10 Most Popular Blog Posts

This was a great year for my blog, the best ever. I’m still fairly unknown compared to heavyweights like Tim Challies or Jon Acuff, but I’m proud of the fact that my number of visits nearly tripled as did my number of visitors, while my pageviews more than doubled. I also added quite a few Twitter followers and email subscribers. All in all a very good year.

Here are the top ten blogs posts in 2012:

1) Ten Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad

This is a half-serious/half-humorous post about the unknowns of fathering. What’s funny about this post is that I wrote it late one Sunday night after an evening church service. I had a bit of inspiration rolling around in my head. I had no idea that it would “go viral” as the cool kids say. It was linked to by quite a few popular blogs.

2) The Sin About Which No One Will Speak

This post addressed the sin of envy, a sin which we seem to cultivate in America as something good. My post makes the argument that we talk quite a bit about the sin of greed, but too little about the sin of envy.

3) What You Don’t Like About Your Church (And Why That’s Good)

Here I discuss the importance of finding a church that doesn’t perfectly suit your preferences. It’s important that Christians die to their preferences for the good of the body and for their own growth.

4) Three Pitfalls for Young, Evangelical Leaders

As a young evangelical leader, I see a lot of hope in my generation. But I also see some potential pitfalls for our leadership. this post generated quite a bit of good discussion on Twitter and elsewhere.

5) Five Reasons Why Pastors Should Apologize

One of the most potent words a pastor or any leader can say is, “I’m sorry; I was wrong.” Rather than weakening his leadership, it empowers it.

6) 5 Ways You Can Help Your Church

This post generated a lot of reaction and I have had several who requested permission to print it for church newsletters or bulletins. Essentially I give some practical ways in which Christians can be good church members.

7) 5 Resolutions for a Christian Communicator

“To communicate the truth of the good news of the gospel, in any form, is a high privilege and a sober calling.” I drafted five resolutions that might guide anyone privileged to communicate the gospel in way.

8) 5 Ways to Pray for Your Church

We complain a lot about the Church and about our own churches. But how often do we pray? This is a simple prayer guide to help folks pray for the local body of believers to which they are called.

9) Bible-reading plans for 2012

I challenged our church to read through the Bible in a year and listed a variety of resources and plans. These are “evergreen” so this post might be helpful if you’re planning on doing it in 2013. (BTW, I’m almost finished with my plan for 2012).

10) What Pastoring Taught Me About Spiritual Growth

Pastoring has taught me a lot about spiritual growth, especially how to disciple different people in different ways.