Survey Results!

Last week I mentioned on the G4L Facebook page that I would share some of the Growing4Life Survey Results with you. So today I am going to take an opportunity to do that.

I so appreciate those of you that took the time to share your thoughts and, while my purpose in having the survey was to help me determine the direction of the ministry here, I was so humbled and encouraged by the uplifting and kind words of so many of you. Wow. I had no idea. You have blessed me beyond measure and have confirmed that the Lord is using this ministry for His glory and to further His Kingdom (which is really the only thing that matters, after all!)

I do feel like I was given some pretty clear direction and so I am going to share that here with you, along with some of the results and some of my thoughts about the results (you knew I couldn’t just give numbers, right? haha)

THE BASICS

First, the survey was filled out by a total of 142 people. The majority (as I expected) were women over 40 who live in English-speaking countries. There were a few men, as well as a decent number of people under the age of 40.  There was also a handful of people from other countries. My apology to my Australian readers for not listing your country as one of the options. I apparently had a brain freeze when writing the survey…

Most respondents find the posts on Discernment and Christian Growth to be the most helpful. These were followed closely by Practical Applications for Everyday Problems and Bible Study. There was the least amount of interest in posts geared towards Bible Reading Challenges, Biographies/Testimonies, and Biblical Resources.

THE WEBSITE

There seemed to be few issues with the website (which I was thankful to know). I want you to know that I am committed–for as long as I am financially able to do so–to keep the site ad-free. There is nothing I hate more than to be reading a serious article only to run into an annoying ad several times throughout. God has blessed us enough financially, that–at least for now–we can personally absorb the costs of running the website. You can thank my husband for this, as he has worked so hard to provide for our family over the years and is happy to support me in this endeavor. :)

A few of you mentioned you’d like to have a better way to find what you are looking for. I will try to make that happen. In the meantime, please use the search box located about halfway down on the right. This is easy to use and I actually use this myself when I am searching for an old post. Just enter a key word or a partial title and the post you are searching for should pop up. You may need to scroll through of the options that come up before you get to the one you were looking for, though.

DIRECTION for GROWING4LIFE

This was really the heart of the survey. Where do I go from here? How do I expand this ministry? What is the greatest need?

The following results were very insightful and I thank you for your response.

The winner, by a large margin, was Bible Studies. Most of you seem to be interested in Growing4Life Bible Studies. I have decided that this will be where I will focus my efforts for now (as I mentioned on the G4L Facebook Page last week when I requested prayer regarding this).  My goal is to provide solid Bible Studies grounded in biblical doctrine. The first one I am working on currently is called (at least for now) “What Does the Bible Say About…?” And explores what the Bible teaches about various things–God, sin, itself, Jesus, salvation, etc. I thought about doing a Discernment study but realized that, without a good foundation, a study on Discernment wouldn’t make much sense. These studies will include five days of short homework assignments each week along with some Bible Memory. My goal is to make a basic study that is doable for busy women. Pastor Dean has told me he would review each chapter to just confirm that the content is biblical and that I have rightly divided the Word. I would love your prayers for me and also for my two “guinea pig” Bible Study groups this fall. I am thankful for the brave women who are willing to give the study a try and who will, hopefully, suggest changes and ways to make it better and more understandable.

Second, there was interest in a non-fiction book. Given the demographics of the group, I do find myself wondering if a book on midlife/empty nest wouldn’t be something worthwhile pursuing. Any other suggestions for a non-fiction book? I hate to re-say what has already been said.

Coming in at a pretty close third, was a novel. While there was one who expressed their thoughts that a novel would be a waste of time, a good many of you disagreed. But I do want to speak to this and share why I do not believe a novel is a waste of time. There are so many who will never pick up a non-fiction book or read a serious blog post. But they will read a novel. But I have been so discouraged, as of late, particularly, to realize just how many “Christian” novels are teaching false doctrine. Even authors that I counted on for fairly solid doctrine in their books are now adding special revelation or other unbiblical content to their stories. This leaves a huge hole in this market. I would add that I have learned a great deal from reading novels with biblical messages. While I would not view these as the main meal, I do think they make a nice dessert in our reading life and can be used for God’s Glory. I was reminded this morning that even Jesus told stories in the form of parables to illustrate a biblical lesson. And so, I do hope to pursue this sometime in the future. Until that time, I will continue to write a Christmas story each year purely for the joy of it. A couple of you mentioned enjoying these, so I was glad to hear that.

Distantly following these three items were a Growing4Life Podcast and Speaking at Ladies’ Events. And, so, I am happy to forego those for now. I will add though that if you have a desire for me to speak at your Ladies’ event, you can feel free to email me particulars at Leslie {at} growing4life {dot} net. I am located in the Hershey, Pennsylvania area, so keep that in mind as you plan.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE

I was truly blown away by the volume of kind and encouraging comments that were shared regarding the ministry here. Several of you mentioned how much you appreciate Pastor Dean’s sermons (find them here) and also how much you appreciated the “Learn to Discern” series (find the series here).

I had two people accuse me of not being biblical or discerning enough. I point this out because neither offered enough information for me to know what they meant. I would just like to encourage them and anyone else with concerns to email me. If I am teaching something that is not biblical I want to fix it! I am not too proud to admit that I don’t have everything right :) I would only ask that you include Biblical passages in context that would speak to your concern. To the person who says that what I write doesn’t “line up with what happens to me”, I would encourage them to remember that our experiences do not always tell the truth (this post goes into why we can’t use our experiences to teach us truth).

I also want to let you know (as this has come up several times throughout the years and not just in this survey) that the content found on this blog is the Lord’s. Please feel free to share, print, and copy it. I am thrilled and honored if you pass it along. I have only one goal and that is to draw people to the sufficient Word of God through this blog. So share away. :)

Someone mentioned that they wish that I would write more often about positive things. I hope that I do write some positive things, but you will find that I reserve most of my praise for men and women that have already gone on to be with the Lord. In this age of unprecedented compromise, I am extremely uncomfortable in promoting most anyone publicly. So I try to be extremely careful with this and hope that you will understand. That being said, there are some wonderful teachers and pastors around yet. Many of them in small country churches. The one I can recommend without even the smallest doubt is my brother, Pastor Dean. I have known him my whole life and I personally know his love and dedication to the Word. He is not perfect (he’d be the first to tell you so) but he desires nothing more than to divide the Word rightly.

In conclusion, I found the survey so helpful. If you didn’t complete it but have some thoughts to add, please feel free to email me or to share in the comment section below. I appreciate you, my readers, and still often find myself in complete awe that God grew the blog to the size that He did. I never expected it. While it is sometimes frustrating and causes me some grief (people don’t always like the truth) I am filled with joy to serve you in this way.

Have a wonderful day!