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The First 5 Things

· Updated · by · 3 min read

Updated September 2026 with a look back at this list and a simple way to write your own five things.

I wanted to start writing more and figured that I could handle writing about 5 things of anything so here it goes.

My first 5 things will be Things About Me!… which is kinda lame, but you gotta start somewhere.

1. I love Jesus and I’m still a sinner.

I want to be as authentic as possible in saying that I love Jesus, who he is and what’s he done for me, but I’m still a miserable sinner that fails him more and more everyday. The greatest part of knowing Christ is knowing that He still loves me anyway and wants to help correct me. Obedience is very freeing because it means that my plans are not his plans and for that I am very grateful.

2. I love technology and most things nerdy.

From this post to this post… you’ve probably became acquainted with my nerdiness. I’m real with it. (Hence, nerdiness just got real)

3. I am country.

I don’t say this easily. I tried for so long to shed my country-ness (?). But I’m coming to terms that it’s a good thing. I cook with buttermilk, butter, and cornmeal. I make way too much food for one sitting. I love to feed people. Ok, almost all my country-ness deals with food mostly. I also really enjoy fishing and was raised on a dirt road.

4. I am a foodie.

Ok, I’ve already talked about food… but I love it! I love cooking and eating.

5. My middle name is Joy.

I believe I’ve seen a lot of sorrow and suffering for my 23 years, but my middle name is Joy. I live like it is.

Looking back at this list

I was 23 when I wrote this, a year before I moved to Tennessee, and just trying to write more. Reading it now, it’s funny how many of these five things turned out to be threads that kept running.

Jesus. Loving Jesus while still needing His grace every day came first on this list for a reason. That thread led me into church work, including my time at Brentwood Baptist, and into a career helping church communicators tell the story well.

Technology. The nerdiness got real, all right. It turned into founding ChurchCommunications.com and its Facebook group, writing the B&H Academic textbook Church Communications, and now running Katie Allred Consulting, where I help teams with AI training, community strategy, and communication audits. If you’re curious, the old subnetting post from item 2 lives on this site now: Subnetting Part 1: Binary/Decimal Conversion.

Country. I grew up in Clanton, Alabama, and moved to Tennessee in 2013. I live in Nolensville now.

Food. The recipes stuck around too. If you want the country-cooking side of me, start with Mexican cornbread casserole or tater tot casserole.

Joy. Joy isn’t the absence of sorrow. The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and that’s the kind that holds when life doesn’t. I wrote about sorrow and joy living side by side in Ecclesiastes 7: Sorrow is better than laughter and three lessons learned from grief.

Write your own five things

Here’s something I’d recommend to anyone who wants to write more or who has to write an About page or a bio and freezes up: start with five things about you.

It works because five is small. You’re not writing your life story. You’re writing a list. Try these prompts:

  1. What do you believe that shapes everything else?
  2. What are you a little nerdy about?
  3. Where are you from, and how does it still show up?
  4. What do you love doing so much you’d do it for free?
  5. What’s the story behind your name?

Write one or two honest sentences for each. Don’t polish it yet. Then read it back and ask: would a stranger feel like they know me a little better?

That’s the heart of good communication, whether it’s a personal blog or your organization’s website. Be clear, be real, and let people see who you are. You gotta start somewhere, so start with five.