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DEVELOPMENT

Development

Thanks to the amazing software available, Wikispace tools are all that are needed (in the forseeable future) to maintain the wiki. A web browser and perhaps online yellowpages also need to be utilized in order to make as many contacts as possible to invite youth ministers to join the community. When additions for each category begin to be substantial, there will need to be an organization of the sub-pages for items that can be grouped together within each category.

EVALUATION

Evaluation

Regular postings to the wiki by a growing number of youth pastors, thereby creating a large database, would indicate success. Further need to sub-categorize items within the topics of worship, outreach, discipleship, service, and fellowship would attest to the effectiveness of the wiki and community buy-in of its value. Discussion could be set-up and encouraged that would allow input/response to the events people are adding and perhaps foster discussion within the community. If a ministry uses or adapts a particular event, they can add comments that would help other youth pastors interested in the idea to trouble-shoot its implementation, thereby helping a youth ministry hold a more successful event.

IMPLEMENTATION

In order for this wiki to be successful in addition to the organization and set-up discussed in “Design,” there will have to be buy-in and participation by a wide range of youth pastors. Therefore, solicitation and time are the two key components of the wiki’s development. First, myriad youth pastors must be contacted and invited to join. As most churches have websites and those websites have staff pages and those staff pages have email links, it is simply a matter of putting in the time to send invitations for potential members to join. At this point, a dozen youth pastors have been intitially invited to become members of the wiki. Undoubtedly, many will decline, but those that do join will hopefully contribute and invite their contacts to also become a part of the wiki. Which leads to the requirement of time to develop momentum and build this site. Initial start-up will be slow, but as more youth ministers benefit from using others’ ideas and enjoy sharing their own, the potential for the wiki to grow exponentially is great.

DESIGN

Design

The design of such a wiki is the key to its usability and success. Books and resources are readily available, although costly, but often such tools require sifting through information, adapting for one’s circumstances, and wondering if the event has had success in the “real world.” So if a wiki can be organized in an easily-accessed format and contain ideas that have been used successfully with teenagers, there is a higher degree of likelihood that youth pastors would use and contribute to the wiki.

A popular youth ministry approach is called Purpose-Driven, in that programs and events attempt to focus on one of five key areas: Outreach, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, or Service. Using these categories to organize the wiki will allow youth pastors to only see the ideas for the area they are planning for, thereby saving them time. When any of the five categories becomes unwieldy, then subcategories can be set up to facilitate ease of access to an even greater extent.

ANALYSIS

Analysis

The job of a youth pastor is varied, complicated, and exhausting. There is a lot to juggle between study, writing messages, investing in the lives of students, planning meetings and events, leading worship services,  making purchases, emailing/myspacing/text-messaging, creating fliers, running errands, sitting in on staff meetings, dealing with parents, and vacuuming the student room.

When it comes to events and planning, so many youth pastors have great ideas, which can turn into great events, and even occasionally can turn into a disaster. And sometimes, with all of the other obligations, the idea well can just run dry– and youth pastors have to go in search of fresh ideas that engage the ever-fickle  teenage persona. Now, there are commercial sites that sell ministry ideas and curriculm like www.simplyyouthministry.com, www.youthspecialties.com, and www.youthpastor.com, and even sites with free sermons (albeit for adults) like www.sermoncentral.com, but with so many tried and tested ideas in the hands of youth pastors, why not a central hub where they can help each other at no expense to their budget?

With a well-organized wiki, this kind of forum is a very real possibility. Outside of this medium, it is very difficult for youth pastors to get in touch with each other as the responsibilities of the job leave little opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas, so if they can be connected via a wiki and enough members are contributing, it can quickly become a valuable and growing resource.

So here’s my idea…

…that I’ve already created.

I couldn’t really come up with anything for my classroom, especially in the middle of summer, I decided to create a wiki for my other job, high school ministry, that I would appreciate as a high school pastor as a place to go to get ideas for activities, lessons, etc.

So what I did was create a wiki that gave youth pastors a place to donate and take ideas for student ministry broken down into five different categories: worship, discipleship, outreach, fellowship, and service. As the wiki gets going, youth pastors will be able to write ideas and activities for things have worked for them in ministry, and if they need an idea, they will be able to come and browse the contributions from other youth pastors.

project

I really have no idea what this project is about or its parameters. I’m at a loss for what I should even ruminate about to generate ideas.

a (brief) introduction

Well… since you know my name, i won’t be redundant. I’m a family guy– I’ve been married 13 years and have two sons– 6 years and 4 years. I’ve taught in the same high school for 13 years and currently teach journalism and 10th grade English. I also pastor the high school and middle school at my church. In my spare time I mow the lawn, make to-do lists, and sleep– but not at the same time as I’m not a very good multi-tasker.

I don’t have much experience with Wikis as I couldn’t really define them before today, and the only thing I’ve done in terms of podcasting is listen or watch. I don’t have a clue as to how to create/produce one although I have put up videos on YouTube. As for blogging, I have kept a daily calendar online for my classes for two or three years using Blogger.

For this class, I don’t have any idea what a project might be at this point.