What are you passionate about?
That is a great question. I know you are passionate about something. I have youth pastor friends and I know what they are passionate about by just hanging out with them, and the style of their youth ministry. I do think that every youth pastor has a voice that is valuable. Whether you are passionate about family youth ministry, evangelism, small groups, or theology you have a niche. The thing is to find that niche and work within it. I wrote a post awhile ago about 5 posts I want to see in 2012. It is more than a few posts, it’s your voice I want to hear.
Here are 5 things you shouldn’t worry about when starting a blog:
Have it all figured out. There are 10 excuses you could use right now on why you are not writing on what you are passionate about. It took me a week to create this website after I realized that I had to stop being afraid and just starting publishing. You can figure it out as you go. The main thing is knowing what you want to write on and then write on that same topic thousands of times!
Credibility. Don’t wait to write a book, or publish an article in Youth Worker Journal. The old system is that you need to have credibility to build a website to attract people. You could build a website today, and within a few months you could have as much credibility as anyone. To build your credibility you will need to work hard, research, and write great material.
Grammer. My friends and I published grad essays for our seminary degrees and spent 4-6 months on papers that no one will read. I don’t know how many times I read over that paper for grammatical mistakes. This post will be read more times that anyone will ever read my grad essay. Let people critique your spelling mistakes. A blog isn’t a peer reviewed journal article. It is your thoughts on a certain topic. Don’t be offended. Welcome the discussion on how poor your grammer is.
Becoming Famous. You will not become Doug Fields. Why? Because Doug Fields is the super star of the youth ministry world. You can find a place in it, but don’t strive to become the next big thing. Just be you. That is enough! I want to hear your voice, and your passion.
A Plan. You can work out all the details as you go. I developed my twitter strategy, and facebook strategy out of my desire to see my website grow. You can do everything that I do! Stop thinking about the reasons why you can’t do it and just start it today.
What is holding you back from starting something right now? Take a few hours and build a website (here is my article, How to build a website in 10 Simple steps.). Once you do that, make sure to let me know so I can subscribe to you!
