Again, thanks for all of your shares, comments, and e-mails this month. I’m enjoying the number of conversations that some of these posts have led to. Two top 5 lists…

Top 5 Posts for July
1. The coming church budget crunch
2. Re-evangelizing America with changes in our ministry roles
3. How Sunday School created a theologically illiterate American Church
4. John Wesley never heard of a traveling pastor
5. How is it with your soul?

And one that I thought might generate some discussion but didn’t, so I’ll link it again… Stealing

Top 5 Commenters for July
1. John Leek – John writes good things about ministry and the UMC at johnleek.com. Check it out.
2. Aaron Mansfield – Aaron no longer blogs (or Facebooks, or tweets – he pretty much just visits and shares the gospel now), but you can find his old blog here: weeklywesley.blogspot.com. And he wrote a guest post for me a while back: How to Become an Evangelist.
3. Lauren Wilson – Lauren doesn’t blog, but she asks good questions.
4. Shannon Blosser – Shannon is a journalist-turned-pastor and soon-to-be dad. You’ll get a mix of those things at shannonblosser.com
5. John Meunier – John writes like a scholar about ministry, theology and the UMC at johnmeunier.wordpress.com, but he has never been to seminary. Sadly, it sounds like he plans to shut down shop for a while when he starts seminary classes this fall.

Thanks to all of you for adding to the discussion.

My top 10 posts in June, by number of views:

1. Pastors’ Salaries and Church Buildings – The church is using money very differently than our earlier traditions expected. What can we learn from them?

2. What does ordination mean? – Methodists answer 19 historic questions when they are ordained. How many of them do we still really expect? How many are just historical?

3. The Modern Pastor and the Reformed Pastor – Lead a fine worship. Visit the people. What if pastors did more of that and less of everything else?

4. 3 culture changes that should change how we handle leadership roles – American culture is quickly changing. Are the Church’s leadership structures keeping up?

5. Relevance and Holiness – When to choose relevance over holiness.

6. The Modern Pastor and Seminary Debt – Why I don’t believe you should take on debt to go to seminary.

7. The Personal Test: In it for the Money? – Taking serious steps to make sure we’re not taking ministry positions for the money.

8. The Modern Pastor – Sent or Called? – Pastors of New Testament communities weren’t “sent.” And they weren’t “called,” either. Maybe we’re making too much of those ideas.

9. Crying out to save ourselves – Why cry out when no one seems to be listening? To save ourselves.

10. The Local Pastor and the Itinerant Apostle in Scripture – The New Testament consistently shows traveling apostles and local pastors/elders as two distinct roles.

Thanks for all of your comments, shares, tweets, and kind words.

My Top 10 Posts in May:

1. What kind of worship service do you have? – Defining worship by style or substance.

2. Encounter or Entertainment? (pt. I) – How do we keep our worship focused on a transformative encounter with God, not comfortable entertainment?

3. The Modern Pastor – Sent or Called? – What if pastors aren’t supposed to be sent or called?

4. Family Worship – A model for worshiping at home as a family.

5. The best children’s ministry in town… – Why what you’re doing in the living room is far more important than what’s happening in the church’s children’s wing.

6. The Personal Test: In it for the money? – How do you know you’re not taking the next job opening for the money?

7. Why the American UMC is Dying a (Somewhat) Slow Death, and Concerned Leaders’ Best Response (pt. I) – A disappointing story that illustrates one of the causes of the American UMC’s decline.

8. Why the American UMC is Dying… (pt. II) – Hope, encouragement, and a challenge to leaders amidst despair and decline.

9. Encounter or Entertainment (pt. II): Worship and Wounds – Why we shouldn’t stray from experiencing or inflicting some wounds in worship, and how we might do that.

10. Grace to you and Peace – Pointing a way forward with an attitude of grace and peace.

Thanks for all of your comments, shares, tweets, and kind words.