Blog Madness Final Four!
We’ve gone to overtime baby!
Overtime: Blog Madness (ends April 8, 2008 @ 12:01 am)
- Power of Change (Reid S. Monaghan - S) (92%, 181 Votes)
- Reformissionary (Steve McCoy - A) (8%, 16 Votes)
Total Voters: 197
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It’s taken two long weeks to get here, but we’ve finally narrowed down the field of Southern Seminary related bloggers down to four. The comments, the hype - hype - hype - hype - hype - hype - hype, and voting have been intense. I want to thank all you guys that linked over and made this weird idea worth doing.
The first two rounds resulted in 2181 votes. Here is how this round will work:
- There are four blogs left, you can vote for only one
- I’ve re-ordered the field based on total votes
- The voting will close on Saturday night (4/5/08)
- The poll is set to limit votes from the same IP address. This will only affect you if you are sharing an internet connection.
Choose your vote wisely. Here are a few questions to help clarify which blog deserves your vote.
- Which blog consistently glorifies Christ with its content? Does the blogger express a transparent love for God?
- Which blog encourages other believers? Does the blogger express a transparent love for others?
- If you could only read one of these blogs for the next year, which would it be?
- Which blog is the most helpful for the average pastor or seminary student?
Make your case. The comments are open for you to play the pundit. Enthusiastic support (and self-promotion) are welcome. Just be sure to make your case from the criteria above. You are also welcome to endorse one of the remaining blogs.
Prize for the winner. I will give the winning blogger a $50 gift certificate to Westminster Book Store. At least one of the finalists already has his books picked out.
The statistics below are gathered from Google Reader. They don’t reflect feedburner’s feed count, but they do give a ballpark of one’s readership. I’ve tried to note who has feeburner stats that aren’t counted with a ** symbol. Don’t let these stats overwhelm you. Everyone likes to pull for an underdog!
Blog Madness Final Four
- Reformissionary (Steve McCoy - A)
New Team Motto: “I’m giving Tim Keller books to skeptics“
Team Motto: “The free books take this to another level.“
Round One Votes: 76
Round Two Votes: 272
Subscriber Count: 482
Posts Per Week: 4.9
Current blog birthday: 1/31/2005 - Provocations & Pantings (Timmy Brister - S)
Team Motto: “Yes We Can! - provoke the vote.”
Round One Votes: 80
Round Two Votes: 191
Subscriber Count: 214
Posts Per Week: 9.1
Current blog birthday: 12/31/2006 and here - Power of Change (Reid S. Monaghan - S)
Team Motto: “Every vote for the POCBlog saves a kitten…and that kitten will get to go to heaven. ”
Round One Votes: 49
Round Two Votes: 143
Subscriber Count: 40
Posts Per Week: 5.2
Current blog birthday: 1/14/2004 - Kingdom People (Trevin Wax - S)
Team Motto: “No comment.”
Round One Votes: 72
Round Two Votes: 108
Subscriber Count: 129 + 71 via Feedburner
Posts Per Week: 11.4
Current blog birthday: 10/22/2006
Blog Madness Finals - pick one
- Reformissionary (Steve McCoy - A) (42%, 271 Votes)
- Power of Change (Reid S. Monaghan - S) (41%, 266 Votes)
- Provocations & Pantings (Timmy Brister - S) (11%, 69 Votes)
- Kingdom People (Trevin Wax - S) (9%, 58 Votes)
Total Voters: 653
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{ 75 comments… read them below or add one }
For eliminated bloggers:
Feel free to use this comment thread to negotiate a good price for your endorsements.
Timmy, if you’ll fork over $5 of your WTS winnings, I’ll vote for you. JK. I can’t sell my vote. What would that suggest?!
kschaub’s last blog post..Nearly 6 Months of Blogging!
Before I begin goofing off, allow me to say that it was truly an honor to be a part of this first “Blog-Madness.” I was surprised to have made it out of the first round and even more surprised that the grassroots effort worked–sort of.
Since I finished third in voting, I would be willing to listen to offers for my endorsement! I bet I can get Sharpton and Robertson to endorse it as well seeings how they are in the mood for endorsing everything in the world these days.
Good luck to the Final Four. I wish I could have been there. However, you can’t go wrong with any of these four blogs.
Terry Delaney’s last blog post..Grocery Shopping on the Lord’s Day
So, my wife is sitting here waiting to cast her vote (after I have cast my vote) and she is unable because of the IP restriction.
