One Year as the Fat Pastor

I started this blog last year as a way to try share my thoughts about God and other issues with others, and to chronicle my struggle to become more healthy.  For awhile I was doing well on the health side of things.  Obstacles and excuses have popped up time and again, and as I sit here typing I am in worse shape than I was last year.  So on that front, this blog has been a total bust.

Yet I have hope that I can still turn things around.  The poll I took a couple of weeks ago came out 100% in favor of me trying out for the Twin City Dawgs, an amateur football team that plays in Chenoa.  The try-outs are January 24, which gives me three and a half months to turn things around.

The other reason I started this blog was to reach more people.  So I thought I’d share some stats about that front.  This is my 97th post.  In the last year I have had a little over 7,500 visits.  September was my most visited month with 1,148 visits.  I’ve had two different months with over 1,000 visits.  My busiest day saw 160 visitors.

In May I discovered Networked Blogs on facebook.  I have now invited all of my facebook friends (only once apiece).  On Network Blogs have have 75 followers, several of whom are people I do not know.  Since May my traffic has gone up, and right now I average about 30 visits a day (about 200 visits a week).  On days I don’t post I still get 10-20 visitors.  On days I publish a story on facebook I get 30-40.  Every once in awhile something I write touches a nerve and I spike to close to 100.

My top four posts this year were:

Sorry Albert, I don’t believe you — 430 visits (this one gets the most outside traffic from those searching “Albert Pujols sterioids” on engines)

The Mouse is a pimp — 323 visits  (I’m not sure how many people actually read this one, everyday I get traffic from people that searched some variation of “Miley’s breast” that get to this site.  I think they’re probably pretty disappointed by what they find.)

The Great Disconnect — 241 visits (this one had brought 160 visits in one day.  The traffic was driven largely by friends sharing this with their friends.  I got some very kind words from people I respect about this post)

Jill and Kevin’s wedding entrance — 168 visits (I still get some occasional traffic from search engines, and if you google “dancing wedding entrance pastor,” my post is the first result.)

In addition, I am now linked on two fairly popular Methodist blog sites – Methoblog and the Wesley Report.  Every now and then I am featured on Wesley Report.  I’m still hoping to get featured on Methoblog.

I have had a lot of fun doing this.  It has fed something inside of me.  I really enjoy using the blog as a way to share my feelings, insights, frustrations and celebrations.  The comments I get from people have been extremely rewarding, but the thing that has touched me the most have been times when I have seen friends tell their friends to check out my blog.

Thank you to all who have read this blog.  Thank you for your comments.  Thank you for your encouragement.

So now I’m going to make a shameless appeal.  I am excited about the 7500 visitors this past year, but  I would love to have more next year.  So if you like this blog, share it with friends:  If you are on networked blogs on facebook, then click “like” on posts you like.  Usually the top “likes” of the day have about 10 clicks, which puts a post onto a page with a lot more traffic. Rate my blog using the stars.  Invite your friends to follow.  If you don’t have Networked Blogs on facebook, then email links to posts you like.   If you have a blog, put me on your blogroll.  Any way that you can spread the word, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s to another year as the Fat Pastor.  I pray that it will be my last.  Thanks for coming with me on this journey of, “One pastor struggling to live well and do good.”