The Best of 2024

The end of the year always brings lists of all sorts. Best. Worst. Biggest. Most. Among the “celebs we lost in 2024,” I never heard of half of them in the first place. 

We at the Reformed Journal like our lists, too. Typically we share our most read posts of the past year. It probably tells you something important about our operation that we no longer have access to all that information because we don’t subscribe to a higher, more costly level of the publishing platform we use. So instead of an objective, raw numbers list, I’ve tapped the help of some colleagues to make up our subjective, best, significant postings of 2024. Think more like the Oscars and less like RBIs.

It was tough. We had to leave out a lot. But from over 400 essays and blogs, here’s some that you may want to re-read, or if you missed them the first time around, take a look at now. They’re in no particular order.

• Today I’m Eating Chocolates, Laura de Jong
• Bearing Witness: A Journey to Unbelief, Allison Vander Broek
• Big Red, Job, and the Power of Remembering, Tom Boogaart
• Thoughts While Burning My Flag, Keith Mannes
• This Is Not Okay, and We Will be Okay, Rebecca Jordan Heys
• Borgdorff and Belhar, Daniel Meeter
• To the LGBTQ Children of the Christian Reformed Church, Ryan Struyk
• Another Semester of Being Useless, Debra Rienstra
• Windigo, Tim Van Deelen
• Late Night With Jesus, Angela Townsend
• Limping Forward, Chad Pierce
• For this Reformed Christian, Trump is an Antichrist, Martin de Boer
• A Letter to My Sons, Dana Vander Lugt
• Jack, Jeff Munroe
• Dutch Reformed vs. Evangelical I, Salvation, James Bratt

I’ll also use this end-of-the year blog to share some RJ business. While we can’t access specific data from our platform any longer, we do know that our total views for 2024 are over 1.4 million. Last year, we thought it was a big deal when we cracked a million. So we are pleased with the continued growth in readership. Just to keep things in perspective, however, Taylor Swift has 552 million social media followers. Christiano Ronaldo has one billion.

At its semi-annual meeting earlier this month, our board (Kate Bolt, Kris DePree, Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell, Jeff Munroe, and Sara Tolsma) approved a 2025 budget of $57,115. Most of that goes to tech support, publishing platforms, software, various fees, charges, and other exciting things. Our writers are not paid. Our editors receive small stipends. We gather annually for a day and half retreat.

We’re also in the middle of a complete website overhaul. Don’t get too excited. If things go well, you’ll never know the difference. It was necessitated not by a desire for a new design, but rather some behind the scenes gizmos and widgets that are outdated, troublesome, or dying. What you might notice is that the “Search” feature should be more helpful. 

Our budget became more complex when we started publishing books. Just like everything else we do, the aim of Reformed Journal Books is not to “make money.” But we can’t afford to lose money. We are glad to share that we’ve covered our cost and a little more with our first publication, Telling Stories in the Dark by Jeff Munroe. 

This has allowed us to move forward with publishing three books in 2025. By now, we hope all of you can recite them by name: The Traveler’s Path by Doug Brouwer; Green Street in Black and White by Dave Larsen; and Grounded by Christy Berghoef. And of course, we trust you know how you may receive each of them by taking up our “But Wait…There’s More” offer.

Our Treasurer reports that we have 57 individuals who support RJ with monthly donations. Thank you, thank you! During our annual fundraising campaign, earlier this month, we received gifts and pledges from 147 people (along with a handful of very kind thank-you notes). Of course, we’d like that number to increase to help us cover our costs, as well as continue to look for new ways to share RJ’s voice. Will you please make a donation before the end of the year?

We think our “But Wait…There’s More” is a great deal, but we’re grateful for any gift in any amount. It’s easiest to give online, but send us a check if you prefer.

We wish you a happy new year and we look forward to a growing partnership with you in 2025. Thank you for reading and sharing, for supporting and engaging.   

Almighty and merciful God, through your beloved Son Jesus Christ, you have willed to make all things new. By your Holy Spirit, incite in us gratitude for the blessings of 2024. In the year to come, renew us with hope and fortitude. And fill us with a longing for the day when at last we come to that heavenly country where the tears will be wiped away from every eye, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

******

As 2024 draws to a close, we at the Reformed Journal thank you for your friendship and support. If you have not yet done so, we ask for your financial support for the coming year.

“But Wait…There’s More!” is our special offer where we will send you three new books in 2025 as our thank you for a gift of $300 throughout the coming year. That’s $25 per month, less than a dollar a day. (Canadian friends, unfortunately due to exchange rates and bank fees, we need to ask for a $400 annual gift from you.)

The purple button above or clicking here, will take you to a page with details on this year’s special “But Wait, There’s More” offer–three new books from Reformed Journal Books in 2025!

You can use the same page to give an online gift of any amount or to find info on giving by check via mail.

Gifts may be mailed to:
PO Box 1282
Holland, MI 49423

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!