Top Christian Blogs: How the Skinny Have Fallen

Church Relevance have compiled a list of the top 60 Church Blogs. If you followed the Tall Skinny Kiwi blog when it was the number one Christian blog, God bless you. If you havent been on the web for a couple of years, you might be forgiven for thinking that nothing has changed. But you would be wrong . . . you would be VERY wrong. Ohhhhhh how the skinny have fallen! My mum is going to be really disappointed to hear this but i have fallen all the way to number 14. Oh . . . the shame of it!

HELP ME! I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T GET UP!

But not to worry, at least i am beaten by some really excellent church blogs.



Some thoughts on this list before you read it.

– Tim Challies deserves to be on top. He is a great blogger and an innovator. Well done.

– The measurement criteria is pretty accurate because its using a combination of the leading indicators – see the legend on the Church Relevance blog to see how they did it. I am sure you will want to cry “FOWL” and argue that I should be much higher [thankyou, God bless you, yes . . i see that hand] but the fact is these numbers are pretty solid.

– Some non-USA bloggers are not on the list. Where is Jonny Baker? Jordon Cooper?

– I am beaten by Internet Monk! Well done, Michael.

– Pyromaniacs beat me but I knew they would – they have a better blog, better graphics, and a higher readership. But I think the QUALITY of my readership is better than theirs.

[yeah – three cheers for TSK readers!!]

– Scot McKnight should really be much higher. Scot did a silly thing recently. Having a kick-butt blog called Jesus Creed with a huge amount of inbound links, Scot deserted it to blog for BeliefNet. Having lost his legacy with the search engines, it might take him a long while to make it up again. So in this case, the numbers are not accurate

– if you are really discouraged reading this list and wondering how the heck you are going to get some google love, remember this. Search engines rank your site, and they rank your page, and they rank your post. Those three. Your site might be really new or it might really suck BUT there is nothing stopping you from writing a killer post that kicks all our butts on the Google search engine. For some advice on that, read my blogging tips.

Out of Ur is probably the best blog here. I used to criticise Christianity Today for their lame blog attempts but they really got it right with Out of Ur. Its risky and timely and very interactive.

– Where are the Catholics? They were blogging before most of these Protestants. Surely they don’t rank that low?

– Where is La Shawn Barber? [oh thats right, she’s a woman]

– I need to say it or there will be a whole pile of bloggers-of-the-female-persuasion pointing to the male dominated state of this list. Cynthia and Anne, are you the only women here? [Kem Myer also – thanks] My gosh – James Brown was right.

James Brownits A Mans World

Top Church Blogs

0. Tim Challies [Rank 4.83]
AR 151,747 ___ BS 582 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 3,604 ___ TA 1,109 ___ TIL 5,179

1. Between Two Worlds / Justin Taylor [Rank 7.33]
AR 152,069 ___ BS 228 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 2,437 ___ TA 1,335 ___ TIL 8,684

2. Stuff Christians Like / Jon Acuff [Rank 9.33]
AR 283,778 ___ BS 526 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 3,596 ___ TA 1,024 ___ TIL 7,130

3. Out of Ur [Rank 9.83]
AR 12,169 ___ BS 338 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 1,132 ___ TA 546 ___ TIL 2,621

4. The Resurgence / Mark Driscoll [Rank 11.00]
AR 178,120 ___ BS 126 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 2,237 ___ TA 1,176 ___ TIL 5,784

5. GetReligion [Rank 11.67]
AR 125,516 ___ BS 274 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 906 ___ TA 684 ___ TIL 2,566

6. Swerve / Craig Groeschel & Bobby Gruenewald [Rank 11.83]
AR 93,973 ___ BS 333 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 593 ___ TA 641 ___ TIL 3,098

7. Pyromaniacs / Phil Johnson [Rank 12.00]
AR 324,560 ___ BS 288 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 1,164 ___ TA 615 ___ TIL 3,905

