This and That

I don’t do these posts often, but I have several short notes that I want to pass along, so we’ll do a “this and that” post. Time to empty the “quick blog  news posts” idea folder! Enjoy!!!

***Last night, the #Hashtag Youth Series got underway. If you are not familiar with this amazing work for young people, you will want to be. It grew from an idea to over 4000 young people in less than 6 months. Here are three resources to follow to see more about it: (1) the website, (2) the Facebook group, (3) a recent iPreach where we interviewed two of the “principles” of this.

***Speaking of summer series, I am pumped about the iPreach summer series this year! Dale Jenkins and I have already recorded 10 of the 12 programs, and they are outstanding. Tomorrow, we will launch the series with our last “live” program for awhile, and we have something special planned. We’ll record at 10AM Central, and you can join in here.

***Today is Blake Rader’s 6th birthday. This little boy continues to be brave and he is in the hospital for treatments. We have created a Facebook group where you can tell him (through his parents, since he isn’t old enough to be on FB) “Happy Birthday.” If you wish to send a message, click here. NOTE: If you are not on Facebook, leave a comment to this post, and I’ll add it to the FB page.

***Speaking of comments…we don’t get too many. Personally, I want this blog to be not only informational, but also a discussion. We really desire your feedback! If you have some suggestions as to how to write where it would be more “engaging,” please…well…leave a comment!

***Finally, a personal appeal about our blog. I have some very specific goals this year for this site (and social media in general), and we are making good progress toward them. However, when our blog crashed a few weeks ago, it hurt the progress a bit. I have decided to “publish” our goals so you can see them, and see if you can help out either yourself, or by passing the word along.

1. RSS count. This really took a hit with the crash, going from about 105 down to 15. We have barely recovered. If you don’t understand “rss,” please click here so you will. Goal for 2012: 150 subscribers. Currently: 22, plus 6 others who receive updates via email.

2. Twitter followers. We are making great progress here, and I think we have a shot to reach a pretty lofty goal. Goal for 2012: 700 followers. Currently: about 610 (we started the year at only about 550, so we are really doing well).

3. Facebook “fans.” Sometimes these are called “likes,” and you can see this on the right-hand side. We are really doing well, and I think we’ll hit this one! Goal for 2012: 100 fans. Currently: 88.

HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Two ways: 1. Make sure you subscribe (orange button), like us on Facebook (box with pictures on the right-hand side), and follow us on Twitter (“follow my tweets” on right-hand side).

2. Take just a second and tell someone else. Send an email with a link to our blog, or send out a tweet or Facebook message.

We don’t want these numbers for any sort of “vanity.” These are just goals that we have, and reaching for them gives us some motivation to do other things in the future with the blog. Thanks for reading!

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