Katdish.net

image courtesy of photobucket.com

Howdy, folks! It seems I’ve temporarily come out of retirement to do a couple of small painting jobs. I painted all day yesterday, and will be painting most of the day today. Creative writing must temporarily take a backseat to other creative endeavors–the kind that I actually get paid for. Hope you don’t mind leftovers. For those of you who missed this post the first time around, here’s a glimpse into how my mind works. Be afraid….be very afraid

(Subtitled: Why my laundry still isn’t finished)

With the full understanding that leaving the house today is on the agenda, you decide to wear something a bit more formal than the fuzzy polka dot pajama pants and the bright green “Whose Your Daddy?” t-shirt.

Attempts to find a pair of clean jeans prove futile. Instead, you hastily decide on a pair of red cotton capris circa 2001 and a peasant type t-shirt the same color as Oscar the Grouch. A gigantic claw hair clip and black flip flops complete the ensemble. Make a mental note that the laundry fairy has ignored numerous requests. Drastic measures must be taken.    

After “errands”, i.e. – getting your kids out of the house before they drive you to drink, you reluctantly return home and begin tackling the huge piles of laundry.    

Lots of random things happen, you manage to wash and dry 2 loads of whites and 2 loads of jeans. Hang up jeans and begin sorting underwear and socks.    

End up with an inordinately high number of mismatched socks. Suspect the dog has found a “special place” for their sock mates.    

Decide to put the socks in a basket on top of the dryer. Hate this idea because how are you supposed to remember which socks are in there? You may throw their sockmate right in the same basket, and that ain’t right.

Begin to feel bad for the socks. Serenade the socks with the 3 Dog Night Hit, “One”. “One…..is the loneliest number that you’ll ever know. Two can be as bad as one, it’s the loneliest number since the number one, Ahhhh Ewwww!”    

Frustrated that you have no fabulous ideas about how to store the socks until reunited with their drawer mates, your mind begins to wander…    

You notice a metal sign that you bought at Ross on the clearance aisle a couple of months ago. It says “Children are the anchors that hold a mother’s heart.” Which you hate, because it reminds you of that children’s book “The Giving Tree”, which makes you want to leg drop that selfish little kid/man in that book. But, it was 2 bucks, and there’s no law saying you have to keep that dumb saying on there once you own it free and clear, now is there?    

Get the Goo-Off and scraper from your handy dandy tool bag and get to gettin’ on that quote. Oh, yeah. At this point, the wheels are turning in that little ADD mind of yours. You have begun the actual labor portion of the creative process.    

While the Goo-Off soaks in a bit, you manage to get the SWSO’s (socks with significant others) and the miscellaneous unmentionables (underwear) safely to their assigned drawers. (HA! Underwear humor.)    

Over the next 2 days, hem and haw over what kind of lettering you want to use on your “sock sign”. Waste an incredible amount of time and energy on this.    

Finally decide on the size and type of lettering. Print out new quote, and put on sign using a stylus and transfer paper. Fill in letters with paint pen. Clear coat.    

Hot glue clothespins to sign.    

Hang sign above dryer, hang sock singles on clothespins.    

Stand back and admire your work. You are pleased, but something is missing.

 More random things happen — New Year’s Eve party, etc.    

Friends come over for dinner. You show them your work. Since they are weird like you, they like the sign very much.    

Moments later, one of your friends gives you an idea that will be the “piece de la resistance” to your sock sign.    

After your friends leave, you immediately begin working on the final piece of your sign. It takes only a few minutes, but you are well pleased.    

As a matter of fact, you’d go so far as to say that it was…

(Oh, come on. You knew that was coming!)

Sorry/you’re welcome!

Today’s guest blogger is another friend I connected with on Twitter, made my way to her blog, and found yet another wonderful writer as well as a great encourager.

Cassandra Frear has homeschooled her sons through high school, led three grassroots ministries for families, taught seminars, and served as a teacher, speaker, and lay counselor. She enjoys reading, writing, hiking, and living to tell about it all. You can find her at her blog, The Moonboat Cafe.

The first thing you should know is that Katdish did not ask me to write about this topic. She’s not responsible for anything I say here. Instead, she told me to write about whatever comes to mind. And that’s where the trouble started.

