I’m going to jump on Matt’s bandwagon for a moment and share a tool with you that I have been trying to put to better use.

Many of the parents at my church use Facebook – and, regardless of my personal preference, it’s good to have a presence there as well. But, I don’t have the inclination to spend much time on Facebook and I often forget how useful it can be.

That’s where Hootsuite can help. Hootsuite has several levels of support and function, but the base level is free. The free version can support up to 5 “streams” and if you need more you can move into the free version. If you tweet, your twitter account (no matter how many lists) all count as a single stream. Facebook accounts and Facebook pages/groups are another stream each.

Having one place to go that has everything saves time, makes things searchable…and best of all (for me), I don’t have to try to figure out the whole timeline thing.

But here’s the best part – and why you need this: With Hootsuite, you can schedule messages to your social network. So, on Friday’s when I am polishing the lessons for Sunday and thinking about the coming week, I can schedule messages for my facebook and twitter account and other messages for our children’s ministry facebook page. I use these scheduled messages to give a daily reminder about what we’re doing the coming weekend and how parents can begin the lessons at home. If I need to edit a scheduled message, that’s no problem either.

If you’re looking for a way to be present on facebook or twitter every day and not have to actually be there everyday, take a look at hootsuite.

When corycenter.org launched three years ago and I began blogging, my desire was to share my passion for learning, technology, and children’s ministry.  In 2012 I want to focus that intersection in an simple, ongoing blog series called “Children’s Ministry Ideas.”

Children’s ministry is a community of practice, where leaders from all over the world are engaging in the same ministry and help one another learn how to get better at it.  I invite you to add to these ideas because by exploring ideas for ministry together, we can provide an even more powerful tool for leaders to use.

Twitter.  I have learned more about ministry from Twitter than any other tool, book, or magazine in the past two years.  Here’s why:

1) Twitter is intuitive. It’s easy to sign up for an account on Twitter.  Once you sign up, you do not have to post anything.  Many people get scared by using a new tool because they do not have time or because they are afraid the tool will be difficult to use.  Once you get on Twitter, make it a habit to search daily/weekly for all posts tagged with the word “kidmin”.  There is a 24 hour conversation happening about children’s ministry that you can listen to and participate in.  Searching for the “kidmin” tag is the easiest way to jump into that conversation.

2) Twitter is a tool for conversation.  Ask a question, get a response.  I ask lots of questions on Twitter.  Do you want to know more about a product, game, curriculum, or Bible story?  Use Twitter to ask.  Last month I had great conversations with Wayne Stocks about video games and young children.  I also had a fantastic exchange with Andy Johnson about using digital Bibles in children’s minstry.

3) Twitter is a global networking tool.  With Twitter I can interact with incredible leaders from all over the world.  Tim Shiels is a children’s pastor in Northern Ireland.  Dave Wakerley and Funny Man Dan work with and lead Hillsong Church’s children’s ministry Hillsong Kids in Australia.  Mary Hawes is the National Children’s Adviser for the Church of England.   I can find and network with leaders from all over the world – people that I will not meet at conferences or would have access to without Twitter.

4) Twitter gives you access to amazing people.  I’ve already mentioned several people that I follow on Twitter.  Here’s a few more.  You have to follow Ruben Meulenberg.  He is on staff at Saddleback Church and is one of the most prolific kidmin writers/idea generators on the planet.  His Twitter feed takes me to school every day.  Kenny Conley is a pastor in Texas.  Glean from his leadership wisdom.  Amy Dolan is a profoundly brilliant leader and an amazing source of ideas.

I hope you sign up for Twitter in 2012.  Your ministry will change as a result.

Your Turn: Who would you recommend to follow on Twitter?  What will a Twitter newbie learn from them?

This week I witnessed and participated in a fascinating Twitter exchange between Stephen Posey and Ruben Meullenberg, two children’s ministry leaders that I respect.  I jumped into the conversation after reading this simple statement: “ If u use #kidmin object lessons w/ success, keep it. But I’m done with most of ‘m #ThingOfThePast”

You can read the entire exchange here.

I want to highlight a few important issues raised from this Twitter exchange by commenting on some of the salient tweets:

Ruben Meullenberg, “In order to innovate, I often temporarily dislike things that work well, forcing me to use new ways. The last 2 years, it’s object lessons. By temporarily forbidding something that works, u force yourself to find even better ways.”

Ruben is a great example of a leader who “pokes the box.”  In Seth Godin’s latest book (Poke the Box) he recalls a story about a dad who created an electronic box with knobs, switches, and buttons to place in his newborn baby’s crib.  The baby learned to “poke the box,” discovering along the way what happened by pushing, turning, and flicking each component.  Leaders need to “poke the box,” try new things, and innovate.  I love the way Ruben frames creativity (which is challenging enough) by adding additional challenges of not taking the easy way out.

