Category Archives: Media

6 Reasons Why You Need to Blog, Pt 2

In my last post I talked about the first three reasons why you need to blog. Here are the other three:

4. Blogging is a great way to connect with like-minded people
Blogging is another form of social media. When social media works right it is a tool to help one human being connect with another. I’ve met some really great people because of this blog. And I hope to meet many more. I’ve helped a few of them, and some of them have helped me. It’s a great experience. We all want to connect. It’s a drive sown into the threads of our inner being. Blogging is one way to help bring us together in ways that might not otherwise be possible.

5. The discipline of writing will make you a better writer
Looking at my first few posts helped me to really appreciate how far I’ve come as a writer. I’m no William Shakespeare (my lab partner in Marine Biology junior year, not the other guy) but I do alright. I’m getting better and better all the time. Blogging is a big part of that.

6. Putting your ideas in writing clarifies what you do
Writing, by its very nature, promotes clarity. Some of the best ideas I’ve ever had have been refined and perfected on this blog. As they pour from my brain to my fingertips, to the keyboard they get shaped into something even better than had they stayed in my head. Even if there weren’t another living should who benefited from my experience of exposition here, I have. And sometimes, that’s enough.

If you’d like to test the waters of blogging I’d love to help. I’m always open to accepting guest post right here. Click here for more info.

Even if you don’t decide to start a blog, that’s OK. I hope you’ll find some avenue to get your ideas out there to people who need and want to hear them. They are out there. And it’s easier than ever to find them.

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6 Reasons Why You Need to Blog, Pt 1

I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years now and, while I don’t have a Justin Bieber-sized following (more like his second cousin, twice removed on his mother’s side, Esteban Bieber) it’s been a pretty cool thing.

Going in to it I was pretty nervous. Nervous my writing wouldn’t be good enough. Worried nobody would read it. Worried I’d run out of things to say after the first three posts I had already pre-written. But here we are, almost two years later.

So blogging’s been good for me but why should you, or anyone else for that matter, blog? Here’s 6 reasons why we, the occupants of the interweb, need YOU to blog:

1. Everyone is a 10 in some area
Don’t laugh at that. It’s true! Regardless of what you’re not good at, I can say without a doubt (having never even met) I KNOW you are a 10 in a least 1 area of your life. It may seem frivolous to some but it’s not. It’s important and has value. And we need you to share it with us. We, the collective participants of the human race, need what you have to offer. There is a pocket of our collective being that can benefit from what you have to offer, if only you will make the time to give.

2. You have something to share
Besides what you’re good at, you also have unique experiences and insights people need to hear. You’ve seen things I’ll never be able to see. You’ve done things I may never have the opportunity to do. And you’ve seen and done them all with your unique personality and history. You’re life experience add to the substance of the grander human design. You help us see what we otherwise might have missed and need to see.

3. You know something I don’t
Through your experiences, using your particular outlook and set of skills, you’ve learned. Oh sure, we all have useless stuff in our head’s like how much a stamp costs, why radio shack asks for your phone number when you buy a set of batteries, and how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie pop (3). But you also have other factoids just floating around, waiting to be applied. Somebody out there needs to know what you know.

I’ll share the other three reasons in my next post. Stay tuned!

They are out there. And it’s easier than ever to find them.

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Why Every Children’s Ministry Needs a Social Media Presence

In future history books (the kind that’ll make the iPad look like papyrus root, like Kirk and Spock had in grade school) I have no doubt social media will go down as one of the great landmarks of the 21st Century. For better or worse it is here to stay. Why should we as Children’s Ministry workers embrace it? Here are a few great reasons why my Kids’ Ministry and yours needs a healthy social media presence:

1. Connects to people where they’re at
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are where people are at online. They are the social media hangouts of our time. Someday my daughter will laugh I ever tweeted in much the same way I laugh at my parents for still using CDs. But right now that’s where people are at. Jesus tells us to go. That means out in our neighborhoods, our community, and (now) the online world of social media.

2. Free way to keep parents in the loop
This is a great time to be alive! I remember being in Children’s Ministry as a kid back in the 80s. We’d get flyers where the leaders would cut clip art out of magazines, paste them on flyers, and run them through the copier. I don’t say that to criticize. That’s all there was at the time. Now you can pull super cool and professional graphics from iStockPhoto.com, create a Facebook event, and within minutes everyone in your church has all the details about your next big event. And the best part is it’s FREE!!!

Don’t get me wrong. It’s still work. People still miss details. That’s always going to happen. There’s no app for that (unfortunately). But it is easier and cheaper than ever before to get the word out in a professional, cool, and timely way.

3. Easy to spread the word
Sharing and retweeting is super easy to do. It doesn’t take much for something to go viral. Getting the word out is a lot easier than stuffing hundreds of envelopes and spending hours canvasing the neighborhood. A lot of it can be done from the comfort of your home while watching Netflix in your pajamas.

4. Resonates with young families
Keeping younger families in church today is getting harder. We don’t help ourselves by using methods on 20 and 30-somethings now that we were using with them when they were kids. I know I’d prefer a text or a blog post over a flyer any day. There’s very little paper in my world and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

5. Gives volunteers training on the go
This is one of my favorites. You can record a short training video for your team, post it to YouTube, and email your volunteers the link. It saves everyone time from attending a meeting that no one wants to go to anyway. It also increases the odds of actually getting the information if you present it in a way they like and can listen to on their time. And best of all, it’s totally free!

6. Helps you get to the point quicker
Twitter has taught us short and simple is powerful. In a world that is getting increasingly complicated short and simple is in. Character limits on Facebook and Twitter help you get to the point without seeming rude.

Social media is a great way to stay connected to the parents and leaders in our ministries. I don’t know how we should approach it with children, but I do know we need to start talking about it. Texting, posting, and tweeting can never replace quality time in the real world but it is another resource in our tool belt to impact people with the love of Jesus.

Click here for 20 Kidmin Social Media Tips.