In April, the New York Times reported on how a pirate-clad pastor in Canada used his podcast and online memes to help Trump Media stock prices. We live in odd times. But in that piece, the national paper of record included a link to the only other profile of the Canadian pastoral fan of Trump stock. Two-and-a-half years earlier, we published that very piece at A Public Witness. And that’s how we get a plug this year from the “old gray lady.”
The New York Times brought in about $2.4 billion last year. To calculate our haul, you could use four fewer digits. Their staff totals more than 5,000 — which is about 1,000 times more than what we have at Word&Way. Yet, we noticed and documented a religious-political phenomenon overlooked by the Times and the rest of the mainstream media for 31 months.
That’s not an outlier for us at A Public Witness. This year, we published an analysis of prayers at Trump campaign rallies six months before The Atlantic ran a similar look at the prayers that used our work to understand what was said. And we published a report this year on how some anti-democratic political activists are using a little-known Reformation theology — five months before ProPublica covered it after consulting with us.
We’re a small outlet, but we’re having an impact and covering stories that would otherwise not receive the attention they need. This year — and all the craziness of it in the realms of religion and politics — again proved that. It’s also been a great year as we’ve been honored with awards for our reporting at A Public Witness and watched as our subscriber count grew. So in this review of 2024, I will count down our most popular pieces and reflect on some other highlights from the year.
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Top Pieces in 2024
This year, we published 107 pieces at A Public Witness, in addition to also sending out a weekly roundup email of top news and more. Close to 40% of the 107 pieces went only to paid subscribers. Here are the 10 most-read pieces from A Public Witness in 2024:
10. Which Voice, Which Vote? by Brian Kaylor (Oct. 29). This piece contrasted two gatherings held on the same Sunday in New York City: Rev. William Barber II preaching at The Riverside Church and the Trump campaign’s controversial rally at Madison Square Garden.
9. Christian Nationalism Had a Good Night by Brian Kaylor (Nov. 6). This report covered numerous election results beyond the presidential race.
8. Loving Our Neighbors Means Not Lying About Them by Brian Kaylor (Sept. 17). The piece analyzed false claims by politicians about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
7. What Congress Reveals About the Methodist Schism by Brian Kaylor (Jan. 30). This report looked at members of Congress to offer insights on differences between United Methodists and Global Methodists (and a similar report on Lutherans in Congress also the made the top 20 most-read pieces).
6. The Bible According to the RNC by Brian Kaylor (July 18). This report tracked how preachers and politicians quoted the Bible during the Republican National Convention (and a similar report on Bible references during the Democratic National Convention also made the top 20 most-read pieces).
5. Prayers of the MAGA Faithful by Brian Kaylor (Jan. 9). This report offered a detailed analysis of the content of prayers at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies.
4. When ‘Jesus’ Becomes a MAGA Rally Chant by Brian Kaylor (Oct. 23). This report included video and audio evidence to correct a false attack on Kamala Harris after hecklers interrupted her at a campaign rally.
3. The Next Baptist President of the United States? by Brian Kaylor (July 22). This article reported on the faith of Kamala Harris after Joe Biden suddenly ended his reelection bid.
2. The Root Rot of the SBC by Brian Kaylor (March 12). In light of new revelations about a key denominational leader, this piece reflected on the Southern Baptist endemic culture of protecting sexual abusers.
…drumroll…
1. Political Attacks on Walz’s Church? Good Grief. by Brian Kaylor (Aug. 8). This article reported on conservative Christians attacking the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a member of an ELCA church, as her running mate.
Highlights of 2024
In addition to top pieces from A Public Witness this year, I’d also like to highlight a few more things at Word&Way this year.
5. The audience keeps growing for our award-winning show Dangerous Dogma. We’ve been podcasting since 2018, but more people are listening now across the country and around the world. This was the biggest year for Dangerous Dogma, which also won three awards in 2024. If you want to check out some of our conversations, consider starting with the top 10 most-downloaded episodes of Dangerous Dogma this year.
4. Our work was cited by numerous other media outlets. Among those who looked to us to inform their coverage of various issues were the Associated Press, Axios, Baptist News Global, Huffington Post, MSNBC, New York Times, Newsweek, Sojourners, Texas Observer, and USA Today.
3. We were honored with 23 awards for our journalism. This included 14 awards for A Public Witness from our peers in religious journalism. We also won awards for news writing, podcasting, magazine design, and more. We’ve won more than 100 awards over the last five years, proof of our commitment to providing you with quality Christian journalism.
2. Baptizing America was the best-selling Chalice book of the year. The book on Christian Nationalism and mainline Protestants that I co-wrote with Beau Underwood topped the charts for our publisher in 2024. The book was also highlighted in numerous publications and podcasts, which helped bring more attention to our work at A Public Witness. And if you’ve not bought the book yet, it’s a great resource to help you and your church address Christian Nationalism in the coming year. So grab your copy today.
1. Subscribers to A Public Witness reached new highs. This year, our overall number of subscribers has grown more than 16% and is approaching 12,000. We’re glad you found us! We’re especially thankful for the smaller group of paid subscribers. This growth is essential to ensuring the future sustainability of our journalism ministry. But we honestly need more paid subscribers to do the work we need to in 2025. So if you’re not yet a paid subscriber to this newsletter, you can help us continue our important work by upgrading today.
None of this would be possible without the faithful support of our readers and donors. Thanks for being part of our journey in 2024. And I’m excited to see what we can do together in the coming year.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
A Public Witness is a reader-supported publication of Word&Way. To receive new posts and support our journalism ministry, subscribe today.
