The inaugural TheoBlogger Awards held on the Saturday of the International Soul Winning Workshop in Tulsa, OK were… how do you say… interesting!

I’m not sure that any of us could have predicted the circumstances under which the awards were held.  A freak snowstorm/blizzard in Tulsa on the day of the awards dropped somewhere around 8 inches of snow.  This was fine for those of us from Michigan, which included my party and Patrick Mead, the southerners present were a little more scared off by the snow.  Shortly after my arrival at the luncheon, the power in the Memorial Drive church building went out.  We sat around in the dark cracking jokes about how this would be the least amount of technology ever used at a technology associated luncheon.  Patrick Mead mused aloud, “Lord, give us a sign if you don’t want us to have this luncheon.  A freak snowstorm or sudden power failure, perhaps.”  This and Patrick’s desire to wear a skirt, have a sex change, and show cleavage in order to win the “Female Blogger of the Year” award next year were only a few of the many jokes he cracked for us.

Brian Nicklaus, a.k.a. The Blog Prophet, presented perhaps the best award of the day to Trey Morgan: a “Disciple of John Dobbs” t-shirt.

Despite the weather, power failure, and presentation by TheoBloggers, we all seemed to have a great time.  We’re already having discussions about next year and how we want to handle our blogger gettogether.  If you have any suggestions, please leave your comments below.

Before I post the results, I’d like to give a HUGE shoutout to Diann Coggins for catering our meal for us during the luncheon.  She adapted on the fly to the weather and power issues and did a fabulous job.

The award winners for this year, as selected by popular vote of 874 voters, were:

- Best Marriage/Family/Parenting Blog: Laura Coppinger - http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog
- Best Leadership/Discipleship Blog: Patrick Mead - http://patrickmead.net
- Best Devotional/Inspirational Blog: John Dobbs - http://johndobbs.com
- Best Theological Blog: John Mark Hicks - http://johnmarkhicks.wordpress.com
- Best Practical Ministry Blog: Trey Morgan - http://treymorgan.net
- Best New Blogger: Steve Tucker - http://thetractorcab.wordpress.com
- Best Blog by a Female Blogger: Sarah Stirman - http://sarahstirman.blogspot.com
- Blogger of the Year: Trey Morgan - http://treymorgan.net

Congrats to all the winners!

We’re looking for ways to improve on next year’s awards.  Leave us your comments or “contact us” to share your ideas.