Top 10 Posts of 2013
This was a great year in blogging with a 75% increase in traffic. I thank each and every read who passed through and hope my words, in some small way, helped you grow closer to Jesus. I blogged about a lot of different things this year, mostly whatever ideas came to my mind, mostly at the intersection of faith and ministry and culture. Here were the top ten blogs, ranked by order of pageviews:
1) 5 Things Every Daughter Needs to Hear From Her Dad
This idea came to me on a Sunday evening after a long day of ministry. Not sure exactly what sparked it, but I had no idea how huge it would be. Essentially I shared a list of things daughters need to hear from their fathers. As a father of three, these are things I try to practice on a regular basis.
2) 5 Things Every Son Needs to Hear from His Dad
This came on the heals of the above post. I had some parents wonder why I didn’t mention boys. So this is one for fathers of boys. Along with three daughters, I also have a son. Seems boys and girls have different needs, different “love languages” and so this one struck a chord as well. Like the above list, these are things I try to practice with my own son regularly.
3) How to Build Community In Your Church
This was a blog written, not to pastors or church leaders, but to the members. We often put too much of the responsibility for fostering community on the leaders with little expectation from church members. But it takes everyone giving and receiving in order for us to live out the gospel as Christ’s local body of believers.
4) Why Going to Church on Sunday is an Act of War
I was a bit melodramatic on this one, but I wanted to make a point that the simple act of getting out of bed and going to a Bible-believing, Christ-proclaiming church on Sunday is a more world-changing, revolutionary concept than you might imagine. Praising the name of Christ in your corner of the word is a powerful and bold statement.
5) 5 People We Should Pray For, Even If We Don’t Want To
I tried to think of the most despised groups of people in society, the folks that everyone agrees are worth mocking and despising. Of course you could create a much longer list or much different list than mine, but this did provoke some good discussion.
6) 5 Ways Adult Children Can Honor Their Parents
So, I was into lists in 2013. Well, here is a subject we don’t often discuss: how adult followers of Christ can honor and respect their parents. This is a really tricky and difficult subject. I hope I navigated the tensions well.
This post was born out of both my role as a pastor in a church with young families and my own role as a father of young children. There are some hard truths we need to accept about our children and about ourselves if we are going to create gospel communities in our homes.
8) 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad
I wrote this post in May of 2012, but it still got some good traffic. It’s easily the most read of any blog I created. In this blog I talk about the realities of fatherhood that are just foreign to those who don’t have children.
9) 5 Reflections on My First Year in Seminary
I was surprised at how the traffic this post generated. Apparently more people were interested in my first year of seminary than I realized. This post has reflections on seminary life, going to school as an older student, and how seminary and ministry intersect.
10) 5 Reasons We Don’t Share Our Faith
So why don’t Christians share the gospel? There are reasons beyond the simple causes like apathy or fear. There are theological reasons. This post was both personal and pastoral.