Jude AgbayaniI’ve been following a lot of bloggers and they all say the same thing, a blogger should have his/her own tribe. Blogger Jeff Goins defines a tribe as a community of like-minded people who are willing to pay attention to what you have to say. A tribe can include friends, readers and even sponsors who support your online message and presence. Jeff even has an online course that helps bloggers do that.
There are a lot of Manila-based bloggers who write about empowering moms/women but very few bloggers talk about their faith and their journey as a Christian mom. There are however, lots of Christian mom bloggers I follow like Heidi St. John of the Busy Mom and Joyful Mothering but all of them are based in the US. How I wish I could have coffee with these great moms! So I’m always on the lookout for moms like me who share the same background, values and beliefs and who are just an hour away from me 🙂
Then I got a surprise in the email last Friday. OMF Literature sent out invitations for their first Blogger Meet- Up held last Saturday at the OMF Lit Book Shop along Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong. I received the email at around 5pm Friday and was so excited to join even if I would be staying up late that night for a meeting and waking up very early to travel to Boni.
With my family in tow, we headed to the bookshop. I was not expecting the guest speaker Mr. Sonnie Santos of cyberbullying.ph and ASKsonnie.me to talk about blogging. He shared how he got into blogging though his background was on training. He needed an outlet to express his thoughts so he started with Multiply and moved on to his own domain. He then landed a high position in a company because of his articles which was an encouragement to us newbie writers in the group.
Mr. Sonnie moved me when he mentioned that we are supposed to blog as Christians. We cannot separate our identity as a follower of Christ from our writing. Being a Christian is part of our brand, part of who we are and who we represent. Not in a self-righteous manner that others perceive. He is simply saying that who we are in real life is the real us in the blogging world. We cannot be having multiple personalities depending on the day or the person we are talking to. We are who we are because of Christ and we need not hide behind a different persona just be accepted by the world.
Most of the time, when we boldly speak about Christ and what he is doing in our lives, people don’t get it. We get ridiculed and labeled as goody-two-shoes or living in a fantasy world. Of course we get hurt, offended at times. Mr. Sonnie calls that “sharpening”. When we are being sharpened, we do not quit. We continue, we move on.
I was then reminded of my blog’s mission, which is to encourage other moms to embrace the primary role God has given us and to depend on His Word and His Wisdom to guide us daily in our journey as a mother. Mr. Sonnie emphasized the relevance of our posts, that they should add value to the lives of others. The goal is not to get sponsors or earn through blogging but to be fruitful in pointing others to Christ.
After the talk, the attendees were all hyped to join a getting-to-know sort of game by the OMF Lit staff. We were also able to meet, greet and chat with OMF Lit’s writers like “Tito” Doc Luis Gatmaitan, Robert Magnuson and Ms. Grace Chong. Pastor Rod Santos’ book was also launched right after the meet and greet and all the attendees were given free copies of his book, “Turned off by Church”.
Aside from this, we were the first to devour OMF Lit’s Incredibulk Sale! Get 5 books for only 500 pesos or 10 books for 800. How about getting 10 Hiyas books (Children’s Books) for only 400 pesos! Isn’t that a steal? The sale will run until June 15, so check out your nearest OMF Lit bookstore now!
Two things I got from this surprising Saturday event:
1. As a Christian blogger, I can now have my tribe. As the organizers of this blogger meet-up, they promised to set another meet up and probably gather more Christian bloggers in the near future. Can’t wait to get connected with them.
2. My blog mission is not dead after all. I should not be fearful if people don’t get me or what I’m sharing. What is important is that I am being true to myself and my purpose. I will always have reference to God and the Bible in my posts and I will not be ashamed of that.
How important is it for bloggers to have their own “tribe”? Have you found your tribe? Let’s share our thoughts.
