God Must Laugh

Our youth group just made our first podcast. The real question is, “Why?” Well for starters, because it’s fun! More important, from a youth ministry perspective, it’s great training. We have to learn to plan ahead, to work together, to choose our words wisely, to ask ourselves the big questions. “What do I really want to say to the world? What’s the best way to say it?” From a life skills perspective, we’re helping kids become creators instead of consumers, giving them skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives. It’s great advertising, builds a sense of ownership, and might even draw new kids into your church. And did I mention it’s fun? Try hilarious.

Here’s the crazy thing. In the digital world, podcasting is already old news. It was huge for awhile, now it’s just one of a hundred different ways to create and distribute content. But for most of our churches, it’s so bleeding edge that we don’t even consider applying it to our situation. Or we want to, but assume it’s too difficult to learn. The net is not bleeding edge. It’s reality. Deal with it. And it’s not too hard to learn. Remember the old commercial, where the mom always said, “Look it up, Dear!” and the kid would grab the encyclopedia? Now she says, “Google it.” The limitations are inside our own minds.

The real question is this: “Is your love bigger than your desire to be comfortable?”