Looks like I was tagged by Brian Eberly with the “Thinking Blogger Award.” Thanks, Brian! Now I’m supposed to tag 5 more bloggers who cause me to think. This task was a little more difficult than I anticipated, but at last I settled on five and here they are, in no particular order:

Mark Batterson: His posts are concise, straight to the point and often pretty blunt. He just tells it like it is. Sometimes just one or two sentences will pop out at me and run through my head for the rest of the day.

Seth Godin: This guy blogs about marketing and commercialism, but a lot of his insights have huge implications for the church and ministry in general. His writings indirectly point out a lot of “sacred cows” we carry in church and give suggestions for what the church should really look like instead.

Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald: I love their refreshing approach to ministry, their heart for lost souls, and their passion for making disciples of Christ. Their blog is full of wisdom. (And being in the same denomination is irrelevant, but still kinda cool. ;) )

Jerry Schmoyer: My dad’s blogs are short, scripturally based and always highly applicable. Even if he wasn’t my father, I’d still love reading his material and his unique “Bible study” approach to blogging.

Anastasia Goodstein: Ypulse isn’t a Christian blog, but Anastasia does a great job at keeping her thumb on youth culture and summarizing it for her readers. Her research often helps me fine-tune aspects of my ministry to be as effective as possible.

• Guest Blogger: What I learned a month after leaving youth ministry
• I’m thinking about ending our large-group youth meetings
• Some of my favorite blogs
• Some things I’ve been thinking about lately (rants)
• Teens say Dad ranks only a little higher than pets