North Central University has had an active blog for about 2 years. During that time, we’ve been sharing a variety of helpful articles for Christian college students and prospective students alike. With articles ranging from college life tips (like our article on How to avoid burnout during finals week) to degree-specific career guides (this article on 5 skills you’ll build with a business administration degree), the blog has been humming along well.
But recently we started to ask ourselves the question – what is the blog really doing? What is our purpose? How does our blog compare to other Christian blogs? Are we reaching and serving our community as well as we could?
We took some time to dream bigger.
Why relaunch the blog?
If you have any background in marketing, you might know that blogs are practically beneficial for search engine optimization (making websites findable) and our blog has certainly been working to that end for the past couple of years. It has been growing and sharing helpful information successfully. That being said, we decided that as a Christian university, and as a Christian blog, we should be doing more.
This refreshed, relaunched blog has a bigger purpose. North Central, as a leading Christian college in Minneapolis, is positioned well within the Assemblies of God community to be a thought leader. With a campus full of faculty experts, stellar staff, and high-caliber students, we have the potential to lead conversations. We could be engaging the Christian community beyond our own campus.
A bigger mission
With this in mind, we developed a new mission for the blog and our content as a whole. The refreshed, relaunched Table Salt blog will seek to grow the authority and brand presence of North Central University within Christian circles and in the space of other Christian blogs. We hope to utilize the expertise on campus to lend insight on issues and topics from a Christian perspective in a way that builds both traffic and engagement to/with North Central. We will strive to continue to post content that is helpful and valuable to students searching for a Christian college as well.
It’s no small undertaking, but we found ourselves at an important juncture. We could keep focusing on simple, helpful blog posts, and that would be fine. Or we could challenge ourselves to do more, to give more of North Central’s community and heart, with the blog as our vehicle.
Table Salt – the meaning of the name
With our re-energized blog mission in hand, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to come up with a name that would convey the feeling that the new blog is aspiring to invoke.
Plenty of name ideas were vetted in the process—some of them pretty far outside the box. Combustion came up at one point. Needless to say, it didn’t stick. We also decided to stray away from language that had a “Christianese” feel to it, to avoid sounding trite and losing the authenticity that we’re determined to hold to.
So here’s what the name means.
Table:
Tables are for gathering. They’re for meals, primarily, but they’re focused on fellowship. Sharing time together. Openness, and kindness.
This blog hopes to capture that essence. It should be a virtual gathering place for our Christian university community (and beyond) to gather around various topics. It is for thoughtful conversation, openness, and respect.
Salt:
“Salt” is our most direct allusion to our Christ-centered approach to blogging. In Matthew 5:13, the Bible says that we as believers are the salt of the earth, bringing the good news of Christ to the world.
So this blog will be salty by nature. Every article will be flavored with our Bible-centeredness as a university.
Table+Salt:
Table salt is also a very ordinary thing. It’s an every day object. This blog also aims to be accessible, to be flavored with the voices of every day Christians, living out real life.
Welcome to the blog – a tour of Table Salt
Topics
This section will feature current issues and topics discussed from a Christian perspective. It is a place for dialogues without fear. Each month, starting in April, this section will take on a new theme, featuring interviews and articles from North Central’s resident experts.
Devotionals
Browse our devotionals section for content that is purposed to encourage you in your faith. Devotionals will be created primarily by guest faculty authors.
College Life
Whether you’re a prospective student looking to learn more about what it will be like at a Christian university, or a current college student looking for tips to survive/thrive, this is the spot for everything college life.
Academic Programs
All those helpful articles related to our degree offerings? They’re not going anywhere. Search this section for articles on everything from being a Christian teacher to starting your own business with an Entrepreneurship major.
NCU News
Come to the NCU News section for all of the latest happening at North Central, and feature profiles of the many amazing students and alumni in our community.
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