I started this blog back in the spring of 2007.  I had no intention of becoming a “blogger,” but the platform made sense as a way to share thoughts about preaching.  That was the original design: not to share my preaching, but instead prompts to help other people think about preaching in a way that would be helpful.

While I have reduced the number of posts in recent years due to a combination of ministry circumstances and other writing, I have posted over 2200 times and written around a million words on here.  I have been pondering a few reflections on this past decade of blogging and am finally getting around to sharing them:

1. Bless others, don’t stress.  For over a decade I did not monetize the site, or build any business out of the subscribers or hits.  I have just given thoughts away and hope they have been helpful. I know there are many who are wanting to build income through their online presence and a regular churn of materials in blogs, YouTube, or even the “special offer” PDF books that some people put so much energy into selling.  Honestly, I have enjoyed not having the stress of needing the blog to be a success.  While I know the challenges of needing to fund a ministry, I always appreciate it when helpful material is given away.  (I have experimented with allowing ads on here in recent months just to try and cover some of the costs, I hope they haven’t been too annoying!)

2. Building a word bank is helpful.  I blogged for years before publishing any writing. Before blogging I was producing academic work for years.  Someone once told me that you need to write a million words before it is worth reading.  I know I blogged for some time before I had a paid article published, and about seven years before my first book was published.  Blogging is a nice way to put words out there and hopefully help some other folks.

3. There is a difference between blogging and publishing.  It is easy for the flesh to get involved and to start declaring our own importance.  The truth is that blog posts are not the same as peer reviewed journal articles or published books.  In our social media driven narcissism it is easy to think that subscribers, hits and unique page views say something about our worth as humans.  They really don’t.  It is nice to write, and it is encouraging to find out others have read your writing and found it helpful.  At the same time, there will be worse materials getting more attention because the writer or organisation has more online clout, and there will be better materials getting no attention because the writer doesn’t know how to get it out there.

4. I still believe books are better.  I would rather spend an hour and read a book by a good author instead of spending that same hour reading blog posts by the same author. I fear that preachers who only digest what they receive into their inbox will grow mentally and spiritually impoverished without even realizing it.  I am thankful for blogs, but my church needs me to read books.

Thank you for reading this blog over the years. I hope it can be a blessing to preachers in the years to come.