Tallskinnykiwi is 8 Years old today. Well, it was actually June 3, 2001 when I shifted from Andrews Tea Salon (1997) to Tallskinnykiwi, but whose counting? Thanks to everyone who has been receiving my feeds and popping over occasionally to this blog to see what's going on. Normally I do something special on these blogiversarys, like hosting games or taking a retrospective look back at TSK through the years.
Today, I want to celebrate by stopping the blog for a while. A few reasons:
1. This blog has 2,777 posts and most of it is buried deep under much rubble. TSK has become too unwieldy and its probably time to wrap it up or at least sum it up. I will be doing some posts over the next month or so that add some perspective to what I have been observing over the past 8 years of TSK blogging. But what I will NOT be doing is trying to stay updated with all the current events. Plenty of other bloggers are doing that now.
2. Another reason to cool it off for a few months is because of our heavy travel schedule. We leave today, from the most western point of continental Europe (near Lisbon, Portugal) and start heading east, sweeping across most of Europe (and perhaps some of North Africa) until we reach Turkey in October. A lot of the time we will not have WIFI and we will not always have electricity. If you are interested in following our family's journey, you can watch us at a new blog that will launch in about a week called Jonesberries.com This blog will be a way for our whole family to blog about the food and countries and cultures we experience as we travel the world in a 20+ year old truck named Maggie. But it will NOT be a Christian blog about the global emerging church.
3. Many of the people we are in contact with right now are spending time in countries where it is not safe for national believers in Christ to practise their faith. I dont want my blog to endanger anyone though name-dropping or having their faces in photos. Which is why my blog has been a little less personal recently. My monthly emails, sent to those who pray for us and support us, are far more detailed. I probably need to prune my email list and rebuild it. Let me know if you want to be on it.
If you are interested in supporting our family in our missionary journeys, please send an email to tallskinnykiwi at gmail dot com and we will send you details of where to send your support. In case you were wondering, our support is less than we were expecting due to the recession and we have cut back significantly so that we can stay on target to fulfil what we believe God is asking of us. A big part of that is mapping out what God is going in the next generation around the world and helping to support and encourage those movements. If you want to partner with our family in that way, please let us know.
So, expect a few conclusive blog posts in the near future. And thanks for being a big and wonderful part of our lives.
Thank you for sharing - I had a hunch this was coming after Mark O. went cold turkey. You are in this for the right reasons and I know that you would stop blogging when it is the right time as well and then resume it again if the spirit directs you to do so.
In particular, I can relate to #3 - it's a big challenge for the book I am starting to research. In some of the stories, I will have to use first names (or change names if their first name is unusual) and no photos, video or audio.
Sending you an email to get added to your support list. All I can offer now is prayer but I pray that may change at some point.
Please let us know when Jonesberries.com is operative.
Posted by: becky | June 05, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Thanks as always for your combination of event-reporting, perspective-giving, trend-watching, and discussion-starting. And gracious encouragement to stay on the journey. Will look forward to whatever unfolds for you next, Andrew!
Posted by: brad | June 05, 2009 at 02:23 PM
send me some info, my family would love to support you guys.
john@churchcrunch.com
Posted by: John (Human3rror) | June 05, 2009 at 03:08 PM
Excellent decision. Know that people will continue to support you in prayer regardless of how often this 'blog is updated.
God speed.
Posted by: Matt | June 05, 2009 at 03:58 PM
Welcome to the club! :)
Posted by: robbymac | June 05, 2009 at 04:26 PM
Congratulation. Reading your blog since 2002. I would love to be on that email-List. Greetings vom Switzerland.
Mike
Posted by: Mike B. | June 05, 2009 at 06:05 PM
Hmmmmmmm..... somewhere in my prayer time for you guys... i saw that coming... ---- hope you'll still keep it up... so we all can peruse thru the archives ..... though i've not been blogging as long as "thou"...... i've been pondering scaling things back to just a monthly post... and playing with a different idea of blogging... but that's a bodywork thing... but i so have enjoyed reading along the way... this crazy tribe does astounding exploits ... and it's a "cool thang that u done"......................... you know we love you guys ridiculously -- and can't wait to touch again! Yeah.. stick my email on the other thang.... to stay in the loop and when and where to send dosh. Love you bro... send my love to your beautiful wife and the crumb snatchers!
xo cat
Posted by: cathryn Thomas | June 05, 2009 at 11:56 PM
bold step and cheering for you mate, Jason
Posted by: Jason Clark | June 06, 2009 at 01:20 AM
Bon voyage, Andrew. Want to be on your mailing list.
