Today we are precisely one day from our annual

30 (40) Days of Blogging

adventure!

Many of you will remember last year’s blog entries, and they were excellent.

We are in the process of making a major change here at Preachers Institute, which we believe will make homiletics resources even easier to use and to make PI a better resource for you, the Orthodox Christian preacher, pastor and priest. As a result, we aren’t posting a page with links to blogs, though we do encourage ALL of you who will be participating go list your blog on our Facebook page – HERE.

If you have always wanted to start a pastoral blog, but weren’t sure

• how to start a blog
• if you actually could blog every day for 40 days,
• about what to blog about,
• whether to blog at all,
• why you should get started now,

this is your best time to start.

Begin with our Ebook This is available for free to each new ENews subscriber for the next month. If you don’t already have a copy, you can download the , the Amazon KINDLE version , or the

The next step, once you have listed a blog on WordPress.com or some other blogging platform (or set up a blog on your own parish website!), is to let us know about it. Send us the name of your blog and the URL address. Your blog will be listed on our 30 (40) Days of Blogging page, and you’ll get daily traffic from fellow PI bloggers. The fellowship, freedom and support you get will spur you on to the full 40 days. And that is no mean feat, but an excellent accomplishment for any blogger, let alone a beginner.

“But I already have a blog”

Excellent. You are ready to take your blog to the next level, and provide interesting, topical, helpful and pastoral information to your flock and to your other readers. This is the best time of year to begin.

“But I signed up last year”

You may still join this exercise, and we encourage you to do so. Let’s face it, blogging is real pastoral work.

Fr. James Coles, of the Schole blog, and I are often meeting and greeting, and informing each other that we are ‘stealing’ good material from each other’s blogs, and often using that very material for our Sunday sermons. That’s part of the purpose of this exercise – to share good, useful and preachable information.

Yes, there is real value to blogging with us and with all of the other PI bloggers.

© 2011, admin. All rights reserved.

Congratulations to our 30(40) Day Bloggers!

Merry Christmas, and congratulations on a job well done.

The task you undertook 40 days ago has not been an easy one, but with diligence and God’s help, you have persevered. You have run a good race! Well done!

This year’s exercise had many more blogs than last year, and while this was an occasion for happiness, it also made it much harder for me to write/blog/comment on your work this year. I promise to do better next year!

So, thank you for your good work. I have enjoyed your work, and I know I’m not alone. I can honestly say that I have stolen something from each of  you for my homilies during the past month and a half – thanks for giving me what I needed for my preaching. I’m sure I was not alone in this!

God bless you all. Take a little break. Rest from your labors!

And enjoin the new year with a little more of your excellent work.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

by Fr. John A. Peck

Well, friends, it is that time in our exercise. There’s no shame in it. Blogging has become difficult. We’re hitting ‘the wall’ in this marathon.

Runners know what ‘the wall’ is. It’s that wonderful experience you just have to push through. It’s tough. It’s all will power. Now for those of you who took up the challenge of the 30 (40) Days of Blogging, first let me congratulate you for takinng the challenge.

Second, for those blogging only the first 30 days, we are only a day away from the finish line, so blog on anything, but just blog.

For those of you going all the way to 40 Days of Blogging, it is a unique crucible, and one that has required some real effort.

I’d also like to say that it is precisely your willingness to – at this very busy season in the priesthood – put aside time for this exercise that will benefit you.

Remember, the purpose of this exercise is not simply to see “if you could do it.” Of that, I have no doubt whatsoever. The real prize to this exercise is what benefit it will provide you in your preaching.

As preachers, especially at Christmas, we have a real chance to preach the Gospel in a heightened way, using a more solemn and exalted tone or voice. This is a special event in the Church, to be sure, but it is prominent in our culture, too. People do expect something else, something different, something exalted.

This is a good expectation for us to try and meet, nay, exceed.  The prize of our hearer’s repentance, reconciliation with God and their fellows, and a return to some kind of healing normalcy; these are the dashed hopes of many of our hearers. They come expecting Sunday fare, or worse, a trip to a theological McDonalds. Give them a taste  of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

Slogging through these final days of blogging is a bit time consuming, but take a moment and recall why we are doing it. Look through some of the early articles on Blogging here at Preachers Institute. Reignite the purpose of blogging as a tool for better preaching.

After all, blogging is a kind of preaching, isn’t it? And the Lord Jesus Christ has called, chosen, and ordained us to preach “in season and out.”

We started strong. We can finish strong, for if no other reason than the Lord Himself is strong.

© 2010, Fr. John A. Peck. All rights reserved.

Well begun is half done.

Aristotle, Politics

We are officially half way through our 30(40) Days of Blogging exercise! I bet you didn’t know that it was Aristotle who first wrote the above quote, but I digress.

