Summer Ministry Vlog Week is coming

Just over 9 years I started blogging regularly.  It has been an awesome avenue for me to be able to write down and process all that I am learning.  In addition, through blogging consistently I have met some really great people and got a chance to partner up with the reThink Group (aka Orange).

Over the last 9 years technology has also changed where there have been some new mediums that have been introduced to help people communicate their message more effectively. Blogging is still great and I love writing, but video and audio have become increasingly popular. That is why I started podcasting and vlogging a little over a year ago.

With the popularity of video, I thought it would be great to have a week where some of my blogging and ministry friends got together and shot videos to communicate their message instead of blogs.

So that is why we are doing the Summer Ministry Vlog Week August 8th – 12th.  That week each of the below participants will be joining me for the 1st ever ministry vlog week.  And I couldn’t be more excited about it.

What is this Vlog week all about?

The 1st ever Summer Ministry Vlog Week (#SMVW16) will be an opportunity for our great ministry bloggers to get behind the camera and communicate their message in video. Some of them have already been doing it and doing it well in a variety of different context. But between August 8th – 12th, my fellow bloggers will use video to communicate their content to all of us.  Each of us will focus on a different topic (see below the topic for each Vlogger). And they will bring their unique insights to the camera to share it with everyone.

Who else is participating and what are they talking about?

• Elle Campbell will talk about fostering creavitity in student ministry. Elle is the founder of Stuff You Can Use. She is also the Director of Middle School Strategy at Orange Leaders. As if that wasn’t enough, she is also the co-host of the Youth Ministry Answers podcast with her husband Kenny Campbell.
• Ben Kerns   . Ben is a great Student Ministry veteran who blogs regularly here. Not only does he blog about student ministry issues but he writes books as well! Yeah, I know…very talented. I love having Ben on the YM Sidekick podcast because he is someone who has a ton of experience and is a great leader/example to young people.
• Justin Knowles will talk about how to rebuild, capture and keep momentum in youth ministry. He is the Student Pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley and blogs regularly at Download YM. Justin always has a ton of great insights and wisdom to share through his experiences with youth.
• Ryan Reed will talk about why parent partnerships matter. He is the Groups and Young Adults Pastor Christ Journey in Miami, FL. Ryan is an East Coast guy who moved West Coast to minister to students in California only to move back to the East Coast now. He’s had some real rough weather work environments in his career. 🙂  He has a tremendous heart and passion for people to know the Lord.
• Christopher Wesley will talk about recruiting and building a team of volunteers. Chris is the Director of Youth Ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD. He shares a TON of great content about student ministry at his blog and he is also the author of Rebuilding Youth Ministry.
• Jeremy Zach will be talking about why networking in student ministry is the key to success. Jeremy is a former Student Minister and current XP3 Strategist for Orange. He is a man who has his hand on the pulse of student ministry.  You can read his blog here.

Beginning August 8th, you can find each of their vlogs for the week  at their sites.

What do you think? Are you ready to watch some videos instead of just reading them? I hope so as it will be a great week filled with some awesome videos. Share your thoughts below or on social media using the #SMVWeek16 to join the conversation.