clipboard imageI see many posts out there that are lists of the “top this” or “top that” and all of them purport to be the top list for that category.

The question I always ask myself is what makes this list the top and by what criteria has the list been achieved. For example, Kent’s list of the Top 100 Church Blogs is one such listing. At the bottom he does attempt to explain the criteria for the listings but phrases like “200 well-known blogs are selected” leave me wondering by who’s measurement or criteria.

This is not to bash Kent’s post, but of those top 130 (there’s a bonus 30 there) I read maybe 5 of them. Not that I think my opinion matters in this… but what I really dislike about the whole idea of lists is the very subjective nature of them.

So, with that firmly in mind here is my listing (no top anything) of Church Tech Blogs that I read and find have value to me.

Hopefully one or more will for you too:

  1. ChurchTechMatters.com – CTM has gone from being a one man show by Jim Walton to a place that has a group of christian tech bloggers aged from 15 upwards. CTM’s breadth and depth of content has taken the site to a new dimension and whilst articles aren’t regular, they are all of top quality (NB In the interests of full disclosure I am one of those writers).
  2. 8Bit Network – like CTM, 8bit is a group of church tech bloggers but unlike CTM they update frequently and are targeted across 5 specific areas from Web to IT to Media. The inspiration behind 8Bit is John Saddington (aka human3rror) and if you can cope with high traffic, high volume sites then these are a must add.
  3. Tech, No Babel – in their own words, “TNB is your weekly source for church video, graphics, and tech news, perspectives tips and tricks“. Paul has an interesting blog and like myself will post on any subject close to his heart at the time; be it personal or a tech tip. He used to do a weekly podcast but hasn’t done so for a number of years now – though the archives are still available.
  4. ChurchIT Help is run by Barry Buchannan and was one of the first christian tech blogs I ever read. Since then Barry and I have struck up an online friendship. Like most personal blogs his topics are widespread but alas he hasn’t been active for some time on the tech blog. These days he puts his time into his daily tech toon but does occasionally post an article.
  5. ChurchTechToday is written by Lauren Hunter and is a must read for myself. Lauren writes on her desire to “help churches do ministry better through internet-related technological advancements, whether it’s through using church management software, online newsletters, or cutting-edge social communities to spread the Gospel“.
  6. Jason Powell – Jason’s site is written from the perspective of a full time Church IT Director. Being a self titled blog it can cover every aspect under the sun but mostly good tech stuff and other bits that relate to the CITRT.
  7. The Beta Version – Greg is, like me, an IT professional and whilst this blog isn’t purely about tech, it is very much about the Church, his role within in it and how he works that out.

There you have it, just some of the many I read.

Enjoy.

Do you have any you care to recommend I add to my regular reading list?

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