Many of our Reformed Journal writers gathered on the shores of Lake Macatawa last week for our annual writers’ retreat. We always enjoy being together and learning more about our shared enterprise. Among the things we learned this time was how important catchy headlines are.

Our most viewed post of 2025 was actually posted in September, 2024: For this Reformed Christian, Trump is an antichrist. Let me tell you why. This article has been viewed over 81,000 times in 2025. It was viewed thousands of times before the 2024 election, slowed down afterwards, and then took off into the stratosphere following the inauguration. People find it via a Google search. Whoever would have guessed that since the inauguration, “Trump + antichrist” would be put into a search bar tens of thousands of times? What’s that tell you?

You can see what it told me by the clever headline of today’s post.

We also learned most people read us on their cellphones. We like to imagine thoughtful readers sitting in front their computer with a morning cup of coffee. In reality, our readers are likely reading while doing something else. Like shopping. Or watching Wheel of Fortune. Or pretending to listen to their spouse.

Much of the data on our readers can be filed under “Everything you think you know is wrong.” I tend to think the same faithful people I see in the comments—Daniel Meeter, RZ, Henry Baron—are our readers. They are, but since the beginning of 2025, over 227,000 separate devices have connected to the RJ. I don’t exactly believe that equates to 227.000 different people, after all I am one person and use both my phone and computer to look at the RJ. But I don’t own 227,000 devices. There are a lot of people out there beside Daniel, RZ, Henry, and me.

I also tend to think our readers are in Dutch enclaves like West Michigan and Northwest Iowa and other garden spots with horrific winter weather. They are, but they are also in India, South Africa, the Philippines, and Singapore. Someone asked why we have so many readers in India. “Because 1.4 billion people live there,” was the quick reply. However, the person doing the presentation noted we also should not discount the influence Protestant missionaries have had over the centuries around the world.

Just take a moment and appreciate that.

Not all of our retreat was about understanding our numbers. The artist Joel Schoon-Tanis also joined us and led a session on creativity, with an eye towards helping us break free of our routines. Joel first stretched our minds by asking us to make a list of animals and then had us draw a hybrid animal that had features from any two animals on our list. I drew a giraffe-o-pede, a cross between a giraffe and centipede, an animal with a very long neck and a hundred feet. Why God didn’t create an animal like that in the first place is a mystery, but thinking simply of the natural world, the biological logistics of mating a giraffe and a centipede stagger the imagination. I mean it’s understandable how a horse and donkey might get together long enough to create a mule, but a giraffe and a centipede?

A later exercise involved rewriting a typical RJ story in the style of the Daily Show or Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. My group created a rollicking story about two ships that were taking on water and beginning to sink. After many arguments, half the crew and passengers on the first ship sailed off on a hastily cobbled together ark. Their ark puttered along aimlessly because the prideful all-male crew refused to stop and ask for directions. The remaining crew and passengers on the first ship stopped noticing they were taking on water because at least they weren’t arguing anymore. Meanwhile, developments on the second ship were more startling. A number of those on the second ship got together and decided the reason they were in trouble had to be the fault of the others on the ship. “These people are rot,” they declared as they tossed their own brothers and sisters overboard. Some of those being tossed overboard felt great relief when they landed on the first ship, not realizing it had plenty of trouble of its own.

It was hilarious. I realize it’s not funny now, when you read it—it’s tragic—but trust me, the whole room was laughing hysterically. Or maybe they were crying. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

Anyway, it wasn’t all fun and games. Our writers’ retreat was, in all seriousness, time well spent. Huge thanks to Laurie and Steve Orlow, who have hosted us the past three summers. One of our writers sent me a note afterwards saying how energizing it was to be in a room with that level of talent and wisdom. Another said being with those people in that location is saving his life and is the highlight of his year.

I feel the same way. It’s just that “Wonderful People Gather Together” doesn’t make a catchy headline.