Sarah's Not Blogging

So, Sarah and I talked about getting back into blogging and both said we should, but Sarah hasn't said anything yet. I think you all should let Sarah know how much you want to hear from her!!

Back To Blogging

So this morning Sarah and I were talking about how we haven't blogged in a long time and decided to get back to it. Both of us have things we want to share with friends and family that aren't nearby.

She told me she wants me to talk about our recent Disney trip. I told her she should because it was her "birthday", but she said she already put a lot up on facebook and she did! So I'll be blogging about disney soon with a few pictures.

Reconsidering Blogging

So it's been 3 weeks now and I haven't posted anything. In fact, I've been doing this a lot with the blog. I'm sure I've been lossing plenty of my readers because of my lack of blogging, the few that I have.

About 6 months ago I "re-invented" the blog to talk about leadership and ministry, but I found myself constantly writing something a lot like devotionals, and I'm learning that I really don't have tons of those in me. I mean, I'm typically writing anywhere from 8-12 devotional/sermons/sermon-ettes/lessons a month already.

I told my wife that I thought about stopping the blog and she asked why. I told her what I just told you and she said she thought I shouldn't stop blogging, but rather blog about something more interesting. She's hears me speak a lot (all of those 8-12 times a month) and so, while she reads my blog in her free time, it's never been my devotional-type posts that really grabbed her. So she suggested why not just post about life, the things we're doing. Make it mostly for our friends and family. And that's what I'm going to do.

With me soon leading an adult small group at our home, which only increases the amount of teaching I'm doing, it sounds like a great time to make that change.

So, I'll be renaming the blog soon (and a new look too). . .if you have any suggestions let me know. I really don't have any ideas yet.

(My wife is grinning right now as she knows I'm taking her advice.)

Top Posts: 2008 First Quarter

These are the most viewed posts:

1. Please Pray For The Life Of Tricia, Her Huband Nathan, And Their Unborn Baby
2. Elders & Deacons
3. Skillet, Chris Tomlin, Toby Mac, KJ-52, Barlow Girl, Todd Agnew, and Lifehouse
4. The Golden Compass Review
5. Sunday Review
6. Once Upon A Time I Could Draw
7. Youth Ministry Vision Casting, Part 3
8. Elders & Deacons, Part 2
9. The Golden Compass Review, Part 2
10. A Roller Coaster With A Lot Of 200ft. Drops
11. Business Cards
12. Google Analytics
13. Resigning & Moving
14. Can’t There Be More Than One Way To Heaven?
15. The Roller Coaster Continues
16. Tricia Is Listed!
17. Elders & Deacons, Part 3
18. Lilly & Frodo
19. Youth Ministry Vision Casting, Part 2
20. 7 Things

Top 5 Posts Of The First 4 Months

As of today I've been blogging for 4 months. In that time here are the top 5 posts according to hits they've received:

1. Please Pray For The Life Of Tricia, Her Huband Nathan, And Their Unborn Baby (177 hits)
2. Elders & Deacons (100 hits)
3. The Golden Compass Review (81 hits)
4. Skillet, Chris Tomlin, Toby Mac, KJ-52, Barlow Girl, Todd Agnew, and Lifehouse (68 hits)
5. Sunday Review (61 hits)

Here are the tops 5 posts that a lot of time was spent reading them (which means people didn't just come across the page but they also stopped and took interest in what they read):

1. The Preacher And The Teacher
2. Do You Rescue Like Jesus Does?
3. Resigning & Moving
4. Discipleship: Using Our Resources Wisely
5. Elders & Deacons

RSS Hugger

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Google Analytics

On Oct. 7, 2007 I discovered Google Analytics from another blog and by Oct. 8th it was up and running. Google Analytics is a website tracker, basically letting you know how many visits your got and where they came from (and a lot of other nice things).

I've been blogging now since June, although I didn't get serious about it until October so I'm doubting Google Analytics would have had much to say before Oct.

The stats show that since I re-thought about blogging (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), which was just a couple weeks ago, has already made some impact. I'm thinking the new name may have been a good choice.

Here are some stats just for fun.
My top 10 referral sites (places people clicked to come to my blog):

1. blogger.com
2. facebook.com
3. cfhusband.blogspot.com
4. direct (means they typed it in and went straight there)
5. google.com
6. google/organic
7. images.google.com
8. liberty.facebook.com
9. terrykyle.com
10. nathanhyde.com

Out of my referrals some generated people who looked at my site longer than others. Here's my top 5 length views from referrals (I only included those that had at least 10 referrals):

1. terrykyle.com
2. blogger.com
3. facebook.com
4. cfhusband.com
5. direct (means they typed it in and went straight there)

Out of my referrals which ones are generating the most new visitors, in the form of top 5 again?

1. images.google.com
2. cfhusband.com
3. terrykyle.com
4. facebook.com
5. direct (means they typed it in and went straight there)
   

This stuff is interesting to me. The last thing that got my attention was visitor loyalty, the number of people to return to your site. Apparently I have 46 people who have visited the site 50+ times since Oct. 8, 2007. Out of the 444 people that stop by 151 have not returned, but 116 of them have visited the site 15+ times.

I wonder if all of this is accurate.

New Blog Name, Part 3

Okay, so this is turning out to be rather tough for me, but I'm starting to narrow it down. I suggest to my wife, for her input, "Authentic, Relevant Ministry" and her response was, "two adjectives. Why not just Authentic Ministry?" I thinking that just may be the direction I'm going to go.

Now, as I think about who I would like my target audience to be I have to think about what I really want to talk about and who I want to attract. I want to talk about the things I learn and try in ministry, my mistakes and successes. I want to talk about re-thinking leadership and all that comes with transitioning (not from an expert, but as I learn and figure things out). I want to talk about what God is doing in my life: the fun, the random, the personal, how much I love my wife, and the challenges.

Any comments or thoughts on "Authentic Ministry"?

Also see Part 1 and Part 2.

New Blog Name, Part 2

So I started thinking about being "market-driven" as Nathan suggested, and I agree with him, so I started thinking about who is my target audience. This is creating some conflicts. . .but only minor ones. I want to be able to attract a certain kind of people but I also want to put up goofy stuff that have nothing to do with the topic and just share life stuff as well. Sometimes there will be a devotional-ish post (thought provoking) and sometimes a discussion post (even though I don't have much of an audience).

I'm probably making this harder than it should be.

Anyway. . .the word relevant kept coming to mind. Originally it was relevant church and relevant faith, but then a short list began (with the help of my wife):
1. In Search of Relevancy
2. The Search for Relevant Faith
3. The Call to Relevancy
4. Relevant Youth Pastor
5. Relevant Ministry

Other words that grabbed my attention for possible use:
1. Authentic
2. Emergent
3. Application

Still searching. Still desiring discussion, thoughts, and ideas.

New Blog Name

So I could use some brain-storming help. When I called this blog "Recording God Given Adventures" I really didn't know if I was going to stick with blogging and so I just made something up real quick. I really don't like it and I've enjoyed blogging. Since I'm going to stick with it, I want a better name.

Here are some thoughts:
1. Keeping It Simple.
2. Authentic, Real, and Transparent (ART).
3. Faithful, Available, Teachable (FAT). . .okay, that's two acronyms; what's up with that?
4. Re-Thinking, Re-Discovering, Re-Awakening

If you've been reading my blog and you see the kind of content I'm producing, what's a good name to describe it? Even if you don't have a name idea but you're getting some tidbits of thoughts, please share them.