Post Number 1,000

"Amazing" is really all I have to say about this post.

This is post number 1,000 for Making Difference Makers. It has been quite a journey.

REFLECTION
I actually started this blog in 2006 as I was transitioning from one ministry place to another. I thought it would be a great way where those people that knew me could keep up with what I was doing.

Little did I know that two years later this blog would be where it is. Through this blog, and the blog's of others, I have met and made some great friends. I have also improved myself in so many ways. I'm not there yet...this blog isn't there yet either. That's why it's a journey.

DESIRE
In the end, I don't know that there is a specific destination in mind for what I'm doing through this. It is a journey that I'm on and who knows where it will take me. God is doing so many things through my family and personal life and I'm growing so much. Most of this is to share what I'm learning as well as the lessons learned.

There are two things I do know about my blog:

I want to make the greatest Kingdom impact for God that I can. I'm going to use as many methods as possible. That is one of the reasons for the things I write here. I write a lot of leadership and organizational management posts. I believe there are a lot of pastors who have the faith, the scripture, the prayer....but no one has ever showed them the organizational side of things. I hope to be a resource in that.

I want to get back to a little more of sharing my journey. In December of 2007, I decided to start another blog for that. I was going to take this blog and make it all about leadership. With the time frame I'm constrained with now, this blog will stay in these two areas.

So it is post 1,000...I'm excited to hit this milestone. Have I arrived? Nope!!! Only feel I'm just getting started.

THE STATS
Thought I would give you a quick rundown of stats. Even though I started my blog in March of 2006, I didn't know you could even track blog stats until October of 2006. So here are some stats since Oct. 20, 2006.

15,363 Visits
24,484 Pageviews
Over 80 Subscribers
Blog has been viewed in every state and in 97 countries

THANKS to all you readers, my family, and the people who are seeing my potential in ministry.

[photo credit flickr.com]

Post Number 1,000

This is post number 1,000. I'm honestly not to sure what to write. I thought about writing something inspirational. I thought about writing something that was challenging. But honestly I have only one thing on my mind for post 1,000.

THANKS

Thanks to an awesome God who has changed my life from the inside out. A God who has filled my life with vision and passion. A God who poured out His life for a wretched soul like me. I'm so far from what I want to be but so thankful that I'm not where I used to be.

Thanks to a wonderful wife. You are so awesome to put up with a crazy nut like me. I love you so much. You're the apple of my eye, the sugar in my koolaid.

Thanks to my kids. You three girls are the delight of my life. You far exceed all my expectations. Each of you are awesome.

Thanks to my parents. You have been the biggest supporters of us. You have been there for us through the thick and the thin. And you are an inspiration in faithfulness to me.

Thanks to the people who follow this blog. I try to tell myself that I would write even if no one would read but I'd be lying. Especially since I check my stats four or five times a day. I know I don't always get it right but I write from a sincere passion of helping others make a difference in this world. I hope that the next 1,000 are inspirational and helpful.

Thanks to Life Church. Even though at this point it is being birthed, the team is forming and all the people that may grace our doors are yet to come...our passion is to help you be all you can be in God.

To not miss any of our helpful posts - make sure you subscribe to our feed.

One Year Of Stats

Today marks one year I feel I have been seriously blogging. It was when I decided to post more seriously and it is when I began tracking my blog stats with Google Analytics.

After one year I have to say that I am presently pleased. Here are a couple of stats from the year:

6,675 Visits
10,191 Page Views
3,484 Visitors

Viewed in 63 Countries
Top three: 1) USA, 2) Canada, 3) United Kingdom

Viewed in 49 States plus DC (missing Alaska if you know anyone there)
Top three: 1) Texas, 2) California, 3) Nebraska

Top four posts:

1) Evolution For Dance
2) Drinking On Lifechurch.tv Stage
3) Elevate Podcast 2 (sorry...the audio is no longer there)
4) Clothe The Naked

Top Three Blogger Sites That Sent Hits My Way: (there were others like goolgle, blogger, technorati, etc...but these are sites of other bloggers)

1) Serial Youth Pastor
2) Flowerdust.net
3) Everyone Else But Joel

Some of my favorite keyword searches that lead people here:

"my wife excites me"
5-2 blitz package
corpus christi cancer blog
seven reasons why jesus could not have been a pastor in many churches
salt flavor children's moment
pastor caught cheating
blogs bashing newspring (definitely not this one)
most pastors i know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties
how much do schwann drivers make


Who are you???

