I started So What Faith back in 2009, and added Google analytics to the site in 2013. Based on data gathered from 2013 to present the top all time posts are Pastoral Prayer - Love (2014) Prayers of the People - Youth Sunday (2009) 12 Marks of Convergence Christianity (2012) My Visit to Next Level Church (2012) Valentine's Expectations (2013) Leaders Clear Obstacles (2015) Pulpit Plagiarism (2014) Review of Not a Fan (2011) Theology on Tap (2011) The Immigrants Creed Read More …
Top 5 Posts of 2018 (#1768)
2018 has been a year of new beginnings for me. The year began with my family moving into a new home. As the year progressed other major changes followed including two that appear in this year's list of top blog posts (selected based on total number of views this calendar year): Top 10 Books of 2018 (December) Book Recommendations - May 2018 (May) Now Open (March) Book Recommendations - July 2018 (July) My Year of Social Enterprise (July) So What? This year's list Read More …
A Year of Change (#1767)
Last week I was asked to summarize my experience of 2018 with a single world. After a slight pause, I replied "change." 2018 has been a year filled with personal and professional change. Here's my Top 10 List: Living. For the first time in my life, I'm living an urban lifestyle (in the 15th largest city in the United States). Moving. My wife and I moved from a two story suburban home with a golf course view to a four story downtown dwelling with a city view. Read More …
Top 10 Books of 2018 (#1766)
My ninth annual listing of the top books of the year features the ten best books published in 2018. All books appearing on this year's list received a rating of 5 stars (or 5+ stars) on one of my monthly book recommendations lists. Author Title Diana Butler Bass Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks Elena L. Botelho and Kim R. Powell The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors that Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders Virginia Eubanks Automating Read More …
Who Finds Meaning in Religion? (#1765)
What makes for a meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying life? In an attempt to answer this question, Pew Research Center conducted two surveys late last year. The first survey utilized open ended questions while the second leveraged forced-choice questions using a list of 15 possible sources. Family First In the open-ended survey nearly 7 out of 10 respondents (69%) mentioned family. This finding was consistent with the closed-ended survey result of those claiming that Read More …
Jesus & Justice – Red Letter Revival (#1764)
Red Letter Christianity claims It’s time for a Christianity that looks like Jesus again. It’s time for gospel preaching and prophetic witness. It’s time to return to the things Jesus said. It’s revival time! From Lynchburg to Dallas In April the first ever Red Letter revival was held over two days in Lynchburg, VA. The second - and to date only other scheduled revival - occurred this past weekend in Dallas, TX. Each day workshops covering a wide range of justice focused Read More …
First Time Visitors – Friendliness & Follow Up (#1763)
Most people have limited experience visiting churches. Until a few years ago I was part of this group. 50+ First Time Experiences Over the last three years, I've been a first time visitor in more than 50 Christian churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The three reasons I've made so many visits are Relocating to Texas from Florida in 2015 - 36 churches as part of a search for a church Relocating within DFW (moving nearly 50 miles) - 13 churches as part of my Read More …
Book Recommendations – November 2018 (#1762)
My sharing of good books on this blog have evolved from traditional book reviews to book ratings. In recent months I've shared a list of 8-12 books I read the prior month that were published in the current year followed by some additional detail about the top 2 books. This month, 4 books share the top spot with ratings of 4.5. Rather than extending my commentary to this larger number, I'm simply providing a list. (4.5) How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology Read More …
6 Decades of Decline in the United Church of Christ (#1761)
The United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed in 1957 as the result of the union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. In 1957 the UCC included 8,283 congregations with 2,193,593 members. Every decade since the formation has featured a decline in both total congregations and total members (statistical data sourced from the Fall 2018 edition of United Church of Christ: A Statistical Profile) Declining Read More …
More and More Clergywomen (#1760)
"State of Clergywomen in the US: A Statistical Update," published earlier this month, finds that clergywomen continue have grown from 2.3% of all clergy in the United States in 1960 to 20.7% in 2016. Such growth, however, has not been equal across all traditions. Top Traditions The denominations with the greatest percentage of clergywomen are Unitarian Universalist - 57% United Church of Christ - 50% Disciples of Christ - 40% Episcopal - 37% Evangelical Lutheran Read More …