Tag Archives: Blogging

Blog milestone: Post 1000!

Posted on03. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.

9

1000

This is it. My 1000th post. That’s really hard to pronounce.

It’s really hard to believe all that’s happened in the last three years becasue of this little blog. 1000 posts ago, or 1096 days ago, I installed wordpress and started typing this blog, wondering who if anyone would read it. I didn’t realize how much it would change me life. Venturing into the world of blogging has introduced me to several very close friends who’ve impacted me in a pretty significant way. This blog has allowed me to impact many people in very tangible ways as well. I also firmly believe that some of the things I’ve written will or have already impacted many people and I just might never know about it.

You see, that’s why this blog exists. In recent months many have commented on how many posts I throw out in a week (or day). Yes, it’s my goal-driven OCD nature that’s got me on overdrive as of recent, but it’s really my passion for sharing and equipping others that drives me. As a 14 year old, God called me to full time ministry to kids. However, as an 18 year old, God revealed to me that my calling expanded beyond the kids at my local church. Even as a 19 year old children’s pastor, I carried with me the burden that I was to equip others even while I was still trying to figure this whole ministry thing out. I feel like I’ve got ideas, experiences and things to share and that’s one of the reason why I blog. That’s why I just hit post 1000 in exactly three years.

In many ways it all goes back to the first post. I re-read this the other night and cracked up. I’ve always believed that I was going to write. Books, curriculum, articles. You name it, I was supposed to write it. I’d  finished my masters degree a year earlier and I’d not written a thing. So, I started this blog and I’ve been writing ever since (Actually, I calculated what I’ve written for this blog and it equals to about 4-5 books). I didn’t know where this blog would take me, but it’s been a thrilling ride. I certainly enjoy the community I’ve developed with those of you who read. I’ve enjoyed speaking into your lives and I’ve enjoyed the great ideas and thoughts you’ve given me. So, thank you for sharing your lives with me as I’ve shared mine with you. Hopefully we’ll all still be doing this in a few more years when this sucker hits 2000!

Continue Reading

Switch to Dreamhost: Save money and be happy

Posted on30. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.

0

261px-Dreamhost_logo.svg_I switched hosting companies about 9 months ago.I’d been with GoDaddy for many years and was generally happy. I’d had my share of frustrations when things didn’t work quite the right way as GoDaddy did things differently than other hosting companies or when GoDaddy only offered IMAP email on premium accounts where other hosting companies offered it to all accounts. Although GoDaddy was one of the cheapest hosts around, I was paying for four separate hosting accounts for all my blogs/sites. Then I switched to Dreamhost and everything got exceptionally better!

Although hosting fees are a little more expensive than GoDaddy, I can host as many websites as I want on one hosting account. That alone was worth the switch. In addition, Dreamhost offers one click wordpress (among other popular web applications) installs, automatically integrates with google apps (if you want) and all kinds of other features. When I’ve had issues, talking to someone from Dreamhost was easy and pleasant.

So, if you’re even remotely thinking about switching hosting companies or even in the slightest bit unsatisfied with your current host, I highly recommend checking Dreamhost out. As added motivation, use the promo code: SWITCHNOWANDSAVE

With this promo code, you’ll save $50 off your first year of hosting. In addition, you’ll get one free lifetime domain registration. That’s a great deal! You won’t regret it.

Click here to go to Dreamhost now!

When signing up, don’t forget to use the promo code: SWITCHNOWANDSAVE

Continue Reading

Orange 09 Bloggers Lounge

Posted on29. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.

0

Hey, if you’re at the Orange Conference this year, come check out the Blogger’s Lounge! It’s on the second floor of the arena. Free internet and coffee, how perfect is that?


Orange Blogger’s Lounge from Kenny Conley on Vimeo.

Continue Reading

Orange Blogger Brown Bag Lunches

Posted on23. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.

0

brown-bag-fullHey people. Something you may not have known about yet.

On Thursday and Friday of next week, several bloggers will be hosting brown bag lunches. It’s an opportunity to network and learn more about blogging, social media and network collaboration. So if you’re interested, here are some details.

Stop by the upper level of the Arena to meet over twenty bloggers that write about their experience with children’s and student ministry. We’ll be having brown bag lunches on Thursday and Friday with a handful of the bloggers to discuss very specific topics in an informal setting.  Space is limited and will be filled on a first come-first served basis. Meet at the specified time at the top of the escalators in the Arena to head to the lunch location.

Blogger Brown Bag Lunches

Thursday, April 30, 2009
Topic: Blogging Explained – General Q&A
Time: 1:15 p.m.