8. Ragamuffin Soul / Carlos Whittaker [Rank 12.67]
AR 309,252 ___ BS 280 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 2,040 ___ TA 953 ___ TIL 5,939

9. The Evangelical Outpost / Joe Carter [Rank 15.50]
AR 340,360 ___ BS 238 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 1,213 ___ TA 335 ___ TIL 2,989

10. Church Marketing Sucks / Brad Abare & Kevin Hendricks [Rank 16.33]
AR 239,868 ___ BS 160 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 1,819 ___ TA 436 ___ TIL 2,240

11. Internet Monk / Michael Spencer [Rank 16.33]
AR 297,600 ___ BS 205 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 523 ___ TA 622 ___ TIL 5,749

12. Desiring God / John Piper [Rank 16.50]
AR 43,865 ___ BS 389 ___ GP 3 ___ GRS 3,664 ___ TA 1,153 ___ TIL 4,935

13. Perry Noble [Rank 17.33]
AR 556,912 ___ BS 277 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 1,847 ___ TA 690 ___ TIL 3,422

14. Tall Skinny Kiwi / Andrew Jones [Rank 17.50]
AR 589,474 ___ BS 360 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 996 ___ TA 509 ___ TIL 2,302

15. Monday Morning Insight / Todd Rhoades [Rank 21.33]
AR 240,792 ___ BS 453 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 922 ___ TA 283 ___ TIL 1,607

16. Church Relevance / Kent Shaffer [Rank 23.33]
AR 369,485 ___ BS 134 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 1,576 ___ TA 252 ___ TIL 1,152

17. FlowerDust / Anne Jackson [Rank 23.50]
AR 410,152 ___ BS 115 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 430 ___ TA 529 ___ TIL 2,273

18. Leading Smart / Tim Stevens [Rank 25.00]
AR 775,255 ___ BS 346 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 951 ___ TA 446 ___ TIL 1,881

19. Steven Furtick [Rank 26.00]
AR 738,114 ___ BS 344 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 533 ___ TA 529 ___ TIL 2,184

20. Emergent Village [Rank 26.17]
AR 564,952 ___ BS 121 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 402 ___ TA 492 ___ TIL 2,271

Technorati Tags:

Vintage Faith / Dan Kimball [Rank 26.50]
AR 1,177,968 ___ BS 255 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 1,032 ___ TA 356 ___ TIL 1,431

Adrian Warnock [Rank 27.00]
AR 541,574 ___ BS 131 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 800 ___ TA 229 ___ TIL 1,669

Dr. Albert Mohler [Rank 27.00]
AR 137,288 ___ BS 47 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 3,589 ___ TA 254 ___ TIL 608

Without Wax / Pete Wilson [Rank 27.17]
AR 525,866 ___ BS 90 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 585 ___ TA 640 ___ TIL 2,293

22 Words / Abraham Piper [Rank 27.67]
AR 509,277 ___ BS 118 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 1,066 ___ TA 347 ___ TIL 1,652

Reformissionary / Steve McCoy [Rank 28.33]
AR 797,465 ___ BS 191 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 805 ___ TA 239 ___ TIL 1,396

THEOOZE / Spencer Burke [Rank 29.00]
AR 353,519 ___ BS 161 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 281 ___ TA 289 ___ TIL 1,093

Jesus Creed / Scot McKnight [Rank 31.50]
AR 3,810 ___ BS 80 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 250 ___ TA 223 ___ TIL 670

Ed Stetzer [Rank 32.67]
AR 50,826 ___ BS 180 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 968 ___ TA 0 ___ TIL 2,269

Think Christian [Rank 32.83]
AR 500,482 ___ BS 48 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 1,677 ___ TA 146 ___ TIL 759

Mark D. Roberts [Rank 36.33]
AR 380,577 ___ BS 74 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 343 ___ TA 152 ___ TIL 716

Brian McLaren [Rank 37.50]
AR 642,094 ___ BS 364 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 347 ___ TA No Data ___ TIL 1,693