This post has been brewing for some time. Now that it’s espresso strength, I’m serving it up. Consider it your first cup of the day. As in,”Wake up, people!” But I will try not to be rude. After all, I can’t break one of my Cardinal Rules for Social Media in a blog post on Twitter. I will be nice.

This all started when I was online one afternoon and several tweets about things which should not be mentioned in public passed before my eyes on my PC screen. I thought to myself, “What am I doing here? How can I justify reading this?” Past comments from friends and family came streaming into my thoughts.

“What is it with Twitter? What’s the big deal?”

“I just don’t get the Twitter thing. Why are you doing it?”

“I’m not going to chat with people through short messages. That’s not a conversation! ”

“Boy, you must have a lot of extra time on your hands!”

Then, my all-time favorite: silent laughter, guffaws, chuckles, sideways glances, and smirks. Really? Am I serious?

Ahem. Yes.

Why I Give A Hoot

Here’s why I do Twitter. I’m betting this is why you do it, too. Mostly.

1.Information: My husband, a news editor, has recently set up a Twitter account. He’s amazed at the volume of immediate and succint information coming through the Tweet pike. He has his finger on the pulse of the world. He’s organized his sources, so he can select the kind of data he wants. In minutes, he can skim and know if there is anything he should pay close attention to. It’s better, far better, than the evening news. This is just one example of what Twitter does best — it carries information rapidly and efficiently.

2.Inspiration: More than once, I’ve gotten a needed lift from a tweet on Twitter. At just the right time, there is an image or a quote which encourages me and restores my perspective. I know it seems odd that I could find this at 140 characters a pop. But it happens to me several times a week. God can use anything, even a tweet.

3.Interaction: I’ve gotten to know many writers and wonderful people on Twitter whom I would not have met otherwise. Before joining, I wondered how in the world this could happen with short tweets. But it does. I think we get to know each other better sometimes when other distractions are not in the way. We can see the soul behind the setting when all is pared back to a few words. And it’s not the words themselves — it’s the way the person reacts that tells me who they are.

I’ve prayed for people in crisis on Twitter, pointed them to helpful books, shared recipes, sent encouraging notes, and learned lessons on writing from them. It’s a virtual community. Amazing, isn’t it?

4.Innovation: I ‘ve noticed a recent trend. Some of us are beginning to use Twitter to create, to come up with new concepts, and to build a whole new vocabulary. Tweeters co-write things on Twitter, brainstorm for ideas, and solve problems together. You can tweet about your issues in North Dakota and in a few minutes hear from someone in Ireland who had the same problem and found a great solution. Twitter can be faster than a phone call to a customer service representative and ten times more effective.

As I said, it’s a community. But one without walls or time constraints. And it’s one worth belonging to.

Are you on Twitter? How has it helped you? If you’re not on yet, do you think you might be interested?

To read more from Cassandra Frear, visit her at her blog Moonboat Cafe and follow her on twitter at @CassandraFrear.

image courtesy of photobucket.com

Some of you may have noticed I’ve been a little scarce around the internets lately. My family and I went to the lake on Saturday. I left home with the sniffles and came home with a full blown summer cold. I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, I don’t feel like doing much of anything. So I’ve basically been lying around watching tv. But not just any tv–I’ve been watching Lost. Lots and lots of Lost.

Yes, yes…I know I’m late to the game. But to be honest, I’m glad I’ve been able to watch it on DVD. Waiting a week between episodes for six years would have driven me crazy. Patience is not one of my spiritual gifts.

I love the character development on this show and I’ve been amazed at the storytelling ability of the writers. One of my favorite characters is Hurley. Hurley has convinced himself that he is cursed, and much evidence points in the direction of this conviction. Then one day he finds an old, beat-up VW bus on the island. And he defies his circumstances. He faces his fears and finds victory. I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I do:

Our opinions about ourselves and what we are and are not capable of are often self-fulfilling prophecies. When in doubt, believe in the good, the noble, the valiant. And remember that even small victories are still victories. Be like Hurley the conqueror, dude.

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala

Paul Sancya/AP

There have been over 347,000 professional baseball games played since the sport began in the late 1800s. That’s a lot of ball, even for a guy like me.