Friday, May 1, 2009
Topic: Children’s Ministry Collaboration via Social Networking
Time: 1:15 p.m.

Continue Reading

Blogging at Orange: Tools of the Trade

Posted on22. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.

4

Several months ago I was asked to be a part of the Orange bloggers lounge in an official capacity. So I’ve been thinking about what I need to bring and planning out my time while at Orange. So here’s what I’m bringing and my overall blogging strategy.

My Equipment

Macbook Pro
This is my main tool. I’ll have a backup battery as I’ll have this thing running during all of the general sessions and plenty of other times in-between.

Flip Mino
I’m planning to do quite a bit of video blogging. I’ll do some from the cam in my MacBook, but the Flip allows for more flexibility as well as interviews… and there will be interviews.

HTC Touch
This is my new phone. This will be where I catch all the twitter action. I’ll be curious as to how long the battery is going to last each day at Orange.

Canon Power Shot SD 870 IS
This is my point and shoot camera… it does a better job than my phone.

Mead brand Note Pad
Who needs a moleskin? I take my best notes with pen and paper, so I’ll be taking notes analog style.

My Strategy

Scribble: I’ll be using scribble for the general session. Not to take notes though, but more broadcasting all the tweets coming out of the general sessions in into one post on my blog.. it will be more of an aggregation of tweets.

Video Summaries: I’ll record a quick video summary at the end of all the general sessions, hitting some of the highlights of what was shared.

Video Blogging/Interviews: I’ll be uploading quite a few interviews during the conference. I already have a few set up, but I’ve got others in the works… and some will be totally random (I’ve got a helper to assist me with this).

Kenny’s Notes: At the end of the day, I’ll post my notes to the breakouts and general sessions like I did last year. Want to see last year’s notes? Click on the links at the bottom of this page. Seriously, I take my best notes with pen and paper, so I’ll be transcribing at night.

Daily Twitter Summaries: I’ll set up my blog to post my daily twitter summary at the end of each day. I know that many of my readers don’t tweet, so at least this way you’ll see the conversations that were happening all day long.

Link Love: It’s not all about me. There are going to be a LOT of people blogging. I’ll be linking to their videos and posts all week long.

Being that I’m rooming with 4 or 5 of the official Orange bloggers, I’m sure will collaborate on some stuff as well.

So, what do you think? Am I missing anything? I’ll be a little busy, huh?

Orange 2008 Notes:

Continue Reading

The 2009 Orange Conference Bloggers Lounge

Posted on21. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.

6

In case you haven’t heard, the 2009 Orange Conference will have a bloggers lounge. I’m lucky enough to have been invited to be a part of the Orange 09 blogging team. However, the bloggers lounge isn’t just for bloggers, but a place people to connect. Each blogger has his or own “network” of readers and contributers the bloggers lounge is simply a place for bloggers and readers to connect. Oh, and there will be all kinds of blogger to blogger networking going on. Expect to see a surge of video, live blogging and normal posts coming out of Orange. I expect that there will be amazing coverage spewed out on the web next week.

Chances are that you are either following a number of blogs out there on the inter-web OR you’ve at least checked into a few of them from time to time while doing a search online. And you’ve probably found some pretty helpful information or ideas while reading. To try and help you guys network at Orange 2009, we are assembling nearly 20 of the more well-known bloggers in childrens ministry and student ministry to get together and meet with you guys on site at the event.

These guys have built in networks, and your participation is only a click away. Be sure to stop by the second floor of the Arena while you’re at Orange to shake a hand, put a face with a name, or ask your questions. They’ll be hosting brown bag lunches on Thursday and Friday to cover specific topics related to social media and networking…just another free perk of joining us at Orange 2009.

Oh, and did we mention that there will be free online access and coffee in the bloggers lounge?

Bloggers:

Carlos Whittaker – Production Director, Buckhead Church, GA
Twitter: loswhit
Blog: ragamuffinsoul.com

Jon Acuff – Creative Writer, GA
Twitter: prodigaljohn
Blog: stuffchristianslike.net, prodigaljohn.com, 97secondswithGodcom

Ben Arment – Director, Catalyst West Coast, GA
Twitter: BenArment
Blog: benarment.com

Brad Lomenick – Executive Director, Catalyst, GA
Twitter: bradlomenick
Blog: bradlomenick.com

JC Thompson – Elem. Production Director, Brookwood Church, SC
Twitter: jconline
Blog: jcsonline.wordpress.com

Kenny Conley – Next Generation Pastor, Gateway Church, TX
Twitter: kennyconley
Blog: childrensministryonline.com

