Part of the Glue

We finally gave in and started to send out a monthly parent email using constant contact to all the parents in our student ministry.  I was really amazed how easy it really was to create the email using the online editor.  It took me several hours because I was creating custom graphics, however it should be very simple next time because all the emails will be there and I will only have minor changes to make with the graphics. Consider using tools like constant contact when you want to include graphics and pictures in emails and don’t have the time to do it from scratch.

It used to be that everyone got their news from the morning newspaper.  Then came tv and the internet.  Now the chance that you heard the latest headline is from a twitter post or news article mentioned on facebook.  Today more than ever we get our news and information from a wide array of sources and more often it comes from someone we know.

When it comes to communicating news and information to teenagers, we can’t expect to send home a monthly newsletter and that be sustainable.  It’s almost like we have to sometimes use every communication device possible in hopes that the shotgun will hit something.  Below are some ideas and thoughts to communicating to your group.

1. announce it on the website
2. announce it at a large meeting through slide/person
3. create a video announcement for a service
4. twitter about it
5. send a facebook update through your fan page
6. send out a mass parent email newsletter
7. mail out a postcard
8. send out a mass text
9. word of mouth. word of mouth. word of mouth
10. did we mention word of mouth

Last week I had the opportunity to visit with Rob Shiflet, one of the directors with Liberty Christians’s new online school.  After a lot of research and coordination, Rob decided to partner with Liberty Christian and offer online classes to students practically anywhere.  In this online enviornment, teachers will instruct via webcam and special teleconferencing software in a new and very interactive way.  After hearing about this idea and seeing the demo first hand I was really blown away at the potential this online education really has to offer.

Online education of this kind would be ideal for students in the following areas:
1. Students that don’t live close to a private Christian school and desire to attend one
2. Students that attend a private school but are unable to enroll in a certain class due to inadequate number of students enrolled in a certain class
3. Students that are home school that would like to take certain subjects that may be too difficult for their parents to teac

etc….
For more information about the program click HERE or to watch the newscast click HERE.

I recently published my first ebook on amazon for teenagers.  More and more students are purchasing itouch/iphones and soon more of them will be reading books on these devices using the kindle app.

This book I have been working on is designed to challenge students to tap into the serious part of their lives and to follow the example Christ set when he was 12. In Luke 2, there are 12 verses that give us a picture of who Jesus was and how he lived through his teenage years. After creating material for many years while discipling teenagers I began to look more closely at this story and really began to ask some questions. Here is the book.