Church Relevance Lists the Top 200 Ministry Blogs

Church Relevance has posted their semi-annual list of Top 200 Ministry Blogs. Some of our fellow church of Christ bloggers made the list (let me know if I missed any).

#48 – Richard Beck’s Experimental Theology

#93 – Kingdom Living

#144 – Jim Martin’s A Place for the God Hungry

I am still confused why Jay Guin doesn’t make the list as I am positive he at least gets more page views per day than I do. If you don’t read Jay, Richard and Jim’s blogs you should try them out. Thanks to Kent Shaffer and Fellowship One for all the hard work putting this together.

Thanks to Those of You Who Follow This Blog

Here are some people who followed Kingdom Living in the last few weeks. As a thank you for following, I am posting a link to what you guys do on your blogs. Some of these guys are also blogging about theology, Christianity, etc…have a look.

Tomas Workman
Kyle Thompson
Tim Gunnells
Pastor Wadejc
Aaron Bagwell
One7blog
Arvind Yadav
Brent Taylor
Taylor Oceans
Jim Allen
Jessica Markwood
Jessi Buckingham
Elliot Scott
Celeste
Adam Bellotto

Resources Available Here at Kingdom Living

I am sure quite a few people don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the menus at the top of the blog but there are some really great resources in the dropdown menus.

Free studies and lessons

• Audio uploads – this is a collection of sermons from men I respect who have given me permission to upload their work.
• Bible class archive – a HUGE collection of small group and Bible class materials written by readers of the blog. There are 3000 pages of material that have been downloaded over 60,000 times.
• Small Group Lessons – Almost identical to the Bible class archive. I just can’t let either link go since both get so much traffic.

Ministry tools

• 20s & 30s Ministry – This is an index to the majority of things I have written about 20s & 30s after working with these guys. This list includes everything from who they are to how to reach them to how to change Bible class to be more effective. I have been working with 20 somethings for 10 years and enjoy sharing my “aha” moments.
• Church Steps Outreach Program – This is a simple method for outreach we developed at Northwest over the last few years. We have had success with it and have begun helping other churches catch the vision.
• Marriage & Family – Articles I have written and links to other resources in this area.

Study Tools

• Bible study – Links to all sorts of Biblical resources from original language resources, online concordances, etc…everything you need to do some quality Bible study online.
• Blogroll – a HUGE list of great Christian bloggers that I would encourage you to check out.
• Textual Study Tools – A step beyond the Bible study tools. This page is a big list of resources to aid you in textual criticism, manuscripts, etc.

The Big 1,000,000

Should hit 1,000,000 views on the blog tonight! Just for the next day or so I am going to put the stats at the top of the right sidebar (usually it is all the way at the bottom of that bar). Here is to another million views on the ole blog and all that comes with that, including

• Getting to talk about Jesus
• Putting out more free resources
• Being encouraged & sharpened by you
• meeting some really great people
• giving glory to God in all that is said and done here.

Thanks guys for listening and putting up with me. Thank you even more for contributing the ways you have. God bless,

Matt

What is coming at Kingdom Living in 2013

My first priority is to do more with scripture here on the blog. I used to do way more posts that had to do with scripture than I have done in some time. I am going to get back to that because I think there are a lot of other things that can get distracting. Having said that, Jesus is going to be more of a primary focus in 2013. I am going to be spending time in the Gospels each day in 2013. The idea is, if the goal of my life is to be more like Jesus then I need to spend as much time as possible listening to what he has to say and living out what I find there. So I want to be more in tune with Jesus and let that flow out into the contents of the blog. I hope to do more book and resource giveaways in 2013. One additional resource that I hope to add this year is some ultra practical material on discipleship. This won’t be teaching about discipleship (what a disciple is, etc) but how to disciple someone. I also hope to do more book giveaways from various authors as I have done over the last few months. So be on the look out for those.

