best of 2006, part 1: the books
best of 2006, part 2: the music
best of 2006, part 3: the movies and tv
best of 2006, part 4: the best family moments
and now, the best blogs…
my favorite blog to learn from in 2006
scot mcknight’s jesus creed. it helps that i’ve gotten to know scot, and think he’s a really good guy. but his is certainly the blog that most consistently makes me think and leads me to new learning. of course, jesus creed has also become the popeye of the christian blog world, with incoming links from 1000 blogs.
my newest favorite blog (of 2006)
damien o’farrell’s journeyman’s log. damien is whip-smart, wonderfully humble, terribly insightful, and plugging away as a youth worker in riverside, ca. his writing is sharp and clear. he’s a bit of a hero to me, because he’s sticking it out in a church that is semi-change-resistent in a ministry where his goals and values are mostly misunderstood. but he doesn’t whine, and he only speaks with respect about the leadership in his church. damien needs to write books — his thinking and writing clearly indicate that. i’ve only started reading his blog regularly in the past few weeks, and i’m looking forward to the next year of posts.
my favorite blog to miss in 2006
man, i still miss the days when doug pagitt blogged with regularity and fiestiness. i know he does the podcast thing, but i’m too impatient for that.
my favorite blog i just barely found out about in 2006 and am excited about reading in 2007
dwight schrute’s schrute-space. found this new year’s eve day. yup, dwight schrute from the tv show ‘the office’. can’t wait to start reading it.
my favorite ysmarko posts of 2006
church: awkward similarities
youth ministry: youth ministry’s achilles heel
emerging church: this is emergent
funny: top 10 frustrations of living in the aforementioned christian subdivision
and, top 10 benefits of living in the aforementioned christian subdivision
family: max’s walk in the woods
personal: conversation with god on a waverunner
update: i’m adding a category…
biggest youth ministry blogging frustration of 2006
the lack of female youth ministry bloggers. yes, there are a handful. but they’re few and far between. look at the technorati list of youth ministry bloggers, and there isn’t a woman in the top 20 or 30 or more. given that over 50% of the attenders of the national youth workers convention are female, and women youth pastors are on the rise, i’d love to see this start to change in 2007. female youth workers: we NEED your voice and thoughts in the blogging world! jeanne stevens promises me she’s going to start blogging in the next month or two — i’m waiting with anticipation.
For what it’s worth, I am a woman in youth ministry who just started blogging a little more than a month ago. The site isn’t much yet, but I’m working on it. Out of curiosity, what topics would you like to see a woman in youth ministry address?
fantastic, sue! i would not presume to tell you what to blog about. we just need you to bring your voice, as a woman in youth ministry, to the blogosphere. thanks!
I think the thing about “pointing out” a woman in youth ministry blog, is that I have this frustration with “how different it is being a woman in youth ministry”. I am a very conservative woman, working in the south, where a number of my parishoners read my blog. Therefore, what I would love to blog about, what I’m learning and whatnot, I simply can’t. Yes, we do need more women blogging. But, when you think about it, and I think about it, my blogging has gone down 100% since I became a mother a year ago. Work=50 hrs at least a week Being a mom/wife=most of my other free time To think out something “blogworthy” has become harder. I want to be “studentworthy” before I can even think of being so thoughtful I can write it all down and help other youth ministers lives. But, I won’t stop and I love to read yours and others that I know about!
I’m finally catching up on my blog reading after a week away, so pardon the late addition …
My 2¢ as an even greater minority in the blogging world (female and a volunteer youth worker for more than 10 years) …
Thanks to the late (and most delightful) Mike Yaconelli, I learned not to refer to myself as “just a volunteer.” All the same, there is something, at least in my little mind, that comes with a title … or even just being paid to do what you do … to give a bit of authority to the writing. It’s a hurdle that I, and perhaps other women bloggers, have to leap by answering the question, “Does anyone out there really care about what I think about what’s happening in youth ministry?”
A secondary question I ask myself is .. do I really know what is going on in youth ministry? I read the blogs, web sites, books, etc., but the practicality of my experience is in a single church over the years that I have been ministering to the youth. If I were to write about youth ministry on the blog, would it be something insightful from which others can benefit or would it rehash the world as they already know it?
Having said all that, I love writing. I blog about lots of things, though not necessarily youth ministry, and would, on the whole, have to agree with you that it would be awesome to have more female voices out there. In the meantime, maybe I’ll start working on the occasional youth ministry post to help ease your frustration about the lack of female bloggers!