Joe Thorn’s last blog post..The Full Paradigm
Joe - Sorry, I just won’t have time to hyper audit the poll logs again this week!
Terry - I would love your endorsement…but I am a risky endorsement. I am the only non Baptist in the race…an external studies student at that…it would be a radical endorsement - quite unexpected by all the pundits.
There may be power in that diary of yours!
Also, I think you may have finished fourth overall in Round 2…A very strong showing - which makes you an honorary final four member in my mind.
just thought I’d come over and campaign for votes.
Let’s see. I am a woman. (like that should matter). I love all of you (well, after all, I don’t love Jesus if I don’t love you). I could tell you all about my poor dog that has a paralyzed leg, but wouldn’t want you to think I’m going for the sympathy votes. Uh, I like Tony best. I do. I really do. Can’t believe he pitted me against Wade Burleson, Ed Stetzer AND Said at Southern. How’s a lady to win against such odds? That’s okay though, I really am just happy to be here. 
selahV
selahV’s last blog post..BLOWN AWAY AND TICKLED PINK~~ I MADE IT! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Do I get a sympathy vote for the most times a blog title has been mis-typed?
Paintings.
Panties.
Pants.
And Joe took a picture of me naked, put it on his blog, calling me “sunshine.”
Oh, and what about the Ahmedinejad look-a-like photo? Too cruel.
http://myiconoclasm.blogspot.com/2006/06/would-you-trust-timmy-with-nuclear.html
Timmy Brister’s last blog post..Band of Bloggers Giveaways
Reid, Reid, He’s our Man, if Reid don’t win…what will happen to all the kittens in the world?
Brother Hank’s last blog post..Birth Control: An Ensuing Dialog
Timmy - You need do do a special “self pity” post. And for the record I would trust you with nuclear weapons.
Hank - I think we all share your concern about the kittens. I am tempted to vote for Reid myself.
selahV - Thanks for stopping by, and the dog story does get a sympathy angle.
Reid - Terry can be bought, I happen to know the church that he attends was mixed (affiliated with SBC and American Baptist) for a number of years - and it may still be so!
Reid - Nope, finished third over all. I think 9 votes ahead of Trevin. The whole Baptist thing ain’t that big a deal. I was raised Catholic and then promptly booted from the Catholic and later the UCC (the same UCC as Obama). And, yes, I can be bought
Timmy - I am just glad you were able to get panties written on a comment at Said!
This comment was brought to you by the number 40 and the letters CXVII.
Terry Delaney’s last blog post..Grocery Shopping on the Lord’s Day
Reformissionary, P&P, POC then Terry…1, 2, 3, 4. I may be missing something though.
My whole family…was Irish Catholic…until my Dad became a strong agnostic. I just love guys who use Roman Numerals!
Hank - we saved many kittens…now I am just a bit worried that we do not care about little monkeys. Richard Dawkins says those little guys are just like us…save some little monkeys friends. For the love!
Unless the rest of you offer some kind of comparable animal rescue program, Reid is going to run away with this competition–he is promising to save the kittens AND the monkeys. Can any of you top that!
Right now Reid has my support, because he has a motto we can all get behind!
Drew Dixon’s last blog post..Divorce and Remarriage (What God has Joined Together . . .)
Thanks to everyone who voted me this far.
I stand little chance behind the McCoy/Brister machine… however, I promise to review on the blog any book I buy from Westminster - thus sharing my reward with you all!
How’s that for incentive?
Trevin Wax’s last blog post..After the Boomers 5: Trends in Religious Beliefs
Trevin -
as tempting as book reviews sound…they just don’t compare to a monkey in a little pink dress…
Brother Hank’s last blog post..Technology, Too, Must Have It’s Sabbath Rest
Yup, I did finish 4th overall–I don’t know what I was thinking other than the stuff I was on is now running out. My thought was that I finished above one of the Final Four guys. I guess now that my infallibility has been disproven by myself, I have shown that I do not deserve to be here!
Trevin, if you want EE’s support, you are going to have to offer something more substantial than offering for us to experience your book winnings vicariously through your reviews. Reid is offering to save kittens . . . KITTENS.
Drew Dixon’s last blog post..Divorce and Remarriage (What God has Joined Together . . .)
What a dilemma. How does one choose between these four? Well, I managed, but it wasn’t easy.
