Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. The floral industry celebrated Black Friday three months after the rest of the country. Cynicism oozed all over the Facebook news feed from the single people you number among your friends. And Justin Bieber told me I was born to be somebody with a wink and a point via a mass produced paper valentine. Love was in the air. The Bieber valentine reminded me of high school. In high school couples would celebrate anniversaries on a monthly basis. So what if you had a Statistics exam to study for after basketball practice? You’d better make sure you got to Costco before they closed in order to get the best deal on a dozen roses. If not, that relationship wasn’t going to make it to month two. In the sub-culture that is high school, a few months seems like a long time. The blogosphere is not that different. Today marks six months since we launched The Two Cities, and just like those high school lovebirds, we’re commemorating it.
The idea of launching this blog was first discussed last Fourth of July weekend. When some of The Two Cities contributors were undergrads at Biola, we used to meet once a week with a few other friends to discuss different topics. The subject changed from week to week, ranging from matters of theology to ministry to practical Christian living. Those meetings were a great blessing to us. This blog was a way for us to continue that discussion and to share it with more people. August 15th The Two Cities was born. We’ve sought to provide content on a near-daily basis and to encourage reader interaction since our inception. We’ve learned some things, changed some things, and improved some things. We hope to continue this trajectory in the next six months. Thanks for reading.
-Caleb
The Two Cities has been a fun project to be involved in. I’m grateful for the variety of posts that come out each week by the regular contributors. We’ve had several guest contributors and finally had our first post by a female writer yesterday! I hope to see many more “firsts” take place over the next few months as The Two Cities continues to try and write engaging material for a broad audience.
-John
I may be the newest blogger, but believe me, I’ve been part of The Two Cities from day one—at least as an avid fan. A couple of clicks in and the site had already found a home on my elite list of cyber “Favorites.” That’s saying something. Consider the thousands of theological blogs vying for our readership (and short attention spans) every day. I think The Two Cities stood out because it wasn’t just one voice doling out daily posts on pet topics; it was a chorus of opinions. Sometimes they coincided, sometimes they clashed. As the newbie, and the only full-time blogger with no formal theological training, I hope to add a layman’s voice to that chorus. Even if that voice cracks and quivers and goes completely off key. Lord willing, we’ll sing on.
-Bryan
I will never forget riding in John’s cramped car to Lake Mead this past fourth of July as we first broached the idea of a collaborative blog. Honestly, I didn’t think we would make it. It was a great idea and I was looking forward to it but it takes a lot to run a blog, even if the members are only blogging once a week. Something happened in early January that made me think, “We did it. We are going to last.” It was like we climbed over that hump. I know that is how it felt for me personally. Each week, the blog becomes more of a joy than a chore and I think the other bloggers would probably agree with me.
In terms of where we go from here: I think the blog is ready to take a bigger step. That doesn’t mean more articles or anything like that, but continuing to improve the site and generate a greater readership.
My favorite part of the experience has been interacting with the other bloggers and reading their articles. I count the men on this blog among my closest friends and I respect their opinions deeply. It has been a joy to read them even amidst divergent opinion.
-Ryan
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