Round #1 is now closed and the top 16 blogs have advanced. Here is the link to vote in round two.
Vote for Your Favorite Kidmin Blogger
There are some great bloggers writing about children’s ministry. That’s why I put together the Big List of Children’s Ministry Blogs. It’s also why I complied the Top 10 Children’s Ministry Blogs last September. This post kicks off a friendly competition to let blog readers decide what is the top Children’s Ministry blog.
Here’s How It Works
Listed below are the top 64 children’s ministry blogs arranged in a four division bracket-style tournament. We will have three rounds of voting to pick an overall winner. This post is the first round. Sunday 21 March 2010 is when round #1 will close and the top picks in each division will advance.
You are free to vote your conscience. I would expect most people will vote for who they like or who most influences them. But you can also vote for the rival or your rival. The voting is restricted by IP address, so re-voting doesn’t help your cause. You are encouraged to stump for votes in the comments, on your blog, twitter, facebook, kids church, etc. Don’t be shy, I’m going to announce some prizes later.
Midwest Division
- jonathancliff.com
- Children’s Ministry & Culture – Larry Shallenberger
- Kidologist.com – Karl Bastian
- Elemental Children’s Ministry
- matt mckee live
- Lemon Lime Kids
- It’s a kids ministry Revolution baby!
- Dick Gruber
- Pastor Lori’s Blog
- Ragsstudio
- Mike Johnson
- Victory Circle
- Julie’s Journal – Julie Cantrell (writer)
- Thoughts on Children’s Ministries at Morning Star
- Children’s Ministry Blog
- Bible Drive-Thru
South Division
- Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)
- Orange Leaders
- Ryan Frank
- JC is ONLINE
- Revival Fire For Kids Blog
- childrensministry.com blog
- iTODD
- JamieDoyle(dot)com
- Children’s Ministry Monthly
- West Coast CM
- Effective Childrens Ministry
- apPARENTly blogging (link fixed)
- Acacia in the Desert
- Adventures in Children’s Ministries
- P.B. & J.
- Children’s Moment
East Division
- sam luce
- GinaMcClain.com
- Children’s Minister BLOG
- Justyn Smith
- Dad In The Middle
- krazy kidmin life
- Glen Woods- Children’s Ministry Conversation
- Scripture Lady
- Kid Crossings
- CapCity Kidz
- IDEAS UNLIMITED
- The LOGOS Ministry
- Kidmin360.com
- DiscipleBlog.com
- CM Buzz
- West Side Kids
West Division
- Inside Northpoint Kids
- Jim Wideman
- [Kid Inspiration] – Dave Wakerley
- SojournKids
- Evan Doyle
- Smalltownkidmin Blog
- A Heart After Children – Brittany Sky
- JUST PUDGE
- Phil Vischer
- Free CM Stuff
- Compassion International Blog
- brennaphillips.com
- Childrens Ministry 1234
- Raising Modern-Day Josephs
- Life2gether
- Ministry Idea Studios
Feel free to leave your feedback about the placements, or let me know who you expect to win. Just leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
I would encourage you to vote for Dad in the Middle out of the Eastern Division.
So starts my week of shameless self promotion. I was honored (and, if I’m being truthful, also amazed) to even be included let alone get a fifth seed in this fun little tournament. That said, I don’t hold out any hope of winning this thing, but I think it would be fun to make it past the first round, so I am shamelessly plugging both the tournament and Dad in the Middle for underdogs everywhere! Against the likes of bloggers like Sam Luce (with his 3,000 twitter followers) and other nationally know Children’s Ministry leaders like Gina McClain, Justyn Smith, Greg Baird and others, I’m not sure that Dad in the Middle has much of a shot, but that’s not going to keep my from trying!
FYI, those are the people I voted for.
Regardless of who you choose to support, I hope that you will check out all 64 blogs in the competition. I follow all of them and have learned so much from reading what each has to offer.
Finally, thanks to Tony for putting all this together. I know he didn’t include Ministry-to-Children.com because they are hosting the competition, this site is a winner in my book!
Happy voting!
Thanks,
Wayne
aka Dad in the Middle
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Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. – Romans 12:12
The self promotion is what makes it all the more fun! You’re right about the Twitter giants, that could get a little crazy if they get into the game.
So pleased that Canada has been annexed into the Midwest. (Henry Z.) We’ve apparently invaded.
It was an invasion long overdue and supported by many prayers.
Never mind Canada, what about the Australian invasion?
Where is the Kidologist at?
3rd Seed – Midwest Division
Sounds like a lot of fun Tony. Thanks for doing this. I’m a big proponent of people getting online and reading blogs, it’s such a raw way to take in new and fresh ideas from the stuff that’s being done each weekend at churches around the world. I hope that more people engage in ideas outside what they’re used to as a result.
I’ve got a lot of good friends and people I highly respect in this game. I wish everyone well. Max Lucado’s getting my vote!
Wow, there are some really great blogs on here! It’s will be very interesting to see who finishes on top!
Thank you all for all of your input and valuable information you give us all. I find great ideas and thoughts that help me every week!
Great Idea Tony!
Everyone else tonight is busy filling out their NCAA brackets, so I thought I would take this opportunity to fill out my Kidmin Blog Madness Bracket. I’m not sure how Tony is planning on doing the later rounds, so I figured I would list my top four in each division followed by a discussed of which blog I think will win overall. I spend a lot of time on all of these blogs, so I’ve factored in quality along with numbers of followers on various social networking sites to make the following predictions (and, yes I know that preliminary results are already in, but better late than never):
Midwest Division:
1. Jonathan Cliff
2. Kidologist
3. Elemental CM
4. Matt McKee
South
1. Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)
2. JC is Online
3. Ryan Frank
4. Revival Fire for Kids (Tamera Kraft)
East
1. Sam Luce
2. Gina McClain
3. Justyn Smith
4. Kidmin360 (Greag Baird)
West
1. Jim Wideman
2. David Wakerley
3. Inside North Point
4. Free CM Stuff
As I said, I don’t know what Tony’s plans are after the 1st round. Once I know, perhaps I will refine my picking though I doubt to outcome will change much. Until then, here is how I think the top blogs will finish in order:
1. Jim Wideman
2. Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)
3. Sam Luce
4. Jonathan Cliff
I think it’s hard to have a competition like this without Brother Jim ending up on top. BTW, I switched numbers 2 and 3 around six or seven times while writing this. Maybe I’ll just predict a tie. I think these two guys are neck-and-neck, I have trouble picking between the two of them.
Who else has predictions they want to share?
Check out one bloggers video . . . http://vimeo.com/10162574
Sorry for misspelling Greg’s name in the prior comment. It was my subliminal way of trying to get people to vote for Dad in the Middle rather than Kidmin360.
Okay, I totally did not realize that my blog was included in the list! I just got 7000 new cool points for just being on this, which brings me up to 7001.
I gotta go call my mom and tell her.
Jared, be sure to have her vote for you while she’s at it… as long as she reads your blog, right? Gotta love our mom’s huh?
Mom, if you made it this far down the page, thanks for voting! And if anybody else’s mom is on here, you can vote for me too.
To Jared’s Mom: Thanks for giving the world this fine young man.
This is a great idea and a lot of fun. I’m honored to be included and have done lots of work on my shameless promotions. There’s a lot of great blogs listed. I hope I make it past the first round.
I’m bringing the cheese baby. Anybody can get hot come tourney time!!
You’re video cracked me up, the puppy really sold me on voting for you.
Sniff, sniff……..I must have been blog #65……
Oh, guess I’ll go out for the NIT…..Nothing Interesting Takingplace!
Of course, Taking Place should actually be two words…..oh well.
Sorry for the snub, I didn’t even have you on the Big List of blogs. That’s now fixed and the pundits are already saying next year might be the one.
Thanks brotha Tony. I’ll be voting soon…..
One problem – the blog you have down for me is NOT the correct web address. You have a link to my old blog
The new one is at
http://apparentlyblogging.awana.org/
Thanks. I’ve updated the link and added the new feed to our BIG list of CM blogs.
I am quite amazed to be included on this list of blogs. Only stumbled on the Ministry To Children blog a month or two ago so am very much a newbie. It’s great to see such a network and contest. Thank you Tony!
For a blog with a different take on children’s ministry (i.e. not minister-to-minister, but right for the kids), check out Bible Drive-Thru (http://bibledrivethru.blogspot.com).
Thanks so much!
I’m just honored that the blogs I guest post on are listed. Children’s Ministry Online and Sam Luce owe me for driving so much traffic to their sites.
j/k
The west division was the hardest for me because having only been in kidmin for 8 months, all the people I first found and followed were all there. I am just now finding out about some of the other great bloggers out there…and looking at this list, I’ve got a lot more reading to do.
Let me just say that the MidWest Division is stacked. We’re like the SEC football of the blogging world.
You meant to say “like the Big East in NCAA men’s basketball.”
The voting is much more competitive than I thought it would be. I’m just wondering if our #kidmin rockstars are running out of steam on Twitter. Facbook has been sending 5x the traffic today.
What a fun idea!
I’m a little bummed that I don’t have more people in my family to vote for me
and, while you’re here, check out my latest post:
http://westcoastcm.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/ideas-the-new-one/
What a great idea! I’m all for encouraging conversations that leverage leadership to be the best to kids, families, volunteers.
Anybody notice how the “cheese” is always moving? Applies to church and the way we do it EVEN more, because the stakes are so high! This is eternity folks! BE the best! I vote we all win, cause its SO great to see people talking ministry together!
Thanks! I will not hand out cigars, but I am willing to kiss a few babies! LOL
Tony thanks for doing this and thank you for listing me here with so many wonderful blogs. Some of these I didn’t know about. I clicked on each one-they are great! It’s an honor to be listed…thanks to everyone who votes for me or who has ever read my blog or books. What a great ideal!
This is what has made this contest so great. I think we have all discovered a new blog or two. I know traffic has been way up over at mine, which is good because I’m pretty new at all this.
O.K. Perfect time for this question. I have been reading Children’s Ministry Blog (15th seed, Midwest) and including it in The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol for some time. That said, I still have no idea who writes the blog because it does not have an “ABOUT” section or any information on who writes it on the blog (at least not that I’ve found). So, does anyone on here know who writes it?
Now that I’ve asked my question, remember to go vote for DAD IN THE MIDDLE (5th Seed, Eastern Division). Sorry – couldn’t help myself!
Hey Tony,
Thanks for continuing to drive users to the blogs, especially to those of us who don’t have a lot of other exposure on a broader scale. I appreciate it!
Glad to hear that “Victory Circle” has re-located to east of the Cascades. We hear it’s a lot sunnier in the Midwest!
Pastor Justyn aka PJ one of the greatest children’s pastors alive today!!
I agree. Which is why when he says things like “Vote for DAD IN THEM MIDDLE (5th Seed, Eastern Division)!” I take it seriously. I mean, if he did say things like that, and…well, I’m sure he would. Well, I think he would. Anyhow, he might! That’s close enough – go vote!
Of course he wouldn’t say “THEM MIDDLE.” He would say “THE MIDDLE.” At least, he might!
Of course he would say things like that!
VOTE JUSTYN SMITH- EAST!!
Vote for OrangeLeaders in the South Division!
Thanks for putting this together, Tony! Love the opportunity to read other ministry blogs! What a great way to network with other leaders!
Thanks for making round #1 a big success. We’ll kick off round #2 at some point on Monday afternoon.
For those who think ORANGE I need a shout out to Ministry Idea Studios. Together we are better! Vote ya’ll! Vote!
Olivia Newton-John
I hear that a lot. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be the mother of this wonderful young man. It is a great privilege.
Aww, I blushing.
*I’m, it should say I’m. I am just so flustered it didn’t come out right.
Throw me on the next year list too lol
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