Stephen Posey, ” What I disagreed with was the idea of banishing a ministry tool… Its like what happened with puppets (another tool) Somewhere some influential #kidmin decided to condemn them. Concomitantly a new gen of #kidmin leaders (in effort to be taken seriously) decided “puppets aren’t cool”

First off, Stephen uses the word “concomitantly.” In a tweet.  Impressive.  But even more impressive is this notion that there are certain groups of influential leaders that set the course for the rest of the field.  Stephen is absolutely right.  With the explosion of social networking tools, blogging, and the introduction of myriad new children’s and family ministry conferences and networking events, there is a robust pool of leaders shaping the kidmin conversation.  His remark is perhaps the most interesting point of the entire Twitter exchange because this is where Stephen and Ruben respectfully disagree the most.  See Ruben’s response:

Ruben Meullenberg, “I fully agree. I think many said “puppets aren’t cool” because they weren’t used cool. Same with object lessons.  but I don’t believe smaller #kidmins took the “puppets aren’t cool” motto just from big #kidmins. They got cues from culture”

So which is it?  Did a class of influential leaders blacklist certain ministry tools or did children’s ministry leaders stop using them in response to cultural cues?  This is a critical question and I’d love to hear more responses in the comments!

As I’ve written before, Twitter is an amazing tool for ministry conversation.  In the past 24 hours, I witnessed and participated in an incredible and valuable conversation that took place on Twitter between two children’s ministry leaders that I respect and learn from: Stephen Posey and Ruben Meulenberg.

Stephen Posey is the Elementary Children’s Pastor at Church on the Move.  Stephen blogs from time to time at Seeds.  Stephen’s username on Twitter is stephenposey.

Ruben Meulenberg is a screenwriter and director who serves on the childrens’ staff at Saddleback Church. Ruben also is the co-founder of the largest how-to-make-videogames channel on Youtube.  Ruben’s username on Twitter is KidsWantAnswers.

The other contributors in this Twitter thread were Sam Luce (samluce) and myself (mattguevara).

Here’s how the conversation went:

	KidsWantAnswers I’ve served @ many #kidmins that were designed to make adults say “aaaw”, but it’s my calling to make kids say “aaawesome!”. Who’se with me? KidsWantAnswers If u use #kidmin object lessons w/ success, keep it. But I’m done with most of ‘m #ThingOfThePast
	stephenposey TOTally disagree! RT @KidsWantAnswers: If u use #kidmin object lessons w/ success, keep it. But I’m done with most all of ‘m #ThingOfThePast   mattguevara @stephenposey why do you disagree? With @kidswantanswers – give us a blog post   stephenposey @mattguevara love me some @KidsWantAnswers. I want to hear the full thought behind #ThingOfThePast
	KidsWantAnswers RT @stephenposey: @mattguevara love me some @KidsWantAnswers. I want to hear the full thought behind #ThingOfThePast idea //I’ll clarify…
	KidsWantAnswers I dont disagree with all object lessons. That’d be silly. Jesus uses ‘m. I do disagree with the style of most. #StyleIsMyJob
	KidsWantAnswers In order to innovate, I often temporarily dislike things that work well, forcing me to use new ways. The last 2 years, it’s object lessons.
	KidsWantAnswers By temporarily forbidding something that works, u force yourself to find even better ways.
	stephenposey Like this idea. RT @KidsWantAnswers: In order to innovate, I temporarily dislike things that work well, forcing me to use new ways.
	stephenposey Well clarified RT @KidsWantAnswers: Dont disagree w all object lessons. That’d be silly. Jesus uses ‘m. I do disagree w the style of most.
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara Glad to hear the rest of the thought. What I disagreed with was the idea of banishing a ministry tool…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara Its like what happened with puppets (another tool) Somewhere some influential #kidmin decided to condemn them
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara concomitantly a new gen of #kidmin leaders (in effort to be taken seriously) decided “puppets aren’t cool”
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara My strong stance is not necessarily for the sake of those tools (object lessons, puppets, etc)…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara but for the sake of those #kidmins who listen to people in positions like ours…
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara … who may be short circuiting themselves by the black listing of these kinds of tools.
	stephenposey .@KidsWantAnswers @mattguevara What I whole-heartedly agree with is change! “New” is a great catalyst for momentum!
	stephenposey @KidsWantAnswers well @mattguevara was right. Should have made this a blog post!
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey I fully agree. I think many said “puppets aren’t cool” because they weren’t used cool. Same with object lessons.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey but I don’t believe smaller #kidmins took the “puppets aren’t cool” motto just from big #kidmins. They got cues from culture
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey since I grew up in a culture 30 years ahead in postmodernism, I can see trends here that happened in Europe decades ago.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey these trends took Euro churches by surprise. My desire is to use my influence in USA to prepare USA for these cultureshifts.
	KidsWantAnswers @stephenposey not trying to say I’m ahead though. Just saying cultural shifts happened there, that are just starting here.   mattguevara @stephenposey @kidswantanswers love the way you put this – it’s an issue of careful & responsible leadership/influence mattguevara @stephenposey @kidswantanswers thank you both for engaging in a challenging & respectful convo on this #kidmin topic – I learn from you both   stephenposey @mattguevara @KidsWantAnswers spot on!
	samluce @stephenposey @kidswantanswers @mattguevara Object lessons & puppets are both effect how effective depends on knowing your teams strengths
	KidsWantAnswers @samluce @stephenposey @mattguevara I love how we can sharpen one another on twitter. We know each other’s hearts, allowing openness.