62% use Internet Explorer, 82% use Windows, 55% use 1024x768 as your screen resolution, around 30% of you use DSL

ALSO...most live within 15 minutes of your job, have a fence, and drive a _____ nah just kidding...I don't know that much info.

Thanks a lot to all you who read...and send traffic my way...much love.

1,000 Milestone

Well it is 12:00 a.m. and I just checked...it looks like as of right now...I made it...a new milestone...a ceiling broken.

I'm no Chris Day...but I hit the 1,000 mark with an official tally of 1,003.

Checking my Google Analytics for the month of August 2007 and here is what I got:

1,003 Visits
1,496 Page Views
506 Unique Visitors

Majority of viewers use Internet Explorer and connect by DSL.

Besides coming straight into my site...the top content was Clothe The Naked, Church Behind The Scenes, and Skater Falls 50 Feet.

Shout-outs go to:

Flowerdust.net
Serialyouthpastor.com
Connecting For Eternity

For the blogs sending the most hits my way.

And you thought you guys lived in this secret world out there on the internet.

I even have a list of names of everyone that visited with your home address...nah just kidding.

600

Wow...Post 600. And climbing. What a great journey I'm on.

The 500 Milestone

This is it. Post number 500. A great milestone in my blogging history.

For me it's hard to believe that I have posted 500 times. Of course there was that month I did 100 in.

Of course there was a lot of pressure of what I should write about. Should it be a really good one. Should it be longer than normal. Personal...Helpful.

There were so many directions to go. So with all the pressure, I'm taking the pressure off and am going to write about nothing.

Of course you probably couldn't say I am writing about nothing cause I'm writing about this which would not make this.....nothing. HUH????

Anyway, I'm off to the water cooler to celebrate with a glass of water.

Milestone 500 in the bag...on my way to 1,000...To all my friends, readers, and family who make this possible by reading my non-sense...know that this is for you and that you are blessed and highly favored.

C-YA

Number 100

Ok...this is the last one for the month...it was a record setting month on posting...I know I kept you guys really busy with the reading material.

Next month I will slow it down a little. Well maybe...unless I have some things on my heart to share.

This is post number 100 and it is the last one...everybody say it with me....THANK GOD.

Stats and Number 400

This is post #400. I'm not thinking of it as a huge milestone but it really is a milestone. It is a sign to me of consistency and determination.

The first post I ever posted was March 22, '06. I have been tracking the blog since October 20, '06. For the records here are a few stats I have tracked since October.

This blog so far has:

Been viewed in 49 states
Been viewed in 45 countries

Visits 2,850
Page Views 4,365

Number 300 or Innovation or Criticism

There was so much anticipation in this post for a while. It is number 300.

Wow.

I think I built it up so much that I wasn't sure where to go.

I thought about criticism, especially from Christians that ain't got anything better to do. These are the people that sit back and criticize large churches who are reaching people while they themselves are doing nothing.

Come on folks...GET A LIFE!!! If you would spend more time with your church reaching out rather than reading and bashing my boys who are reaching people maybe we as the "Church" would actually reach the world. But that's ok, seeing you got so much spine sitting there reading and posting when you wouldn't even have the guts to say something to these churches in person.

I thought about writing about innovation and churches. In today's world the church has got to be more innovative. But it's not. Don't get me wrong there are some very innovative churches. Lifechurch.tv is one. Newspring is one. Granger is one. Oh wait a minute. These are the same churches that receive criticism.