Martin Pitcher’s last blog post..Smal Church Conference
Sorry guys. I’m not a pet person.
I do like fish though… especially fried.
Trevin Wax’s last blog post..After the Boomers 5: Trends in Religious Beliefs
Everyone should note that 2 of the final 4 blogs have come from the Nashville “conference”(extension center). I am not sure if that qualifies as a mid-major surprise, or if it shows how underrated we are down here. Nashville has a strong RPI.
Bill Blair’s last blog post..Piper on the Prosperity Gospel
[…] a decisive vote last week, I NEED YOUR VOTE AGAIN! I need more votes than before! Go to the Said at Southern blog, scroll down a bit and vote for […]
Why do I get the feeling this thing is fixed in order to provide a fantastic finish? I get this feeling watching the NBA every once in a while. The Mavs will be up by 25 only to lose the lead for a tight finish at the end. A game of runs? Or, fixed? I don’t know.
What does this mean? It means Power of Change should be ready for a comeback!
kschaub’s last blog post..Divorce and Remarriage (What God has Joined Together . . .)
After one day, I am surprised how Power of Change has built a commanding lead. Just looking at his numbers from Round #1 an #2, it seems that he will is peaking at the right time!
I guess it’s the monkey and kittens.
McCoy has linked over, pledging to give his books to lost people!
Brister loves the drama of the comeback, but does he have one more rally left in that 3rd shift soul?
Trevin is a little shy to link over, but maybe he could get a celebrity endorsement?
[…] Go here and vote for Steve McCoy’s blog, Reformissionary. Should Steve win this popularity contest all proceeds will go to getting Tim Keller’s book, Reason for God, into the hands of those who need it. How cool is that?! I think the other bloggers said they were going to buy Why We’re Not Emergent and pass them out to young men with soul patches. So really, voting for Steve is a vote for the gospel. […]
I have friends…not many bloggers though…that is where I am going to get killed. It has begun…Faith Maps, Thorn…
I voted for Steve McCoy aka Reformissionary. He promised that if I voted for him he would dump Joe Thorn and let me be his new best friend.
Does this meet the criteria?
A vote for me is a vote to be my best friend.
Steve McCoy’s last blog post..NPM ‘08: Fire and Ice
Steve McCoy gets my vote. But if this was a real election, I’d be able to vote more than once. Go bro!
I didn’t even know I was in the tournament until yesterday! Talk about being a sleeper. Tony, I resent the implication that I can be bought! Neither I, nor my votes are for sale!! (I might be interested in talking to someone about a lease-option arrangement, however)
Tom - You Florida people have real estate in your blood.
This isn’t a good time to have real estate in your blood.
Steve McCoy’s last blog post..VOTE!
Tony, actually these days we Floridians tend to have blood in our real estate. It’s painful.
awe, when you said “I like fish… fried” I cried a little… Just because I thought of someone’s pet fish being fried…
[…] I am asking you to take a moment between now and Saturday to go over to Said at Southern and “Provoke the Vote” for Reid’s blog, Power of Change. Again, DO NOT vote for me! That would be like being […]
Vote for Reid! Vote for Reid! Vote for Reid!
Timmy, I am humbled by your support…I have been away from the net for a couple of days - barely time to check in on e-mail. I was in Lville for a meeting with pastors/church planters on Wednesday at Sojourn. Great stuff with Paul Tripp.
Now in the blustery state of NJ looking for a house…a house from which to launch a church with reformation, baptistic convictions and robust cultural missiology.
Let’s shock the world…perhaps Trevin could bring the Kingdom people to the dance?
Finally, every should check out God’s Mac podcast - the tech/ministry labors being done by Gabe Taviano - another man standing with us to try and shock the power brokers of the blog world…
So, can we just transfer all Timmy’s votes to Reid?
Hahaha! No.
Steve McCoy’s last blog post..URGENT!!!
Adam,
Great idea. I will freely give up all my votes to the cause of Mr. Monaghan.
Timmy Brister’s last blog post..VOTE for Reid!
[…] been offered a $75 gift card for Eisenbrauns for the winner of blog madness! They sell books online -specializing in the ancient Near East and biblical […]
Wow - new prize added
Tell me you guys shut the voting down at 11:15 pm EST when we were rallying Reid to a victory? Down by 70 votes this morning and within 5 votes and this happens? Hmmmmm.
