Three things very briefly. This newsblog is killing it! Time to read the books I already have. New Year, new journal.

A blog is no replacement for face to face fundraising! Eight years ago when I came back on InterVarsity staff with GFM I vowed to go paperless-if-possible. My tongue still throbs thinking about all the paper prayer letters I produced and mailed from 1987 to 2005. I work as hard as any staff member I know at inviting new donors to join me in the most personal way possible. 99% of the time that means getting together face to face and asking people to join my team. Once on my team, the paper-work stops! In the seven years I’ve been writing PBR I’ve posted a 171 times. That’s a news update roughly every two weeks. No stamps. No envelopes. No paper cuts. No damaged taste-buds!

Thank you for clicking those links and reading my posts! Thank you for praying! 2024 was the first year the blog received over 3,000 views! That’s terrific considering the fact that those views are logged by PBR readers who know me face to face. Thank You!

Don’t know about you, but I have too many books on my shelves that I haven’t read. 2025 will be a year for searching my library for great titles like Kevin Vanhoozer’s Drama of Doctrine. Van Hoozer was one of my favorite professors throughout my M-Div. I’m about halfway into Drama of Doctrine and of course saying to myself, “Why didn’t I read this book years ago?”

Tim’s Journaling habits.

I go through a couple of these a year. Moleskine is my favorite brand. A few of my discoveries over the many years of doing this follow. Maybe you have some of these practices too?

• I do two different things on the left side and the right side.
• Right side of the journal is where I journal my thoughts and my prayers. Great quotes. Prayer lists. Gratitude checks. Repentance. Spiritual retreats.
• The left side of the page I make into two columns. This is multi-purpose space for anything other than my direct God-conversation.
• Left side: notes during messages, talks, sermons. To do lists. Little sketches of projects I’m always dreaming up. Message outlines I’ve been assigned. Blog ideas. Teaching/training ideas.
• I don’t worry about blank pages building up on the left side (oddly I pretty much fill both sides at about the same rate).
• I re-read my old journal before starting a new one!
• It’s easier to find things when I know that the journal pages are always on the right and the creative pages are on the left.
• Last thing. The journal turned sideways (left side). is easier to take notes in while I’m sitting somewhere other than my desk.

Have a terrific 2025!

Oh, I’m also planning on drinking more beets in 2025!