dr Abdul Qader Al-Hassan, the director of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological studies, the cave site shows clear evidence of early Christian rituals that predate the church.

Dr Al-Hassan says that steps lead down into the chapel which is approximately 12m long and seven metres wide.

There is a circular area of worship with stone seats separated from living quarters. This circular element, called an apse, is important says Dr Al-Hassan because there is only one other example of a cave with a similar feature, which was also used for Christian worship.
Dr Al-Hassan said: “We found beautiful things. I found the cemetery of this church; we found pottery shards and lamps with the inscription ‘Georgeous’”.

In the cave there is also a tunnel that leads to a cistern which supplied water to the dwellers. An inscription in the floor of the church above refers to the “70 beloved by God and the divine” whom the archaeologist believes were refugees from religious persecution in Jerusalem.

Man, I can’t wait to talk to some of those 70 Christians when I get to heaven.

[tags]St. georgeous cave, archaeology, christianity, jordan[/tags]

Not only is it funny, but it illustrates pretty well how two people can think they are communicating when they aren’t at all.

Or… it could have no meaning at all and just be funny. I realize that I’m a pastor so I see sermon illustrations in just about everything. I could get a sermon illustration from a bowl of oatmeal.

office furniture in BulgariaHave a great weekend.

Of course, I have an ulterior motive… I want you to subscribe to our feed! You can use our standard feed, or get the feed by email. Your choice.

I’ve put together 4 more (in addition to the header that is in place now) for you to choose from. Vote on your favorite and the winner will get put in!

Click on the images to view the full size version. Vote on your favorite in the poll located at the end of the post. If you have a strong opinion, let us know why in the comments.

Thanks!

Polling has been closed. See the comments for the results.

I’ve upgraded my WordPress install and there are several new features on the back end that I like. My previous design was not able to take advantage of some of these features. All the updates to the sidebar and other areas had to be done manually which was getting old. I don’t feel like recoding a bunch of things (nor do I have the time) to make it work the way I wanted it, so viola! Time for a change…

This design loads a little faster too.

Hope you like it. If you care at all… ;-)