Progress with the recent survey

First of all, I have more than two dozen Thank Yous to give to the blog readers who have taken the survey about making parts of the Quaker blogosphere available in book form--and the dozens more who have looked at it.


Some initial results

Even though more folks are still filling out the simple 10-question survey, I thought I'd give an update about how things are going with it and some of what's caught my eye thus far.

(I'll likely keep the survey active as long as Survey Monkey allows, but I probably will stop looking at results at the end of the month. After all, I've got to keep things moving!)

For example, there's a really lovely mix of regularly followed blogs that cover the spectrum from evangelical Friends churches to liberal Quaker meetings.

Also, quite a few of the people who have responded to the survey, either in depth or by answering just a few questions, are making themselves available for additional conversation or correspondence with me. I hope to start that follow-up process later this month or in early March.

It looks as though well more than half of the respondents have been following Quaker blogs for longer than two years, which I find very exciting and encouraging! Maybe that result says something about the "staying power" of the conversations we engage in, the yearning some of us have for practicing a rigorous and vibrant faith, and our collective ability to create, sustain, and strengthen the community on- and offline.

Of the various topics that respondents think would be most valuable "when considering the Convergent Friends conversation," these were among the highest ranking ones:

• Personal story and experience


• Worship and vocal ministry


• Centrality of a Divine Principle


• Corporate vs. individual.

A special invitation to Quaker bloggers

One more thing, especially for past and current Quaker bloggers, that intentionally was left out of the survey:

I would love to know which of your own posts do you continue to think about or return to, either to see what you've said earlier about a certain topic or to link to within comments that you've left elsewhere?

You can email me your thoughts directly, to lizopp AT gmail DOT com. ...How about before March 1st, if deadlines are helpful?

And who knows...? I just might make a personal call to you or send you a message through Facebook or nudge you in some other way to get your input. (If I gave you chocolate or flowers or a gift certificate to QuakerBooks, would that be incentive enough?)

Blessings,
Liz