Marc's Messages

New feed URL for Marc's Messages!

For everone who missed my earlier announcement:

Please note that everyone using a RSS feed reader (like Google.com/Reader) should subscribe to the new feed URL for my weblog:

http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm3/index.rdf

This is the only way to stay updated on the posts on my NEW weblog. So make sure you change this straight away!

Important: read this carefully!

In case you are subscribed to Marc's Messages with RSSfwd (http://www.rssfwd.com), which means you receive my updates by e-mail, then please note that you have to resubscribe to my new blog if you want to stay in the loop. Go to http://marcsmessages.typepad.com and submit your e-mail address in the right margin. This is the ONLY way to stay updated on new posts as I won't be publishing anymore on my old blog!

Please also update your links. The best url to link to is the main one: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com (not with /mm/ at the end).

A new season, a new blog

Today is the last day I'm posting on this blog. Tomorrow I will launch a new weblog (version 3.0), where I will post less frequently - let's say three times a week instead of daily - but certainly with interesting perspectives on the new season we're in. If Typepad cooperates well, the url remains the same. If not, I will tell you.

OK, I moved over. If you still see this blog instead of my new one, make sure you use the url http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/ instead of http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/. If necessary adapt your links.

And the winner is...

Who are the three blog friends that will join me for a cool dinner tonight in the historic city of Utrecht? Will there be anyone at all? First the correct answers to the three questions:

1. How many posts did I publish on Marcs Messages in the period of five years?
Answer: 531 on my old Blogspot + 1137 at Typepad (including today's posts) brings the total number on 1668.
Winner: Neck-to-neck between Heidi and Karolien, but Heidi wins with a difference of just 6 posts.

2. How many pageviews did that generate?
Answer: as I can only access the Typepad statistics of the past three years, I had to 'approach' this one myself, and my realistic estimation is 280,000 pageviews.
Winner: Gabi was way too optimistic, but still wins with a difference of 220,000 pageviews.

3. And how many times did I mention the word 'reformation'?
Answer: 6 times on my Blogspot + 195 times on Typepad, brings the total on 201.
Winner: Heidi (or is this one for Stuart?)

As likely none of you can make it to Utrecht tonight, I will invite Karolien to join me on your behalf. As a compensation I will pay a meal for you next time we meet somewhere in the world, ok?

Wrap-up of the past 3 weeks

Yes friends, I'm back in the blogosphere. Of course lots of blog-worthy things happened over the past three weeks, but I disciplined myself not to touch my keyboard (at least not for regular blogging), which was a helpful exercise to prove to my wife that I'm still normal. On the other hand my conscience as a historian says I can't leave extended 'white spots' in the chronicles, causing later generations to guess what happened, and reconstruct a picture in retrospect, which might be completely wrong. Something like praising Constantine for the birth of the house church movement. So here we go, a helicopter overview of the past three weeks:

- this month it has been 10 years since I started Joel News, which was a good reason to throw a party and unmodestly interview myself, as well as being interviewed by several media.
- on the family side we finished our cleaning-up house project, David broke a little bone in his wrist and can't use his right hand for a few weeks, and Karolien and I booked our flights to Trondheim;
- interacted with several organic church planting trainers on the development of a European training concept that can easily be implemented in different nations;
- met up with people of the GIDS network in Utrecht, paid a visit to Ellel Ministries' new base in Baak, and taught for experimenting young people in Delft on 'church as a movement';
- spent two days consulting with 15 organic church planters from Europe in Basel, Switzerland;
- developed a new collaborative e-zine in Dutch about the 'shift that happens' (more about this later);
- had ongoing interactions with Connect friends in several parts of Europe to get some overview of what God is saying to us corporately.