And now for the Top Ten posts for all time (since summer 2017).

Same rankings as last year, except #7 and #8 switched, and #9 is new.

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right (September 4, 2017)
2. On Calling God by His First Name (November 16, 2017)
3. Are We Doing Church Wrong? (July 31, 2017)
4. On Deconversion (March 18, 2021)
5. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) (August 6, 2020)
6. I Was Born That Way (August 9, 2018)
7. Pants on Fire (August 16, 2018)
8. On Sin: I’m Guilty of Adam’s Sin? How Is That Fair? (October 4, 2018)
9. On Retiring (February 24, 2025 ) 
10. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You. (January 8, 2018)

Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash

It’s time for the Top Ten lists. Today, Top Ten for this year’s posts; Thursday, Top Ten for all time (since summer 2017).

I note that by the nature of things, an annual list like this is noticeably biased in favor of earlier posts. Note also that a series’s place in this list is determined by its most-viewed single post.

Top Ten New Posts 2025

1. On Retiring (February 24, May 15 )
2. On Jaywalking (October 20)
3. On Silence During Chaos (April 28, May 1, 5, 8, 12)
4. On Political Panic (February 27, March 3)
5. Baccalaureate (May 19, 22, 25)
6. On Memes (October 6)
7. How God Makes Well-Rounded Christians (Colossians 1) (August 21, 28, September 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25)
8. A Denier Redirected (1 Peter) (March 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 27)
9. On Spiritual Decline (Malachi) (July 28, 31, August 4, 7, 11, 14, 18)
10. A Book Donation and a Kind Providence (June 26)

Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash

Welp, it’s the final post of the year and time for the Top Ten lists.

Top Ten New Posts 2024

1. On Magic (July 18)
2. On Reading The Message (January 4)
3. On Death (September 5)
4. On Congregational Singing As a Team Sport (January 8)
5. On Valentine’s Day (February 12)
6. About That Hiatus … (October 14)
7. On Widows in the Church (August 29)
8. A Little Story about Worship (January 11)
9. On Winning the War (series) (November 18)
10. More Thoughts on AI (August 26)

Top Ten Posts of All Time

Same rankings as last year, except #8 and #9 switched.

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right (September 4, 2017)
2. On Calling God by His First Name (November 16, 2017)
3. Are We Doing Church Wrong? (July 31, 2017)
4. On Deconversion (March 18, 2021)
5. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) (August 6, 2020)
6. I Was Born That Way (August 9, 2018)
7. Pants on Fire (August 16, 2018)
8. On Sin: I’m Guilty of Adam’s Sin? How Is That Fair? (October 4, 2018)
9. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You. (January 8, 2018)
10. What Jury Duty Taught Me about Comment Threads (July 20, 2017 [first post])

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

Here at year’s end, it’s customary to list the year’s top ten blog posts. Here are mine: 

1. On “Literal” Interpretation (Nobody Does That) (2-part series)
2. How to Care for Your Pastor (6-part series)
3. A Little Interaction with ChatGPT (2-part series)
4. On Short-Term Missions (8-part series)
5. On Thinking Like Christ (10-part series)
6. On Providence (6-part series)
7. Worth It (5-part series)
8. When You’re Really Scared (4-part series)
9. In Christ (9-part series)
10. On God As Husband (4-part series)

And here are the top ten for all time (since July 20, 2017): 

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right 
2. On Calling God by His First Name
3. Are We Doing Church Wrong? 
4. On Deconversion 
5. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) 
6. I Was Born That Way 
7. Pants on Fire 
8. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You. 
9. On Sin: I’m Guilty of Adam’s Sin? How Is That Fair?
10. What Jury Duty Taught Me about Comment Threads 

In a related post last year, I listed my personal favorites.

Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash

I’ve noted before that popular posts tend to be ones that incite. There’s a place for pushing people’s buttons if you want to encourage them to change their thinking or behavior, but I don’t think muckraking or demagoguery is healthy for either the writer or the reader, and there’s no shortage of bloggers these days eager to do that sort of thing for the clicks. That’s not me. 

But I’ve found the personal discipline of writing 2 posts every week to be good for me—for my thinking processes, for my communication skills, for my character, for my soul. And I’ll confess that there have been some posts along the way that were good for me, and, I hope, good for the readers. Occasionally writers have the delightful experience of writing something that seemed to turn out better than they intended, or even better than they felt capable of. 

Here are 10 of mine that I like, for various reasons, in no particular order. 