Congratulations to all of our bloggers, and especially those who continue to blog daily throughout the Nativity fast.

Best thing to do it to write your blog entry NOW.

Sometimes it gets tough trying get something out every day – and this is the value for preachers. Every day of every week we are either preparing a sermon, evaluating a sermon, practicing a sermon or delivering a sermon.

The key is to realize that we are not the chef (to quote Catholic bishop Kenneth Untner, an outstanding homiletics teacher) – we are not preparing something about the Scriptures or the faith to say to our flock. Christ is saying something to them – our job is to bring it to them.

Again, we’re not the chef, we’re the waiter.

If we preachers remind ourselves that, for the most part we are priests, and that means we spent some time, sometimes considerable time, as deacons, table servers – then it all makes a great deal of sense indeed!

We are still waiting tables, serving the Lord’s fare to his hungry people.

Keep up the good work, bloggers.

It’s a hungry crowd out there.

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

It’s really not all that challenging, but for someone who has never read the entire New Testament before, it is an excellent time for just such an exercise.

• If you begin on Nov. 15th, you will do the 40 day schedule.
• If you begin on Dec. 1, you will do the 25 day schedule.
• Both schedules complete their readings on Christmas day.

This makes the entire Nativity Fast a time of real devoted ascetic effort and spiritual growth. It is especially appropriate (in my opinion) as the term Advent, basically implies a preparation and anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ. Notice, on Christmas Day, one is finishing Revelation!

Now, you may say “Who is honestly going to read half – or the entire – book of Revelation on Christmas?” Well, that’s what the 12 Days of Christmas are for!

I recommend that all preachers and clergy offer this to your parishioners during the Nativity Fast. It is a great time to do it, and this is a wonderful thing to promote RIGHT NOW!

In any event, if you want some activity for parishioners to do together to count down the days of the Nativity Fast, some spiritual exercise for them to stay accountable to, and some endeavor for you to present alongside their efforts, the New Testament Challenge is my offering to you.

You can download the form in PDF format by clicking the image above.

The New Testament Challenge Schedule

This is a great exercise, and I find that often it gets folks who have desired for many years to read the New Testament on target to doing so for the first time. It’s a great fellowship builder also, as I try to get those who are reading together during our Fellowship Hour on Sunday, so they know they aren’t alone, and to provide a little impetus to keep on schedule.

It doesn’t matter to me if they finish – though that is the goal. The truth is, I want them to start.

You may have heard the old Irish saying,

“Well begun is half done.”

and this is no more true in blogging than it is in reading Scripture.

You can actually blog about the entire experience yourself.

You’ll get a more attentive audience, I can guarantee you, if they know you are reading along with them, noting (ahead of time, of course, so you can blog about it) impressions and spiritual dimensions of the readings they will be with you every step of the way. Beginning such an enterprise takes commitment and devotion, but if you really aren’t sure what to blog about, and you just can’t figure out what to do – the New Testament Challenge is an excellent blogging exercise for you, and your fellow NT readers.

Be sure to announce in your weekly bulletin AND from the pulpit that you will be doing this, so that your people will know what you are doing, and so they can join you on this journey. Be sure to pass out copies at Church.

And join you they will.

There is an Old Testament Challenge also, but that’s for another time, and is far more intense.

Fr. John A. Peck is the priest of the St. George Church in Prescott, AZ, and is the Director of the Preachers Institute.

© 2010, Fr. John A. Peck. All rights reserved.

Deacon Michael Hyatt is the Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Bible publisher in the world. His blog is a treasure chest of wisdom and enlightenment on leadership, vision and responsibility. He also has a popular podcast, , on Ancient Faith Radio. This post is excellent advice for getting readers, and keeping them.

Assuming you want to increase your blog traffic, there are certain mistakes you must avoid to be successful. If you commit these mistakes, your traffic will never gain momentum. Worse, it may plateau or begin to decrease.

How do I know? After writing more than 1,000 posts and receiving more than 20,000 comments, I have made most of the mistakes you can make—numerous times. As a result, I have begun to see certain patterns emerge.

These are my top ten traffic-killers.