Posted by: Natanael Disla | June 06, 2009 at 02:28 AM
been waiting for this post since you twittered about me stopping in a way that seemed like a hat tip to your own thinking. man, i really expected to experience big-time withdrawal; but while i do occasionally miss my blog, i've found it all to be rather freeing, and quite easy (in my grand week and a half of experience, that is). i'm likely projecting my own stuff on you with this, but i'm excited for you to live into an identity fully other than "blogger", or "tallskinnykiwi". it's a season for andrew jones!
Posted by: marko | June 06, 2009 at 07:12 PM
marko - thanks for the encouragement now and also for a week ago when your post inspired me. and after a full day, i am also experiencing withdrawals.
we are more than our blogs. ay?
Posted by: andrew | June 06, 2009 at 08:48 PM
ay!
Posted by: renee | June 06, 2009 at 09:44 PM
sounds like you have thought carefully about this. A time for everything... a time to blog, and a time not to blog...
Stick me on your email list please. Would love to pray for and keep up with your travels and hear about what you discover as you interact with the global church.
Posted by: Anthony Adams | June 07, 2009 at 12:17 AM
Andrew,
I trust you'll keep the archives online for the valuable resource that they are... else you could probably crash the entire emerging conversation by breaking innumerable deep links!
All the best as you focus on the tasks at hand that God has given you.
Posted by: Brother Maynard | June 07, 2009 at 03:23 PM
So long and thanks for all the fish :)
I fully understand your your decision, while I think it is a loss to the Kingdom. But life goes on and there is time for everything.
Actually, I'm planning a semi-private social networking site to serve the emerging church in Europe. "Semi-private" meaning that there would be members only parts, while some parts could be open to the Internet. I believe many of the issues you mentioned in point 3 will be addressed by design.
I hope to have something actual to show by the time you come back. (In fact I should have something running in a few weeks.) Perhaps you could even find your new way of contributing that way.
(If someone would happen to be interested in what I'm up to, my gmail account is outolumo. Especially, if you happen to know some gibberish such as LAMP, WPMU, Buddypress or Courier - or build the Kingdom in Europe in some other fashion - I'd love to serve you some stone soup...)
P.S. Add me to your list.
Posted by: Tuomas Nurmi | June 08, 2009 at 06:38 AM
peace for what comes next! keep communicating...
Posted by: jonnybaker | June 08, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Andrew,
I'd simply like to ask you to reconsider. Why? Shift format, change or nuance content, minimize some writing to elevate others.
This is the world's gateway to your wider voice - emails and newsletters go to the brave who connect that way.
Your blog is your "always on" channel that people can end up at, and be glad they arrived.
I just think it remains your bridge to a wider audience. I do understand the sensitive nature of posts especially with our family in certain areas of the world.
Posted by: Dan Wilt | June 17, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Andrew,
I have really enjoyed following your blog over the past several years. I thank you for the time, energy and insight that you have given in this space. I pray God's continued blessings on you and your family in all of your future endeavors.
Cheers,
Matt
Posted by: Matt Swain | June 19, 2009 at 05:51 AM
me on your e-mail-list would be great ;)
Posted by: Rob | June 24, 2009 at 02:46 PM
Andrew,
Praying for you and your family. You have been a great inspiration to me over the years and it has been great being able to keep in touch. I hope that you pick the blog back up again sometime soon, but I definitely understand the hiatus. At some point, I'll stop blogging as well, but until then, it is a good creative outlet. You inspired me to start doing it and I'm grateful.
Posted by: Alan Cross | June 26, 2009 at 06:05 PM
I would love to be on your email list. As your posts come up about your trip and ministry I pray for your family and the adventure you are on building His Kingdom... we would love to be a tiny part of it on this side of the world.
Posted by: reneegrace | July 23, 2009 at 05:34 PM