Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I took Cupcakes to a Twitter Party

Last night I had the most fun of all my years in blogland. I attended a Twitter Party with an unknown number of new friends. The #goodwork Twitter Party consisted of a whole bunch of people throwing vaguely connected comments into a shared window. We discussed pie, blogging, miners, and possibly a few other things that would only seem funny to one who had been there.

Wait. Pie?

Oh, yes. I took cupcakes to a Twitter Pie Party. I thought they made a nice addition to the table. And do you know what? Nobody complained. Since we were sharing, I also enjoyed someone else's cherry pie very much.

But seriously.

The group of people attending the Twitter Party with me are part of a community of writers and bloggers known as The High Calling. From the website:

TheHighCalling.org seeks to create opportunities for Christian leaders to encounter God through new media tools for the transformation of daily life, work, and our world. Christian leaders are in all aspects and activities of daily life—including home, community, leisure, as well as occupation.

Essentially, followers of Jesus work at sharing their faith in Jesus through the medium of, well, social media. My High Calling profile tells me I have been part of this community for two weeks, one day. Had I known sooner it existed, I would have already joined.

While I don't talk about it every day here, I do feel strongly that every word I write has a higher purpose than just entertainment or journaling. Underneath everything I say and do, lies a desire to break open God's truth the best I know how, to present it in a way that draws a reader closer to that truth.

My new High Calling friends talk about their faith and family with such intelligence and grace. I fancied myself full of intelligence and grace until I met them. But they inspire me to work harder, to seek God more earnestly, to refine my own thoughts until they begin to contain more of God's intelligence and grace.

Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone."

This is the High Calling of my written work. I am glad to have found a community that shares this calling.

Oh, and the cupcakes? They were for my birthday today. Not many of them made it past the Twitter Party (I had to eat for lots of people), but that's ok. I have been promised that I don't have to make dinner.

Happy my birthday to you!

14 comments:

  1. This post makes me so happy I can hardly stand it. We're glad you enjoyed the party and the community and the vision.

    My friend's fortune cookie from lunch today said, "Something wonderful is about to happy." Who knew that something would be your post?

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  2. Your cupcakes were delicious!
    And you were the icing *and* the cherry on top...

    A grace to share a bit of the evening with you... to give glory to God with our work... to do all things -- like making cupcakes and pie -- all for His honor.

    Thank you for making the High Calling community what it is -- a place of renewal for the laity of His church.

    So grateful for you...
    Ann Voskamp

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  3. Great Post! We're glad you're here, in Texas and The High Calling.

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  4. Happy Birthday!

    Really sad to have missed the party but reading through the tweets afterwards makes me smile : )

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  5. So glad you came and enjoyed yourself!

    Feel free to add your link here (follow post link below), so others can see your sweet post... :)

    http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com/2010/10/come-to-twitter-pie-party.html

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  6. Thank you SO much for the kind words about your experience with the Twitter party! As the network's Social Media Editor, I was the guy behind the @thehighcalling Twitter account that organized it, so this post REALLY blesses me!

    But that is EXACTLY what we're all about! In that statement from the website... when we say 'Christian leaders', we mean people like you. We believe in folks like you living out your high calling no matter where you're at, and our job it to encourage you in that work!

    Oh, and my wife's name is also Krista! That makes you one of my favorite members now! Welcome to the network, and let me (@bibledude) know if there is anything that we can do for you!

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  7. Good to have you part of the HCB community

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  8. Yes, the cupcakes were the perfect addition! It was a fun time, wasn't it? And I didn't even have to get my hair done :) So glad to meet you through this community that I love. Looking forward to sharing more pie in the future!

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  9. Your cupcakes -- and YOU -- were just right! So glad you joined in, Krista. And you DO bring intelligence and grace to the community. I'm honored to walk alongside you here in this place, and at the High Calling.

    - Jennifer Dukes Lee

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  10. I made virtual blueberry-rhubarb crisp for display purposes; in reality, I ate a piece of bread with Nutella and gladly shared with anyone who is a Nutella fan.

    You can come scoop from my jar of Nutella any time (especially if you bring along some cupcakes to share)!

    Seriously, I'm delighted you were part of that Twitter-mania. I was with you in the mix somewhere, retweeting and laughing and enjoying every person and his or her comments--even the surprise haiku that spontaneously emerged!

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  11. So glad I stopped by tonight, Krista -- it's your birthday! Happy lovely special day to you, friend. And it was fun to see you on the HCB twitter party last night...my first twitter party, too. Love you!

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  12. Happy birthday, Krista! So glad you've joined up with the HCB gang. And a great way to get your Twitter feet wet!

    Thanks for the cupcakes.

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  13. By the way, I was only at the twitter party for a little bit, and I'm the kind that sits at a corner table at parties, so I didn't catch you there. :) But, welcome!

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