My “Best” Posts Over the Years

I decided to embrace a bit of curiosity and figure out what posts of mine were the most popular (best?) for each year this website has been in existence. It just hit 15 years. In terms of calendar years, then, I have posts from 2010 to 2025

2025Inculturation, Enculturation, Acculturation, and Morehttps://munsonmissions.org/2025/02/06/inculturation-enculturation-and-acculturation/2024Sermon: “Every Christian is a Missionary”https://munsonmissions.org/2024/04/23/sermon-every-christian-is-a-missionary/2023Theology of Holistic Missionshttps://munsonmissions.org/2023/04/05/theology-of-holistic-missions/2022Contemporary Issues in Missions; Part Twohttps://munsonmissions.org/2022/08/04/contemporary-issues-in-missions-part-two/2021Defining Missions and Missionarieshttps://munsonmissions.org/2021/11/09/defining-missions-and-missionary/2020Sermon: Jonadab, the Good Fatherhttps://munsonmissions.org/2020/06/21/father-jonadab/2019Christian Mimicry (Part 1)https://munsonmissions.org/2019/01/16/christian-mimicry-part-1/2018The Chicken that Laid the Golden Egghttps://munsonmissions.org/2018/10/01/the-chicken-that-laid-the-golden-egg/2017Problems with Spiritual Giftshttps://munsonmissions.org/2017/06/11/problems-with-spiritual-gifts/2016Three Stages of Prophecy and Wordhttps://munsonmissions.org/2016/11/30/three-stages-of-prophecy-and-word/2015Reflection, Restoration, Redemption and Three Little Pigshttps://munsonmissions.org/2015/12/09/reflection-restoration-redemption-and-three-little-pigs/2014Mythology and Theodicy in the Visayashttps://munsonmissions.org/2014/08/21/mythology-and-theodicy-in-the-visayas/2013Oral Transmission and “Rida Rida Ranka”https://munsonmissions.org/2013/06/06/oral-communication-and-rida-rida-ranka/2012Honk if You Love Jesus????https://munsonmissions.org/2012/07/25/honk-if-you-love-jesus/2011Medical Mission Events in the Philippines, Part 1https://munsonmissions.org/2011/11/08...https://munsonmissions.org/2011/11/08/medical-mission-events-in-the-philippines-part-i/2010Critique on Evangelism. Part 1https://munsonmissions.org/2010/12/27/critique-on-evangelism-part-1/

I originally did this to look for trends, but in the end I saw a few confusing things, but not a lot that is hugely useful.

#1. Some years were “Good Years,” and some “Bad.” 2019, seemingly, was a bad year. The most popular post from that year only had around 8 percent as many views as the most popular post I have done (one from 2024). In fact the most popular post in 2019 has had only about three times as many views as the AVERAGE post (average out of all 1704 posts I have done). Not sure why this is. 2011 was a very good year with many highly viewed posts. 2016 was also pretty good. Not sure why.

#2. There was not a strong pattern regarding what I write about. A couple of my top posts were sermons, two or three were stories, and a couple of them were tied to “definitions” in missiology. I have never tried to write for a target audience. I like to write about what I want to write about. It is comforting that my top posts are particularly slanted in one direction. (On the other hand, I have written a lot on missions history, and many of those are near the bottom of views. That is a trend I am glad to be aware of. Not sure it will affect what I write about.)

#3. The fact that my top post on this website is a sermon and the top post on my personal website is a sermon as well, does point to something I think. So many preachers don’t go to their Bibles for sermons, but the Internet. Is that a problem? I kind of think so. However, if one needs a bit of inspiration from the sermons of others, I suppose that is fine. However, preachers should always make their sermons their own. Most of my sermons are built on Scripture AND personal stories. As such, I think that preachers would be challenged in using many of my sermons.

#4. Some of my top posts are unapologetically on missional theology. Does that mean that there are lots and lots of people interested in this topic? I don’t think so. I just think there is a lack of good articles on this topic that are accessible to the average reader (especially good articles that are not placed behind a pay-wall).

Anyway,