May I also mention that all of the votes that I rallied for Reid this evening were perfectly legal. Thanks to our podcast, Twitter, Facebook and blog. Hopefully this sorts out to be a fair finish?
POWER OF CHANGE ROCKS!!! KITTENS need to be saved too!
oh REID ROCKS TOO for that matter…
i guess that is all i gots.
It’s all over folks. Reid made a great rally - he didn’t loose, he just ran out of clock. I’ll see if I can round up a consolation prize.
Ran out of clock? Where does it mention when the clock stopped? According to my clock that is still ticking, it’s still April 5th?
I think you might want to think about handing the consolation prize to Reformissionary? Looking forward to hearing a fair explanation on this one.
I vote for #3
Recount! Recount!
SAS disenfranchising the voters from across the planet. Reid, you are the winner in our books, ole’ pal.
Timmy Brister’s last blog post..Who Is Jeremiah Burroughs?
Recount? The problem here is that the voting booth closed at approximately 11:15 pm (with 45 minutes left)? How can you recount votes that weren’t allowed in?
Look at the voter, Lisa, who even posted a vote comment before time really ran out, lol. I’m sure Reformissionary can’t leave the ring with the belt on?
Here’s the deal. I had 20 voters that were rallying just as time was cut off. For some reason I didn’t like them replying and asking what was up?
I had to stir up controversy somehow.
Actually, here is how it worked out. I’ve closed all the other polls around 11 PM so I could post the results before I went to bed.
I didn’t know there was a surge until I saw Gabe’s comment. Great finish guys and now there’s plenty for the sports pundits to talk about.
Tony - perhaps (for those who haven’t voted here before) you might want to make it obviously clear when April 5th ends on your calendar? When you post a voting contest, you’re going to get new visitors to the site. The rules they see for THE contest they are voting for are the rules they understand.
I’ve never been on this site until Reid blogged about the contest. How are we to think this wasn’t a scam after rallying from so far behind and it stopping just before taking the lead? Honestly?
Especially being a blog that is connected with a seminary. I’d be even more careful.
But Tony, you cannot make up the rules as you go along. Five vote margin in 45 minutes is clearly possible, and for all the effort that went in to bridge the gap, it just seems unfair to pick a time that best suits your bedtime when in all actuality the voting was not over until midnight.
Steve is going to feel real guilty now. Just wait.
Timmy Brister’s last blog post..Who Is Jeremiah Burroughs?
Gabe & Timmy - Let me consult my lawyers. I definitely see your point and would have never closed it had I known it was closing so fast.
Stay tuned …
Five vote margin in 45 minutes? I was on here rallying between 9:30 and 11:15 pm EST, and Reid gained 50 votes in an hour. Five votes were coming in within 3-4 minutes for Reid. And like I said…..20 were ready to come in before 11:30.
Tony,
To verify this, all you have to do is check the SiteMeter at 11:15 (which I was checking at this time). There were over 50 people on SAS when you closed it down, and at least 45 of them were actually on this very post (assuming they were looking to vote). I realize that now you cannot go back and verify that, but simply the spike in hourly traffic from 11-12 is enough to show that many were hoping to vote but never got the chance.
Timmy Brister’s last blog post..Who Is Jeremiah Burroughs?
At least this will give us something to chat about on our weekly podcast over at http://www.GodsMac.com. You didn’t happen to vote for Reformissionary did you Tony?
OK - I’m convinced.
So, I’m going to give away another $50 gift card in an overtime play off to end exactly - April 8, 2008 @ 12:01 am EST
This just ain’t right, lol. The point is that the first gift card was Reid’s. I don’t think you’re hearing me clearly? Obviously your lawyers you took this to didn’t go to school. You can’t lose a court case and get a re-do, lol.
Gabe - In this round I stayed neutral until Timmy dropped out, then I voted for Trevin.
By lawyer I really meant “go put the dog in his crate for the night”
Right or not - There’s new money on the line.
BTW: I’m enjoying your podcast and Reid’s campaign was something special.
Maybe we can make a deal???
If Reid wins by more than 50 votes the first contest is scratched, lol.
SCOREBOARD……SCOREBOARD……SCOREBOARD!!!!
[…] Blog Madness Final Four […]
Just to keep people aware of how this overtime has went, it’s 49-4 on Sunday morning @ 7:38 am EST. If I were Reformissionary, losing this badly - not truthfully being able to even deserve to be in overtime - and losing in his other blog contest at the moment…….I’d throw the white flag and surrender. Spare yourself the humility!?!?!
