As you may know, I stepped aside from my role as the CEO of Thomas Nelson in April. Though I still remain the company’s Chairman, I am now pursuing speaking and writing full-time.

So far, it has been like starting a new business. I am busier than ever before. I am traveling weekly, speaking for corporations, colleges, conferences, non-profits, and churches. I am having a blast!

Since the first of the year, I have seen several bloggers post links to their most popular posts for 2008. I decided to post mine in case you missed these when I originally wrote them.

Since TypePad, my blogging service, doesn’t provide this kind of statistical information, I had to look elsewhere. In the process, I stumbled across PostRank, a service that “measures engagement by analyzing the types and frequency of an audience’s interaction with online content.”

One week ago today, I was running the Country Music Half Marathon. It was an incredible experience. I enjoyed this year’s race even more than last year’s—which is saying a lot.

Amazingly, some 32,000 people participated in either the race. According to various media reports, another 32,000 or so spectators attended. Regardless, it was a sea of people. Unless you run these types of races, you can’t imagine the energy.

I have been trying to figure out some way to communicate with our employees on some sort of regular basis. I considered a “Webcast.” In fact, we even video-taped one. But, frankly, it looked forced and artificial. We ended up scuttling the project.

I also considered sending out a semi-regular e-mail blast. This certainly has its advantages. For starters, I can communicate to almost every employee without any initiative on their part. In addition, it’s free.

However, after thinking about it for a few weeks and after consulting with a few of our executives, I decided to set up a blog (short for “Web Log”). That’s what you are reading now.

I think it has several advantages: