The story of how a young man from the Grace Brethren Church in Norwalk, Calif. (Jeff Patton, pastor), responded to the November 1 shooting at the Los Angeles International Airport was the top story of 2013 on graceconnect.us, based on the number of times the story was viewed. Timmy Ramirez was waiting to catch a flight to Philadelphia for annual the Operation Barnabas reunion when the attack occurred. In the chaos that followed, he helped a number of people get to safety.
It’s one of many stories that were accessed a total 84,587 times with 69,463 unique pageviews (the number of visits during which the specified page was viewed at least once) over the year.
This was the first year for the GraceConnect news site, which is a continuation of the BMH Editor’s Blog that was begun by Terry White in 2004. Initially, the site was published on Blogspot and later moved to it’s own domain, fgbcworld-blog.com. Nearly every story from the beginning has been transferred to the new site, along with articles from the BMH publications, FGBC World, and GraceConnect magazine.
It’s not unusual that stories from previous years appear in this list, but this year, one from 2006 made the top three. That year, White reported on a story in the Akron Beacon Journal that featured a couple in the Ellet Grace Brethren Church who had adopted a Russian girl who had been abused by her previous adoptive father.
Also from previous years, #14 on the list is a summary of the Fight Club ministry at Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren congregation in Goshen, Ind. (Jim Brown, pastor). Early in 2012, we featured the developing ministry and included several testimony videos. Another story from 2006, #16 tells about the grave site of renowned Christian writer and publisher, A.W. Tozer, which is near the Ellet Grace Brethren Church in Akron, Ohio. Jonathan Carey, who pastors the Ellet church, is quoted in the article.
What is not included in this list are the hits on the pages for the Timothy Letters, which are being written by participants in this year’s Focus Retreats for ministry leaders, or the number of times photo walls for Easter and Vision2020 South were accessed. All three pages have seen considerable traffic over the year since they were first posted.
Visits to the site, numbered at 45,185 unique devices, including 34,544 from desktop computers, 6,026 from mobile units (cell phones), and 4,615 from tablets.
Here are the top 25 posts for 2013.
- “It Was What Needed to Be Done” – November 4, 2013
- Former Pastor, Wife, Die in Alaska – June 4, 2013
- Ellet Adoption Story Brings Strong Response – April 16, 2006
- Kurt Miller Joins MetroGrace Church Planting Team – March 1, 2013
- Conference Focuses on Spiritual Needs of the Amish – November 15, 2013
- Vision2020 South Kicks Off in Atlanta – July 27, 2013
- Mike Grill, Grace Professor, Dies – March 27, 2013
- Dr. Paul Fink Dies – September 7, 2013
- Mural Artist, Recent Grace Grad, Dies in Accident – May 21, 2013
- Riding Through the Storm With Jesus – July 1, 2013
- Former Roanoke Pastor, Steve Taylor, Dies – August 14, 2013
- Am I Living to God’s Standards… or Mine? – February 5, 2013
- “Amazon Bill” in Glory – June 26, 2013
- Fight Club Ignites Fire in Goshen Men – February 21, 2012
- Dr. John Mayes, Former Pastor, Dies – February 11, 2013
- Tozer Grave Near Ellet Church in Akron – April 17, 2006
- Retired Pastor, Russ Ogden Dies – September 13, 2013
- Services Set for Missionary Bill Burk – January 28, 2013
- Grace Board, Staff, Give Thanks for Manahan’s Service – March 27, 2013
- Frank Gardner, Retired Pastor, Dies in Uganda – February 18, 2013
- Grace College Among the “Best in the Midwest” – August 29, 2013
- Kurt Miller Resigns at Martinsburg Church – January 9, 2013
- A Tribute Bill and Imogene Burk – June 28, 2013
- National Conference Continues – July 30, 2013
- Abreu Challenges Conference to “Be About Jesus” – July 29, 2013
Visitors came from 123 countries. The top 20 included:
- United States
- Canada
- France
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- Brazil
- India
- Argentina
- Australia
- Japan
- Mexico
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Pakistan
- Cambodia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Malaysia
- Poland