Announcing the Launch of Two New Blogs

Answering the clarion call of Elder M. Russell Ballard:

On December 15, 2007, Elder Ballard spoke at BYU-Hawaii graduation, urging graduates to share their beliefs on the Internet:

"The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate. ...

"Conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. ...

"The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists. ...some who seek answers want them to come directly from a member of the Church, like each one of you. ...

"May I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. ...

"Others have recorded and posted their testimonies of the Restoration, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and other gospel subjects on popular video-sharing sites. You, too, can tell your story to nonmembers in this way. ...

"Use stories and words that they will understand." (Source)

With this in mind, I have launched two new blogs.

Mormon Bloggers Speak Out

The purpose of this blog is to share with the world what Mormons are like in our many facets. What we believe, what we do, how we play, our thoughts on family, Church, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, life, standing for truth and righteousness, missionary work, doctrine, our countries, etc.

Immediately to the right of the posts you will find a list of Mormon Bloggers which will grow on a daily basis. Just above that list you will find our logo.

Each day a guest blogger or I will post a blog so that there will be something new and wonderful on a regular basis. If you are interested in being a guest blogger, please drop me an email and let me know who you are. I will also have a Hot Topics category to the right, something interesting bloggers can write about if they are stumped for the day.

I'm very excited to launch this and hope that Mormon Bloggers across the globe will be willing to be included, and it is my fondest hope our friends of others faiths will drop by and see what we're really all about. These are Mormons blogging about being Mormons and just plain ol' people. Drop on by. If you're interested in having your site added to the list or being a guest blogger, please email me.

Moving on to the next blog:

Through the Eyes of a Child

Through the Eyes of a Child was created to provide a snapshot of LDS youth cross the world. They will be blogging about being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, being Mormon in the world today, their thoughts on the gospel, on Jesus Christ the scriptures and life in general . . . at play, at school and at work. In other words, these are Mormon kids talking about being Mormon in a decidedly odd and straying world.

So check back daily, a new blog will be posted every day by a different blogger, aged 8 to 17. We have four youth blogging now, with several more coming online in the next few days. They are a delightful cross section of Mormon youth sharing their lives. So please visit often and see what Mormon youth blog about.

If you have youth interested in blogging for Through the Eyes of a Child, please email me a sample of their writing and we'll take it from there.