students of jesus

I’m very big in Hungary, apparently. That’s the headline from the Students of Jesus year in review, my annual exercise in narcissism where I look back on the past year. According to Google Analytics, Hungarians are in fourth place among my readers, following the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

This year-end review benefits, um, well, me actually--and I’m usually astounded by the disparity between which post received the most page views and which ones were my personal favorites. This year, however, the blogosphere and I were much closer in our judgment than in years previous.

Since you would cripple yourself by missing even one Students of Jesus post, I present this list of top items in an effort to keep you whole:

Top Five Posts (by page views):

Sinners in the Hands of Willy Wonka 2/23/12 ~ This post was six times more popular than any other. Turns out “Willy Wonka” is a frequently searched name. Imagine the disappointment of those who clicked through to discover it was really a post about the grace of God.

Jesus, Friend of Pharisees 4/12/12 ~ This post includes a picture of Jesus driving the money-changers from the Temple. He was pretty angry, and so was I when I wrote this. So this is what I sound like when I’m P.O.’d.

Who Funds Your Imagination? 7/5/12 ~ Whenever things get slow at Students of Jesus, I quote Walter Brueggemann. Either him or someone from FoxNews. That usually stirs things up. This post is about -- well, heck -- just go read it.

Four Lessons I learned from Jefferson Bethke 1/19/12 ~ Meeting Jeff Bethke was one of the delights of this year. In my work as an editor I interviewed him via telephone for an article I wrote elsewhere. I was completely charmed by his grace and humility--even more so because his home church is frequently maligned as heavy-handed and authoritarian. If Jeff is any indication of the fruit of that ministry, then I’m a fan.

Sarah Bessey’s Parable of the Father 5/5/12 ~ Whenever things get really, really slow at Students of Jesus, I ask Sarah Bessey to guest post. She loves Jesus, is way-smart, and wears cardigans. Her post was part of an ill-fated series dedicated to exploring the parables of Jesus. I figured this series would take off, but it turns out we in the blogosphere would much rather argue about really significant stuff like--uh-oh, I should shut up here. Anyway, Sarah is a treasure, and she’ll release a book later in 2013. It’s the charming story of a woman who owns an independent bookstore on the upper east side of Manhattan, when a big evil chain bookstore opens one block away. The woman falls in love with the chain-store owner, but Amazon.com puts them both out of business. (Or something like that)

The one article I wish everyone could read:
Well, all of them, really (I told you I was a narcissist). But if you don’t have time for them all, please check out Lazarus Quenby and the Reasonable Dinner Party.

Thanks for making Students of Jesus the most popular spiritual formation blog that originates from Campbellsville, Kentucky. (Of course, it's the only spiritual formation blog that originates from Campbellsville, Kentucky.) Blessings!