Blog "Look Back," part 2

Thursday January 1, 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Continued from part 1.

Here are some blog highlights from April through June, 2008.

April

Our research about church architecture was reported in a dozen different places. We first released it here.
Made a trip to rural Missouri, ate frog legs (pics included), and talked about the history of the Second Great Awakening. It bought out a few folks concerned about heresy in the movements.
My most recent book (with Philip Nation), Compelled by Love, was released.
Tim Keller and I discussed research and his new book in a podcast here.
My most commented upon post was this one explaining and opining upon the decline in the SBC. It brought Danny Akin out of blog-comment exile and prompted many other responses. The strangest thing-- the Associated Press and other media outlets quoted the blog and I decided I needed to be careful.
A follow up to the SBC decline post explained why this decline will probably continue in the future.
The month ended as I spoke at the Dwell Conference in NYC and "slow blogged" the experience.

May

Shared some rules I follow about interaction between married men and women and I was surprised that some people found them controversial.
Listed some historic and current accountability questions that some have used to keep themselves in accountable relationships.
Listed the candidates for SBC president and Johnny Hunt allowed me to list him as a candidate here, making it public on the blog that night.
Mixed it up with Neil Cole and Alan Hirsch about the challenges caused by the professionization of the clergy.
USAToday reported on our politics research and it ended up getting involved in the conversation about the Evangelical Manifesto. It led to several other posts involving the Evangelical Manifesto.
Joined the faculty at Southeastern Seminary.
Was glad to see 11 Innovations in the Local Church (my book with Elmer Towns and Warren Bird) be a finalist for Outreach book of the year.
Opined on what plagarism in preaching really is.

June

Mixed it up on multi-site churches with Geoff Surratt. First, my article, "Questions for McChurch" from my monthly Outreach Magazine column. Then, Geoff's response. World Magazine picked up on the debate and Geoff and I were interviewed in the story-- with Geoff on the cover. (He says he is going to buy me dinner.)
Updates from the SBC annual meeting on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I then penned my analysis and hope for the SBC.
Kristen and I went on her 10th birthday trip to Yosemite.
The Pew Forum released some research and we shared some additional research which asked a similar quesiton but with different wording. The comparison of the data became a national story. (I actually will post again about this next week-- Pew has updated the data.)