Here’s a quick rundown of the things I’m up to over at YS.
#1 I post regularly at the new YS blog. Here are 3 posts you should check out. Big vision for Cabot. Youth Workers Who Twitter. Carrie Clausen and Her Youth Group. I’m loving the blog. It’s really a fun way to connect people together.
#2 The big 3 of social networking. I spend some time each day talking with people on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. If you want to friend us, follow us, or join our group just click on the links.
#3 Custom social networks for our events. This is very unique to YS. We’ve created full-blown custom social networks for people coming to our flagship event, National Youth Workers Convention. Here’s the one for folks headed to Sacramento in October. So far there are a total of seven websites associated with NYWC this fall. I’m helping the YS convention get web-o-riffic in a hurry.
#4 Relaunching the podcast. Starting very soon is a brand new format to the YS podcast. I’ll bring some of the flavor of the YMX podcast to YS as well as some other cool features. Keep an eye on this page. We’ve got the first few episodes ready to go… great content in the new format!
#5 YMX stuff. Since YS purchased YMX back in June things have changed only slightly. Seriously, I think the only thing that got changed was the privacy policy and about us pages. The first change is coming soon as YMX will host the next generation of the website, YM Women. There will be a special section of the website dedicated to women in youth ministry. I think this is a cool compliment to the HERstory conference that meets at NYWC. Looking forward to YMX going to “generation two” of its existence.
#6 Experimental stuff. Just think of my office as Area 51 for YS. OK, not really. But I’m always playing with new ideas and seeing what will work or not work on the social media front. When I first started I talked to the internet team about “Adam’s sandbox.” I said, “Just give me some place I can create things, try out things, play with ideas and strategies, and basically do things with no fear of failure.” So I’ve got room to do that! I love knowing that everything I try has to be safe enough to succeed. Think of a lot of what I do as Google Labs. Some experiments make it past beta testing and some don’t.
What about you? What are you up to at the job these days?
Today, at 4:47 PM EST it was official. My mouth has been shut for weeks since I couldn’t talk to anyone outside of my family about the deal with YS. But it is now done and I couldn’t be happier. YMX partnering with YS is, in my opinion, the perfect place for YMX to fit into the youth ministry landscape. As Marko said, it’s only natural.
We’ve truly enjoyed being the independent source of youth ministry stuff. And we hope to continue on with that flavor.
There are a hundred reasons I am excited about this deal. The most obvious thing to be excited about is that I get to run YMX as part of my new job with YS. How cool is that? I’m also jazzed about the massive door of opportunity that was just swung open to us from the YS/Zondervan family. There are too many cool things to talk about with this. For now…
Here’s the press release
And here are the FAQs we posted in the forums about “what happens next” for YMX/YS.
How will this effect the way I use YMX?
One of the coolest parts of this is that the YMX community will mostly stay the same. The same people will be running it and Youth Specialties is taking a very hands off approach to YMX. YMX will benefit mostly from access to tons of resources to grow the site in a way that helps fulfill the community’s long-term vision.
Will this effect the way the forums operate currently?
Yes. Eventually, the forums will shift from a subscription based forum to a free forum. In other words, there will no longer be “premium level” areas of the site which require payment to utilize. The terms of service, the community accountability, the emphasis on self-moderation, will all continue.
Will the forum community be under a new and/or revised terms of service?
Not right now. If the terms of service ever change we will contact you to let you know.
What about the privacy issues? I thought the forums were secure and now they will be open to anyone?
We share your concerns. Starting in January 2008, YMX changed the method of registering new members so that new members have to provide personal information that is verified before we allow new members to access the forums. We will continue to utilize this option as a way to prevent trolling and keep the community safe. This meets the same need in protecting your privacy on the forums fulfilled.
Will the forums be indexed on search engines?
No. Since the forums require a registration to see anything, the search bots are prevented from searching forum content. This is not changing.
Will the forums be managed by different people and/or different moderators?
YMX, including the forums, will continue to operate as we always have.
I am a charter/premium subscriber, what does that mean for me?
Most of our premium/charter subscribers have been with us a long time. You guys are awesome and we thank you for your support. We will soon contact you to offer you a store credit with Youth Specialties. If that doesn’t work for you, please contact adam@ymexchange.com.
Will the Oasis still be available?
Absolutely. The private Oasis area of the forums will still be available upon request, with a team of caring, youth ministry-understanding people to listen, pray, and confidentially walk with youth workers through tough or tricky situations. In fact, we hope to bring even more hope and help through the people being part of YS makes available to us all.
