• It’s one central place where I can keep edifying quotes and other nuggets I come across in the course of my daily ministry.
• It’s a place I can return to and prayerfully meditate on some of the things I’ve learned in the course of my spiritual pilgrimage.
• It reminds me of people I’ve met and should be praying for.
• It prevents my main blog – and your RSS and email subscriptions to HeadHeartHand (!) – being clogged up with too many mini-posts.
• It enables others to benefit from some of the things God is teaching me.
• It allows me to auto-post material greater than 140 characters to Twitter via a headline and link.
• It directs readers to good books and other helpful resources.
• It’s not Facebook!

You can find A Disciple’s Diary here.

Yes, quite a few. And don’t worry, my wife knows, and she shares my enthusiasm too.

I’ve found many women have a unique gift to write about the Christian faith and life. They approach subjects and events differently to men; they see angles and dimensions we are blind too; and they remind us of the important roles and responsibilities that God has given to Christian women, stimulating prayer and appreciation for God’s work in them and through them.

I’m listing my Top 10 Women’s Blogs below, but I’d love to hear your recommendations too. Use the Comments to tip us off about other Christian women’s blogs that are worth a click.

Her.meneutics
The ladies blog on Christianity Today features a wide variety of top-quality writing on current issues, many of which have a special angle for women.

Woman of God Magazine
Trillia Newbell, a gifted young African American, pops up all over the blogosphere (The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, etc), but you’ll find a lot of her writing at Woman of God Magazine as well. She’s a lively and transparent blogger, a writing star of the future I think.

The Upward Call
Kim Shay writes a short blog almost every day about books, theology, and life as a mature (hope she doesn’t mind that adjective!) mother of grown-up kids. Another transparent writer, I especially enjoy her book reviews and her ability to connect her faith with everyday life. (Update: Just noticed here’s a group blog that Kim’s also involved with: “The six of us are in what is often called the “afternoon,” of life, meaning we are all forty years and older”).

Domestic Kingdom
Gloria Furman and friends bring the Kingdom of God to the kitchen sink. Not sure if they’d put it that way, but they have a unique ability to draw deep and practical theology out of the usually routine and mundane events of mothering and wifing. I’m very much looking forward to Gloria’s first book.

Girls Gone Wise
Mary Kassian doesn’t blog as often as others, probably about 4-5 times a month, but she is always worth reading. Many hours of research and deep thought go into each article. If you are battling to raise wise girls in a wild world, you probably need Mary’s book and blog.

The Christian Pundit
Can I squeeze this one onto this list even though it’s only 50% female? I think so. The Christian Pundit is a relatively new blog run by husband and wife team, Bill and Rebecca Vandoodewaard (a colleague of mine at PRTS). Rebecca doesn’t miss her targets and you get Bill as a bonus!

En Route: Scribbles from along life’s way
As I worship in the same church as Daryl and Kara Dedert, maybe I’m a bit biased on this one. If you subscribe to Kara’s blog, you’ll have your eyes and heart opened to the pain of raising a child with disabilities; but you’ll also see God’s grace superabounding through it all. Raw, real, gritty, gracey.

Homeschool on the Croft
Ann gives me my daily dose of Scottish nostaligia! Lots of great photos and down-to-earth stories from the island I used to pastor in. Sometimes she overdoses on sheep and sunsets, but she’ll soon have you longing to visit Scotland. Oh, and she’s a real Americophile. So if any American wants a house swap…

The Life and Times of a Homeschooling Mom of Seven
Now all the way to South Africa for another upbeat, spritely homeschooling family blog that majors on arts, crafts, recipes, outings, books, etc. The title alone should be enough to intrigue you! Always lots of fascinating links to follow up, especially if you also follow the Twitter account.

Redeemed Reader
WORLD famous Janie Cheaney and Emily Whitten provide reliable reviews of kids books at different age levels. Their aim is to “shine a gospel light on children’s literature so that Christian parents, educators, and the children they nurture may read in a more redeemed and redeeming way.” And they do that extremely well.

So, ladies, who have I missed?

UPDATE
From the comments, here’s a list of your recommendations. Let me check these out over the next few weeks, and in a month I’ll post an updated list of Top Women’s Blogs.

Housewife Theologian
Girl Talk
True Woman
No Greater Joy Mom
Femina Girls
Jen Wilkin: The Beginning of Wisdom
modobjectathome
Gospel Grace
Practical Theology for Women
Angie Smith: Bring the Rain
Young Wife’s Guide to Gospel-centered Homemaking
Scripture Thoughts
A Holy Experience
Nourishment for the Soul
Chronological Bible Teaching
Narrow Path Home

Content curators.

What are they?

In The New Superheroes of the Web, Steven Rosenbaum calls them the “web’s secret power…individuals with a passion for a content area [who] find, contextualize, and organize information. Curators provide a consistent update regarding what’s interesting, happening, and cool in their focus. Curators tend to have a unique and consistent point of view–providing a reliable context for the content that they discover and organize.”

And in our information-flooded world, do our boggled minds need these superheroes! Into the data-Tsunami step these superheroes, shielding us from the overwhelming waves, listening to the digital noise, identifying precious nuggets, important news, and fresh voices, then organizing it for us, their grateful readers.

Thankfully there are a number of Christians among these superheroes. And if you want to keep your head above the water, you desperately need them. Here are the ones I depend upon, split into two categories – Blog curators and Twitter curators.

Blog curators
Tim Challies: The most consistent Christian curator out there. Via his A la carte posts, Tim provides 5-6 links, six days a week, with a wide mix of theology, culture, technology, books, controversy, photography, etc. If you have to choose one, he’s the one.

