I’ll be honest, my wife had to remind me that my blog’s birthday was today. I’ve been looking forward to celebrating March 11th, but at the same time, it hardly seems like an entire year has gone by. Yet here we are, so I thought it’d be interesting to look back at some of the bigger parts of my first year as I look forward to entering my second.
Those nervous first days
I knew God had been calling me to start a blog for awhile, and He finally got me to the point where I stopped resisting and just surrendered to Him. Starting this blog, I really didn’t know what to expect. Why would anyone care what I had to say? What could I say that God would use to grow His people?
All I really knew is that God has given me a strong desire to equip His people to learn and grow, and this seemed how He wanted me to do that.
Biggest surprises
There are two surprising things that stand out to me. The biggest is that I was shocked at how often people thanked me for making content that’s easy to read. When articles fall between 5-10 minutes of reading time, I suppose the only way to get through it is for the writing style to be somewhat enjoyable. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and as I look back at my years of writing it was really neat to see how God had taken a guy who loved creative writing and prepared him to do something like this instead.
Second, I couldn’t believe the response I got when writing about current events. This year I wrote about Kobe Bryant, Bethel Church, Josh Harris, Kanye West, and a few others I can’t remember. Overwhelmingly, people commented on how measured, thoughtful, and filled with grace these articles were. My wife and I had a few times where we laughed because that’s not me at all. On my own, I’m a very harsh, unmerciful, black-and-white person. The feedback on these articles showed me, on a personal level, just how much fruit the Holy Spirit has grown in my life.
Biggest struggle
It’s amazing how many tools are available for bloggers. I have so many ways to track my views, average time on the page, most popular articles, and so on. Early on, I had to realize just how dangerous those things were for me.
I’m sure people can understand that if I’m putting an average of 2 hours into an article, I’d really like it to be read. Yet in those first few months, I started basing my success and failure on what my website’s charts and insights were telling me. And, as any blogger can tell you, it was easy to lose hope when those numbers weren’t at the growth I’d hoped for.
I really had to take that one to God. He was calling me to be faithful, but I found myself thinking the growth and success were up to me. I think there’s great wisdom in using the tools available to me to encourage growth. However, it quickly turned to foolishness when I started thinking that this blog’s success or failure had anything to do with my efforts. This is God’s ministry to His people, and He’s going to let it succeed or fail to His own glory. Again, all I could possibly do is use wisdom as I served Him faithfully.
Many are surprised when I tell them I don’t know what my numbers look like. I’ll glance occasionally as I try to determine what sort of advertising strategies work or the articles people want to read. However, I learned fairly early that if I’m going to truly glorify God, then I can’t allow myself to get swept up in wondering why Thursday had 2 fewer views than Wednesday. I know my pride too well, but God is good and used my pride to bring me to humility.
Biggest praises
Again, I had no idea what God was going to do with this ministry. I certainly never expected Him to use me as such an encouragement in the lives of others. And yet there are several people who have a deeper walk with Jesus Christ because of something they’ve found on this website.
The best part is that I know I have nothing to do with it. There are blogs people can visit for better writing and better teaching. Yet He chose to use this small ministry from a Christian who simply wants to serve, and it’s been so humbling to see how big our God is as He moves in people’s lives.
My greatest desire for this ministry has always been that it is a valuable resource. I don’t expect people to keep up every day, but I do hope people know they can come here to get a thorough, biblical understanding of topics they want to know about. This ministry has definitely been that for many people, and I can only praise God for letting me play a small part in the growth of His people.
On a very personal level, my own walk with Christ has probably been the most impacted. Knowing I need to create regular content has helped me constantly view the world biblically. Whether it’s the news or just conversations with friends, I’ve seen God slowly build up my own biblical worldview simply because I’ve had my mind set on Him even more.
Biggest hopes for Year 2
Yesterday was the first episode of my podcast. The funny thing is that I’d actually planned to start a podcast a few years ago, but my health made it difficult to coordinate with my cohost. Now things have come full circle as I will not only write regular articles but release a weekly podcast as well. I’m starting with 1 each week, but as I gain more support I’ll be able to release even more. My hope with the podcast is that it will be a new way for people to grow closer to Christ when they don’t have time to read.
Earlier this year, I shared my desire to gain enough monthly support to replace my side income. Doing that will allow me to focus even more on this ministry, but I can’t do it without your support. If you’d like an opportunity to support this ministry, visit my Patreon by clicking here, sign up for an account, and pledge as little as $1 every month.
So my biggest hopes for this ministry are tightly tied together. I hope to gain enough support from my readers and listeners that I can focus even more on helping Christians understand why they believe what they believe. As I gain more support, I hope to make the podcast as valuable as this blog has been. But above all, I just want Christ to receive glory as people find a deeper, more meaningful walk with Him.
Thank you for a wonderful year
If you’ve read 1 article or 200, I so appreciate you letting me share my excitement and passion for our Savior. I hope some of that excitement has rubbed off as you consider your own walk with Him. My regular prayer is that God will use what I do to help His people keep moving onward in their faith toward maturity in Christ.
