The first full day of programming at GodblogCon 2008 has begun, and the first session was from Andrew Jones, “The Missional Church in the Internet Age.” There was a marked contrast in attitudes towards new media between Jones’ (missional) talk and the following session, led by Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio. I think John may have more to say on this later.

But before Jones’ presentation, conference director Dustin Steeve announced that GodblogCon qua GodblogCon will be no more after this year. The first page of the attendee packet proclaims that “GodblogCon ing to an end.” Indeed, “beginning October 2009, something new ing….”

What do the GodblogCon administrators have in mind? Expansion of the focus of the conference beyond blogging (and by extension podcasting, vlogging, microblogging, and social networking). The plan seems to include turning GodblogCon into “the premier web media conference of the year to help Christians advance the kingdom through web technologies.”

The idea, which I think is a sound one, is that blogging and other particular forms of new media are simply a part of the interaction between faith and web technology in the 21st century. In my view, GodblogCon should remain a particular track in a larger conference that focuses on Christianity and the Internet.

I’m curious to see what all this will mean for GodblogCon’s relationship other events, particularly this year’s host BlogWorld & New Media Expo, but also other events like BibleTech. Hopefully we’ll hear more about the transition from GodblogCon to a new Christian web media conference as the weekend progresses.