Message in a Bottle
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle
Message in a bottle
- Sting
Publishing web-sites like this one have three types of readers.
- Regular readers. I have very few of these. Feedburner says that I have about 50 regular subscribers, and my content is carried by two aggregators (one Methodist, one military chaplain-related). Of course, subscribers don't necessarily mean readers. But, for the few of you who regularly stop by, thanks for taking the time to read what I have to say.
- The Big Link. I've never made the big time with a link on a really major site. In August 2009, someone linked to my February 2007 post Is America at War?, which received over 5400 page loads in the space of a few days. I had a one-day total of 914 page-loads, about 10 times the normal volume. I don't think I have to worry about server capacity. Every once in awhile, I get a few other links, but traffic from these links brings at most a few dozen (frequently) to a few hundred (very seldom) site visits. Still, for those who've linked to things I've written, thanks!
- Search Engines. This is where almost all of my site-visits come from. It's both rewarding and frustrating to look at my StatCounter logs. Sometimes you can tell that the post on which searchers landed has nothing to do with what they're looking for. Even more frustrating: sometimes you find that Google or Yahoo sent them to the wrong post. "That's not the post that answers your question," my mind screams. "You need to see this other post!" I wish I had a way to give feedback to searchers and point them in the right direction on the site. And still, at other times, you find that the searcher is reading material that directly addresses the questions on their minds. It's even better when you see that they've poked around a little bit on the site or loaded the "printer friendly version."
At the end of October, this site received its 100,000th page load since January 2006. That's not much as web-sites go. In the scheme of things, this site is very small potatoes. When I started this blog, I remember reading something Joe Carter - then of the Evangelical Outpost - wrote about numbers. How many pastors of small churches would love to have an additional 50 folks who regularly listened to what they had to say? How many would like the opportunity to speak to a few hundred more folks, even occasionally. So, in the last 90 days, 750 folks have read my advice on observing Veterans Day in churches. Over 450 have read a sermon I wrote about Abraham's journey of faith. Over 300 have read messages about the woman at the well, the calling of the first disciples and Joseph the dreamer. Nearly 300 have read my thoughts on chaplain prayer at military ceremonies and the Pilgrim's first thanksgiving. Nearly 200 have accessed my Advent candle-lighting liturgy. This is influence that I would not have otherwise had.
I know that almost everything I write is a message in a bottle. I pray that the right person finds the right bottle, and that something in the message is meaningful for them.
Filed under: Admin
November 9th, 2009 at 1225
I go to a pretty large church. And we've started to create satellite campuses around town. One of my friends is in charge of one of those sites. He started to become frustrated (in a very mild sense) about the slowed growth at that site. He started to feel as if he wasn't doing "enough." His reasoning was, "we are so small compared to the main campus that it doesn't feel like we are pulling our weight."
He then went on to say, "a friend of mine reminded me that we may be small in comparision to the main campus, but you're still the 7th (I think) largest congregation in the city."
That's always stuck with me about my own website. And it's exactly what you say. How many pastors would love to have 5000 people show up on a weekend? Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing enough. I wonder if I'm reaching enough people. But then I'm reminded that as long as I'm being obedient to what God is asking of me, I am doing enough. And that's ultimately all that matters to me.