So does being innovative and criticism go hand in hand. Apparently when you are in church it does. We celebrate innovation in a secular world but when a church is innovative all the sudden it gets criticized. But not by a secular world. By the church.

So where does this post go. Number 300, a great milestone in my blogging. Innovation and criticism, I don't know that might get me in trouble with the right wing church blog brigade.

So I guess I will just stay neutral and celebrate another great day.

Post Number 200

My second milestone in the world of blogging. I am so addicted to this. In a good way. I believe blogging helps in so many ways.

It helps me develop the people that I lead. I think people are tired of more meetings. Blogging is a way to get fresh information to them.

It helps me learn. One of the highest levels of learning comes from teaching. As I regurgitate the information that I am devouring it enables me to process it.

It helps me creatively. As I have learned what others are doing in blogging and technology it has allowed me to come up with creative information distribution. For example, I am using youtube's storage and bandwidth to deliver weekly leadership lessons to our ministry and department heads. Check it out in our Making Difference Makers Folder.

So here we are at post number 200. It is awesome to think that God is using me in some unique ways and I look forward to what He has in store for me in the future.

Countries This Blog Has Been Viewed In

As of October 20th of 2006, I have tracked my blog statistics with a tool called Google Analytics.

Below is a running list of the countries (UPDATED 05/5/2007) my blog has been read in with most viewed at the top:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. China
6. New Zealand
7. Mexico
8. Singapore
9. Spain
10. Ireland
11. Sweden
12. Netherlands
13. Belgium
14. France
15. Colombia
16. Germany
17. Philippines
18. South Africa
19. Chile
20. Russian Federation
21. Greece
22. Brazil
23. India
24. Poland
25. Croatia
26. Hungary
27. Argentina
28. Turkey
29. Slovenia
30. Vietnam
31. Austria
32. Fiji
33. Israel
34. Romania
35. Qatar
36. Japan
37. Taiwan
38. Cote D'lvoire
39. Egypt
40. Portugal
41. Albania
42. Hong Kong

We have also been read in 48 states.

Now I don't know if all you guys and gals dig that but I do. It is so cool to see what you do being spread around the world. Check back here often to see where else in the world we've been.

Milestone #100

Wow...number 100...I guess you know your into it if you hit your first milestone...of course over the past month I have really upped my contributions to the whole world...I have been thinking about what to post for this first milestone...hmmm...since it is the holiday season and thanksgiving is right around the corner how about what I am most thankful for...

1. God...first and foremost...without Him nothing is possible.

2. My Wife...she is the sugar in my koolaid, the cherry on my sundae, the apple of my eye...my best friend...she enables me to be able to do so much in my life...I am so thankful she is there...she complements me in many of my weaknesses.

3. My Family...my children have to share their Dad with other teens...so I am so thankful that I have three of the best girls in the world...it is a joy to watch them grow up and become all God has planned for them.

4. My Parents...they were great examples to me...and it is still through their love and support that I am who I am.

5. Friends...Mark Longoria, Juno Garcia, Steve Solis, Arnie Silva: Over the years you guys have allowed me to lean on you when I needed to lean and kept my arms held high when I needed strength...

6. Pastor Ed Cann...because of his faithfulness I am saved today...he is one of my spiritual fathers and I will always be blessed because of him.

7. Pastor Jim Graff & Larry Helms...who for the past 5 years stretched, prodded and pulled greatness out of me. They helped take me to a higher level and put a desire and passion in me for excellence.

8. Pastor Rod Young...for giving me the opportunity to take COH to a higher level.

9. Elevate Team Leaders...Elevate would not be possible without you...Robbie, Juno, Crystal, Gilbert, Carolina & all the students in leadership...Together We Have Achieved More...ok so that didn't spell team but it does comes close to spelling awesome which is what you guys and gals are.

10. The blogging community...I read and track over 40 blogs that challenge me to be more strategic, creative, innovative, professional, and humorous...

To live the life I am living is a tremendous honor and blessing and I look forward to where this will take me...Everyone out there be blessed...