2021 in Review

2021 was a difficult year for many. Personally, I spent time in the ICU with Covid, and spent much of the year recovering. I’m okay now, but it took about six months to feel normal again. While much of the brick-and-mortar world was shut down, the internet was alive. I’d like to say ‘alive and well,’ but we all know that wouldn’t exactly be true.

Another reason? People are generally more concerned about spiritual matters when their lives aren’t going as smoothly as they’d hoped. When you take the everyday stresses of normal life, and add a wild virus, and toss in a combination of doom and gloom from the news and the net, some people start wondering about the nature of life.

That’s where GodWords shines. I’m not here to pat myself on the back. I hope to encourage you! If one guy can write irregularly-scheduled posts a few times each year and still make a small dent for the Kingdom, think about what YOU could do! If you’ve considered using the web as a way of reaching the lost for the gospel, let me encourage you to jump right in.

Here are some statistics for GodWords for 2021.

Average Monthly Pageviews:

100,000+

Top 5 Articles for 2021:

1. List of False Teachers
2. Can You Go to Heaven if You’re Not Baptized?
3. Name Changes in the Bible
4. The False Teaching of Steven Furtick
5. There is No Truth

What can we learn from this list? Well… a few things. First, to get readers, you have to write. These articles were all written in response to requests from readers. Second, if you write, you’ll get an audience. More specifically, people who are searching the web for information will eventually find you. Third, there are a lot of people out there who are looking for the truth. The List of False Teachers is a relatively new page (compared with some articles that are 20 years old), and the False Teaching of Steven Furtick article was published on June 1st, 2021. It’s the #4 most-popular article on GodWords already, and was the #1 article in October, November, and December.

That’s a lot of people wondering whether the guy can be trusted. For the record, he can’t be trusted to preach the gospel as outlined in the New Testament.

In addition, visitors came to GodWords from all over the world. As usual, virtually every world area was represented. Here’s a list of each, in order of most visitors to least:

United States, Canada, India, Great Britain, Philippines, Australia, Sweden, Russian Federation, South Africa, Indonesia, Unknown, Germany, France, Singapore, Malaysia, Ukraine, Republic of Serbia, Nigeria, Brazil, Pakistan, Romania, Spain, Greece, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Angola, Argentina, Norway, Netherlands, Kenya, Turkey, China, Czech Republic, Japan, Portugal, Bulgaria, Mexico, Thailand, Ireland, Morocco, Israel, Chile, Jamaica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Taiwan, Egypt, Hong Kong, South Korea, Croatia, Vietnam, Slovenia, Belgium, Colombia, Nepal, Austria, Hungary, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Macedonia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Finland, Mauritius, Uganda, Seychelles, Latvia, Panama, Armenia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Zambia, Barbados, Montenegro, Georgia, Peru, Algeria, Albania, Liberia, Ecuador, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Namibia, Iran, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Uruguay, Fiji, Belarus, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Maldives, Botswana, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Belize, Palestinian Territories, European country, Ethiopia, Haiti, Rwanda, Mongolia, Honduras, Bahrain, Guyana, Virgin Islands (British), Costa Rica, Moldova, Estonia, Curacao, Guam (USA), Swaziland, Cambodia, Cyprus, Cameroon, Malta, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Malawi, Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Bermuda, Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Brunei Darussalam, Suriname, Madagascar, Iceland, Nicaragua, Laos, El Salvador, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Iraq, Samoa Islands, Macau, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Senegal, Mozambique, Aruba, Faroe Islands, Paraguay, Anguilla, Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire), Grenada, Gambia, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bolivia, Luxembourg, Gibraltar, Benin, New Caledonia (French), Sudan, Jersey, Sint Maarten, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Saint Lucia, Tonga, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla, Mauritania, Gabon, Guinea, Syria, Micronesia, Saint-Martin (French), Virgin Islands (USA), Chad, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Palau, Uzbekistan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Reunion (French), Togo, Marshall Islands, Bhutan, Niger, Northern Mariana Islands, Guadeloupe (French), and Eritrea.

That’s virtually the entire planet. Again: if you’ve ever considered using the web as a vehicle for spreading the gospel, now is the time. I’ve never been outside of North America, yet I’ve been able to reach people in places like China and Iran and Gabon and Serbia. What an opportunity!

What’s Next?

• This is the year that I finally begin sending newsletters. I’ve been collecting email addresses for a while, and many have expressed interest in keeping up to date that way. It’s not that complicated, but it’s just been low on my priority list. There’s a signup box in the footer, if you’d like to join in.
• I’ll be redesigning the website again. Web technology changes pretty rapidly, and I’m a web designer… so I’m happy to be able to handle this part of ministry by myself. It’s not that the current design is bad, but that the code needs to be updated regularly. Better code means more visitors who stay longer… and that’s the goal. While I’m recoding the website, I might as well give it a new look too.
• I’m working on writing books. I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get the first book finished, as I’m also writing a discipleship curriculum at the moment… and all of this is a spare-time activity. Eventually, I hope to transition from full-time web guy to full-time writer and minister. We’ll see what God has in store.
• More articles are on the way, of course. When I consider the overwhelming response to articles about False Teachers, I see that there’s a BIG need for more. I never wanted to be the guy who wrote about how other people shouldn’t be trusted, but that’s what happened. A lot of people write and ask about specific individuals and, after more than 40 years of reading about and hearing about and being dismayed about people who twist the gospel, it became clear that I couldn’t ignore those requests any longer. As always, I hope to be both factual and gracious in my assessments.

Your Turn

What do YOU need? This is a two-way street, you know. There are thousands of comments on hundreds of articles here, so I know you have some thoughts on what I should write about.

• What articles would you like to see?
• Would you buy a book, should I write one?
• Do you have any interest in forming more community here, as in message boards or chat rooms, Discord channels, etc?
• What social media do you use? Currently I post new articles on Twitter, and that’s about it. I use Facebook personally, and have a MeWe account that I sometimes post on. How would you like to stay in touch?
• What else? Leave a comment below, or send me an email.

To sum this up, it’s been a good year. It’s been a long year, but God is always good, and He brings me lots of opportunities to serve. You keep me humble with your comments, both complimentary and argumentative. I’m a better follower of Jesus because of you, and that means the world to me.

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