• I Was Born That Way  
• Three Days with Hilaire 
• Grateful for Grace 
• It Is. And It Does. 
• On Listening to the Designer 
• The Music of the Sphere 
• On Peace 
• Worthy
• On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) 
• One Body

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

Here at year’s end, it’s customary to list the year’s top ten blog posts. Here are mine: 

1. On Bible Conference (at BJU)
2. The World’s Most Unusual Trip (a farce in three parts)
3. A Small Thought on What We Pray For
4. Dealing with Doubt (3-post series) 
5. On What You Put into Your Head (3-post series) 
6. Unstable World, Stable God (10-post series)
7. On Valentine’s Day
8. Church Has a Purpose (5-post series)
9. The Myth of the Super Christian (6-post series) 
10. Second King (10-post series)

And here are the top ten for all time (since July 20, 2017): 

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right 
2. Are We Doing Church Wrong? 
3. On Calling God by His First Name
4. On Deconversion 
5. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery) 
6. I Was Born That Way 
7. Pants on Fire 
8. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You. 
9. What Jury Duty Taught Me about Comment Threads 
10. On Civil Disobedience 

In my final post of the year, I’ll list my favorites. My readers and I, it seems, have divergent tastes. 

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

I’ve noted before that popular posts tend to be ones that incite. There’s a place for pushing people’s buttons if you want to encourage them to change their thinking or behavior, but I don’t think muckraking or demagoguery is healthy for either the writer or the reader, and there’s no shortage of bloggers these days eager to do that sort of thing for the clicks. That’s not me.

But I’ve found the personal discipline of writing 2 posts every week to be good for me—for my thinking processes, for my communication skills, for my character, for my soul. And I’ll confess that there have been some posts along the way that were good for me, and, I hope, good for the readers. Occasionally writers have the delightful experience of writing something that seemed to turn out better than they intended, or even better than they felt capable of.

Here are 10 of mine that I like, for various reasons, in no particular order.

• I Was Born That Way 
• Three Days with Hilaire
• Grateful for Grace
• It Is. And It Does.
• On Listening to the Designer
• The Music of the Sphere
• On Peace
• One Tiny Reason Why I’m Not a Secular Humanist
• On How You’re Remembered (Strategery)
• One Body

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

Here at year’s end, it’s customary to list the year’s top ten blog posts. Here are mine:

1. On Deconversion
2. It’s Not Martyrdom If You’re Being Obnoxious
3. Respect (On Dr. Ed Panosian)
4. Christ Is Not His Name (brief series)
5. No Matter What
6. On Sleep
7. One Body (On African-American Olingers)
8. How to Parallel Park
9. On the Fruit of the Spirit (series)
10. On Living by the Loopholes

And here are the top ten for all time (since July 20, 2017):

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right
2. Are We Doing Church Wrong?
3. On Deconversion
4. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery)
5. On Calling God by His First Name
6. I Was Born That Way
7. Pants on Fire
8. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You.
9. What Jury Duty Taught Me about Comment Threads
10. On Civil Disobedience

In my final post of the year, I’ll list my favorites. My readers and I, it seems, have divergent tastes.

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

Here at year’s end, it’s customary to list the year’s top ten blog posts. Here are mine:

1. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery)
2. On Civil Disobedience
3. On Well-Intentioned Viral Campaigns
4. On Uncertainty
5. On the Unruffled Passivity of Modern Evangelicalism
6. How Not to Have a Civil War
7. Memories of Merciful Teachers
8. Why Putting Bullets in the Stove Is a Bad Idea
9. On Retreating
10. “The Aeronauts”: A Case Study in Controversy

And here are the top ten for all time:

1. The Great Sin of the Evangelical Right
2. Are We Doing Church Wrong?
3. Pants on Fire
4. I Was Born That Way
5. On How You’re Remembered (Strategery)
6. Freak Out Thou Not. This Means You.
7. What Jury Duty Taught Me about Comment Threads
8. On Calling God by His First Name
9. On Civil Disobedience
10. On Sexual Assault, Due Process, and Supreme Court Confirmations

And here is a list of my personal favorites.

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash

As I commented last year at this time, I’ve noticed that rants get a lot of hits. I understand why that happens—it’s pretty much the same phenomenon as onlooker delay at traffic accidents—but I don’t really like to rant, and I don’t admire people who rant all the time, first, because if they’re genuine, they’re living under the burden of an angry spirit, and probably fear, and second, because if they’re not genuine, but just ranting to get hits, then I don’t trust what they write.

I don’t want to be that guy. You know, the Talk Radio morning host.

Some things deserve rants, but ranting isn’t much of a lifestyle, and a society that feeds itself constantly on it—like ours—is pathological.

Most writers like some things they write more than other things, and the order of like-itude usually isn’t the same as their audience’s preferences—especially if they’re not just writing for the money or the recognition.

So as a thought experiment, here’s a list of the posts, in no particular order, that I personally like the most—some for reasons of content, some for esthetics, and some just because.

• I Was Born That Way (This one made both my list and yours.)
• Cry, the Beloved Country
• Unbroken by a Broken World
• On Calling God by His First Name
• Three Days with Hilaire
• Grateful for Grace
• Groovier Than Thou
• It Is. And It Does. (As did this.)
• On Listening to the Designer
• The Music of the Sphere
• Grace
• 7 Stabilizing Principles in a Chaotic World
• On Peace

Photo by HENCE THE BOOM on Unsplash