Back when I was a youth director, my pastor said something that has continued to stick with me even now as an atheist: we need to practice a “long obedience in the same direction.” This idea wasn’t original to him, but I cannot for the life of me remember where he said he got it from. Regardless, its impact has been long lasting, and I try to structure my life to that end. On a practical level, this means setting goals – daily, weekly, monthly, annually – and moving toward them as consistently and persistently as life will allow.
One of the many goals I had was to grow the blog’s influence. In 2019, the blog received 18,000 views and nearly 8,000 visitors.[1] This was astonishing growth and was encouraging. My hope was for modest growth in 2020 with a goal of reaching around 22,000 views and about 9,500 visitors. Did I hit that goal? Before I answer that question, let’s reflect on some other plans I had for 2020 before looking at my most popular posts of the year, how season 1 of the podcast did, and finally on what the actual view and visitor stats were for the year.
To all those who have read, liked, shared, and interacted with my material, please know how grateful I am for you. If no one read what I had to say, I probably wouldn’t blog. (I would continue to write but I would just leave it in a folder on my desktop.) Additionally, a few of you not only read, liked, shared, and interacted with my material, but you also donated financially to my work. In all, I raised a little over $90 which may not seem like much but every little bit helps. Fundamentally, that money goes towards just keeping the blog up and running. So, to those who dug into their wallets and gave what little they had to help this undeserving curmudgeon, I say, “Thank you!”
Here’s to a healthy and productive 2021!
Ben
One of the things I had originally intended to do was continue my series “Quora Questions w/the Amateur Exegete.” Unfortunately, I found out that I’m not really good at doing video content like that; it’s simply not my wheelhouse. So, I discontinued it. I also stopped doing the Weekly Roundup since the stats reflected these posts were not reaching very many people. I had also hoped to launch season two of Amateur Exegesis in the Fall but between COVID and other issues, it wasn’t mean to be. Finally, I had planned to turn season one of Amateur Exegesis into a book but that too didn’t pan out. As it turns out, writing a book is really hard! Well, that is you want to do it well. So, 2020 was not a successful year in following through on these plans.
Episode Title | # of Downloads |
0101 – “Something’s Off” | 35 |
0102 – “Origin Stories, part 1” | 213 |
0103 – “Origin Stories, part 2” | 96 |
0104 – “Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen, part 1” | 86 |
0105 – “Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen, part 2” | 72 |
0106 – “Family Issues” | 86 |
0107 – “No Sign for You!” | 87 |
0108 – “Walking on Water” | 69 |
0109 – “Dirty Hands, Clean Food” | 79 |
0110 – “Portraits of Jesus” | 162 |
Total downloads | 985 |
In just a few days, episode one of the second season of Amateur Exegesis will be posted. This next season will be ten episodes long and the episodes themselves will have more content. I’m also going to be doing the April Biblical Studies Carnival which should be fun! Finally, I’m planning to turn season one of the podcast into a blog series using the scripts from that season.
[1] See “2019 Website in Review” (1.1.2020), amateurexegete.com.
Bravo! Looking forward to more… You should be my PhD examiner when it’s finished! “It”? A thesis on the Bartimaeus pericope as pivotal for a rescue package. And you exposé-s on Mark inspire!!! Thankyou.
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