Saturday, December 06, 2014

2014: THE YEAR IN REVIEW



I always look forward to writing these “Year In Review” blog posts. It gives me a chance to refresh my memory about the blessings God has poured out on me over the last 365 days, and I’m always amazed how much favor is lavished on me by my Heavenly Father.

Fair warning, this is a long one so pour yourself a nice hot cuppa coffee, grab a chair and settle down for the long ride. 

Here we go!

MY TOP 10 BLOG POSTS OF 2014
As chosen by you, my readers, based on the number of page views received.

PAGE VIEWS: 13,018


PAGE VIEWS: 2,316

PAGE VIEWS: 763

PAGE VIEWS: 723

PAGE VIEWS: 705

PAGE VIEWS: 702

PAGE VIEWS: 635

PAGE VIEWS: 628

PAGE VIEWS: 609

PAGE VIEWS: 590

 **

OTHER COOL STUFF
There is life outside the blog you know.



*SIMPLE CHURCH: UNITY WITHIN DIVERSITY
I was honored to be invited to share a chapter in this book which features 23 other authors, bloggers and thinkers – all involved in Simple Church. So far the book is already in the Top 10 at Amazon and it only just published! Yowzers.

My chapter in this book was about how our little house church got started and how we give 100 percent of our offering away to the poor in our community and how our motel ministry started.


*HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE
I was also very blessed to help launch the new and improved House2 House Magazine in an online format late last year and it grew into something pretty awesome in 2014.

Very proud of this little online magazine.

*MOTEL CHURCH
We had some very, very troubling and difficult times this season, but we endured and emerged stronger in the process. Here’s hoping – and praying – for a much less dramatic year in 2015.

One of the most amazing things that happened at the Motel Church this year was what God did with Tommy.

Sometimes God does something so beautiful and so amazing all you can do is just sit back and smile. This was one of the highlights of the year for me.


*PODCAST
It was pretty cool to do interviews, and thanks to our one and only donor, Layton Lynch, we were able to purchase a BlogTalkRadio premium account for a few months in order to do just that. Thanks, Layton!

PODCAST INTERVIEWS
I interviewed some pretty incredible people this year on my Subversive Podcast:









"WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT CONSTANTINE?" THE AL BAKER DIALOGS:
It was a great blessing to get to know NT scholar, Al Baker, through a series of podcasts about Constantine and his impact on the modern church today.

PART 1


 **
THE BLOG SERIES OF 2014:
Sometimes there’s a topic that requires more than a single post.
These are the ones I spent the most time on in 2014.

“WHO MAKES DECISIONS IN ORGANIC CHURCH?”
This is still ongoing, but so far it’s been a blast to collaborate with Neil Cole, Richard Jacobsen, Dan Herford, and Jon Zens to discuss the concept of making decisions in an organic church setting. Richard’s video was a great kick-off which spawned some great discussion and I can’t wait to read what everyone else has to say. Plus, we’ll wrap it all up with a video Skype round table.



THE SEASON OF LOVE BLOG SERIES
A series of blog posts about how love is our mandate from Christ and how loving your enemy begins with learning to love like Jesus.










THE DIDACHE [PODCAST SERIES]
This First Century document, which pre-dates the Gospels, was used by the Disciples and the early Christian church to train those who wanted to become followers of Jesus and the Way of Life.

PART 1




DISPENSATIONALISM REFUTED [PODCAST SERIES]
Way back in the 1800's, John Nelson Darby invented a crazy system of theology called "Dispensationalism". Coincidentally, the same year that Joseph Smith introduced his crazy theology called "Mormonism". Sadly, Darby's "connect-the-dots" theology has now become the dominant view of the Church in the West. Here's why you shouldn't swallow it.
PART 1

PART 2




JESUS THE PROPHET [PODCAST SERIES]
A study of the Olivet Discourse from a Partial Preterist perspective.





ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH [PODCAST SERIES]
What's worse? To replace Israel with the Church, or to replace Jesus with a religion and Nation State that denies he is the Messiah? Let's discuss.
*THE OBSOLETE OLD TESTAMENT





AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*VIDEOS

OUT OF BUSINESS [video]

My collaboration with Richard Jacobsen on the “Out Of Business” video was very well received and is something I’ve quite happy with.






