The Highway Forums General Discussion ExCharisma Where is everybody?

I wonder if some people are having trouble finding us ... seems like the migration is going very slowly.

I'm sure it's partly my fault, because I messed up the Yahoo site trying to change the settings and ended up making the group invisible or something... I really should have left it alone and in place long enough to "coach" people on getting to this new site and learning their way around.

Secondly, the web-based message board is vastly different from an e-mail loop. Personally I always liked e-mail loops better because you just use your good ol' familiar favorite e-mail software instead of having to learn some new and unfamiliar stuff. But e-mail loops have some horrendous disadvantages too. Given the choice as a moderator though, I'll take a message board like this one every time.

Several folks from the Yahoo group have created new accounts here. They're prob'ly just learning how to use the site and getting a feel for stuff. It takes time - especially if you're not good at learning new and completely different procedures. And for those still on dial-up, it's a major inconvenience because you can't read and write posts "offline" the way most of us did with e-mail software.

I think it'll be a slow transition. But there are a bunch of ex-Charismatics who were already here; long term members of the Highway community. ExCharisma is likely already bigger than it was only last week.

Another thing too is that stuff we used to discuss in the e-mail loop included topics (like eschatology, denominations, bible translations, church government, Dispensationalism, etc) that, if the group had been here all along - would have been discussed in the other forums here on the Highway. So even though ExCharisma is likely significantly larger than before, this particular forum may be much less busy than the old e-mail loop was. Those discussions will simply take place in the Theology Forum, the Open Forum, Church Locator, etc.

My only regret is the suddenness with which I messed around with the Yahoo group settings and ended up effectively disabling the group prematurely. But I think that those who really hunger and thirst for what we offer will find their way here and take the trouble to learn the new format. A little house cleaning is a good thing once in a while...

Cheers <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/cheers2.gif" alt="" />,
Robin

Made it! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The only thing I don't like about this new format is its permanence. In the YahooGroup, posts only went to other members, and you had it configured so that no posts were archived at the Yahoo web site. On The Highway here, if I ever say something stupid (which is not outside the realm of possibility), it stays public forever and has the potential of becoming something a person could find in a Google search.

Dee

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" /> LOL, Dee, archiving was one of the things I wanted to change about the old Yahoo group! I thought the archives could be very useful for the most part - and as a moderator I could remove anything that might pose a problem.

The same is true here on the Highway, by the way. Posts can still be deleted; but if I were concerned about something I didn't want turning up in a Google search years from now, I wouldn't post it to begin with - even in most Yahoo groups (which are archived).

I'm glad you have joined us here! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/hugs.gif" alt="" />

-Robin

One of the other features of this Board is that members can "Edit" their posts/replies up to 6 hours after it is posted.

As a reminder, this Board has LOTS of neat features, e.g., "Bread Crumbs Navigation", the ability to customize how the entire Board looks, Mark posts read, etc., etc. I would strongly recommend reading through the various threads in the "New Features" Forum as well as reading through the "FAQ" section.

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Today I got a phone call from Dan Brown. Folks from the old Yahoo e-mail loop will remember Dan. He contributed some really great stuff to the old group. He was calling because I have misrepresented his departure from the old group - a mistake which I hope to correct now, though I cannot make up for the hurt I have likely caused him. To explain:

In our phone conversation today, Dan refuted my attempts to label him as an advocate for "Federal Vision / Auburn Avenue" theology. I was very glad to hear it, because in the many months since he left the old e-mail group, I have concluded that it is a heretical form of hypercovenantalism and represents church-administered "salvation by sacrament." But at the time that he and I were moderating the old group, we were both open to it and exploring it. Long sympathetic to the forbidden practice of paedocommunion in the PCA, I was drawn to FV's highly covenantal view of family and church, and Dan introduced me to the teaching (before it became so controversial in our denomination and several others).

I was just coming to my present view of the doctrine when Dan left, and because we didn't agree at the time about the FV/AA teachings, I took his departure as a blessing and his sympathy for the teachings as heretical. As is typical for me, I swung widely to the opposite pole like a pendulum in search of a balaance but always overshooting it. I dismissed my brother as a heretic when I should have kept in touch, contending for the truth from the Scriptures. But I didn't do that. I did the easy thing instead of the proper thing.

So here, long overdue, I offer my public apology to Dan Brown - still an elder in good standing of a church in good standing in a presbytery in good standing with the PCA, whose official position on the FV/AA theology is posted here.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Robin