My colleague Kerry Kind asked this question today:

“You read books and use the Internet. But, what about print magazines that offer ministry ideas/resources? What print magazines that relate to ministry do you use or recommend? If you don’t really prefer that medium, say so. Thanks for chiming in.”

You can answer Kerry’s question here if you’re interested.

I think this is a good question and it’s got me thinking. I find that I don’t have “one source” for ministry ideas and resources… there was a time in my life when Leadership Journal did the trick.

Then for short season I only read Relevant Magazine (I think I read it for the entire time it was really the “must have trendy resource”–which as I recall, was 11 weeks) but that got redundant feeling quick. It’s amazing how stuck in time being relevant can feel. For a while I was a regular reader of (and contributor to) online “e-zines” that were popular in the late 90s and early 00s. I’ve recently grown to appreciate the well done Naz publication “Grace and Peace” which is for pastors. Now I find that I skip all around to mostly digital media, and my source is Twitter & F-Book, oddly enough.

If a respected Christian leader I know and trust tweets out or shares that they really got something out of an article or someone’s blog post or an E-Zine link, then I check it out, and process it and learn. Sometimes this leads me to print material. But more often than not it doesn’t. Here are the ways my chance of “clicking and reading all the way through” increases:

  1. If the tweet or share is from someone who has pointed me toward quality information in the past. 10% clickabiliy increase.
  2. If the referral is from someone that doesn’t link to other content more than 3 times a day–if they do, then I know they are just pushing out everything they see. 5% clickabiliy increase.
  3. If the link is posted from someone I’ve ready before, and trust. 15% clickabiliy increase.
  4. If the material is from a writer who is also published in hard-copy old school publishing and wrote a book I have on my shelf already, or on my kindle. This is evidence to me that they don’t just have a blog their mother-in-law reads, but that they’ve run through the gauntlet that is professional publishing, which is worth something still. And I’m sorry but this doesn’t yet count for me if it’s a self-published e-book only. Sorry. 🙁 25% clickabiliy increase.
  5. If the materials seems “for me”, in it’s content. The Title of the piece matters here. 10% clickabiliy increase.
  6. If there is a quote from the content that is well written. Life is too short for me to read bad writing. I’ll read it if it’s written well even if it doesn’t help me. 25% clickabiliy increase.

That’s my take on how I find resources that help my leadership and ministry. What’s your take?