A State of the Blog Address

I have been doing some thinking about this blog lately, figuring out what I understand and what I don't understand about it.

Honestly, I don't understand much about who reads it and what impact, if any, it has.

About a month ago, I received an email from a millennial with whom I'd had no contact with for many years in which s/he talked about reading the blog and empathizing with the lack of response to my calls for repentance and thanking me for "every word you have put on your blog."

This is the same person I referenced in a recent post.

That email got me thinking about what I don't know about the impact of what I write.

In the past year, I have reduced the number of people to whom I send notices of my blog posts by about 75% and the readership of the blog has decreased to a small degree but by far less than 75%.

Google supplies me with information on what blog posts are being read and I'm surprised at what people look at from the past.

The old post that people go back to repeatedly is the DEAR DR. SLOAT post which is merely the text of the letter Jack Selcher sent me on behalf of the ERC, informing me that I had been defrocked that one is from nearly two years ago and it's being read by at least someone nearly every week. I'm not certain what to make of that.

Others posts from the distant past that spark continuing interest include the JASPERISM post in which I explain the previous name of this blog and my assertion that church leaders plant churches to have flocks to tend, not to make disciples.

Another old post that receives continuing attention is my SIXTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CGGC BRAND post, which I entered just as Lance Finley was taking possession of the corner office out in Findlay.

Other posts from the past that people continue to read are those that detail the process of my defrocking and the one that I wrote at the time the rumor appeared, yet unsubstantiated by anyone in authority, that I had been defrocked during ERC Conference sessions and how it felt to me to be defrocked.

As I enter new posts, it seems to me that those that draw the most attention are the ones in which I reflect on what I believe to be flaws in institutionized Christianity in the West and, in particular, in America. The recent MORE SERVANTS, FEWER LEADERS post has been very well read as has the one on the emotional problems of the institutionized church.

Based on what people are reading, I'm encouraged.

I suspect that I'm being read by people who are younger rather than older and that the readership of the blog is heavier among those who are called to be apostles and prophets than among those who groove on the ways of the, uh, shepherd mafia and its parish priest-centered leadership culture.

And, I'm content with that.

These days, for whatever reason, I get less off-the-blog feedback than I used to. But, as I say, I'm more than content with the number of hits my posts generate.

So, as the Lord gives me strength, I will continue.

Blessings to all of you who continue to read.