Well, as the Eve of 2009 is upon us, I thought I’d do a quick re-cap of a year in the life of yours truly.
2008 has been incredible. Definitely had its share of challenges and “moments”… but I’m so incredibly thankful for all God has done in my life over the past year and am so grateful to be where I am, to be with the people I’m with, and to be a part of what God is doing in Chicago at Park.
To try to sum up everything would be crazy, so here’s some highlights via previous posts:
Best of…
- Most controversial post of the year award goes to my entry about Heath Ledger’s death and the response of our friends at Westboro Baptist Church
- Most commented post award goes to when I broke the news Park had murdered our weekly program and was moving to do a monthly
- Funniest post award goes to Park’s Daylight Savings Time reminder
Personal Highlights…
- I turned 26
- I officially joined the Twitter world, follow me!
- I got in an accident, kind of
- Went to New York City… twice!
- Attended the Innovate Conference @ Granger and the ECHO CHURCH Media Conference
- Was a part of history at Grant Park when Barack Obama was named our new president
- I became an uncle again!
- My brother got married
Craziest Moment
- Being one of 25 people invited to interview for an internship with Seth Godin
Most Affirming Moment
- Not getting the internship, but gaining clarity and affirmation about what I do!
Favorite
- Book of the year goes to The Reason for God by Tim Keller, followed close behind by Rob Bell’s Jesus Wants to Save Christians
- Movie has to go to Slumdog Millionaire, fantastic.
In the world of Park Community Church…
- We moved into our building!
- We got a new logo
- We launched a new website, which made the Top 90 Church Websites list
- We made the Trib about our volunteer day, For One Chicago
- …so much more happened at Park, but those were my personal highlights!
You heard it here first… in 2009…
- I will be writing my first book… it will be on communication + the church
- I will be speaking at workshop for ministryCOM 09… be there!
So I’d like to thank…
- All of you! I’ve met some of you, but to all who read, follow, comment, thank you! I’m so humbled to know my thoughts and random rants about life, church, Chicago and everything else keeps you coming back. I look forward to 09 and going on this journey with you!
Do me a favor…
- Let me know what content keeps you coming back… what you’d like to hear more about and what I should maybe write less about… I want to serve you and help you do what you do even better.
Some resolutions for the New Year
- I will convert to Mac, completely
- I commit to not shameless promoting my book incessantly or letting you know that you can get cases of it, or it’s rank on Amazon, or tell you that it’s a perfect gift for every occassion.
- I will do a better job of blogging and commenting, sharing and learning with all of you guys.
- I’m also going to try to connect with more of you church communications people… we’re a small Tribe, we need each other.
- On a serious note, I’m committing to deepening my walk with Christ, even in the hustle and bustle of life in Chicago.
Thanks again… here’s to an awesome 08 and an even better 09!
Happy New Year!
*the word cloud is made up of common words and phrases from my blog, make your own at Wordle.

