You can't mention President Trump in a conversation anywhere without being looked at like you just ran over a puppy with a lawn mower. His name and persona are polarizing... and this blog post has NOTHING to do with him whatsoever.

The title is merely clickbait. Pure and simple.

So you clicked. You're now here, and you're wondering why you're still reading. You may be a bit aggravated to have encountered the digital bait and switch routine. You may even feel deceived.

Welcome to the world wide web, circa 2018.

It seems that content must be sensationalized in order to be consumed. As a pastor who enjoys blogging, it's a constant temptation to only write about topics that will be guaranteed a wide audience. I love to write, but this blog is for my enjoyment as much as it is (I hope) for yours. And so regular readers know that my topics drift from matters of faith to technology to book reviews to cultural observations to randomness and back again. I do occasionally blog about contemporary issues, but it's very occasional.

There are pastors who blog about current issues all the time. I'm envious of their blog traffic. They seem to be digital "Johnnys-on-the-spot" - always ready with a cultural analysis or article that then seems to get shared/go viral regularly. Does one have to blog about.. Kanye and Trump | theological insights from the Avengers movie | the second amendment and its subservience to Jesus' teaching.. in order to be effective and influential on the web?

In my snarky moments, I wonder — are these contemporary-issue-blogging ministers discipling people one-on-one? Are they involved in multiple meetings each week for organization, strategy and coordination? Are they cultivating relationships within their church with new guests? How do they find the time?

In my less snarky moments, I wonder if my church members want me to blog about current issues like that? Do they want to know what I think (yes, I have opinions), or not?

I also wonder if the church-at-large needs these pastor bloggers to write about current issues so that it will know how to think about contemporary issues? Are we cultivating church members who won't do the work of reading the Bible to search for themselves how to apply biblical teaching to current issues?

What do you think?

I'm genuinely curious. What do you think are the compelling reasons for ministry leaders to write about contemporary issues (or not to)? How much is too much?

On the other hand, why do you choose to share a "current-issue" post?

[yop_poll id="1"]