• Mistake #1: You don’t post enough. Hobby bloggers may go weeks between posts. But frequency is what separates the men from the boys. You cannot build solid traffic without frequent posts. I have seen time and time again (via Google Analytics) that there is a direct correlation between frequency and traffic. The more I post—within reason—the greater my traffic.
• Mistake #2: You post too much. Yes, this is possible, too. I don’t need to hear from anyone more than once a day—unless it is a group blog or a news site. You would do better to focus on writing one really great post a day rather than several mediocre ones. The trick is to find your frequency sweet spot. For me, it is four to five posts a week.
• Mistake #3: Your post is too long. Seth Godin is the master of the short, pithy post. His are usually in the 200–400 word range. I shoot for less than 500 words. But I often post 750 words and sometimes more. You can get away with this if your posts are “scannable”—that is, you make use of subheads, lists, and other devices that keep people moving through your content. If a post starts getting too long, consider breaking it up into several posts.
• Mistake #4: You don’t invite engagement. When I talk about “engagement,” I am referring to a combination of page views, reader comments, and social media mentions. Postrank.com is a great tool for measuring this kind of engagement. The posts that generate the most engagement for me are those that are controversial, transparent (especially about failure), and open-ended. This is why I try to end every post with a question.
• Mistake #5: You don’t participate in the conversation. When bloggers don’t participate in conversation by commenting on their own posts and responding to their readers, it is like hosting a party at your home, making a brief appearance, and then disappearing. In any other context, this behavior would be perceived as rude or odd. The same is true in blogging. People want to have a conversation—with YOU.
• Mistake #6: You don’t make your content accessible. Since I am in the publishing business, I often get asked if I think people are reading less. The simple answer is “No.” In fact, I think they are reading more than ever. But they are reading differently. Readers have shorter attention spans. They are scanning content, looking for items that interest them. When you use subheads, lists of bullets or numbers, it draws readers in by making your content accessible. Shorter paragraphs also help.
• Mistake #7: You don’t create catchy headlines. According to Brian Clark, who runs the must-read site, CopyBlogger, “on average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.” This means your headlines are the most important thing you write. Fortunately, Brian has an entire series of posts called “How to Write Magnetic Headlines.” I suggest you read every post.
• Mistake #8: Your first paragraph is weak. This is critical. Assuming that you have written a great headline, people will next read your first paragraph. You must use this paragraph to pull them into the rest of your blog post. Start with a story, a promise, or a startling fact. The idea is to grab their attention and hang onto it. Many bloggers spend too much time trying to setup the post or provide context. Just get to the point.
• Mistake #9: Your post is off-brand. I have often been guilty of this one. If you are a hobby blogger, you can get away with the occasional post that strays from your primary message or brand. But if you are trying to build traffic, you need to find an editorial focus and stick to it. A tighter focus leads to higher traffic. This is why I have tried to narrow my own focus to three areas: leadership, social media, and publishing. If I want to write on something else (e.g., fitness), I do so through one of these three lenses.
• Mistake #10: Your post is about YOU. Unless you are a mega-celebrity, readers don’t care about you. Not really. They care about themselves. They want to know what’s in it for THEM. Your personal stories can be a doorway to that, but in the end, the best posts are about your readers’ needs, fears, problems, or concerns. Always ask, “What’s the take-away for my reader?”

There are other mistakes, too; I doubt this list is exhaustive. But I think I have covered the major ones. If you can avoid these, you will be well on your way to increasing your traffic and growing your audience.

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

Preachers Institute provides this exercise every year for mutual support for bloggers veteran and rookie who want to make a common effort to blog daily for 30 (or 40) days. For brand new bloggers, this is the best time of year to make the effort, with fellow priests and pastors from around the country, as we count down the days of Advent and provide our readers with valuable insights, stories, anecdotes and teachings that will help make their preparations for Nativity more special, and more holy, than ever.

We recommend that you start by procuring our free ebook “The Orthodox Guide to Pastoral Blogging.”

If you do not already have a blog, our ebook will provide you with the step by step instructions to set one up and get started right away.

If you do already have a blog, send us your blog address now!

We’ll add it to the growing list of blogs and bloggers who will be your confreres in this excellent annual effort. Either way, join the growing list of pastoral bloggers by contacting Preachers Institute today!

© 2010, admin. All rights reserved.

Today is the 40th day! Your marathon journey has come to an end! Axios!

I want to thank everyone for participating. I’ve been reading your blogs, and I must say, I’m impressed with your work and the incredible labor that went into it. We will repeat this exercise next year, starting (once again) on Nov. 15th.

In the meantime, I want to especially congratulation some especially distinguished and new bloggers:

Fr. Matthew Thurman, of St. Luke’s Mission in Solon, OH, and his blog “30 Days.”

Fr. David Eynon of Annunciation Church in Decatur, IL, and his blog “Shine Within Our Hearts.”

Fr. Seraphim Holland of St. Nicholas Church in McKinney, TX, and his blog “Redeeming the Time.”

Finally, Fr. Athanasios Haros, of  Transfiguration Church, Florence, SC, who is the author of the “Be Transfigured” blog. He blogged every single day of our 40 Day Challenge. Fr. Athanasios also blogged on the New Testament Challenge, not an easy thing to do with a full pastoral schedule, let alone to blog on. Frankly, it was a herculean feat!

I want to thank our most experienced bloggers, Fr. James Coles and Fr. Peter Michael Preble, who are very experienced and outstanding bloggers. You added some great inspiration, not only to blogging, but to preaching. More than once I have ‘borrowed’ material from your blogs for my sermons.

