Ice Breaker…Moved
If you missed yesterday’s post, The Stretched Blog has moved to a new site (jonstolpe.com) – including today’s ice breaker question. So head on over to the new site, answer today’s ice breaker question, and subscribe to the NEW Stretched Community!
Thanks!
January 7, 2012 Week In Review…
It’s time for The Stretched Blog Week in Review – the first for 2012! The traffic to the Stretched Blog is at an all-time high this week. In fact, blog traffic on Wednesday was the highest ever on the blog (and Thursday’s traffic was right behind). Thank you!
Here’s the rundown on the posts for the week:
Monday: December 2011 Top Posts
Tuesday: Meet Irwin
Wednesday: One Word For 2012: Transformed
Thursday: The Stretched Blog Visits The Analogous Truth
Friday (this actually posted Saturday do to a visit to me by the stomach flu): Ice Breaker – My First Car
Your continued contribution to the blog through comments is greatly appreciated. Your comments are what makes this Stretched Community! Please remember to take the time to Subscribe to the blog, so you can have Stretched delivered daily to your e-mail inbox. Also, don’t forget to stop by the Jon Stolpe Stretched Facebook fan page. Become a fan to keep up with some additional Stretched stuff. I have started to share more blog highlights from other blogs that I read regularly. I think you’ll find some great stuff here. Thanks!
Here are a few of my favorites from around the blog world this week:
- FedEx Guy Throws Computer Monitor Over Fence by Chris LoCurto at Chris LoCurto’s Blog
- The Brilliant Person You Ignore Every Day by Jon Acuff at JonAcuff.com
- Goals: Get A Bigger Frying Pan! by Chris Patton at Christian Faith at Work
It should be a fun week upcoming. Brandon Gilliland will be guest posting on Wednesday. We’ll have another fun Ice Breaker on Friday. And there’s sure to be more Stretching the rest of the week. Please stop back so you can see what’s going on here!
How about you? How was your week? If you’re a blogger what happened over your way this week? Did you read any great blog posts this week? Share with the rest of us!
Ice Breaker – My First Car
It’s that time of the week again…time for an ice breaker question! Since it’s the first ice breaker of the year, I thought I would ask a question about firsts. For those of you who are new or who forgot, ice breaker questions are used to help people get to know each other – to “break the ice” so to speak. I love hearing what other people have to say and how they think. So for today, I’m excited to throw out another simple ice breaker question. I’ll answer it first, then it’s your turn. Answer the question by leaving a comment for us all to enjoy. Thanks!
Question: What was (or is) your first car?
My Answer: Here you go….
My answer will be pretty simple. My first car was a 1974 Chevy Nova. It was midnight blue with a white hard top. It had a straight six cylinder engine in it, and I could stand next to the engine if I lifted the hood. The Nova had four doors and a JVC stereo that I installed. The ceiling fabric was falling down, so I used push pins to hold it up. It had an Oakley sticker in the back window. The Nova felt like it was floating when I drove down the highway. I’ll always have fond memories of the Nova.
So there you have it, my answer to the question. Now it’s your turn….I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say!
New Year’s Eve 2011 Week In Review…
It’s been a different week here at the Stretched blog. The holidays have provided a great opportunity to catch up with family, to relax, and to regroup for 2012. The traffic to the Stretched Blog was a little lower than the past few weeks, but that was expected. On the positive, December 2011 has been the best month (by far) since the blog started! Thank you!
Here’s the rundown on the posts for the week:
Tuesday: Top Posts of 2011 Number 2 – Ten Things Every Small Group Leader Should Know
Wednesday: Top Posts of 2011 Number 1 – Top 10 Things To Do At Grove City College
Thursday: Book Review: Rumors of God by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson
Friday (this actually posted Saturday do to a visit to me by the stomach flu): Ice Breaker – Resolutions
I am so thankful for your continued contribution to the blog through comments. Your comments are what makes this Stretched Community! Please remember to take the time to Subscribe to the blog, so you can have Stretched delivered daily to your e-mail inbox. Also, don’t forget to stop by the Jon Stolpe Stretched Facebook fan page. Become a fan to keep up with some additional Stretched stuff. I have started to share more blog highlights from other blogs that I read regularly. I think you’ll find some great stuff here. Thanks!
I’m really excited about this upcoming week as we roll into 2012! I’ll be guest posting on a blog or two, and I’ll have more stuff right here. Please stop back so you can see what’s going on here!
How about you? How was your week? If you’re a blogger what happened over your way this week? Did you read any great blog posts this week? Share with the rest of us!
Ice Breaker – Resolutions
Okay, here it is! The last ice breaker question of 2011! I started these ice breaker questions a couple of months ago, and I’ve been amazed at the popularity and response. The Ice Breaker question a few weeks ago about Christmas movies is one of the top posts all-time on The Stretched Blog. For those of you who are new or who forgot, ice breaker questions are used to help people get to know each other – to “break the ice” so to speak. I love hearing what other people have to say and how they think. So for today, I’m excited to throw out another simple New Year’s themed ice breaker question. I’ll answer it first, then it’s your turn. Answer the question by leaving a comment for us all to enjoy. Thanks!
Question: Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If so, what’s one of your New Year’s resolutions? If not, why?
My Answer: Here you go….
If you’ve been reading for a while, you may have noticed or you may have heard me share that I’m a goal oriented person. I love to set goals and to see where they take me. So…it shouldn’t be a surprise that I like the opportunity to set new goals for the year ahead. I usually set personal fitness goals, spiritual growth goals, leadership goals, church goals, marriage goals, family goals, financial goals, and personal growth goals. I’ll share a goal from my personal growth area. I’d like to read at least one book per month in 2012. For the avid readers out there, this doesn’t sound very challenging. But I’m not the average avid reader, I’m pretty slow and deliberate with my reading. So reading one book per month will be a decent challenge. I am currently reading The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, and I think I may finish this before the new year, so this doesn’t count. I’m looking to focus my reading in a few areas: small groups, leadership, and spiritual growth. I couple books that I’m looking forward to reading this year are: Community Is Messy (a soon to be released book by Heather Zempel), Community: Taking Your Small Group Off Of Life Support by Brad House, and EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey.
So there you have it, my answer to the question. Now it’s your turn….I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say!
About
You might be wondering where the “Stretched” thing comes from. For starters, when I was in high school at Rancocas Valley Regional High School, I was short – 5’6″ to start my junior year. Since then, I’ve grown to almost 6’6″. Many of my friends started calling me Stretch.
On a more recent basis, I often feel “stretched” by all the things going on around me – career, marriage, parenting, church, running, reading, friendships, extended family, relationship with God, etc. (in no particular order). My hope is that this blog will provide an opportunity to express some of my “stretch marks” and to possibly hear your thoughts as well. 
So here is a bit more about me: I’m a Christ-follower, husband, dad, son, uncle, engineer, runner, chicken farmer, gardener, saxophone player, operations manager, adventurer, and the list goes on…. I’m extremely blessed to have the best wife in the whole world. We met at Grove City College. We were engaged on top of the Eiffel Tower. We got married in Greensburg, PA. Now, we live in Schwenksville, PA with our two incredible kids, and our black lab.
December 2011 Top Posts
We’ve reached the end of another month. December was the BEST month so far at Jon Stolpe Stretched. Traffic on the blog increased slightly by over 500 page views since November and by almost 300 page views since the previous record month (September 2011)! Comments continued to roll-in. And new people joined in the conversation and community. The blog added TWELVE new subscribers, and the Jon Stolpe Stretched Facebook Page attracted a couple of new followers in its fourth month. Here are the top 10 posts and top 3 commentors for the month:
Top 10 Posts
1. On Fire
2. Ice Breaker – Christmas Movies (the new #1 Ice Breaker question)
3. Ice Breaker – Christmas Songs and Carols
4. Surprise!!!
5. Our Christmas Ornament Tradition
6. Ice Breaker – On The 13th Day Of Christmas What Gift Are You Hoping to Get
7. Ten Things Every Small Group Leader Should Know (originally posted on October 24, 2011)
8. Ice Breaker – Favorite Toy
9. Leaders Are Readers – Creating My Reading List For 2012
10. It’s 40!
Top 3 Commentors (We blew by the 1,500th comment mark this month!)
1. Larry Carter (for the 2nd month in a row!)
2. Brandon Gilliland
3. Bill Grandi
I now have 32 regular subscribers. If you’d like to become a subscriber, see the “Join the Stretched Community” window on your right. It’s great to see this starting to take off.
Thank you to all of you for reading and contributing to the blog and to the reader community. I continue to grow a lot through this experience. *** This month, the top commentor will receive a copy of The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. Get your comments in for an opportunity to win!!! ***
As always, I love to share your “stretching” stories on my blog, so leave me a comment if you’re interested in being a guest blogger on Jon Stolpe Stretched. As a side note, I’d love to see guest bloggers in the monthly top 10 list!
Finally, if you’re a blogger, how did your blog to this month? What was your top post? What was your favorite post?
January 2, 2012 Posted by jonstolpe | birthday, blogging, Christmas, Christmas movies, Christmas season, family traditions, fire, first Christmas ornament, guest blogger, Ice Breaker, stretch, thankful, thoughts | commentor, larry carter | 4 Comments