And in all of those 347,000 games, only twenty have resulted in a pitcher facing twenty-seven batters and recording twenty-seven consecutive outs, giving up no hits, no runs, no walks, and no errors.

A perfect game.

It may well be the single most difficult thing to do in all of sports. And depending on your view of things, it almost happened last Wednesday night.

Chances are that even if you’re not a baseball fan, you’ve heard the story. A young pitcher named Armando Galarraga was pitching for the Detroit Tigers and had retired twenty-six Cleveland Indians batters.

Two outs, bottom of the ninth. The only person standing in the way of Galarraga and history was Jason Donald, the shortstop for the Indians. He hit a ground ball to the right of Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who tossed the ball to Galarraga, who touched first base one step ahead of the batter.

Game over. In the one hundred and sixteen years of the Detroit Tigers, no one had pitched a perfect game.

And no one still had. Because as it turned out, Jason Donald wasn’t the one standing in the way of history. The first base umpire was.

Jim Joyce has been a major league umpire for over twenty years and a favorite of both fans and players. But just as Galarraga, his teammates, and the fans began to raise their hands in triumph, Joyce did the unexpected.

He called the batter safe.

Chaos ensued. Boos from the crowd. Arguments from the Tigers’ first baseman, from the Tigers’ manager. Even Jason Donald, the batter, was confused.

But Galarraga did nothing. He merely took the ball and walked back to the pitcher’s mound, ready to face the next batter.

Jim Joyce knew his call was right. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. But then he watched the replay after the game was over, and he knew.

“It was the biggest call of my career,” he said, “and I kicked the $%#! out of it. I just cost that kid a perfect game.”

He asked Galarraga to come to the umpire’s room and apologized to the pitcher.

Don’t worry about it, Galarraga told him. “Nobody’s perfect.”

Indeed.

Reaction was swift. There were pleas for the Commissioner’s office to overturn the call and award Galarraga the perfect game he deserved. Polls were conducted and found that over 85 percent of baseball fans favored giving Galarraga his place in history.

And of course the whole thing turned political. Pundits from Keith Olbermann to Sean Hannity said this was a chance for the Commissioner to make things right. Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm issued a proclamation declaring that Galarraga did indeed pitch a perfect game (whatever that’s worth). Representative Thaddeus McCotter wrote a letter to Commissioner Bud Selig imploring him to reverse the call.

Selig, though, didn’t. The call stood, he said. No perfect game.

I was never much of a fan of Bud Selig. But I was then.

Because he was right. The call should stand.

People from poets to Presidents have espoused the greatness of baseball. Not just because of the beauty of the game, but because it so closely mirrors the trials and triumphs of life. And rule number one of both has always been the same.

It’s not fair.

Bad things happen. Things you don’t deserve. It isn’t safe, it isn’t predictable, and sometimes you can do everything right and still have everything go wrong in the end.

Baseball has taught us much over the years. It’s shown the value in sacrifice, in hard work and practice. It’s taught us the inevitability of failure and the glories of success.

And last Wednesday night, it taught us something more.

It taught us grace.

It showed us the value in admitting one’s mistakes and the healing power of forgiveness.

“I blew it.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

We can all learn a lot from that.

The letter from Michigan Representative McCotter to Commissioner Bud Selig said in part, “Only the truth will uphold and honor the integrity of the game; and the truth is that this game was perfect.”

He was right.

It was perfect.

To read more from Billy Coffey, visit him at his blog What I Learned Today and follow him on twitter at @BillyCoffey

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I’m fixed upon it
Mount of thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I’m come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

(The following post is taken directly from a sermon by my friend and pastor Jeff Hogan.)

Many old hymns have stories attached to them. Some are well documented, while others may be modern parables. The story attached to “Come Thy Fount” involves an encounter that took place on a British stagecoach: A woman who had been reading a song book while they travelled began to notice how troubled the other passenger was. Seeking to encourage him, she recited the words to a hymn that was particularly meaningful to her. The man looked up with tears in his eyes and said, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

That man was Robert Robinson. And the latter part of his life was indeed very different than it had been when he originally penned those words in the early 1750’s as a poem to conclude a sermon that he preached.

