Celebrating 20 Years of Blogging

Celebrating 20 Years of BloggingOn March 1st, 2005, at 4:43PM,  I published my very first blog post. YouTube had just launched two weeks earlier. People were still using flip phones. And Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith hadn’t even hit theaters yet. That first post launched a journey of 1,286 entries since, filled with ministry adventures, silly stories, serious insights, and the kind of real talk only a children’s pastor can offer. I’ve written from hotel rooms at conferences, airport gates between flights, and late at night when I should’ve been asleep. I’ve shared victories, flops, tech hacks, heartaches, puppet jokes, and even a few rants (with love, of course). This March 1st, 2025 marks the 20-year anniversary of that first post. And after 20 years of showing up in the trenches of ministry and online, I’m celebrating with gratitude. The blog is now moving to a new home here at Kidology.org, where it can live among the very resources it helped inspire. But the heart remains the same: to equip and encourage those called to reach kids for Jesus. And while the blog began in 2005, Kidology itself goes back even further—to December of 1994. Back before YouTube, Google,…

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Kidologist.com Makes Top Blog List Again

Fun to make another blog list – and I feel lucky since I’ve kinda been slackin’ off on my blog this past year. This listing even points out (rather blatantly) that I have averaged two posts per month. Time to step it up again! Though, my blog is really just a side outlet for writing, most of the content I create goes on Kidology.org – but after my Blog Challenge, I should get some more content ideas for this New Year. Thanks for reading and providing me an opportunity to serve YOU through this blog. Be sure to check out the others on the list, there are some great friends on that list, as well as some new ones I need to check out! Here’s to a new year of Equipping and Encouraging Those Who Minister to Children!

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My Blog Challenge to YOU!

What you’re reading? OK, I did warn you. But welcome! So, I’ve been behind on blogging – and I feel just terrible about it. But unlike most bloggers where their blog is their primary platform for content, mine is Kidology.org – that where I have posted recently, from my complete Nerf War Plan to my own version of You’d Better Watch Out (Jesus is Coming to Town)! So, as the New Year approaches, I am presented with, “What shall I write on my blog?” My Facebook Page has replaced personal updates and the Kidology Facebook Group is where I interact the most with our wonderful kidmin community. I could share my Drone Pics and Videos, but that doesn’t really fit the name of this blog. (I did just start a FB Group for those who want to follow those adventures) I know that blogging is primary a writing platform, so I thought, what shall I write ABOUT. I’m currently already writing a book (more on that in the new year) but WHAT to write about on my blog? As a talker, trainer, writer – human with opinions – name any topic and I’ve got something to say. But it is…

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Blogging Tips for 2014

Start your New Year out with some blogging tips! In just a few months, I will have been blogging with this website for ten years. Kinda crazy! But that isn’t when I started blogging. I was blogging before there were blogs. I used to create webpages from scratch before any of the blogging platforms existed and would email friends a link to my post, like when I went to Alaska or flying with my dad. So when I started blogging, the Internet was a bit of a lonely place for blogs… but now there are well over 100 kidmin blogs worthy of reading! Over the years my blog has gone from in the Top 5 to now down in the mid-thirties on the “Top 100” list – and I celebrate this decline! It means that there are many people contributing weekly to what has always been my driving passion – to equip and encourage those in children’s ministry. While much of my kidmin writing ends up on Kidology.org instead of my blog, I have enjoyed seeing the amount of help for kids ministers growing steadily every year, even if that means my blogs “ranking” goes down some. It’s a team effort!…

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Does Anyone Read Blogs Any More?

By friend Glen Woods asked this question over in the Kidology forums recently. And I think its a great question. Here was my answer: I think facebook has hurt blogs as I think people have gotten Internet-lazy. They just stay on facebook and don’t move around the web as much, however, I think a blog can still get traffic if done well. I read blogs, but focus on ones that are consistent (like yours, Glen) and solid content (also like yours). If you want to get FB readers, you MUST install a Facebook “like” button and ‘like’ your own posts so they will appear on your wall so people who follow you on Facebook will see you blogged and hop over and read your blog. RSS Readers (Like Bloglines/Google Reader) are less used today (I think) by the general public, as they were once how blogs were read. Tablet readers are now stronger, like Flipboard, and I read a lot of blogs that way, and through Twitter feeds, so be sure to Tweet your blog posts through hashtags like #kidmin #leadership etc. as that will drive traffic. Bottom line: Do people visit blogs directly today? No. Do they read them?…

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