Should You Keep Blogging?

Some bloggers are calling it quits. I’ve read a few who feel like giving up because no one comments on their blogs and they begin to wonder if there’s any point. That’s okay. But I just want to say something here.

I often compare blogging to a kind of ministry. In fact, since I have experienced many years of both ministry and blogging, I think the two are very similar in many ways.

So I have a couple of things I’d like to say about blogging:

1. You have to do it for yourself first. I blog because I have to. I have something to say and I must say it. I have a cartoon that simply must be drawn and posted. I’ve kept a personal journal for over 30 years. So it is habitual for me. In fact, in many ways blogging has replaced keeping a personal journal. Not completely, but almost. So if you are in it for other reasons first, like for reaching crowds for instance, then you will get discouraged and be tempted to give up. If you do it for yourself because you are passionate about something and are compelled to share it, then the response from others won’t matter as much.
2. If you really believe that you have something of value to share, then share it, whether there are 10, 100, 1,000 or 1,000,000 people who benefit from it. When I was a pastor of a local congregation, I couldn’t allow the concern for numbers enter into my call as a pastor because it would totally screw with my head, with my call, and with the integrity of my ministry. If you are like a mega-church pastor and won’t be happy with less than many thousands reading you, then you will get discouraged. But if you are happy helping a handful of people, and you persevere at it, I believe your audience may actually grow. I’ve always believed that if there is one who really benefits from what I’m saying, then there must be 10. And if there are 10, there must be 100. And so on.

I don’t get many people leaving comments either. There are lots of reasons for that. But I know people are seeing my cartoons all over the place without ever actually visiting nakedpastor.com. So persevere. You never know!

That’s my advice: do it for yourself first. Then, if it really is worth while to you, then you won’t care how many benefit from it.