Unleashing the newsletter… again (PLUS: 7 ways to serve your world)

I’m stoked about this. If you’d like to save yourself some time, you can go ahead and sign up for the newsletter to the right. (If you’re in RSS or email, click through.) You’ll get the “7 Ways to serve your world” bonus even if you don’t read this article. :)

At the beginning of ’09, I started a newsletter for bondChristian. Almost.

Thing is, I started collected names and email addresses. Many of you seemed interested. But I completely dropped the ball. I didn’t send out a single issue.

Since then, I’ve wanted to get it back up and running. You know how these things are, though: I couldn’t seem to find the time to launch. Three weeks ago, I came very close to making an announcement about it. Glad I didn’t – I wasn’t ready.

I thought sure I’d have this up and rolling by the start of February. Still, February 1st came and went. No go.

Yesterday, I was finally like, “Whatever with all this. I’m going to launch something. It’s not going to be as amazing, as hyped, and as slick as I wanted, but I’m going to ship something.”

So I stayed up all night.

And now here’t is. In all it’s raw goodness. I don’t even have a video camera yet (something I assumed I’d purchase around the first of the year). Instead, I used the webcam on my laptop and a microphone straight out of the 90s. The quality’s fairly lousy, but hopefully you get what I’m saying.

Enough about the story. Let’s talk briefly about the newsletter.

The bondC Newsletter

I had planned to have a whole “Subscription” page up, detailing all the cool benefits of this newsletter. Ha! Didn’t happen.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

  • Twice monthly (or roughly once every two weeks)
  • New content. Hopefully a brand new, “exclusive to the newsletter” article with each issue. These will probably be fairly brief, “action step” type articles.
  • News. What’s going on behind the scenes in the “real” world.
  • Best of bondChristian. Probably a couple links to previous posts here on the blog. This should help for readers who don’t necessarily want to subscribe for updates each day but still want to stay in the loop.
  • Maybe a few links from around the web. I’d like to see you and other readers here branching out into the community.
  • Interaction. Speaking of community, one of the key reason’s I’d like to start this is to get to know you more. For some, this won’t be what they’re looking for – I’m fine with that. I’ll continue to write completely open to the public articles on the blog. But for others, this might be a chance to interact more. That’s one advantage I have over huge blogs: I can still interact individually with you.
  • (And finally) Bonuses. I won’t go into detail here, but I’d like to see some fun things happen on the other side. So come on in – the water’s fine.

The big bonus, and probably the reason I’ve put off launching this for so long, is the bonus series.

“7 Ways to serve your world”

I don’t know what I’m doing with this. I’m scared actually.

I’d like this series to serve as an introduction to what bondChristian is all about. On blogs, the posts aren’t generally arranged in any particular order, so getting the big picture can be difficult if you don’t have the time to read through dozens of posts.

Hopefully this series will bring everyone up to speed on the general vibe of the tribe.

I’m scared, though, because I don’t know what to include and what to cut out. I don’t know what will best connect with readers. When I’m writing posts, it’s easy to take it one day at a time. With a series, I feel like I have to create a more complete picture.

And at the same, while sharing the overall feel of the site, I want to keep each article extremely practical. I want readers to immediately be able to do something as a result of reading. So I’m scared – and excited – because I want it bless your face off. (Not literally.)

Now, part of the reason I’ve said all that, bracing you for what’s to come, is because I want you to help.

I’d like to keep revising and updating this series to make it better and better. One of the best ways I know to do that is to get your advice about it. I’d like you to tell me straight up if you like the series, if it’s helpful or just a waste of reading. You can act like a guinea pig if you.

I’ll get more into that in the emails.

Enough already. Let’s get this thing shipped. [By the way, I was running on not much sleep when I wrote this, so… yeah, that’s my excuse. :) ]

Serving Suggestions:

(1) Sign up for the newsletter. I considered putting another form down here, but that defeats the purpose of all the coolness up top. So I know this isn’t for everyone, but if you think it’s for you, scroll to the top, and enter your details. You can always unsubscribe if you really don’t like it.

(2) In the comments, let me know how you feel about this whole newsletter thing? Why are you joining? Why aren’t you? How can I make it better? What would you like to get from it?

(3) If you haven’t already, I’d also appreciate it if you’d answer the poll question for me in the sidebar. Thanks so much. (If you must chose, though, go with the newsletter.)