Pinterest and Ministry

I am generally a late adopter.  I was not the first on the iPod bandwagon and I am still not a Mac user (cue gasp)!  I am not the person who needs the newest iPad and I can remember mocking the iPad and it’s sustainability (you won that one Apple).  I also couldn’t understand the need for a camera on the iPad but I guess everything in life needs to be Instagramed these days.

With all of that said, I have a Pinterest account, but I generally only use it to post OneBeat’s posts.  I see the benefit of Pinterest if you’re a girl who likes clothes and recipes, but I could not find a need for me to use it.  I love reaping the benefits of my wife’s searching, because that means we get such amazing creations like incredible chocolate chip cookies.

I have looked for a reason to use Pinterest, but until this morning I had yet to find one.  However, as I wasted time looking through some random person’s “Halloween” board I started to see the light.  Maybe this Pinterest thing is a much more valuable tool than I have ever given it credit as.  Maybe I could incorporate Pinterest into our event planning!

If you or your church is anything like me, then you like to start planning events well ahead of time.  Also, I like to have a lot of creative input as to what we incorporate into our events.  I do not see myself as a creative person (even though people tell me I don’t give myself enough credit), so I like to have the crafty people thinking about how we could decorate.  So my question is, where do crafty people save their crafty ideas? Answer, Pinterest!

So here are my Pinterest ideas for you ministry:

1. Start A Group Board for Your Student Ministry:  Invite your students, your leaders, and your parents to join this board.  This could be for anything.  You could pin verses, announcements, anything really.  Pinterest gives people a very easy way to scan through whatever you’ve got going on.  This also gives other people the ability to pin things to the board as well.
2. Start Group Event Boards:  If you are doing an event, create an event board to start collecting all of your ideas in one place.  You can link to potential curriculum, decoration ideas, etc.  Pinterest can be a virtual whiteboard for collecting all of your leaders ideas into one place.
3. A Youth Ministry Rules Board:  Students tend to forget the rules in your student ministry so start a rules board.  You can utilize memes and funny pictures to keep it light while still having something to refer back to.
4. The Possibilities Are Endless:  There are endless possibilities to how you could utilize Pinterest for your ministry.

My question for you, how do you use social media in your student ministry?  Please comment below.  Also, follow the OneBeatBlog board on Pinterest!