I’ve learned that most kid’s pastors I’ve met are highly resourceful. They’re always looking for great new resources and the cheaper it is, the better. If it’s free, well that’s incredible.

So, I figured that all the resourceful kidmin peeps who read this blog would be interested in this great free resource. Are you ready for this?

Really?

Here goes….

It’s called following #kidmin on twitter.

Wait a second, before you bail on this blog post, hear me out. Some of you have refused to get on twitter because you’ve not seen it’s relevance to your life or you don’t need another social media element in your life. I totally get that. However, you don’t have to sell your soul to Zuckerberg to get a twitter account (yes, I know Zuckerberg is with facebook, not twitter) and signing up for an account doesn’t mean you have to use it an the traditional way. Whatever resistance you might have toward getting on twitter is keeping you from joining the most active and relevant conversation in kid’s ministry today. Every day hundreds of kidmin leader join in the conversation. Many are just being conversational, while others ask questions and seek answers. Some are selling a product or resource and dozens of others are linking to relevant and current articles on their blogs. It’s a wealth of information right at your fingertips, and it’s free and effortless.

If you subscribe to a ministry magazine or enjoy reading and experiencing new ministry ideas, then following #kidmin on twitter is perfect for you.

So, here’s how you do it.

1. Go to twitter.com and create an account.
2. Don’t forget your username and passord, otherwise you won’t be able to long in and follow your twitter feed.
3. In the top right corner of the page, you will see a search bar. Just type in #kidmin

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. You’ll see a never ending list of tweets starting with the most current. Click on links to read posts, visit site or whatever they send you to. Experience and learn. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide at some point to interact.

You can also download the twitter app for iPhone or android. It’s free and you can search #kidmin there as well.

I’m always intrigued the origin of things. Why we say certain words or how names come about. What’s even more interesting is when you see the origin of something new right before your eyes. A handful of children’s pastors saw the very thing happen almost three years ago… the birth of “Kidmin.”

At this point, the term kidmin is still catching on, but I suspect that will change in the coming years and perhaps more people will refer to children’s ministry as kidmin as opposed to… well, children’s ministry.

For those of you who are new to this blog or the greater “kidmin” conversation, let me tell you how this whole thing got started.

I first became involved in children’s ministry as a four year old… back in 1981 and ever since then, I’ve been involved in the ministry either as a participant, a junior volunteer or as a ministry leader. From my perspective, ministry leaders began referring to children’s ministry as kid’s ministry about 5-10 years ago. It seems to be a more casual term, probably more appealing to the older kids in the ministry who prefer being called kids as opposed to dear little children. In the last 5-7 years, I met more and more people referring to themselves as kids pastors, referring to their children’s program as kid’s church and beginning to use the term “kids” in their ministry environment names.

Step forward to 2007… the birth of twitter. I knew one or two people on twitter in the early days, but it wasn’t until the winter/spring of 2008 that people in ministry really started to use twitter as a way of communicating. It was a great way to follow ministry leaders from all around the nation… and world.

Then something changed in February of 2009. For almost a year, hashtags were growing in popularity as a way of categorizing tweets. This allowed people to follow specific conversations, even among people they did not follow or know. I remember experiencing the superbowl on February 1st in a way that I never had before. I was supposed to go to a church party, but with a sick wife, I stayed home to enjoy the game. I ended up thoroughly enjoying the game through a fun conversation of dozens of ministry friends on twitter. It was more fun reading everyone’s color commentary of the game, commercials and half time show than just watching the game alone. The superbowl hashtag made following this conversation so easy.

The next day, @johnincolorado (John Mullis) sent me a message asking me if Children’s Ministry had a hashtag. He was one of the folks in the conversation during the superbowl. I was unaware of any exclusive hashtag, so I threw out the question on my blog here.

Be sure to read the comments. You’ll see the birth of kidmin there. Several suggestions were made such as kidsmin, cmin and even a simple CM. As the comments came in, kidmin seemed to stick. Interestingly, several other ministry leaders who didn’t necessarily comment on this post began adding the hashtag to their tweets and before the day was over, #kidmin had been adopted. Within weeks, we were referring to Children’s Ministry as kidmin as well. That’s how it all started. I must say though, I’d wish I could actually see the first tweet containing #kidmin, but twitter doesn’t make tweets available to search past a few weeks.