Matt Mckee – Pastor of Students and Children, Horizon Community Church, OH
Twitter: mattmckee
Blog: mckeelive.com

Jonathan Cliff – Children’s Pastor, Trinity Church, TX
Twitter: jonathancliff
Blog: jonathancliff.com

Sam Luce – Children’s Ministry Director Mt. Zion Ministries Church, NY
Twitter: samluce
Blog: samluce.com

Gina McLain – LifeKids Pastor, LifeChurch.tv, OK
Twitter: jabberfrog
Blog: jabberfrog.com

Chad Swanzy – Student Ministried Pastor, Gateway Church, TX
Twitter: theuprisinglive
Blog: chadswanzy.blogspot.com

Rick Smith – Youth Speaker, Seminary Student, TX
Twitter: Rick_Smith
Blog: rickwsmith.com

Anna Meadows – Associate Youth Pastor, LifeChurch.tv, OK
Twitter: anna_meadows
Blog: annameadows.com

Chris Szulwach – Student Pastor at Liverpool Community Church, Liverpool, NY
Twitter: CoffeeWithChris
Blog: Coffee with Chris

John Saddington – Creative Web Director, North Point Ministries, GA
Twitter: human3rror
Blog: human3rror.com, churchcrunch.com

Continue Reading

Unleash your blogging potential

Posted on21. Mar, 2009 by Kenny.

0

Okay, don’t laugh at me. This post was inspired from Tony Morgan’s breakout at the 2008 Unleash. Yeah, the 2008 conference. Yes the 2009 conference was last week… I’m just a little behind. No, I didn’t go, but I read Rich Butler’s notes from the breakout a year ago and I saved this as a draft and have been putting off writing this post. I’m not really sure why, but I’m glad I did.

Here are the main points:

1. Determine your primary audience.
2. Post regularly.
3. Keep your post short.
4. Don’t sell yourself.
5. Use Humor
6. Stop Attacking other people and ministries on your blog. (Hurt people, hurt people!)
7. Remember blogging isn’t private.
8. Be a thought leader.
9. Don’t listen to your critiques until you know their heart and motivation.
10. Reveal the real you.

In the last year I’ve seen the audience to this blog triple. I’m no expert at all, but I’ve seen these things work. Here’s my take on Tony’s notes:

1. Determine your primary audience. He’s right. Seth Godin talks about this a lot on his blog. Find your niche. Honestly, there aren’t that many Children’s Pastors out there blogging (more now than ever, but the market isn’t saturated).
2. Post regularly. This is a big one. I see my audience grow most when I’m posting at least 5-7 times a week. Oddly enough, I see a huge surged when I take a week or two off and then slam out 2-3 weeks of 1-2 posts a day. Although, I think the better pace to to post ahead of time and not take any breaks in blogging.
3. Keep your post short. I suck at this. My wife is a skimmer and I know there are a lot of skimmers out there. She doesn’t read all of my long posts and she’s my wife, so I know the other skimmers aren’t either. When I’ve got longer posts, I try to make a series out of it, chopping it up into bite-sized chunks.
4. Don’t sell yourself. I’m assuming he’s talking about self-promotion. I’d agree with this. You can tell when you meet someone who’s really taken with himself. I don’t want to be that guy. I was probably over-cautious on this originally until Karl Bastian recommended that I put my profile on the blog as he couldn’t even figure out who was the author. I figured that if you’ve got good stuff to say, people will figure out who you are.
5. Use Humor. Funny blogs are certainly more fun.
6. Stop Attacking other people and ministries on your blog. (Hurt people, hurt people!) Honestly, I haven’t encountered too much of this in other places and see no value in this. The only criticism I’ll put out there is on a product and I’m not afraid to be honest with my opinions on a product or resource.
7. Remember blogging isn’t private. My wife helps me remember this one. There is a line between “authenticity” and TMI. Many posts have been edited or deleted after they’ve been published. Seriously, my wife makes me so much better than I am on my own.
8. Be a thought leader. You know, every now and again inspiration hits and I’ll have a stinkin’ cool idea (It doesn’t always come naturally. Ha!. I publish it and bam, my audience spikes, comments are left and new ideas and thoughts are generated. It doesn’t happen all the time, but once it does, it’s really fun. It challenges me to think about my posts a little more. Anyone can blog about what they’re doing, but it takes some forethought to push the envelope with new and creative ideas.
9. Don’t listen to your critiques until you know their heart and motivation. It’s like water on a ducks back. Seriously, although it would be fun to read a fight in someone’s comment thread, I think it would be embarrassing to get into it with a commenter. I haven’t had any of this on my blog yet, so this is still theoretical. However, I have a feeling that if you’re not getting some critiques, you’re probably not really pushing the envelope enough.
10. Reveal the real you. This is why I love twitter and why so many people don’t get it. If I’m a reader of your blog, I do want to know who you are. The way we write helps and so does twitter.