In fact, I’ve done that with all our bloggers. Thank you for helping me preach with more excellence.

Most of all, congratulations to all! See you next Nativity Fast!

© 2009, Fr. John A. Peck. All rights reserved.

For those going on to the full 40 Days of Blogging, you have only ten days to go.

For those who are stopping here, we salute you on a job well done.

For those of you who would like to see what our bloggers have been up to, go to our online Forum, and see what the bloggers have been blogging about.

With only ten days before Nativity, it’s clutch time. If you have not regularly blogged before, you’re in the home stretch. Blog and blog well, and know that we are in your corner.

From all of us at Preachers Institute, good blogging!

© 2009, Fr. John A. Peck. All rights reserved.

When I am teaching my parishioners or catechumens to read the Bible, few actually ask how one does this in the Orthodox way, but I believe this is an important idea, and in the spirit of giving, I always offer it to them.

I believe that the Orthodox Christian way of reading the Scriptures can be summed up as follows:

AAA

That’s it – A A A – the triple As.

This stands for:

ALOUD – Read it aloud;

APPLY it to yourself;

ACT on it immediately.

Let’s have a brief look at each of these.

ALOUD.

Read it aloud. The Scriptures are literature, and literature, believe it or not, is written to be read aloud. Try reading Shakespeare or Milton aloud and you’ll discover things which you missed before. Likewise, the Scriptures were written to be read aloud, to inspire faith in the listener, not the reader. After all,

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” -Romans 10:17

And indeed, comes with a blessing;

“Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” – Rev. 1:3

Whenever you are reading Scripture, read aloud. Gain what you can from it, but in reading it and hearing it yourself, you will not only retain it better, but it will have a more profound impact on you. This is what God wants. This is the Orthodox way.

APPLY it to yourself.

When you read the Scriptures, it is very important to heed the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who said,

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear..”

- Matt. 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8, 14:35; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, etc.

and also

“First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” - Matt. 7:5

That’s us. Jesus often spoke to His hearers rather bluntly.

If you who are evil, know how to give good things to your children..

- Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13

So when we are perusing the Holy Bible, whenever we come across a comparison, we should apply both to ourselves only. After all, we are sinners. A good example of this is the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

- Luke 18:10-14

In this parable we see two men; a Pharisee and a Publican/tax collector. How do we actually apply both to ourselves?

This is a great example, actually, and simple to apply.

We should compare ourselves with the Pharisee, and realize that in many ways he was far more righteous than we are. This man fasted faithfully, according to the Jewish tradition, he tithed from everything he received from God – even the herbs of his garden! He did what he was supposed to do. He is better than we are. He is more faithful. He is more of a believer. He really is.

We should also compare ourselves with the Publican, he wasn’t just a sinner – he was a traitor, a blood-sucking leech who lived on the misery of his own people, his own neighbors. Yet, in spite of this, he still comes to the Temple, and in great repentance, does not present the Lord with a laundry list, but only begs for mercy for himself. He already knows two things – one, God looks with mercy on the truly heartfelt confession of sin and repentance, from the bottom of his soul. After all, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Second, God will not answer any other prayers for him until he repents. He is not only a better believer, he is wiser than we are. He really is.

When applying the Bible verses you read only to yourself, you will find plenty to work with, and open the doors of repentance and love of your own heart. This is what God wants. This is the Orthodox way.

Act on it immediately

The third part of this trinity of Bible reading, is to take action. The Lord says,

“Behold, now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.” – 2 Cor. 6:2

There is no other time, but now. The Lord gave His name to Moses saying, “I AM.” That should be enough for anyone to see that God is eternally present.

“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” – Matt. 22:32

The Lord is the God of the Living. He is the God of the moment. When you are reading the Holy Scriptures, you are encountering God at that moment. That is the moment to act on it. Many of the saints have advanced in holiness by reading the Scriptures, but the difference between us and them is that when they read the Bible, they put what they read into literal action at that moment. Everything else which followed was a flood of God’s grace. This is what God wants. This is the Orthodox way.

Conclusion

Friends, every Christian must take the time to read the Scriptures daily. During this year’s New Testament Challenge, we have a unique opportunity to read the Bible in the Orthodox way. Should we read them any other way?

I offer to you what I offer all those who attend my Bible study classes.

It is easy to learn. It is easy to remember. It is the Bible in spiritual color, as opposed to parables and moral lessons on ink and paper. Try reading the Bible the Orthodox way. If you are participating in the New Testament Challenge, you won’t recognize yourself at the end. You will be transfigured.

This is what God wants.

This is the Orthodox way.

Fr. John A. Peck is the pastor of St. George Church in Prescott, AZ, and is the director of the Preachers Institute.

© 2009 – 2010, Fr. John A. Peck. All rights reserved.