This post should not be confused with the Top Ten SBC Stories of 2015. That post covered the top ten stories, in my subjective opinion, that were conveniently overlooked by the Baptist Press and the amen corner of the blogosphere. This post recalls the top ten posts at Pulpit & Pen in 2015, by views. So, it’s not subjective. And frankly, the ranking here surprises me a bit.
10. A Rational Response to the Criticism of the Village Church. In this post, I pled for rationality and an understanding of forgiveness and repentance. A spat with Janet Mefferd and some survival blog gals probably helped this post’s stats. Essentially, I sought to separate the situation involving Jordan Root and Village Church from the emotional hysterics (given the nature of Root’s offense) and call back to a Gospel-centered response to sin.
09. Elevation Church Puts Out Idolatrous Pastor Worship Video. Jeff posted this video, and it soon made its way around the Internet, giving pretty much any serious-minded Christian the willies. Elevation Church then Canerized the video worshipping Steven Furtick soon after.
08. Gay-Affirming Research Fellow at ERLC, Shocking Liberalism. We brought to you the liberal wonder that is Karen Swallow Prior. This post opened a gigantic can of worms. The ERLC research fellow and Liberty University professor was the darling of the Evangelical Intelligentsia, out of what I can only assume is some kind of unspoken gender quota. After this post, we’ve written all of these regarding her feminism, animal rights activism, promotion of gay porn propaganda, and other liberal stances. Most of her defenders have gone quiet since her “calling abortion murder is unchristlike” post in Christianity Today – some, like Chris Bolt, have even deleted their social media accounts (out of shame, I presume). KSP might be the biggest “I told you so” ever.
07. A Response to John Piper: Why Gun Ownership is Biblical and Good. I responded to Piper’s atrocious and fallacious post promoting sort of a soft-pacifism and frightful handling of Christian ethics.
06. Rick Warren Preaching Heresy at Hillsong Conference. Jeff posted this video of Rick Warren teaching contemplative prayer and some other weird stuff at the Australian “church.”
05. Beth Moore Confronts Young Pastors Wife for Criticizing Her Direct, Divine Revelation. This post, by Dustin Germain, tells the story of Beth Moore lashing out at a young woman for daring to question Beth’s teaching and claims of hearing from God. Beth probably regretted these interactions.
04. The Gospel is for Josh Duggar, Too. Cameron Dobbins wrote this post, in which he explains why the Gospel can forgive any sin of any person, if they would confess and repent.
03. The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven Recants Story, Rebukes Christian Retailers. I thought this one would be #1, considering it was the biggest news story in the world on January 17-18. Alex Malarkey joined #the15 and sent a letter to Lifeway in rebuke for them selling a book claimed to have been written by him. He preached the Gospel in that letter and reached tens of millions of people. Lifeway still hasn’t responded to him.
02. My Open Letter of Apology to the Gay Community (From a Christian). Considering everyone else was apologizing to the gay “community” this summer, I thought I would give my own apology as well. It’s probably not what you expect. Or maybe it is.
01. Andy Stanley Trashes Expository Preaching, Calls it Cheating. The title says it all.
I was surprised by some of these. Some posts that had more than 30k Facebook shares didn’t have as many views as those who had far fewer shares. It’s weird how things work in the blogosphere.
I can’t wait to see the stories in 2016. Thanks for reading Pulpit & Pen, and Happy New Year.
[Contributed by JD Hall]
