The Prodigal Son returneth...

A notable development: Not long ago, I posted about a few upcoming changes in the blogosphere. One of those is the return of Shane Raynor to active blogging, with a blog called Wesley Report: United Methodist News, Life, & Culture.

Now I ain't exactly an old-timer in the blogosphere (in fact, Gen-X Rising turns two years old tomorrow), but for those of you newer than I am, you should know that Shane played a crucial role in forming the Methodist blogging community - otherwise known as the Methoblogosphere - back when he wrote his first blog, entitled, Wesley Blog.

At the UM Reporter, I looked at the burgeoning blogosphere in this column in October of 2005, with specific reference to the impact that Shane's work was having. In the same issue, an interview I did with Shane ran as a companion piece to my regular column. Shane stopped writing the Wesley Blog because of other things going on in his life, particularly around his involvement in his local church's youth ministry. (He tells a bit of the story in this post.) I am glad to see him back and blogging again. Shane is an insightful writer who is unafraid to take on tough issues. He will be a welcome (re-)addition to our conversations about faith and the church.

Addendum: Clifton Stringer has written a biographical blog post on Shane that you can access here.