As a songwriter, I can tell you that you can often observe patterns, struggles and themes in a person’s life through the content of their writing. And if I were to examine Robinson’s life through the lense of this song, I would point to one word – used three times – that really stands out: WANDER.

It’s precisely that gut-level honesty that makes this song stand out. Wandering is a theme everyone can understand, because it can happen at any stage in our connection to God and to Christ:

Do you think you are moving toward God, or away from Him? Are you willing to believe that God wants you to be close to Him?

I’m not saying that He will tolerate you. I’m saying He welcomes you.

He is delighted to have you come into His presence.

Come as you are. Don’t worry – you don’t have to stay that way. He will change you from the inside out.

No matter how you would “categorize” yourself. If you are wandering, just turn around.

image courtesy of photobucket.com

It seems like I’m on twitter less and less all the time, but then I look at all my tweets for the week and realize that clearly I’m delusional, because I always have way more than enough tweets to do an update. So many, in fact, that most were left on the cutting room floor. Sorry little tweets. You know I love you all. (And yes, they’re still in backwards order, and no I’m not going to change that.)

The best of me (or not) on the twitter this week:

Singing into my hairbrush in honor of @marni71 and @pwilson. http://twitpic.com/1tweyz

@anidolheart I always thought he was saying “Mama said mama saw my mocassin.” Learn something new every day. (in reply to anidolheart Mama se mama sa mama coo sa)

RT @beckfromfrogandtoad: “I’m sorry, Mama, but kissing has been made illegal. It’s not me, it’s the LAW.” – The Baby.

@aldamario Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

@aldamario Who me? Yeah, I’m tons of fun. (Not literally, of course) (in reply to aldamario Happy belated Birthday @VariantVal! I’m following your friend now for reminding me, she looks like fun.)

@weightwhat Yes. It’s cathardic. DOGS CLUCKING! Ah…I feel much better. (in reply to weightwhat @katdish Yes. Yes I do. But then, doesn’t everybody yell out “DOGS CLUCKING!” once in a while?)

My one and only #FF: Beware the Ass Clown! @redclaydiaries

“you shall have no strange cats before me” ~ @Helenatrandom ‘s google analytics keyword search

@Brian_Russell Well, see…I don’t speak either language. Although for some strange reason I seem to attract others who do. (in reply to Brian_Russell @katdish um, that’s “Klingon” and that’s not what I’m speaking. What I’m talking about is more closely translated in Borg.)

@redclaydiaries Well, of course it is. What’s your point? (in reply to redclaydiaries @katdish It’s always all about you, isn’t it?)

@redclaydiaries Good morning. I got a fever, but as always, it’s for more cowbell.

I suppose it’s too much to ask to expect an actual human being to check my groceries this morning.

@sarahmsalter “Some day, & that day may never come, I may ask you to perform a service for me.” – Don Corleone

@sarahmsalter Have you ever seen The Godfather? (in reply to sarahmsalter @PeterPollock Well, honestly, @katdish has never asked me to do anything for her…)

RT @PeterPollock: New post on FoTTSP: The day I said NO to @Katdish (as requested by @duane_scott) http://su.pr/31qus1

I was recently referred to as “the smoke monster” of twitter by @billycoffey. Still trying to decide if that was a compliment

@PeterPollock Of course, you’ve probably already figured that out by now

@PeterPollock If given the option of listening to me or to @billycoffey, always choose the former.

@PeterPollock Most people who say no to me are utterly disappointed. Or show up missing… (in reply to PeterPollock I said NO to @katdish today. It wasn’t as exhilarating as I expected. Probably because I feared the backlash – and I knew I was lying)

@VariantVal I’m here. Carry on… (in reply to VariantVal I’m boycotting twitter until all the fun ppls come back)

@CandySteele Well thanks. You must be exhausted. (in reply to CandySteele @katdish No, I did it the hard way. It took three clicks instead of one.)

@lainiegallagher I pity the fool who doesn’t enunciate in your class!

I’m back, now I have to leave for carpool duty. 2 more days of freedom….er….school.

@lainiegallagher I think I would be disappointed if you were ever completely satisfied with anything

@duane_scott Oh, you’re not really short and pointless…Oh, wait – you mean your blog post?

