A blog famous for writing about other people? In our narcissistic culture could a blog like that even cut it?

Todd Rhoades is the genius behind Monday Morning Insight - a blog  which is a compilation of Internet stories and resources that would be of interest to pastors and church leaders across the United States and the world.

Cool concept hey?

I had the rare opportunity to talk to the humble guy who’s always talking to other people. Here’s the story behind the story of Todd and MMI.

1. How did you get from there to here? I started in college on kind of a two track career.  I worked full-time at a radio station selling commercials (my first experience with marketing) and part-time for a church as a ‘minister of music’ (my first music gig).  Over the years, I would start my own advertising agency, and eventually get into web publishing.  My first site was called Minister-of-Music.com; and one thing led to another.  Before I knew it, I was running a growing church employment site (ChurchStaffing.com) and a new blog (MondayMorningInsight.com).  In late 2005, I sold the staffing website.  The next year I began working with Leadership Network.  Believe me, it’s been much more exciting than it sounds in print. 
2. Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind Monday Morning Insight. MMI is really a simple concept for me.  I try to find things that I’m interested in, and hope that other people will also be interested enough to read it!  So far, it’s working!  A friend recently described MMI as ‘half Bible, half National Enquirer”.  I have to admit, I kinda like that.  I think it’s important for all of us involved in church work to not only have a good grasp on theological truth, but also keep up on what is happening in the current church world.  At MMI, I try to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in the church world.  And I never have a shortage of stuff I find everyday that absolutely fascinates me!
3. Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? I don’t know that I have any God-sized dream for me personally; but what I’m seeing that I’m really, really liking these days is that churches and pastors are really starting to use the internet to extend their connection with their people.  Whether its communicating through a blog, Facebook, or Twitter, I see some really sharp leaders ‘exposing themselves’ to their churches in some very good ways.  It allows them to extend their leadership on a very personal level without it having to be one-on-one.  On a personal note… I get a lot of satisfaction out of meeting many of the people who read MMI at many of the conferences and events that I have the privelege of attending.  I love to connect leaders and ideas.
4. Other than Buckeye football, what is your favorite thing about Ohio?  You know, I take a lot of flack for living in Bryan, OH… yes the dum dum capital of the world!  (You know the little dum dum suckers?  They are made in my home town).  Other than OSU football (of course), I like the small town atmosphere to raise my family in.  For the most part, it’s a great place to live!
5. In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture? Wow… in the circles that I run in, most of the churches are highly innovative.  That means that many of them are pushing the limit sometimes when it comes to merging culture and the church.  I grew up in a very conservative, legalistic brand of Christianity.  I saw many people who literally ran from the church because of the long list of ‘worldly things’ that the church wouldn’t allow.  Many of those people will have nothing to do with the church to this day.  I think in order to reach people, you do have to speak their language to some extent, while keeping the gospel message Biblical.  That means that there are some churches who reach cowboys with cowboy music; some inner city churches who ministry to the hip hop culture in a very different way that the traditional church on the corner.  Sure, there are times when some churches go too far; but I really don’t see that very much at all.  I like what Craig Groeschel says:  “We will do anything short of sin to introduce people to God”.  Unfortunately, there are many people on the internet that think EVERYTHING is a sin. 

I think Todd has an interesting point concerning his view about Christ and Culture.

• Have you ever seen a church cross that Fine Line for the sake of the Gospel?
• Do you agree with Craig’s quote or did he cross the line?