Also, I intend to do a better job being in the comment conversation. Too many times I throw a post out there, a few people try to discuss it and I never re-enter the conversation to clarify or add to anything from that point forward. I am going to do a better job of that in 2013. Last, I want to do more praying. If there is anything you need prayed for, feel free to drop it in a comment or email me and I will pray for you this year. I have other goals for 2013 on a more personal level but these are the goals for my blog. The only other thing I might dive into is to try to do more posts on family, being a father, husband, etc. Looking forward to another great year at Kingdom Living! Keep visiting and keep commenting!

2012 Year End Kingdom Living Blog Review

I am very thankful for all that has happened here on the blog and the ripple effects that are working their way out into the world from the discussions that happen here, the Bible lessons and material that are shared and the encouragement that takes place. Thank you for allowing me to be a resource for your life and ministry in 2012. I hope you will all come back to read, comment, and encourage in 2013! God bless you all and have a great new year!

Here is a fun summary of the blog for 2012

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 230,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 4 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

The March to 1,000,000 Views

I started this blog in the summer of 2006 as a way to put some ideas out there, share resources and make connections. It is amazing to have seen all three of those things happen. I have hoped that God would use this site for His glory and not for my own. Having said that, this post is not meant to be a pat on the back. It is more the recognition of a milestone that I hope is repeated a few more times over. Sometime in early January the blog should roll past 1 million page views. I can hardly believe it.

Some other stats that just blow my mind

• Nearly 250,000 views/year (684/day on average)
• Over 60,000 pdf Bible study downloads
• Over 10,000 comments (that is the one I really need to improve on).

Two things in closing. 1 – My goal looking ahead is to be less interested in stats like those and more interested in healthy dialog on the subjects that are mentioned on this blog. 2- I am going to do some book giveaways once the blog hits 1,000,000. So be looking forward to that! Thanks to all of you who have viewed the blog, commented, contributed articles, etc. You are a blessing to me!

Matt

10 Most Downloaded Small Group & Bible Class Material

Small group and Bible class PDF downloads passed 60k this week. Here are the top downloads of all time:

1. Living the Commission (3009 downloads)
2. LIFE Leader Manual (1423)
3. Impacting Through Compassion (1242)
4. Introducing Prayer (1227)
5. How God Defines Beauty (1171)
6. God’s Word is Truth (1135)
7. Consumerism (1035)
8. Godly Role model (1022)
9. Make Me a Servant (1007)
10. Finding Community (1004)

I would love to hear some feedback from any of you guys who have used this material, whether written by me or by any of the other great guys who have allowed their material to be shared on this site.

New Dropdown Menus on the Blog

I am a resource guy. It is just in my blood to compile things. One of the things I always intended for this blog was for it to be a place people could come and glean information, resources, lessons, audio, ministry ideas, etc. I have rearranged the dropdowns at the top of the blog to keep the main focuses of the blog in front of those who visit. If you haven’t ever looked through those dropdowns please take a moment to see what is in there. I have eliminated a few things and added a few other things. See what you think!

Also, is there anything you would like to see up there that isn’t or something you think this blog needs more of. Leave it all in the comments!

Kingdom Living – Looking Back on 2010

Looks like 2010 just edged out 2009 by a couple thousand views.

The top 5 posts of 2010 were:

1. Emasculated by Winnie the Pooh
2. Small Group Lessons
3. Big Bird Might Just be the AntiChrist
4. Signs in the Gospel of John
5. Bible Class Archive

The thing I am most happy about with this blog over the last year is the increasing amount of free content. Dozens of sermons and hundreds of free Bible class lessons (equally thousands of pages) were uploaded this year with many more to come in 2011. I am also happy with the quality of the comments that continue to bless this blog. It is very rare that anything mean spirited happens here and I am never afraid for anyone to read anything that is written here.

In 2011 I am going to write a whole lot more about practical ministry, highlighting how to reach 20 & 30 somethings and how to get ministries focused individually and collectively. This has been on my mind for some time now and we are making traction at Northwest that will lead to more thoughts worth posting on later. Last, I look forward to hearing from you in the new year. I learn so much from so many of you. I frequently change my mind on things due to the comments here and I appreciate it happens that way. I also look forward to getting to know new people who find this blog in 2011.