@KathleenOverby Oh, cool. It’s been a few years since I read that one. (in reply to KathleenOverby @katdish NO, Beth does. 🙂 You get to live to write a best seller.)

@KathleenOverby Wait. Doesn’t she die an untimely death? (in reply to KathleenOverby @katdish There’s a scene in Little Women where Jo says, “I could have been a great many things.” You and Jo have much in common.)

No red, white & blue for me today. I’m wearing cammo, cuz that’s how I roll.

@KathleenOverby Um…ewh. (in reply to KathleenOverby @katdish oh my. use maggots for bait, you won’t be tempted. :))

Kidding people. Just kidding!

Family fishing trips of my dad trying to bait the hook while my Japanese mom kept eating the bait.

Going to get a fishing license soon. I’m torn. Fishing brings back traumatic childhood memories…

Really wishing we had put a pool in last year. Now I must resort to being nice to people who live in master planned communities w/pools.

Is it a fragrance or a biography? http://twitpic.com/1s85bh

Lots of food samples at Sams today. Suprisingly, no line at the green salad table. Who the heck wants to sample bag salad?

No use crying over spilled Shiner Bock. http://twitpic.com/1s80u1 Echofon

It’s all there in black & white: @billycoffey plays with Barbies: http://bit.ly/aLaUMU

So, I’ve been here at the new place for awhile and wanted to check how my numbers have been doing since I made the switch. I’ll be honest. I hardly ever check analytics–obviously. Because when I went to check my numbers for the new website I discovered that I never set it up properly, and according to google analytics, I have had 0 visitors thus far. I’m fairly confident that number is not accurate. Stupid technology…

Anyway, my favorite thing to do when I check my blog stats is to check the keyword searches. But since I understand time is a valuable commodity, I wanted to take this opportunity to publically apologize for those who were searching for information on the following topics and ended up on my old blog, Hey Look a Chicken:

• Topps the Slender Giant
• 698368919911
• Can I take toppik hair fibers on the plane?
• Depravate mom tube
• Do not look at this chicken
• Dog stocking stuffers
• LED pimp hat
• Longenberger small spoon craigslist
• Patterns for making a chicken pillow
• Step mother info chicken dog
• wicked epic chicken pictures
• And, of course, as always: Annie K boobs (seriously – what is it with you people?)

So…if you check your analytics, what are some of your faves?

image courtesy of photobucket.com

Last week I attended an awards ceremony held in my daughter’s 3rd grade classroom. She was presented with 3 awards. She actually received more than 3, but the rest of them were secretly tucked away in a manila envelope to be opened at home. Why? Because everyone, regardless of how many awards they earned, was presented with 3 awards during the ceremony. I’m not complaining because my daughter got more than 3 awards. Heck, I’m assuming most kids got more than that. What bugs me about that ceremony is it’s yet another example of the great lengths we are willing to go to in order to insure that we don’t damage a child’s self esteem.

Mary worked very hard this year, never missed a day of school and got straight A’s on her report card.

Johnny received bad conduct marks on a regular basis, rarely turned in his homework and is barely passing.

Is Mary awarded? Of course she is—as she should be. But what of Johnny? If he gets nothing, won’t that damage his self esteem? Let’s make up an award for him so he doesn’t feel left out!

Some of you may argue that perhaps Johnny is acting out because he has a difficult home life. It’s not his fault. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that is true. My question is, when does it begin to be Johnny’s fault? When is the appropriate age to teach kids that there are consequences for your actions?

After some in-depth research (“air quotes”), I present to you some actual awards given out at school award ceremonies this year:

• The Sponge Bob Award – given to the child that absorbs everything the teacher says.
• The Milky Way Award – given to the class dreamer
• The Hot Dog Award – given to the child who can touch their nose to their knees. (Yeah – still a little unclear on that one.)
• The Snickers Award – given to the class clown
• The Pluto Award – given to the child who is really small, suffers from an identity crisis and sits in the back of the classroom. (Okay, I may have made that one up…)

Here’s my point. (Yes, I have one.) I do believe that everyone is good at something, but not every kid is good at school, and frankly, some kids just don’t give a crap about school. I know—I was one of those kids. When everyone is rewarded equally, it diminishes the achievements of those who actually deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and sacrifice.

