Why I am Now Using Twitter

I have recently joined Twitter and begun ‘tweeting’ while posting Irish Calvinist through my profile.  I have many reasons, hopefully thoughtful, for joining this social network.

I should say that my profile really won’t be a catalog of daily events (took dog for a walk, drank 2 pots of french press, changed our baby’s diaper, etc…).  I am frankly, not that interesting.  People like Mark Cuban, Mark Driscoll, John Henry, etc.. they are intriguing, me on the other hand, I’ll stick to trying to bang the gospel drum as frequently as I can.

So let me highlight these reasons quickly.

1. The opportunity to make the gospel sing in 140 characters: I really like John Piper’s thoughts on this as he sees it as a challenge to believers to show God’s supremacy and value in such a short amount of space.  This forces me to do articulate my meditations.  I love doing this on the blog but often times do not have the time to sit and write out a full post (45 minutes) whereas a tweet can summarize and be done quickly and arguably just as effectively.
2. The opportunity to encourage other people to think higher thoughts about God, the gospel, and the Scriptures.  The ease and vastness of communication makes this opportunity a type of ‘irresistible grace’.
3. The opportunity for me to communicate with blog readers.  This has been a challenge from the beginning.  I had to decide if this was going to be something where I commented a lot or wrote a lot.  The shift was to writing.  What was lost was dialog with readers.  Now as I work in a church planting environment time is even more scarce.  In Twitter this makes things easier.  I will still try to respond to comments as time allows, but Twitter just makes it easier.
4. The opportunity to easily build Christ exalting relationships with folks outside of my local area.
5. The opportunity to post links and references real quickly.  This is a great feature of Twitter that I will regularly use. (my friend Nathan Bingham has written a helpful post that captures much of what I am saying here while adding some helpful counsel)

Here are some examples recent tweets that display what types of things I am talking about:

@erikraymond: Jesus told Satan ‘BE GONE’! (Mat 4.10) Apart from the grace of Christ, I would serving & chasing the wrong prince while smiling (Eph. 2.1-3)

@erikraymond: Great reminder for preachers: “let him who has my word speak my word faithfully”(Jer 23.28) it is the FIRE that melts & HAMMER that smashes!

@erikraymond: “The whole word of God is a ring of gold and Christ is the diamond in that ring! (John 5.39)” Thomas Brooks

@erikraymond: The Father gave his one, beloved Son so that grace thirsty rebels like me might cry: “This is my beloved Savior with whom I am well pleased!

@erikraymond: am GRACE: Recalling that my high priest Jesus has fervently & successfully interceded for me while pleading his blood & righteousness for me

The Twitter feed will display in the sidebar.  So if you like the blog  consider following me and this feed by clicking the the Twitter link to the right:

You can also subscribe to updates in an RSS reader if that is your preference: RSS feed of erikraymond’s tweets

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11 Responses to “Why I am Now Using Twitter”

1. Erik says:

   August 3, 2009 at 9:38 am

   Love the Thomas Brooks quote (tweet?).

   Oh so true!
2. Nathan W. Bingham says:

   August 3, 2009 at 5:00 pm

   Thanks for the link Erik, and welcome to Twittter!
3. Toby says:

   August 3, 2009 at 7:52 pm

   You’ve got way too much time on your hands.
4. Erik says:

   August 3, 2009 at 8:32 pm

   Toby- it should actually save time. Most of it is automated and what is not is faster than most texts that I respond to J. And the goal / intended impact makes it worth it.
5. Greg Dutcher says:

   August 4, 2009 at 8:14 am

   Erik,

   You’ve summarized my own thoughts on Twitter better than I’ve been able to do- ha! I appreciate what you’ve done here, and also what Nathan at Calvinist has done as well.
6. Toby says:

   August 4, 2009 at 9:59 am

   I like the idea of interjecting Gospel into the lives of those you communicate with, and reducing interaction to a series of twits and texts shouldn efficiently broaden your reach. But it is an exclusive form of communication, so it narrows your reach to a certain group. It runs the risk of decreasing your interaction with those who communicate by speach almost exclussively. This is concerning, because I believe this is still the best form of communication and the best way to meet your goals and impact.

   I don’t twitter, so I don’t know the depth of interaction there, but I do text and am not impressed by the depth of communication that happens there, in fact I find it a good way to communicate briefly and consicely by cutting down on the level of communication. We text to avoid talking for convenience and necessity, not to improve interaction. If using twitter is the same, then to reach your intended goal and impact you need to increase the level or depth of communication, not try and cut it down to its most basic level.

   Just some thots J.

   Toby
7. The Benefits of Twitter for the Christian | Scripture Zealot says:

   August 4, 2009 at 12:28 pm

   [...] Why I am Now Using Twitter at Irish Calvinist [...]
8. Erik says:

   August 4, 2009 at 4:15 pm

   Toby, always enjoy your thoughtful interaction. I don’t think you necessarily have to make a choice on this one. This blog has a ‘limited’ reach and so do some conversations with 6-7 guys or a couple for that matter. However, what I am talking about is, within reason, and without diluting or overcrowding, using available means to trumpet the greatness of God and help people to think higher thoughts of Christ. In many ways this comes alongside of the blog and helps to reach folks that may be on Facebook or other mediums. Further, the way in which info travels and reaches others is amazing. I think of all that Driscoll garbage back in April (re: song of songs). I posted some things and they ended up on Phil Johnson’s twitter and then about 50 other folks. The thing went viral and people were reading and interacting with it. But at the end of the day my goal is not a great name for myself or this blog but for Christ! So if I can drop my posts, tweets, meditations, devotions or whatever into the various streams and God sees fit to bring these to various ports around the world…then I am pleased.

   by the way, John Piper is doing it. Did you read his deal? I thought it was good and convincing.
9. Toby says:

   August 5, 2009 at 8:41 am

   Erik,

   I read Piper’s comments. He is so good at clarifying issues.

   My concern is not that it is a bad medium, but that it can distract from other tasks, such as evangelizing, teaching and discipling. Tweeting may help with these tasks, but moving from evangelizing to teaching to discipling this medium becomes less helpful. So, if the basics are taken care of, then the extras can be added, such as tweeting and blogging and flannelgraphing, all to the glory of God.

   Toby
10. shepherdsteve says:

    August 5, 2009 at 8:50 am

    I figured that your role in shepherding the south campus would make it more demanding to be regular on the blog. If you are a C- blogger but an A+ shepherd, then I am proud of you. Twitter might be an easier outlet for you in your busy schedule then posting a blog. God bless
11. Erik says:

    August 5, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Toby, glad Piper could unscramble my omelette for you J. And good idea on the flannelgraph.

    Thanks Steve…good points and appreciate your kinship in the gospel.