I normally don’t blog on the weekend. But as I was sitting here drinking my Newcastle Brown Ale, I was thinking about how God has truly blessed theBeerean.com in the month-and-a-half that it’s been around. I started theBeerean.com on April 20 and in that time we’ve already had 885 visits, 1925 page views, and 34 subscribers (my goal is to get to 100 by the end of September). God has really been at work.

I was also thinking about how I would like to share with you guys a few things that are planned for in the near future of this blog. As most of you know, I’m having my first kiddo any day now (Shannon’s due date is tomorrow). In order to keep this blog running while I take some much needed paternity leave (just a week), theBeerean.com is going to have its first Reader Week.

I’m going to turn this blog over to the readers for a week. You guys are going to share your insights on Jesus, beer, and culture. I’ve already received my first post from Clayton Bell, and I have to say that I’m excited. I try my best to read the blogs of my readers (the ones that I know of), and I know what you guys are capable of. This should be one awesome week. If you would like to participate, check out this post for the details (please, please, please).

There is one other thing that I’m really excited about that I plan on starting next week. Starting this coming Tuesday, I’m going to do a weekly post called Beer 101. Our friend Brad Ruggles was kind enough to design one stellar header for this weekly post.

Beer 101 will be an education in beer. How is this different from Beer Tip of the Week? I’m glad you asked. Beer Tip of the Week focuses on sharing tips to enjoy your beer more. Beer 101 will focus on answering your questions about beer. I’m not an expert, but I’m really good with google. Each week we’ll look at topics like:

• How is beer made?
• What beers go with what foods?
• Beer Style Spotlights
• What ingredients go into different beers?
• Beer Glass Spotlight
• Location Spotlights
• Brewery Spotlights

You get the idea. Beer 101 will be an education into the world of beer.

You can also participate in Beer 101 in a unique way also. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve installed a new widget in the sidebar of the site. It’s a service called skribit. Skribit allows you to submit topics/questions that you want me to write about and then everyone gets to vote. I’m predominantly looking for questions to answer in Beer 101, but suggestions can be for general topics too.

Since day one, I’ve wanted to have theBeerean.com shaped by the readers not me. Of course I’ll always be working to improve this site on my own, but I want you to be the driving force behind that. Because ultimately this isn’t my site, it is our site. I’ve had that mindset from day one, and I plan to keep it that way.

Well that’s all I have for right now. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up for things to come. I have to get back to enjoying my weekend with my wife and play some mad Wii Mario Kart.