From GodBlogCon to Christian Bloggers Central

It is hard to imagine, but in 2004 very few Christians had ever heard of a blog, let alone Christian blogging. After being encouraged by talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, I promoted and organized the first-ever Christian Bloggers Conference on my then-active blog at SmartChristian.com. I now blog on my personal site at www.DrAndrewJackson.com. I’m busy redesigning SmartChristian.com as an extensive online Christian resource directory that will be launched in March 2011.

The first Christian Bloggers Conference, called GodBlogCon 2005, took place on October 13-15, 2005 at the campus of Biola University in California under the leadership of Dr. John Mark Reynolds, the founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute. About 135 Christian bloggers gathered to get to know one another, and discuss new media blogging as an emerging Christian communication vehicle. GodBlogCon 2006 was also held on the campus of Biola University. Then the big move to Las Vegas took place. Yep, Las Vegas. GodBlogCon 2007 and GodBlogCon 2008 convened in conjunction with the BlogWorldExpo & New Media Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

After two interesting years in Las Vegas, GodBlogCon was re-branded the Christian Web Conference, and it returned to Biola as a “mini-conference” in September 2009. Christian Web Conference 2011 is coming up.

I must confess, I really miss the dynamic GodBlogCon days. Meeting together with all the pioneer Christian bloggers was always a great time.

Since the first Christian Bloggers conference in 2005, the number of quality Christian bloggers have continued to increase and expand. Unfortunately, they are scattered throughout cyberspace, and there is no central portal site where one can go and have direct access to them. In a sense, there is no one-stop shopping for Christian blogs. A few years ago, I launched a Facebook page called Christian Bloggers Network as a possible solution. Today, there are over 1,300 members.

Well, I’m taking one more step forward. After the launch of SmartChristian.com in March 2011, I’ll be designing a central portal site for Christian bloggers at www.ChristianBloggersCentral.com. This will be quite an undertaking. I would appreciate you cheering me on. Like back in 2005 when I initiated the first Christian Bloggers conference, I’ll try to launch the first central portal site for Christian bloggers that I believe will be a great resource for the global church.