Top Posts of 2013

2013 has come and now is almost gone. God blessed our family and ministry in many ways that I shared in this blog over the past year.

I also used many of the lessons I learned in ministry and much of what God was teaching me through my study of the Bible as material for blog posts.

Thanks for sticking with us in the journey as we seek to make God and the message of the gospel ring loud in and clear in Ukraine and beyond!

We have been serving the Lord full time in Odessa, Ukraine for just 7 years now and ironically my most popular post for 2013 was “7 ways to fail as a missionary”  I think there are a few reasons this post seemed to hit a nerve and was shared so widely on Facebook and Twitter.

• We all have a tendency to fail and to search for answers.
• Failure is one of our greatest teachers (if we approach it correctly).
• There can be high, too high of expectations put on those who are in ministry full time.
• For some reason failure is always more intriguing than success.
• I know that many other missionaries have experienced some of the failures I mentioned.

Here are the top ten posts for 2013!

1. 7 Ways to Fail as a Missionary
2. 5 Reasons You Need to Read Jesus > Religion by Jefferson Bethke
3. How to Make Your Wife Submit to Your Authority -6 Tips
4. What the Bible Says About Kissing Might Surprise You
5. Are You a Fat Christian?
6. 20 Benefits of Having a Bunch of Kids
7. Kissing Before Marriage and Other Questions Girls Ask
8. Beards -Why You Should Have One (Men Only!)
9. Tensions are high In Ukraine, Prayers Needed
10. #15 Demons, Death and Halloween, What You Need to Know

Here are a few other notable posts that didn’t make it into the top ten but did produce a lot of good discussion in the comments.

• Stop Telling Your Child to Behave
• Why are Our Youth Losing the Faith?
• Why Football is More Exciting than Church
• Ministry Idols
• Why American Christians Tend to Be Fat and Unhealthy
• The Problem with Short Worship Services in the Church

The blog wouldn’t be what it is without all the great comments. Some comments have challenged me, encouraged me, helped me see something I missed and helped me to thinking deeper and in a new way about the content.

I’m thankful for the significant input from some other great bloggers like  TC Avey, Floyd Samons, Dan Black, Loren Pinilis, Dave Arnold, David Sparks, Dan Erickson, Kari Scare, Ngina Otiende, Bill Grandi, Barb Raveling, Betty Draper, David Bartosik, Deb Wolf, Larry Poole, Micah Yongo and Lisa Burgess. Everyone one of theses guys has a blog worth checking out!

Question: What did God teach you in 2013?