Arts and Music at Redeemer

I could have sworn that, months ago, I opened up comments on this blog to all comers without requiring that they register first and that their comments be moderated. I just rechecked those settings and discovered that comments were still locked down. Weird.

So I’ve opened ‘em up! We invite your insights, questions, and suggestions, and I apologize for making you jump through hoops to do so before.

It seemed at the time that setting up a blog about arts and Christianity was like hanging out a sign that read, “HELLO, ANGRY INTERNET RESIDENTS! COME TELL US THAT WE’RE DELUDED/HELLBOUND.” We wanted to avoid that, but the unintended result was that we shut out any sort of interaction with our readers. So we’ll deal with the angry people if and when they ever show up - we want to hear from all of you good, kind, and thoughtful people.

Thanks,
Wade

I’ve just installed the new WordPress blog stats plugin on Arts and Music. I’m really looking forward to learning how many people are visiting this blog, where they’re coming from, and how they’re using it.

Previously I tried to install the Google Analytics plugin. It worked fine for the main Redeemer site, but not here - possibly because this is sort of a blog within a blog and Google got confused. Eh.

Anyway, if you’re running a standalone WordPress blog, do yourself a favor and grab the plugin! Kudos to Matt and company for making it happen.

- Wade

Let’s see…sidebar’s still there…plugins are working…I can post entries…

Looks like we’ve successfully upgraded the Arts and Music Blog to the latest and greatest (we hope) version of WordPress. Boom! as Steve Jobs might say.

I don’t see this new “tabbed editor” they describe that allows us to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing when writing a post, but maybe it’s just me.

(UPDATE: I checked the support forums and got the fix. Under your user profile in wp-admin, in Personal Options, make sure there’s a check in the box that says “Use the visual editor when writing”. This enables the “Visual” and “Code” tabs. I really wish this were checked by default. How would the averege user know to do this? It would be better to let the more experienced users turn it off if they wanted.)

- Wade

The arts are very important to us here at Redeemer. We have many creative people among us who’ve played, sung, acted, painted, photographed, and read their words aloud, as part of our communal life and worship. We’ve worked in collaboration to make icons and altarpieces to display in our beautifully designed church.

We’ve set up this blog to tell you what we’re doing creatively here; but also to tell you how and why we’re doing those things, what the process is like and what we’re learning along the way. We have plans for the future that will take us into territory that’s very new to us. We look forward to having you along!

Peace,

Wade Rockett - a writer, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer