Our Blogging Audiobook Is Now Available: How to Win a Free Copy

At first I didn’t want to do it, but I’m so glad we did.

With my previous book projects, I hired a professional to record the audiobook. It’s funny to think about, but even though being a local church pastor entails doing a lot of reading in public, I’m still not all that great at reading out loud. And when you listen to an audiobook, they are typically done so well, I feared the contrast from professional readers to me—at best a novice reader—would be too noticeable.

But I’m also too much of a perfectionist. So John and I pressed on, and the audiobook of Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World turned out far better than I had hoped it could have. I received a lot of great coaching from the production manager, Mark Johnson of the Loft Studios, and my coauthor John Beeson reads as well as he writes. If the process was difficult for John, I sure couldn’t tell from his finished recordings.

The paperback and ebooks released last November, and the audiobook just came out a week ago.

Win a Free Copy

We’re each giving away five copies of the audiobook. You can win a copy by sharing about the book on social media, whether Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. You can share this blog post or the Amazon page (share on Facebook; share on Twitter; share on LinkedIn). Just make sure you tag me in the post or email me the link to your post, so I know it happened and can get you entered. I’ll pick the five winners randomly on Saturday morning (3/6/2021).

Bad news, but we only can do this for those using Audible in the United States or the United Kingdom—it’s not us; it’s an Amazon thing.

Sample

Here’s a sample of the audiobook of me reading from the introduction.

What Does It Mean to Blog for God’s Glory?

“Daddy, I painted this for you,” says my daughter Izzy. Closing the door behind me and setting my work bag on the table, I bend over to look at the paper she’s covered with splotches of primary colors in the shape of people. The paper is still wrinkly from liberally applied paint. She places her artwork in my hand.

“That’s wonderful,” I say, trying to figure out which way is up and which is down. I’ve learned from experience not to ask, “What is this?” Instead I say, “Tell me about your picture, sweetie.”

“It’s a doggie in our backyard, and all of our family is eating pickles,” she says.

“Oh, I see. May I hang it on the fridge?”

Izzy smiles wide. Her two front teeth are missing.

We hang her wrinkly artwork on the front of our refrigerator along with all the others.

People tend to mark the stages of life. We save the paystub from our first paychecks, mount diplomas on walls, celebrate a marriage and a first mortgage. I’m in that stage of life where my fridge hides behind artwork from my children. They hand me watercolor paintings when I leave for work. They hand me colored-pencil drawings when I come home from work. They come to work to hand me colored macaroni glued to construction paper. It’s wonderful. I don’t want it to end.

What I love most is the innocence of their gifts. My little Izzy doesn’t have a clue there is such a place as the British Museum housing works of Rembrandt and Rubens. Izzy doesn’t know anything about the Louvre in Paris that displays da Vinci’s Mona Lisa for ten million visitors each year. All Izzy knows is our fridge: the two sides of the fridge and the front side of the fridge. I guess we could call them the three sides of our art galleries. The front of our fridge—or the main gallery, if you will—receives nearly ten visits a day, or maybe one hundred visits a day in the summer when our children enjoy vacation and standing in front of an open fridge. But no one in our family visits the fridge necessarily to see her artwork. That’s the child-like innocence Izzy has when we mount her paintings. If an adult were to possess this kind of ignorance of the great works of art, especially an adult given to producing her own art, we’d call it something other than innocence; her ignorance would take on the pejorative, culpable sense of the word. In a child, however, the ignorance is admirable.

The purity of her gifts strikes me too. “Daddy, I painted this for you,” she says. Izzy paints not for fame or money or from the overflow of competition with her siblings, but for you, she says. When I say purity, I mean this kind of single-mindedness, the kind of joy that is captivated by and treasures only the smile of her father. No mixed motives, no duplicity. Only pure, single-minded devotion.

I’m not saying children are innocent and pure and full of rainbows and bubble gum. I believe in original sin because I read of it in the Bible and also because I see it in the mirror and in the eyes of every one of my young children who—if their little arms were strong enough—might kill me rather than not get their way. Children are not pure and innocent in an absolute sense. As those downstream from our father Adam, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners. As David writes, “In sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5).

Still, I think about my children’s artwork often when I blog. I like to think of God printing out my blog posts and hanging them on his heavenly fridge, which I’m sure is huge and made of stainless steel and has an ice dispenser that always works. I like to think of God stooping over to smile and say, “Tell me about this one, Benjamin.”

Guest Posts and a Recap of 2020 Struggles

When NBC aired sitcom re-runs back in the late 90s during the summer, they advertised using the slogan, “If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you.” I always thought that was clever marketing. The slogan has come to mind each time I’ve bought a “new” car, by which I meant a used car that, because I hadn’t driven it before, was new to me.

As 2020 ends, I want to share with you my guest posts that were published in 2020 (list below). A “guest post” is an article written for another website. Sometimes I’m invited to write for these other websites, and, to be candid, sometimes I try to invite myself. Regardless, if you have not read the articles yet, well, they’ll be new to you.

Considering how difficult this last year has been, perhaps the first post might be the most interesting to you. The January article explores potential ways that 2020 might be a difficult year but, come what may, exalts God’s goodness and sovereignty. In the final paragraph I write,

We’ll have plenty of hindrances next year, but none too great for God’s love and power to overcome. As Paul says elsewhere, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). A “no hindrances” mentality in 2020 means something more gritty than prosperity preachers teach and something more glorious than any politician can offer.

I had no idea what the “plenty of hindrances next year” might entail, though it did not take a prophet to see election troubles in the forecast. I had no idea one of my former pastors would take his own life. I had no idea our church would be maliciously cyber hacked. I had no idea we’d close down our in-person church services for thirteen weeks. I had no idea our pastor-elder team would spend dozens of hours discussing a piece of fabric placed over the mouth and nose of church attendees.

Speaking of masks, just last night before bed I received an email that another family will not attend church until our policy on face coverings changes. I’m glad the person emailed me back when I asked how they were doing and if they were okay because I hadn’t seen them lately. I’m glad the person responded because most people have ghosted our church.

Jesus spoke of shepherds who leave the ninety-nine to find the one missing sheep (Luke 15:1–7), but I struggle to know what to do as lead pastor of a church that fifty percent of our regular attendees do not attend regularly. Around 150–200 people are missing from our in-person gatherings each week. It’s hard to pastor people you can’t see. In fact, I have pretty much given up chasing non-members and decided to just do my best to pastor our members and those in front of me, and whoever comes back in the spring comes back.

I’m not trying to rant. I’m simply underscoring that when I wrote for The Gospel Coalition that I had no idea what hindrances we’d have this year, I really did have no idea. I’ve not even cataloged half of the struggles.

But what I said in my article about God’s goodness and sovereignty is also true: no hindrance is too great for God’s love and power to turn it for his glory and our good. I also take comfort knowing that, as Peter said, “the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:9).

My favorite article from the year—and perhaps my favorite piece of writing from all time—came out of the struggles related to Covid and other challenges in pastoral ministry. I titled the article “Bending the Covid Bow of Bronze” and wrote it for our church denomination, the Evangelical Free Church of America. If you read only one of my guest posts, I’d encourage you to read it.

Thank you for subscribing to my blog this last year. I don’t take it for granted.

Thanks,
Benjamin

Guest Posts in 2020

“Neither Sin nor Death nor Elections Can Hinder God’s Work in 2020,” The Gospel Coalition, January 2, 2020

“Expository Preaching and Anchoring to the Rock,” EDA MOVE, Evangelical Free Church of America, Eastern District Blog, January 22, 2020 (an audio reading of this post by Benjamin appeared on the EDA Move Podcast, here)

“An Interview with Chuck DeGroat, author of When Narcissism Comes to the Church,” Christianity Today, online February 17, 2020, and the March print edition

“How to Land Employment in the Local Church: A Brief Overview,” an excerpt from Don’t Just Send a Resume at the Gospel Relevance blog, February 25, 2020

“Bending the COVID Bow of Bronze,” EFCA NOW, Evangelical Free Church of America Blog, May 13, 2020

“Redeeming Pastoral Ambition,” 9Marks, June 12, 2020 [Also, reposted as “Redeeming Pastoral Ambition,” For The Church, October 6, 2020 and reposted as “Redimiendo la ambición pastoral,” 9Marks - Spanish Website, November 24, 2020]

“Know Where to Find a Pastoral Job after COVID-19,” The EFCA Leader’s Network, June 9, 2020

“Fathers, Ask for Their Heart (And, Preachers, Write a Poem),” EDA MOVE, Evangelical Free Church of America, Eastern District Blog, June 18, 2020 (an audio reading of this post by Benjamin appeared on the EDA Move Podcast, here)

“A Book Review Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando,” 9Marks, July 30, 2020

“Book Review: Don’t Just Send a Resume, by Benjamin Vrbicek” a review written by Kris Sinclair, 9Marks, August 8, 2020

“10 Tips for Finding a Ministry Position During the Pandemic,” The Gospel Coalition, August 14, 2020

“Pastor, Why Aren’t You Preaching About What’s Happening? [Part I],” Gospel-Centered Discipleship, August 31, 2020

“Pastor, Why Aren’t You Preaching About What’s Happening? [Part II],” Gospel-Centered Discipleship, September 2, 2020

“A Book Review of Analog Church by Jay Kim,” 9Marks, September 17, 2020

“The Wrath of God Should Come into Our Minds More Often,” EFCA Now, Evangelical Free Church of America Blog, November 17, 2020

“A Book Review: A Little Book for New Preachers, by Matthew D. Kim,” 9Marks, December 3, 2020

* Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

Writing Is a Lonely Endeavor, but It Doesn't Have to Be

This will be the last post I’ll do for a while about our recently released book Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World.

The launch went really well; we spent a week as the “#1 New Release” in the Amazon blogging category, and as I write this we have thirty Amazon reviews. John and I would love to see the book hit fifty reviews soon, but we’re super thankful for the reviews we already have.

This week John and I begin recording the audiobook, which will be a first for both of us. In truth, I have some experience at this from another book, but it didn’t go very well, so I’m anxious about the recording process but hopeful this recording will go better. We’d love to see our audiobook hit Amazon by Christmas.

The community that developed around the book was one of the most surprising aspects of writing this book. I don’t think it should have surprised me the way that it did, but nonetheless, I am surprised.

Throughout the book, we mention the names of bloggers from around the world who write words online to exalt the glory of God. There’s Ryan in New Mexico; Chase in the Missouri Ozark region; a Tim in Florida and another Tim in Vermont; Alistair in Scotland; David in Norway; Nitoy in the Philippines; and Chris, Cassie, and Ruth in Australia. I know this because last week I shipped seventy books to the four corners of the world!

Perhaps I felt so surprised and encouraged by the Christian blogging community because, ordinarily, blogging is a lonely endeavor. We generate ideas alone. We write alone. We edit alone even when we have editors. We queue up posts alone. And even when we read the same viral post, we read it alone. But the book—as much as writing is inherently a lonely endeavor—was produced in community, even as we hope it was produced for a community.

In Jen Oshman’s endorsement of the book she wrote that John and I “create a needed community.” Maybe. But I think the community was already there. We just tried to help the community that already exists, be a better community, a lived experience of the community we already are. The Gospel-Centered Discipleship Writers’ Guild played a huge role in that. It’s a group of a hundred or so writers who care about all the same sort of nerdy, gospel-y writing things. In Oshman’s endorsement, she added, “Reading [Blogging for God’s Glory] is to sit around a table with other writers.” I love that she wrote that line. We hope and pray others feel the same.

Below are the official endorsements we received from various authors and blogging advocates. Be sure to check out their work too.

And thank you for helping us and encouraging us. If you buy the book and leave an Amazon review, that would mean a lot to us.

*     *     *

“I’ve been told that the glory days of blogging are long gone. Maybe. What I am sure of is that blogging is now a crowded field, filled with countless voices offering pathways to success. I’ve longed for voices like Benjamin and John’s, filled with seasoned wisdom and an unwavering resolve to elevate the glory of God over all other aims. Forged out of the hard hours of reading carefully, working the keyboards, and humbly connecting with other writers, this book proves that Benjamin and John are fast becoming two voices to heed in whatever lies ahead.”
Chris Thomas, pastor of Raymond Terrace Community Church in the Hunter Valley of NSW, Australia, host of the Gospel-Centered Discipleship Writers’ Guild, and blogger at PloughmansRest.com

“Ok, I’ll admit it: blogging isn’t dead. And I wouldn’t want to kill it. But blogging has changed, because nothing ever lasts long on the internet. John and Benjamin are reliable guides to how you can still blog to the glory of God. I’m praying God will use their book to help raise up a new generation of writers eager to use their gifts to tell the world about the good news of Jesus Christ.”
Collin Hansen, editorial director of The Gospel Coalition, host of the Gospelbound podcast, and author of Blind Spots and Young, Restless, Reformed

“Writing is a lonely endeavor. With this book Benjamin Vrbicek and John Beeson create a needed community. Reading it is to sit around a table with other writers, sharing tips and tricks of the trade, as well as deeper issues like prioritizing God’s glory and staying spiritually vital throughout the seasons of writing and ministry. I heartily invite all bloggers to pull up a chair and join in this helpful conversation.”
Jen Oshman, author of Enough About Me, former overseas missionary, pastor’s wife, podcaster, and blogger at JenOshman.com

“Writing for online, public consumption is a tricky thing for Christians. We fight pride when pageviews soar and when they tank. Throw in tech problems, networking, and unfriendly algorithms, and it’s easy to lose sight of our purpose in writing. Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World offers a primer for launching a blog and a heart check for sustaining it. Immensely practical and engaging, this book is for bloggers of every age and stage. Though I’ve been blogging for nearly two decades, I finished this book with renewed purpose to make much of Christ in my own small corner of the internet. Blogging for God’s Glory is a book I’ll recommend over and over to aspiring writers.”
Glenna Marshall, author of The Promise is His Presence and Everyday Faithfulness, and blogger at GlennaMarshall.com

“My advice to any Christian who is thinking about starting a blog is to first read this book—and to pay close attention. Vrbicek and Beeson have written the most helpful and realistic guide to Christian blogging that has been produced in a decade. If you follow their advice (and examine your true motives) they can save you a lot of wasted time and frustration by showing you why your sole objective should be to blog for the glory of God.”
Joe Carter, Executive Pastor of McLean Bible Church, editor at The Gospel Coalition, and coauthor of How to Argue like Jesus

What Does It Mean to Blog for God’s Glory?: Our Book’s Backstory

Our book Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World releases today.

Six months ago, when I picked November 3 as our publication day, I certainly wasn’t thinking about the fact that it was also the day of our presidential elections. But it happened, or I should say, it is happening—today.

I’ve never shared the backstory to our blogging book, but I’ll tell you now that the book started with my friend and coauthor John Beeson before either of us knew it would be a book.

