In other news, I threw up a random website today I’m falling Fortune Cookie Fans. It started as a wild idea and I had to get it out before it wasted too much time. Basically, readers can email me a photo of their fortune cookie sayings and I’ll post it along with a few lines of interpretation. If you eat Chinese food less than twice a week it’s won’t be that exciting for you.

On SBC Voices, comment counts have gone through the roof. The site has moved into a more debate mode rather than pure aggregation. Hats off to all those passionate bloggers making it happen. One top resource page has been the David Platt sermons. I’ve been pleased that the site has continued strong even after the SBC convention season.

The main site I’ve been working on has been Ministry To Children. The real needs addressed by that site have caused rapid traffic growth. One highlight has been the Sunday School Coloring Pages we’ve been adding. These have been well received and very popular among our readers. Of course, the Sunday School crafts page gets lots of traffic too.

It’s been a good few months. I’m looking forward to the winter traffic too. I’ll bring an update here sometime next month.

Also on that website, I’ve just posted some Bible verses about strength. These are designed to encourage people who need to remember that strength comes from God.

In other news around the network blogs, I have been posting some printable Bible coloring pages on Ministry-To-Children. These are being created by an artist in Louisville and have become very popular with the readers.

I am still amazed at the traffic growth from that website. It’s been a surprised how it continues to help more and more people. We’ve also posted some new recommendations for children’s worship songs. One more link, Wayne has been writing about some great AWANA children’s ministry games.

Here is the video I made of the event. This playlist has all 10 clips I’ve uploaded. Most are just the guys talking, but the first one has some behind the scenes footage of Tim setting up. You can watch all these Band of Bloggers videos on YouTube.

It was great to see some old friends and meet a few Internet friends. I was especially proud of Trevin Wax and Owen Strachen who participated in the event. Looking back it’s cool to see how God brought us all together to work on Said at Southern back while we were in Seminary.

• SBC Voices blog madness
• Ministry To Children blog madness

Both generate excitement and attention in the blog niche they serve. Plus they push solid traffic back to the blogs that participate. It’s a win-win.

The competition on SBC Voices is a little tired because that blog has declined over the last year. But the Ministry To Children version has surprised me, especially the level of traffic coming from Facebook.

On the technical side, I’m running one from a Poll Daddy plugin and the other from WP-polls. They both work well, but I  went with Poll Daddy because I didn’t want the extra tables on my Ministry To Children database.

In other news, the seasonal traffic for Easter Sunday School ideas is big as always. I just hope the fresh links will help the Bible Trivia and Coloring Pages sections to gain some ground.

While I’m throwing out links, I always wanted to mention the Christian Ad Network I’ve joined called “Beacon Ads.” I’m really pleased with their server speed and client base. It helps to have an extra income stream.

On the video front, my channel on YouTube has done well. I’m up to 50 videos and most are being discovered. The best part is the added connection with readers. Here is the most popular one about children’s ministry.

The whole process has been much easier now that I have a straight-to-web camcorder. Check them out and rate them if you have a YouTube account. Below are two examples.

Video content has great potential both as a communication channel for the sites and for revenue in the long term. Now that the technology is so simple, I plan take make the most of it. The local content will help me target local search terms and the Children’s Ministry clips will help me build trust with my readers.

Madison Christmas Parade Video

Sunday School Game

This project came about as I was thinking of opportunities for new websites in the next few years. Our town has a solid tourism base and many businesses who need more exposure on the Internet.

Last week I began recruiting writers to rapidly expand the site’s content. This weekend I completed the bulk of my redesign using the Thesis Theme for WordPress. I’ve kept the most popular devotional feeds displayed on the homepage with the newsPage plugin. I have also created an email newsletter to begin building a consistent reader base.

Check it out, link to it, and watch for promotions coming soon.

It’s an exciting development and that website continues to grow into a more professional project. I’m learning how to manage writers and edit fast growing blog staff. We’ve gone to a pay-per-post method of compensation.

The other big development for Ministry-To-Children is the new Facebook page. It has only been two weeks but over 500 people have became fans. This opens a whole new communication channel for the sites content.

Just last week, I updated the site to serve to host my sermons and adult bible teaching ministry. Most of what I do at my church is focused on children, and has its own website. So, I don’t expect to post more than once per month to the new site.

Either way, I enjoyed setting up the site. It might be a good example of what a ministry resume blog should contain. Plus, I love the look of the new theme.