Justin Taylor: Posts excerpts and links 3-20 times a day! Bit more highbrow/academic emphasis than Tim, with interest in philosophy, culture, and biblical theology. Leans slightly Baptist, New Calvinist, Crossway-authors in his choices – which is understandable. If you’re trying to keep in touch with theological and cultural trends, Justin is your man.

The Gospel Coalition: On the top right corner of their web page, you’ll find the “Right Now” section, which daily refreshes with new links to theological and cultural pieces. At times tends towards New Calvinist/Crossway in their picks, with the same names tending to appear as on Justin Taylor’s site.

Trevin Wax: Like Tim Challies, Trevin is a great writer of original content. But most days he also highlights links in his “Worth a Look” or “Trevin’s Seven” posts. He’s a Southern Baptist, which obviously influences his choices, but he also has a knack of picking up fascinating content in politics, sport, culture, etc.

Bob Kellemen: Either at his own blog or at the Biblical Counseling Coalition, you can pick up Bob’s “Five to live by.” Only once a week (usually Thursday or Friday), but I usually click on all five of these carefully selected counseling and Christian living posts.

Blogging Theologically: Aaron Armstrong selects 3-5 posts most days in his “Likes I like.” Operates in the same general territory as Tim Challies, with special interests in Christian books. His book reviews are also always worth reading.

Everyday Theology: Marc Cortez, a Professor at Western Seminary, will connect you with both serious and humorous content, but I especially value his links to helpful education content for teachers/professors, etc. He’s a sort of mixture of Tim Challies and Justin Taylor.

UPDATE: Here’s one I forgot but I’d also definitely recommend for Seminary students and pastors. Bible Exposition links to lots of helpful resources for exegesis and hermeneutics.

Twitter Curators
Michael Hyatt: Carefully selected links to articles on leadership, writing, and publishing.

Nathan Bingham: Cutting edge blogger and Tweeter who’ll keep you right up-to-date with the latest in technology and design, as well as links to the best Christian content that most other people have missed.

Matt Perman: Wasn’t sure whether to include Matt in Bloggers or Tweeters, but I think he posts most links on Twitter. If you follow him, you’ll get lots of great quotes on work, vocation, productivity, but you’ll also get links to Christian and non-Christian posts on the same subjects. Matt fills a large hole that few Christians are doing much blogging/tweeting in. His blog (and soon-to-be book) is called What’s Best Next.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey: At last, a woman! Sarah is online editor of Christianity Today as well as a contributor to Get Religion (a superb blog that analyzes how religion, especially Christianity, is reported in the media). If you follow Sarah, you’ll get connected to current news in the evangelical world.

Anthony Bradley: Sparky Tweeter with much-needed perspective on African American issues. It would take me days to find the links that he regularly Tweets.

Superhero Vacancies
So, do you want to be a superhero? Well, don’t try to copy what someone else is already doing well. Find an area, a niche, that’s presently not being covered. There are five vacancies that come to my mind (feel free to suggest some more):

• I think there’s room for a female Tim Challies or Justin Taylor. If you’re out there, let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
• Old Testament: OK, that’s totally selfish on my part, but I’d love for someone else to do some of the heavy lifting here.
• What about Practical Theology. A lot of blogs are heavy on theology but quite a bit lighter on Christian living.
• And where are the Presbyterians and the Historic Reformed curators? Got nothing to offer the New Calvnists? Gentle Reformation has maybe a once-a-week digest of links, but we’re looking for more, lads (and ladies).
• African American/Hispanic issues. I’d love if there was one site that I could go to every day and read 3-4 articles on the kinds of issues affecting these communities. It would be a huge service to the church if this was also combined with Christian commentary/analysis.

Are you ready to step up, then? If so, let me close with a caution from Steven Rosenbaum’s post on Superhero Curators:

It’s real work, and requires a tireless commitment to being engaged and ready to rebroadcast timely material. While there may be an economic benefit for being a “thought leader” and “trusted curator,” it’s not going to happen overnight. Which is to say, being a superhero is often a thankless job.

In this video Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution has some helpful advice on how to be an effective blogger (RSS and email readers click through to see video):

• When I’m reading things, I’m always thinking, “Is this bloggable in some way?” If you’re going to have fresh material every day, the switch has got to be always on.
• I don’t worry about, “This kind of post will draw in more readers.” I think that’s a big mistake. It makes the blog boring, least common denominator, less innovative, less entrepreneurial.
• I try to make people think about old things in a new way…It’s about ideas and trying to open up horizons.
• Blogs will last forever. I don’t think it’s a phase. I think the combination of information with personality will persist.

When I think of the bloggers I enjoy most, it’s definitely that combination of content + personality that draws me to their writing.

Some bloggers have lots of content, but it’s a character-free-zone – you’d think that a robot was writing the posts. Others have little to say, or just recycle the same message again and again, and hope that the force of their personality or the details of their personal life is enough of a draw.

It’s a very difficult balance to strike, but Cowen is right, it’s content PLUS personality that attracts us, interests us, and inspires us.

I’ve noticed an increasing number of Christian authors going down this route too (intertwining their own story with their teaching) and in some books it does enhance the final product.

However,  I wouldn’t like to see preachers taking this approach in the pulpit. A personal story now and again may help illustrate a point, but too much of that and the focus easily and fatally moves from God and His Word to the preacher and his life.

So, what do you think makes a successful blog? And should a preacher regularly bring his own story into the pulpit?