Five years ago I wrote down a series of questions for John to ponder as he launched his blog. Actually, I didn’t write them. I used my phone’s voice-to-text feature to record my stream-of-consciousness thoughts while my children played in a McDonald’s PlayPlace. I cleaned the questions up a bit, sent them to John, and we talked on the phone for ninety minutes. A year later, I polished those questions brighter and wrote them into a blog post. I hoped the questions would help others launch blogs that would glorify God. I feared, however, only five people would read the post. After I submitted the article to two different online publications and received rejections from each, I suspected editors also thought only five people would read the posts. But then I submitted it to For The Church, who published the article in the spring of 2018.

Tim Challies shared a link to that post on his blog, and from there, Bill Feltner, the host of the show His People on Pilgrim Radio, saw the link and asked me for an interview to discuss Christian blogging. The interview made me wonder if there could be more to this topic than a few blog posts and an interview could cover. Eventually I circled back to John with the idea for this book.

I’m thankful for John running this race with me. John, when we began the project I never expected the book would become such an expansive resource for bloggers. Thank you for being a friend, encourager, and someone to swap stories with of blogging lows and blogging highs. I could not have written this book without you, and I wouldn’t have wanted to.

Alexandra Richter has poured over each word in each book I’ve written, and most of my published articles. Alexandra, I confess, I never know when to write who or whom, so I avoid writing sentences that feel ambiguous. But I know that if I did write a sentence that needed a who or perhaps a whom, you’d know when I needed which. And thank you for caring as much, if not more, about the theology as the grammar. Speaking of grammar, thank you Russ Meek and Cassie Watson for also helping us catch the little mistakes that make a big difference.

I’ve never had an acknowledgment section in my books; I think I feared the cliché of it all. Expected or not, I want to say thank you to my wife, Brooke. There would be no books or blogs without your blessing.

Below is the table of contents and full book cover. John and I would be overjoyed if you bought a copy of our book (Amazon). Thanks for all the encouragement along the way.

Please Join Our Book-Launch Team: Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World

Bloggers around the world publish millions of posts each day, many written by faithful Christians who want to honor God with their words but struggle to know how. Christian bloggers need guides to lead them through the basics of setting up a blog—everything from affiliates and algorithms to widgets and WordPress. They need a mentor to help them become a godly landlord of their internet real estate.

My friend John Beeson and I wrote the book Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World to help bloggers do these very things. In the book, we explain where the spiritual stamina will come from to serve a small readership faithfully and how to steward attention in a way that honors God in a world that seems to only celebrate chasing profit and pageviews.

Tim Challies, the godfather of evangelical blogging—or the blog-father as he is sometimes called—is writing the foreword to the book. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.

For the last week or so, we’ve been asking friends who had heard about the book if they’d consider joining the launch team. So far nearly fifty people have joined. John and I are super happy. But we’d still like your help too.

Starting today, we’re inviting others to join the launch team (here). [update: link removed]

Just to be clear: you do NOT have to be a blogger to join the launch team. Maybe you like to share interesting ideas on Facebook, or maybe you work in marketing or graphic design. We think you’d enjoy our book, and we’d love to have you on the launch team. But perhaps none of that is true of you. Perhaps you just happen to like the work I do on this blog or John does on his blog, and you’d like to support us. That’s great too. We’d love to have you on the team.

For those willing to serve on the launch team, we will send you a digital version of the book in early October to give you time to read it before its November 3 launch.

If you join, here is what we hope you’d commit to do:

1. Once the book launches, post an honest review on Amazon (and Goodreads, if you have an account) within the first week of the launch;

2. Help us catch any small errors in the book (i.e., not a full-edit of the book);

3. The day before the book launches we’d ask you to purchase the Kindle version of the book on Amazon at the reduced price of $0.99. Buying the book gives a “Verified purchase” tag affixed to your Amazon review. This helps to protect your review from being removed as fraudulent. Any review helps, but Verified Reviews boost the book in the Amazon store.

4. When the book launches share the book on your social media accounts.

That’s it. Pretty simple.

If you would like to join, please fill out this quick Google questionnaire (link). [update: link removed]

Thank you,
Benjamin