• The Power of Viral Marketing

    There are people who "don’t get" viral marketing, how it works, or it’s power. There are a lot of people trying to do it… and most people think it’s a waste… here’s a little piece CBS did on the power of viral marketing.

  • What I got Kristen for our Anniversary

    Wedding1
    On June 21, 1997 Kristen and I did something crazy.     We got hitched! We heard all the reasons not to get married at 21 years old and frankly all of those naysayers were wrong! The last 10 years have been fantastic, it wasn’t as hard as people made it out to be, we never lived on government cheese, and I hope I haven’t been as big of a loser as some probably told Kristen I was.

    So, I’ve been trying to figure out what to get Kristen for the last couple of years. I’m not big on Hallmark holidays, I barely do Christmas, Valentines day isn’t on my radar, birthday’s aren’t something I am big on either… so what will I get Kristen for our anniversary?

    (more…)

  • New Look for Youth Ministry Exchange

    Two posts in a row about a silly website? Sheesh. Anyway…Header

    Since a bunch of people at YMX used Saturday as a "shutdown day" and statistically Monday’s are the slowest day for the site anyway… I took full advantage of that to give YMX a fresh new look. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time now and when I had heard about a shutdown day I instantly thought to myself, "What more perfect day could there possibly be to mess with the site?"

    So, check it out. It added all the stuff I wanted, made it altogether look more sleek, and it’s much better CSS than the last one. (Which means it taxes the webserver less.)

  • Nice mention for YMX

    Ymx_arrows_transparentTim Schmoyer, formerly of Dallas and now a resident of the great state of Minnesota, mentioned YMX in a post called "Top 5 websites I use for youth ministry." He gave us a nice description… but the keyword for me is "use." It does us no good whatsoever if we have a nice site that people like unless they use it. There are plenty of products on the market… we don’t want to compete with them, but we want YMX to be completely useful for people in ministry. I’m glad some are feeling that way.

  • A day of writing

    I’m camping out at Sempre Caffe today to finish 4 different articles I have due. Good stuff… just super busy.

    2 for the Romeo Peach
    1 for YMX
    1 for Simply Youth Ministry

  • Two things I’m pumped up about

    1. Smile
      A new couple came to our small group last night.       It’s incredible and I hope they are here to stay.
    2. Google introduced "themes" for their personalized homepage. These things are so sweet because they respond to your location. As the day progresses the sun comes up and sets. If it rains it rains on the picture… all kinds of cool.

  • What’s next for YMX?

    The popularity of our current series on YMX, Sex, is coming to a close. I’m proud of our authors and their willingness to talk about tough topic from a God-centered perspective. Some of the articles that we’ve published have been "middle of the road" while some have made cases for disagreeable positions that stirred up tons of discussion.  Clearly the site has taken a quantum leap forward in development.

    So, March is nearly over… What’s Next?

    In April we’re continuing to talk about tough topics. Our next series is called "Youth Ministries Dark Side." As I write this, articles are coming in which address stuff that knocks some of us right out of ministry. Politics, transitions, loss of a senior pastor, addressing issues of abuse, on and on. (Of course… we’ve got a pile of sweet interviews from musicians and artist… but that’s another story altogether.)

    I’m in a fun seat at YMX. I get to see where we are at and where we are going. I get to see how the community responds to what is being written. I get to see how concerns raised today will be addressed providentially by articles published tomorrow. And I get the priveledge of hearing the stories of how the site is helping so many people serve Christ better.

    One more cool  thing about YMX. We’ve been doing this site for about 16 months… and the original crazy diverse team who started are still together, still excited, and still looking towards the future of youth ministry.

  • Zach Hunter: Be the Change

    This is the video of Zach Hunter I showed in Light Force last night as I encouraged them to take risks for God. Isn’t it great to know that God calls His people to live boldly for him? I am careful not to put Zach on a pedestal, yet he is an example of the power of students.

    I wonder what Light Force students are capable of doing? In fact, I dream about what they could do…

    CNN Interview – Feb. 18th

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  • Check out easterinromeo.com!

    Photo1So… how have I spent my day? Most of the day I’ve been working on our Easter website. Go ahead and check it out… Easter in Romeo.

    Easter this year is all about Hearing from God. So we figured… why not entice people to come with something fun? Pretty soon you’ll see the logo to the left pop up all over town on bulletin boards. And yes… we will be giving away iPods at church on Easter. Go to the site to register now.

    Better than that… why not take a few moments to forward that link to a few friends in town and invite them to come and win an ipod?

    I’m very excited about this. Instead of having a big "show" on Easter Sunday… we’re essentially putting on a "high volume" regular worship service. And just to make sure that the kids don’t feel left out… we’re offering the same prizes for kids down in KidsTown. 7th graders and up can win a 4 gig Nano and kids can win a 2nd generation shuffle.

    See, our job is to make it easy for people to invite their friends. Your job is to invite your friends. Get it?

  • We are a soccer family now

    Yesterday we signed Megan up to play soccer this Spring and Summer. Since I grew up playing as a kid, I know that soccer is a great way to make friends, learn sportsmanships, and of course begin her quest for the World Cup.