Okay, that’s my assessment. Hope it helps.

Continue Reading

Updating my twitterfeed with hashtags

Posted on10. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.

1

picture-37

In case you missed the bus last week, the Children’s Minsitry community adopted a Twitter hashtag. It’s been a hit so far. So, if you’re blogging anything about children’s ministry, be sure to include #kidmin in your tweet.

Well, as a result, I had to update my twitterfeed. What is twitterfeed? I wrote about it many months ago here. Honestly, if you’re a blogger and you use twitter, why are you not using it? Basically it’s a third party service that scans your blog… or any blog for that matter. Whenever a new post is published, a pre-written tweet is sent out with a link to the new post. Honestly, when I do look at my stats, I’ve found that Twitter and Facebook are becoming a much more significant referrer to my blog. That’s because of twitterfeed (facebook only because my twitter updates my facebook status).

Today I updated my pre-written tweet to include the #kidmin hashtag. This way my tweets about my new posts will be picked up by those following #kidmin. I’ve found it to be an invaluable tool. So, if you’re not using it, go ahead and set it up today.

Continue Reading

In case you’re wondering…

Posted on18. Dec, 2008 by Kenny.

1

If you follow this blog at all, you may be thinking… “Dang, Kenny’s writting a bunch of blog posts.”

Yeah, I am. The last few months have been marked with 1-2 week vacations of me posting nothing. I had many great ideas, I just didn’t take the time to write them down.

In addition, I’m trying to hit a personal goal. The other day I wrote about my goal of hitting post 400 by the new year. It was a very attainable goal, but taking time off slowed me down from reaching this goal. However, I’m very goal-driven and I’ve got it stuck in my head that I want post #400 to publish at 11:59 PM on December 31st. It will be followed by post number #401 at 12:00 AM on January 1st. Post #401 will contain my resolutions for 2009.

So, as I write this post, I have 353 published posts and 12 scheduled posts. That means I only need to write 35 more posts in the next 12 days or so. It’s actually very attainable still. So, we’ll see how close I get! Oh, and I’m not going to publish a bunch of fluff either, nothing but good stuf to encourage, connect and resource those serving kids!

Continue Reading

Goals

Posted on15. Dec, 2008 by Kenny.

2

I’ve discovered that I’m a very goal oriented person. I can easily live life spinning my wheels and going no where. However, when I have clear goals, I progress. Even when I dont’ quite reach all of my goals, it’s usually still okay. Here are two simple goals I have right now.

Losing weight: If you follow my posts you know I’ve been working to lose some weight. After 6 months out of work, I put on some weight. When moving to Austin, I was the heaviest I’ve ever been. I was very sad about this. I changed my eating habits and decided that I wanted to lose 20 pounds by 2009. Last weekend I weighed in and I was only 2 pounds away from that goal. I think I might just do it. Right now I am the same weight I was 3-4 years ago. Yaeh for me! I’m not done though, still have 20 more to go. If I can lose another 20, I’ll be back at my weight when I got married. I’ll definately need to buy new clothes. From that point I think I would be really happy, but maybe set one more goal to lose about 10 more pounds. For years I’ve talked about losing the weight, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that I started setting goals. It also helps to have a digital scale that knows what my goal is and tells me how far away from it that I am every day.

Blogging: As some of you know, I took several months off from blogging last year while I was on the job hunt. I had been blogging for about 7 months and had less than 100 posts. However, in March I started blogging again with renewed passion and zeal. I absolutely love it. I set a somewhat unrealistic goal of hitting my 500th post before 2009. However, that would have required me to post twice a day, 5 days a week for about 5 months. However, hitting post 400 was much more realistic. As of a month ago, I was still on track to hit it. Unortunatley, now I am only 18 days away from 2009 and I am 60 posts short of 400.

There is a part of me that still very much wants to go for it. It’s more than 3 posts a day, 7 days a week. Although I feel like I’ve written plenty of silly posts, I don’t want to post a bunch of fluff to hit my goal. So, I’m going to do the best I can and see where I land. If I don’t hit 500 by 2009, maybe I can hit a high note on April 4th, the 2nd anniversary of this blog.

Continue Reading

Older Entries »