Childrens Ministry Online

The Homeless Blogger: Kidmin for Free

Posted on 26. Oct, 2011 by Kenny.

This post from the Homeless Blogger was hosted by my good friend and conference roommate, Matt McKee. Matt and I first met close to 10 years ago when he was at Fellowship Church in Dallas and I was in IN coming to Texas for a C3 conference. We’ve become good friends since then. So, it’s only natural that he would host the next installment of the Homeless Blogger.

This post was fun to write because I feel that it touches on a sensitive topic. With digital resources and crowd sourcing projects, we’ve kind of come to expect certain products and services to be free. Honestly, I love free stuff just like anyone else. However, I think it’s dangerous when we expect everything to be free… because in reality, everything costs something. Read the full article here.

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Hacked again!

Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by Kenny.

On Saturday, my good friend Matt McKee helped me with a Q & A session with Jim Wideman during the first general session. We took questions via text messaging that came through my Google Voice account which is a part of my Goolge/Gmail account. Because my computer was being used elsewhere, I logged into my Google Voice account on Matt McKee’s computer.

He informed me yesterday via a public tweet that his computer was still logged into my gmail account. Perfect. I only have the last 7 years of personal email storred in that account. Good thing I trust Matt… otherwise he might know all my secrets.

It took me a few hours to recognize though that he did indeed leave record of his presence. First of all, he changed my theme profile to a cute pink and blue profile fitting for a 13 year old girl. Nice. Secondly, he changed my profile picture to his picture. I didn’t notice that right away either. Actually, my wife called me this morning and she seemed to have gotten distracted when I answered and the first question out of her mouth was “Why am I seeing a picture of Matt on my phone when I’m calling you?”

Good one Matt. I owe you.

Fortunately, I work hard not to click on unfamiliar attachments or facebook/twitter spam that might compromise my accounts. However, I need a better level of defense in protecting me from getting hacked by my friends (Last May they hacked my facebook at the Orange conference immediately after I told them about how to do it). With friends like these, who needs enemies?

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Sign Wednesday: In honor of Matt McKee

Posted on 09. Feb, 2011 by Kenny.

Although he doesn’t do Sign Wednesday as often as he used to, I took this picture months ago and figured this would be right in line with McKee’s Sign Wednesday series. The fun part is that this sign perfectly fits the culture of Austin, TX. I took this picture this Summer while getting an Ice Cream at Amy’s Ice Cream. If you’re visiting Austin, you’re visit is not complete without stopping in at Amy’s. If you don’t believe me, ask Michael Chanley.

When I first saw it, I didn’t get it? Huh? “Sorry, I’m a Mirage.”  What is that supposed to mean? Oh, a mirage is typically when you think you see water but it really isn’t there. Kind of like this broken water fountain. Someone could have easily made a “sorry, I’m broken sign” or even just a simple “out of order.” No, they went with the snarky way of communicating that you weren’t getting any water from this fountain. It was fun and memorable, something that signs should be, right Matt? The only problem with this sign is that plenty of people won’t get it at first glance. It requires just a little bit of thought. Maybe after someone tries to take a drink, they’ll get it. But again, that kind of fits into Austin’s culture… where the sign is almost mocking the person who doesn’t use their brain and tries to take a drink. Maybe I’m thinking too much into this sign, but I loved it.

Here’s a better close up!

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Time with the “sign guy”

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

One of my favorite parts of my road trip last week was getting to spend half a day with my friend Matt McKee. He goes by many names though. The Ministry Monday Guy, or the Two Minute Tuesday Guy (After it was too late, Sam and I had the great idea to film a Two Minute Tuesday with Matt, when I pretended to be Patriot and Sam pretended to be Aslan) and the infamous Sign Wednesday guy. But if that’s all you think Matt McKee is, you’re pretty far off.

Matt’s one of the most creative guys I know and I only know a few people in Kidmin who are as entrepreneurial as him. He’s always thinking up new ideas. Whenever I’m naming something or designing something, Matt’s the first person I call. He was a significant force behind G-Force curriculum and Elevate curriculum while he was on staff at Fellowship Church. Although he’s been serving at smaller church in Cincinnati, he’s working on big stuff that will influence the world of kidmin. I really like hanging out with people like Matt. I’m better because of it.

So, Matt McKee is the social media king. Well, maybe not the king, but he’s at leas the mayor. He was on twitter for at least 9-10 months before it got popular. I remember hearing him talking about it long before I decided to check it out. So what does every social media mayor need? Social media badge pillows for his couch. I respect for him went way up when I saw these.

So here is Matt’s legendary wide-format printer. I actually first met Matt at the C3 conference back in 2002 or 2003. At C3, they were always encouraging people to use plotters, and I had a few conversations with Matt about wide format printers. He also hooked a brother up with some wall calendars last year. I just felt complete seeing this. Matt’s the sign guy, and here’s his sign maker.

This one here is my favorite pics. I call it one of my bucket-list pics. Every time I video chat with Matt, I see this Starbucks sign in the background. It looks good, huh? It’s made of Styrofoam with green and white paint. When you’re up close, you see it was hand painted and such, but from far back, it looks like he swiped it from a Starbucks. About 6 months ago I got a picture with Jonathan Cliff’s infamous tree. Now I’ve got a pic with Matt’s Starbucks sign. Now to work on my other items… that will probably be the next road trip.

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Awkward

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

So, ever since I flew in to Nashville yesterday, I’ve been getting plenty of hang time with Sam Luce. Late last night we drove in to Cincinnati and met up with Matt McKee at his parents house (where we were going to spend the night). It’s been a fun gathering.

In case you didn’t know, the three of us all met through our blogs. We, along with Gina McClain and Jonathan Cliff all connected because were were all inspired by what we were writing. Last April, we all met in person for the first time at the Orange Conference. So, yesterday I learned a valuable lesson. Although we technically did all meet through the Interet, saying that is kinda creepy.

Yesterday in IN, I was introducing Sam to my admin from my first church. I told her how he was a Children’s Pastor from New York and I met him through mine and his blog. She kind of cocked her head to the side a little and asked, “so you met him online?” I replied, “yeah, that sounds bad doesn’t it?”

Then a few hours later we got to Cincinnati to meet up with Matt McKee. His parents house had more room, so we stayed with them. Earlier in the week Matt has arranged with his parents for us to say in his house. Basically Matt asked his parents if two of his friends from Children’s Ministry could stay in their guest rooms. They asked, “So how do you know these guys?” Matt replied, “Well, I met them online…” His parents countered back, “They’re not going to steal any of our stuff, are they?”

So, I can see that the explanation of our meeting tends to come across kind of weird. So, I’m looking for a new way to phrase how we all met… one that doesn’t sound so “internet dating” like.

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Guest Blogger: Matt McKee

Posted on 09. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.

Today I have another good friend who has agreed to guest blog on Children’s Ministry Online. Matt McKee is a Pastor of Students and Children in Cincinnati, OH. He’s been blogging a little longer than me and I really appreciate his eye for design. Whenever I’m having trouble with a graphic or design layout, I give Matt a call. He knows his stuff. He’s also one of those guys who’s pushing technology to the limit and constantly looking for the next “new thing.” I think he was on twitter a good year before I signed up for my account.

Here is his bio from his website:

“just another guy trying to make a difference. a husband, a dad, a pastor who enjoys ministry, marketing, and technology. oh yeah, and sports”

Matt wrote a great post for us hear at Chidlren’s Ministry Online. It’s a great look at connectivity and how people seem to stick (or not). Hopefully it will inspire you as it did me.

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