*

GUEST BLOG POSTS
Sometimes it’s good to hear from other voices. This year we had some excellent guest posts.



So blessed to have my youngest son contribute a blog post.

I am always blessed to hear from my Indian friend, Vilbert. But this post is my all-time favorite.

*MARY EMILY DUBA: “THE INCARNATION OF LOVE”
Honestly, I watch this video about once a week. It’s really such a beautiful expression of the peace-making work of Christ. Maybe one day I can interview Mary? Hope so.


*

*SILVER ADDY AWARDS
Several of my creative projects at work (where I write marketing and advertising copy for technology vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, etc.) were recognized, including:

MICROSOFT: 78 UNFAMOUS PEOPLE [VIDEO 1]



MICROSOFT: 78 UNFAMOUS PEOPLE [VIDEO 2]





*CISCO: FLY HIGHER VIDEO
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2014/05/video-fly-higher.html



*APC: POWER IS OUR MIDDLE NAME VIDEO
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2014/05/power-is-our-middle-name.html



MY PERSONAL FAVORITE BLOG POSTS OF 2014
I know there’s a Top 10 list already. But these are MY favorite blog posts. Shouldn’t they be yours too?









*ULTIMATE NINJA JESUS [PODCAST]: This is one of my personal favorites.

**

COMING SOON: 2015
Who knows what the future holds? “If the Lord wills…” these are the things I hope to put my hands to in 2015:

*NEW COVENANT BOOK
I’ve been stewing and percolating on this one all year long. Hope to get started writing this during the Holiday and finish it mid-year in 2015.

*LEADERSHIP BOOK
The only way to finally get everything off my chest about this insane “Christian Leadership” movement is to write my own book about what true New Testament Leaders look like.

*PACIFIST FIGHT CLUB
My plan is to have quarterly PFC gatherings in 2015. So, we’ll kick things off in February with a PFC Movie Night and watch “Dirty Wars” together. Details soon.

*MOTEL CHURCH
I am praying right now about how to engage more with people like Tommy and Jim and a few others who, technically, are homeless and do not live/stay at the motel but still participate and serve at the motel. These guys are hungry for the Word of God, desperate for connection, and interested in growing nearer to Christ. Seems like a good idea to put my hands to that!

*MISSION HOUSE CHURCH
I think the Lord is urging me to abandon myself more to Himself and to really let go and learn to love others and allow others to love me. Our house church family is the best place to start with that.

*MORE PODCASTING
I’ve really loved doing these podcasts and so we’ll continue to do more of these in the year ahead.

*MORE COLLABORATION
One thing I’ve learned this year is that working and partnering with like-minded people is much more interesting and rewarding, and ultimately more impactful, than just writing and working all by myself. The Round Table podcast with Neil, Jon, Herb, and Kent was so amazing, and the current blog series on making decisions in Organic Church with Jon, Richard, Dan and Neil is also creating great conversations. Plus, the multiple authors approach of the book “Simple Church” where I got to contribute a chapter alongside some of my favorite bloggers, authors and thinkers, was an incredible experience. So, in the year to come I want to collaborate with more people! More round tables, more gatherings, more linked blog conversations, etc. Next year will be the year of Collaboration.

*PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
For my birthday this year I invited a handful of guys who resonate with me and inspire me. It was a great blessing for all of us and we all expressed a desire to do this kind of thing more often. So, we will.

*

THANK YOU!
One thing I really, really want to do is to say “THANK YOU!” so much for reading my blog, listening to my podcasts, watching the occasional video, and sharing my posts with your friends and family. Writing in a vacuum is no fun. But hearing feedback from all of you means so much to me. In fact, I keep a folder called “Warm Fuzzies” where I save each and every comment and word of encouragement I receive from you guys. It’s true! You guys keep me going when I sometimes feel like giving up.

I look forward to where the Lord takes us in 2015. I hope you’ll be along for the ride.

Peace,
Keith

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