Tony Morgan [Rank 37.50]
AR 410,780 ___ BS 107 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 12 ___ TA 471 ___ TIL 2,672

Worship Matters / Bob Kauflin [Rank 37.50]
AR 774,336 ___ BS 72 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 558 ___ TA 324 ___ TIL 1,110

Eugene Cho [Rank 37.67]
AR 454,657 ___ BS 54 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 361 ___ TA 239 ___ TIL 1,330

9Marks / Mark Dever [Rank 37.83]
AR 444,224 ___ BS 155 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 35 ___ TA 300 ___ TIL 1,834

Ben Arment [Rank 37.83]
AR 2,053,728 ___ BS 212 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 555 ___ TA 218 ___ TIL 1,543

Evotional / Mark Batterson [Rank 37.83]
AR 808,885 ___ BS 285 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 1,114 ___ TA No Data ___ TIL 2,241

Relevant Magazine Blog / Cameron Strang [Rank 37.83]
AR 174,788 ___ BS 16 ___ GP 6 ___ GRS 1,749 ___ TA 112 ___ TIL 273

JollyBlogger / David Wayne [Rank 38.50]
AR 891,681 ___ BS 186 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 397 ___ TA 192 ___ TIL 728

Scott Hodge [Rank 38.67]
AR 2,652,840 ___ BS 277 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 582 ___ TA 181 ___ TIL 1,142

Dave Ferguson [Rank 40.83]
AR 1,527,926 ___ BS 180 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 410 ___ TA 177 ___ TIL 755

Pomomusings / Adam Walker Cleaveland [Rank 42.33]
AR 299,619 ___ BS 64 ___ GP 3 ___ GRS 222 ___ TA 341 ___ TIL 2,235

Pure Church / Thabiti Anyabwile [Rank 42.50]
AR 1,863,579 ___ BS 71 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 673 ___ TA 203 ___ TIL 1,176

Gary Lamb [Rank 46.50]
AR 8,447,548 ___ BS 161 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 373 ___ TA 165 ___ TIL 1,144

Ed Young [Rank 46.67]
AR 1,085,380 ___ BS 72 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 512 ___ TA 143 ___ TIL 522

Catablog / Jesse Phillips & LV Hanson [Rank 47.00]
AR 397,649 ___ BS 30 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 300 ___ TA 133 ___ TIL 406

Don Miller [Rank 47.00]
AR 726,122 ___ BS 115 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 1,032 ___ TA No Data ___ TIL 662

Bill Kinnon [Rank 47.33]
AR 1,834,496 ___ BS 75 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 150 ___ TA 165 ___ TIL 1,651

DJ Chuang [Rank 47.33]
AR 589,848 ___ BS 56 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 149 ___ TA 102 ___ TIL 379

Mark Beeson [Rank 47.33]
AR 1,463,284 ___ BS 90 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 335 ___ TA 114 ___ TIL 687

More Than Dodgeball / Joshua Griffin [Rank 47.33]
AR 995,899 ___ BS 46 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 274 ___ TA 181 ___ TIL 713

Church Communications Pro / Cory Miller & James Dalman [Rank 47.67]
AR 221,952 ___ BS 127 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 80 ___ TA 53 ___ TIL 326

Kem Meyer [Rank 47.83]
AR 1,150,435 ___ BS 251 ___ GP 3 ___ GRS 658 ___ TA 174 ___ TIL 571

Drew Goodmanson [Rank 50.67]
AR 556,756 ___ BS 56 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 183 ___ TA 58 ___ TIL 503

The Digital Sanctuary / Cynthia Ware [Rank 51.33]
AR 867,429 ___ BS 71 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 347 ___ TA 90 ___ TIL 246

Collide Magazine Blog / Scott McClellan [Rank 52.17]
AR 589,172 ___ BS 98 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 104 ___ TA 88 ___ TIL 218