Since then, at least one book has been published using the term and even a conference. I remember Chris Jones saying that Group named the new conference Kidmin because, “That’s what you guys call children’s ministry now.”

So, there you have it. It was interesting to see this new terminology evolve and will be interesting to see how pervasive it becomes in the coming years.

Hey, don’t forget to help us celebrate kidmin’s third birthday. Go here for details.

Another year gone by already.

Last year I wrote this post a few days after the #kidmin twitter hashtag turned two. Apparently no one celebrated the first birthday either. What a shame.

So, being the infamous creator of #kidmin (I say this tongue in cheek only because I feel it was more of a group effort) I put this date on my calendar so that we won’t forget again. February 3rd. That means that this Friday, February 3rd… #Kidmin turns 3.

So, here’s how we celebrate. Sometime between now and February 3rd, write a post on your blog explaining how #kidmin has affected your life or ministry. (No, I’m not talking about kids ministry in general, but the twitter search term). Tell a story about someone you connected with, a blog post that revolutionized your ministry or the introduction of a new resource or event as a result of the #kidmin community on twitter. Once your post is live, link back to this post or even put a link in the comments. If you don’t have a blog, just write your story in the comments. On Friday, I’ll compose a post with links/portions of everyone’s tributes toward #kidmin celebrating the actual day.

No idea what I’m talking about? Never used twitter? Never searched #kidmin on twitter? Well, you’re in luck. This week I’ll be sharing more about the fusion of Children’s Ministry and Twitter into what we know today as #kidmin. Stay tuned!

Some people have credited me for creating the #kidmin twitter hashtag. I don’t claim sole credit, but I was involved. However, I am announcing a hashtag that I am claiming responsibility for (actually, that’s not the total truth as I did as Matt McKee for his opinion). Ha!

So, the official hashtag for Illuminate is #illumin8.

Those tweeting from the event will be encouraged to use the tag and if you feel the urge to tweet anything about Illuminate, feel free to add #illumin8 along with your obligatory #kidmin tag.

Thank you and happy tweeting!

Happy Belated Birthday Kidmin!

People always seem to give me the credit for coming up with the hashtag. I was a part of it, but it was a team effort. In case you don’t remember (or weren’t even on twitter yet, here’s where it all started.

After the superbowl in 2009, John Mullis (@johnincolorado) tweeted me asking me if there was a hash tag for children’s ministry. There were a lot of us children’s ministry leaders on twitter that night goofing off on twitter in conjunction with the superbowl. I was intrigued, so the next morning I wrote this post on the blog.

You’ll see that I still didn’t really understand the point of the hashtag, but I was pushing for our own space on twitter. I recommended #kidsmin or #CM. You’ll see in the comments that there was a big push to use #CM, but also that John Mullis shortened my kidsmin suggestion to just Kidmin. Although I had a few comments on my blog, these guys as well as others like my pals Jonathan Cliff, Matt McKee, Sam Luce, Gina McClain and others had already started using #kidmin that day. If you could go back and see the tweets, you’d see tweets using both #CM, #kidsmin and #kidmin.

Then, later that day, I wrote this post. Everyone had just started attaching #kidmin to their posts. It was official. #Kidmin was born. February 3, 2009. Mark your calendar, we’re going to throw a party next year.

@m_vince it says that channel is not mobile compatible at this time. in reply to m_vince #

@curtissimmons yeah, sorry I missed you too as well. I had to run. I'll be back. in reply to curtissimmons #

@AllysonNicole yah, that's really helpful… in reply to AllysonNicole #

Powered by Twitter Tools

First dentist appointment in way too long… Probably going to be a long one. Also, might be getting braces soon. FUN! #

Powered by Twitter Tools

@stocksohio ha! No, @samluce was just taken by cactus here in TX. What a Yankee! in reply to stocksohio #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Powered by Twitter Tools