Tony,
So now that Steve has his $50 gift card, do you actually think that he will care to go another round? I mean, you eliminate Reid’s competition when you award the winner presumptuously, and instead of voting to win another round, Steve’s cruisin’ on his victory lap.
To make this fair, I think Trevin and myself should get a $50 gift card just for making it in the final four.
That is a good point, Timmy. I guess Steve could be greedy and want another $50 gift card, but I would probably settle for the first one.
OR……if I had a backbone, I would surrender the first $50 since I really lost and not force the blog to spend an extra $50 just to save their reputation.
you guys are soooo funny. I’ve been getting the feed for this comment stream and I have laughed till I’m silly. But then, I’ve always been a bit silly anyway. Truly, the best thing that came out of the Blog Madness for me was discovering Said At Southern and your zany banter. At first I thought you guys were serious, then I realized you’re just greedy, driven, over-zealous little boys.
And for the record…I’m kidding. selahV
selahV’s last blog post..GIVING UP, GROWING UP
Oh, and I voted for Reid and don’t even know him. Just because ya’ll told me to. ha.
selahV’s last blog post..GIVING UP, GROWING UP
I should offer up a $50 gift certificiate to Babies-R-Us for the best whiny comment. This is supposed to be fun, guys. The money has made you stupid. I don’t need the money, it just made it fun. At least for me it did. I haven’t even tried to get a vote for this round in a few days and have focused on the SBC Voices one. I was just trying to hold out with what I already had here. Do you really think I can’t find a bunch more votes at the last minute just like you all have if I wanted to?
Tony has closed the previous rounds at the same time. This one ran a few minutes longer, I think. To act like he was unfair because you all are shooting 3-pointers AFTER the buzzer and asking them to be counted is unfair to Tony. Give the man a break. Tony, feel free to give my gift certificates to Reid, close the overtime, and let’s all man-up a bit. I’ll buy some Tim Keller books with my own money and give them away under the name of your blog, Tony. You have run a fun contest, though these guys have pretty much ensured that you won’t want to ever do another.
I’m not working for votes for “overtime.” I don’t want your vote. I don’t care. It’s a freaking game, guys.
Oh my goodness, Steve! You mean they WERE serious? selahV
selahV’s last blog post..GIVING UP, GROWING UP
Steve - It takes a bit of time to post and request votes. I’m sure you can appreciate the effort. Stop and listen to yourself. You expect people who are visiting this site for the first time to understand unwritten and hidden rules (stopping voting short of the end of the closing day) from the past? This isn’t a life or death contest, but it was run VERY poorly and unfairly. To me, overtime would have been April 6th if the contest stated it was running through April 5th.
If it were only a game, why would you bother posting a request to your blog a few times throughout the week? I’m sure you could have written on something else? I’d surrender as well. Thanks for being an example and being willing to man up a bit too.
No, Selahv, nobody is serious…you are reading some banter, sarcasm and irony at work. This has been all a big bit of fun in my book - though I was trying to win…as was Steve as indicated by his multiple blog posts.
Now, to protect my good name, I had already (in private communication) told both Tony and Steve I did not care about the gift card. I am fully on record to be mainly in support of capuchin monkeys and kittens running with all of us in the Kingdom.
I need to go read some church history and finish a blog about strong AI and the vision of Ray Kurzweil. He cares about the monkeys - he would upload them into his man made virtual heaven…where we all live forever in a virtual machine running on hardware deep within bedrock in a far off world - protected from Said at Southern blog madness.
Please tell me the last 25-ish comments are not what they sound like. If they are, I’m glad we lost last round and didn’t have the privilege to stick around for the mess at the end. Is this actually serious? I was thought this was only for fun . . .
kschaub’s last blog post..Sufjan and the Old Covenant
**I was thought this was only for fun . . . oops. Should be, “I thought this was only for fun.”
kschaub’s last blog post..Sufjan and the Old Covenant
Reid, thanks for clarifying. The joking can look quite a bit different from joking when it is posted on a public comment thread.
kschaub’s last blog post..Sufjan and the Old Covenant
The Last Word: This whole conversation should carry the banner “tongue-in-cheek”
Consider the absurdity of the entire competition. I just wish I would have ended it on April 1st.