Does this mean that you won’t be accepting and publishing user-generated content?
Not at all! Actually the opposite. As a property of Youth Specialties we will be increasing the frequency of content for the community. While you may see some new authors on the site, we’d love to continue to work with new and emerging authors.
How much money were Patti and Adam given to make this happen?
We can’t answer that at this time. Adam and Patti are currently on the Youth Specialties jet on their way to FerrariWorld in Roma, ciao! http://www.ferrariworld.com/
Will YMX still be appearing at the conventions to promote the community?
Yes. Look for us at all the National Youth Workers Conventions this fall.
What about Raising Lazarus and the community’s desire to help hurting youth workers?
Raising Lazarus has always been a separate entity of Youth Ministry Exchange, LLC. YMX will continue its partnership with Raising Lazarus to offer practical support for those who need help. In addition, with more time dedicated to running YMX, Adam and Patti will be more available to help.
Will the site continue to place ads?
Yes. The site will largely operate as it has.
Does this mean that YMX will only promote resources that are Youth Specialties products?
No. The site will largely operate as it has. If we review a resource or report on a news item, we will include a disclosure stating that our our parent company is Youth Specialties when it is relevant. This is similar to the way you see reporting on mainstream media.
Doesn’t YMX own other sites? Are those part of this deal as well?
Yes, YMX will continue to operate the blog ad network, Youth Ministry Tips, Youth Ministry Pro, and just like we are today.
Your thoughts?
It’s after breakfast in Romeo and I’m wide awake here in San Diego. (4:00 am) The last 24 hours have been a blur as I commuted about 3000 miles to work yesterday. (Going home Friday) Besides the travel I did get some stuff done yesterday and I’m looking forward to getting more settled today.
The first thing on my mind about yesterday is that people on early morning flights are boring. I’m not one who would like to talk for 4 hours to a stranger on a plane, but at the same time both flights I took yesterday morning were nearly silent. If it weren’t for the guy in 6C asking me about switching to Mac somewhere over Arizona I wouldn’t have said a word to anyone all morning. I’m all for keeping to ones self but lets all acknowledge one another as humans, OK?
The second thing on my mind is that I have a really cool job ahead of me. Like any job my new role as “communitymeister” has a lot of things to do which are really important and will occupy my mind for more hours than I’ll admit. But there are two different aspects of my new job that have me jazzed.
Over the last few Sunday’s numerous people at church have asked me, “So what is this new job all about?” I’ve always translated that to “I want to know if this new job is worth losing a pastor over at my church.” And people from the greater youth ministry community have been asking me to give a little more insight into my new role as well. (One friend even asked me, “Can I see your full job description?” Um, no.) So here they are… two aspects of my new job I totally dig.
- I get to help youth workers from all over the place. It’s awesome that folks can write or call YS and get practical help and encouragement. And it’s fun to be that first connection these new volunteers and paid staffers have to the greater community of youth workers out there. I love listening to them and helping them with a couple of pointers from my experiences in the trenches… but I really, really love pointing them to places online where they can learn my most favoritestist word in all of church leadership… “Collaboration.” There’s nothing like the moment when the light bulb goes off, “You mean I’m not the only one who has a parent issue like this?”
- I get to help tell my friends about Youth Specialties. Literally, I’ve had one day in the office and my mind is already racing with ways I can help connect this amazing staff of people with the greater community of youth workers.
Just like at Romeo, it’s not going to be my habit to talk about work very often on my blog. Sure I will talk about things that are going on in my life or things that I’m excited about. But my purpose in blogging has never been to expose the inner workings of my job… because lets face it, that’s boring for all of us. It’s not like I’m one of those early 2000s bloggers who would rant on and on about the inner workings of their jobs. I’ve been blogging a long time. And I have rules to follow.
My purpose in blogging has always been to expose the inner workings of my mind. And for those brave/stupid enough to want to know all about that I suggest you subscribe to my RSS feed (or email) and get ready to laugh a lot.
This was just posted over at Youth Ministry Exchange. Here’s an excerpt:
Here’s a thought that will blow your mind. The God of the Universe chose you to help him build the church in your town. Here’s another thought to give you some perspective. The God of the Universe has an enemy, Satan, whose deepest desire is to distract, discourage, debilitate, and destroy you. It’s as if Satan has a special department in the community you live in just for that. Just like there is a Street Department and Water Department, Satan runs the Ministry Destruction Department in your town and people like you are his number one project. Read the rest
[click to continue…]