I use Twitter daily to network, share ideas, foster conversations, and ask critical questions that give value to the ministry I lead.  In the past 2 years I’ve used Twitter as a tool for ministry.  In the process I’ve come across and utilized several apps for Twitter, but by far my favorite has been TweetingMachine.

TweetingMachine is a powerful utility for Twitter that allows you to easily schedule tweets, connect your blog or RSS feed to Twitter, automatically follow new followers, and quickly unfollow the Twitter users not following you.  This unfollow feature is one of TweetingMachine‘s gamechangers.

Tim Stevens (leadingsmart.com) advises ministry leaders who use Twitter to automatically follow everyone who follows you.  But here’s the catch with that strategy: often a spam account follows you, then quickly unfollows you, and you get rocked by endless tweets about Twitter services, marketing advice, or penny stocks.  The ability to unfollow users in this category saves a lot of time for people who are using Twitter in ministry.  TweetingMachine makes that really easy and because this feature is combined with a host of others, you won’t be connecting to multiple services to get everything you need.

The other gamechanger feature is the ability to bulk upload tweets.  I spend time each week writing and editing the bulk of my tweets.  But scheduling them one by one is time consuming.  With TweetingMachine you can upload your tweets to Twitter with an CSV file.  It took me awhile to figure out the format, but if you sign up I can share my Excel file with you so you will not need to go through the hassle of deciphering the format.  I was surprised that TweetingMachine did not provide a template CSV file for users to download each month with the proper dates for each day in the month.

If you’re interested in TweetingMachine, check them out.  They offer a free 10 day trial and they have a special  offer for bloggers.  Enjoy!

Tip of the hat to Edutopia for the basics in this guide.

For many people, Twitter conjures up the worst of the internet: disjointed, meaningless phrases, unrecognizable abbreviations, and endless drivel about where someone’s getting their double mocha today.

So, Why Tweet?!?!

For the inquisitive educator, there are some jewels herein that can lead to stimulating discussions, new resources, and an ongoing supportive network. You just have to know where to look.

Okay, okay, I’ll “tweet.” How does it work?

Part chat, part short-form blog tool, Twitter operates on the idea that you can “follow” anyone else. Once you’re following someone, you’ll see their tweets. Likewise, whoever follows you will see your tweets. The more people you follow, the more disjointed and noisy your feed. So choose wisely! Now, to get started…

Set up an account

1) Go to Twitter.com and click Get Started Now. Fill in the fields. Where they ask for your Full Name, we suggest using your real name if you want to use Twitter as a professional networking resource. This way, people can recognize you.

2) Once you’ve completed the registration process, click Create my account. It will ask you to enter some text to ensure you’re not a robot.

Find people to “follow”

3) Now that you’ve got your account, Twitter will present you with a whole bunch of interesting folks to follow. If you’re feeling adventurous, by all means, go through this wizard.

4) Or just keep it simple and start by following Edutopia. Go to http://www.twitter.com/edutopia and hit “follow.” You can probably find other names you recognize by clicking on the names on our page, and following them. Don’t be afraid to explore!

We recommend that you only follow people who genuinely interest you. You can always un-follow someone, later. (They will never know.)

Listen

5) After you’ve started following some folks, take some time to listen to what they’re saying. Don’t be ashamed to ask if you’re confused, or an abbreviation doesn’t make sense. When you’re ready, jump in!

Participate in a conversation

6) Note on the listing above that each chat is designated by a word preceded by a #. A hashtag is a unique keyword preceded by a # sign that allows you to focus your discussions on specific topics, like science education or project-based learning. [Or children’s ministry, family ministry, or student ministry]

7) When you participate in a chat using a hashtag, you will be able to see some people whom you are not following. You can certainly choose to follow some of these new folks. This is, in fact, a great way to meet others who share your interests, and thus build up your personal learning network (PLN).

Expanding Your Network

Your participation does not have to be limited to chats. As mentioned above, you can begin to grow your network by following people and finding additional hashtags of interest to follow.

Twitter abbreviations

You will see a number of abbreviations used on Twitter. Here are a few of the most common ones:

@username is how you respond to someone else directly.

#topic_name is how you designate a topic for a chat.

RT means Re-tweet, which is someone passing along a Tweet that was generated by someone else.

Twitter is a powerful tool, but it can be a little confusing. Please feel free to ask any questions here. Or, if you’re an experienced Twitter user, we’d love for you to weigh in on what’s working for you.