Mark Waltz [Rank 55.00]
AR 3,976,063 ___ BS 95 ___ GP 4 ___ GRS 263 ___ TA 67 ___ TIL 612

Reformation 21 [Rank 56.17]
AR 5,850,759 ___ BS 14 ___ GP 5 ___ GRS 724 ___ TA No Data ___ TIL 2,260

Now go over to Church Relevance and read how they put the list together.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

16 Comments

  • JohnFOM says:

    You know, I can’t remember ever seeing a BBC listener styled ‘grammar police’ comment on any of your blogs (maybe I’m not paying enough attention).
    Anyway, I might as well chuck one in here…
    Why? Why would you expect any of your readers to start screaming about CHICKENS (fowl)? Is this subculture jargon for something? Am I an outsider? (I feel so alone).
    I will, however, for the love of the skinny, and for those blessings from God (He knows how much I need ’em) I take a deep breath and cry ‘HAVOC’… opps I mean ‘FOUL’.
    Congrats on remaining in the top 20. I won’t say you are all winners. I think it’s us readers who are the winners looking at the talent.
    (I won’t tell you what my first thought was for the meaning of the BS rating)

  • anne jackson says:

    Can you change my link to pink, please? And maybe add some flowery clip art as well?
    🙂

  • Kent Shaffer says:

    @Andrew
    Kem Meyer is also a female blogger.
    And thanks for the suggested blogs, I’ll review those for the next updates.
    @JohnFOM
    BS rating = 🙂

  • Mark says:

    Congratulations 😉 you know my feelings on these things etc. i.e. they miss the point of the Web as it is now, they tempt Bloggers into obsessions with Google ratings, ranks, stats etc. etc.

  • becky says:

    Andrew … food for thought …
    http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/mediaculture/843/e-vangelism:_thou_shalt_not_covet_thy_neighbor__s_blog-ranking/
    Having said that, I hate seeing Mark Driscoll kick your skinny ass. :-> Go get ’em, you theological tiger.

  • Becca says:

    I’m having a hard time understanding why you keep hyping LaShawn Barber. Can you point me to any posts she’s written that deal with faith in an intelligent manner? In the US, she’s primarily known as a right-wing political blogger, and as far as I can tell, most of what she does is rail against liberals and illegal immigrants (indeed, her position on the latter seems to me to be particularly unchristian).

  • andrew says:

    you are probably right that La Shawn does not focus on church and theology so I will give you that one.

  • Isaiah says:

    No “The Forgotten Ways”? What? That blog got me hooked on blogging in general!

  • Cathryn says:

    as per “man’s world” comment… (bite me!)……….. LOL………
    ok, you’re still tops in my book… glad you still made the list!
    CONGRATS!

  • TSK,
    Thanks for this nice listing.
    Question: My readers at Beliefnet (my silly move 🙂 ) are telling me that Google’s RSS feed is not working to my blog.
    Can you help me? What to do?

  • And I must say that my reader numbers have increased by going to Beliefnet.

  • marko says:

    dude, at least you made the list!
    here are my numbers, and i didn’t even break into the 60:
    AR 1,262,141
    BS 52
    GP (?)
    GRS 545
    TA 299
    TIL 1602

  • andrew says:

    Scot, glad your readership has increased. Permanent links will no doubt catch up with you soon.
    as for google, it sounds like its time to take matter into your own hands.
    try this:
    join google webmaster tools and start bossing those googlebots around, making them work for you.
    the more details you give to google the better and the RSS feed should flow freely.
    if you can, [get someone to help] create a sitemap, submit it to google and that will tell the google bots exactly which of your posts to promote over your other posts.
    details of what i did are here
    you might need to talk to the webmaster and have him/her do it.
    if all else fails, you could revamp your old blog (your links are good for 6 months) and see if beliefnet will let you repost on your old blog as well as the new beliefnet blog.

  • eric Blauer says:

    I must be really out there, but I fall asleep reading some of these…

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