As much as some would like to believe otherwise, we do not live in some utopian fantasy world where everyone is treated fairly and equally. I think the sooner kids learn that, the better off they will be.

I connected with Mike on Twitter. I’m going be honest. I follow a bunch of people on there. If you want my attention, you have to actually talk to me directly. Which he did. (I think it was something sarcastic, which pretty much always gets my attention.) Anyway, I think Mike’s story about connecting to folks on Twitter is pretty cool. Here’s Mike:

Before I became a Tweep I had no idea that Twitter could be used as an evangelism tool. After I created my Twitter account in May of 2009 it didn’t take long to see that Twitter is chock full of Tweeps who will connect with you if you’ll take the time to find, watch, listen, engage and share with them. Tweeps on Twitter are waiting for Christ followers who will be real, authentic and transparent. What else? If you want success in Twitter evangelism you must be non-judgmental, loving and willing to connect with people that don’t believe, think, look or live like you. In my opinion we need to “love people to Jesus”. I am going to share stories about the people who come to bible studies, volunteer at the homeless ministry and go to church due to connections they’ve made with my friend, my pastor and me through Twitter.

Kelly’s Twitter name is @pagankelly. Her Twitter bio reads: “Wiccan, Wife, and Mother”. I connected with Kelly on Twitter and then had coffee with her and other Tweeps at weekly Tweetups in Daytona Beach, Florida. After a few Tweetups she eventually asked me a question, “Mike, my kids have been talking about going to church. What is the name of that church you belong to?” Kelly, her husband Jeff (@the chef_ on Twitter), daughter Teri and son Michael came to church. It was the first time that Kelly, Jeff and the kids came to church together as a family. Along with regular visits to church, they’ve attended Sunday school and volunteered their time during special events. After the connection on Twitter why did Kelly and her family come? “You knew who I was and you invited me. You knew I wasn’t a Christian and it didn’t matter”, Kelly said. Kelly sent this Twitter direct message to me today, “Thank you for being my friend.”

Christine’s (@ChristineBlake) Twitter bio is unique: “Selling drugs out of the trunk of my car”. Before you make any judgments, Christine is a pharmaceutical sales representative. Christine is Catholic and her son attends Catholic school. Due to parent concerns, her son’s school discontinued a tradition of the kids preparing and serving lunch to the homeless. It was a disappointment to Christine. She began looking for other opportunities for her son to serve the less fortunate. Prior to this Christine and I connected through Twitter but she took notice when I tweeted about the homeless ministry at my church. Christine and her son helped serve dinner several times, donated clothing and even rounded up cots for our homeless friends to sleep on. Lately I have been tweeting about a weekly bible study at my friend Russell’s home and Christine is coming. It’s the first time she has ever been to bible study. Last night she told me, “I didn’t know Methodists had bible studies. I thought only Baptists did that!” After the Twitter connection why did Christine serve the homeless and come to the bible study? “You knew I had a church and you were cool with that. I also knew you weren’t going to Jehovah witness me,” said Christine.

Elaine (@ebmk16) and I met at one of the weekly coffee Tweetups. She was attending another church not too far from mine. Elaine watched what my friend, my pastor and I were tweeting. What I didn’t know was that she was struggling to connect and get involved in the church she was attending. Elaine began to see my tweets about getting involved in the homeless ministry. One night she came to our church to serve. She took her involvement to another level when she began knitting scarves for each of our homeless friends. Soon Elaine was attending church on a weekly basis and just recently became a member. After the Twitter connection what brought Elaine to church? “You were demonstrating God on earth. You pulled me in by making it easy to get involved and connected.”

After 13 years of being away from church Twitter, Nascar and a tweeting pastor brought Dana (@Dana88) back. It was the 4th of July. Dana was watching the Pepsi 400 on TV and watching tweets on Twitter about her favorite drivers. She noticed that someone new was following her. She checked out his bio and the website listed on his Twitter page. It was Tom Nelson ( @TomForPeace) the pastor of my church. Earlier that same day I spent several hours with Tom teaching him how to use Twitter. I showed him how to intentionally find people, begin following and connecting with them. One of those people was Dana. The next day, Sunday July 5th, Dana came to church. Since last July Dana has been attending church on a weekly basis. After the Twitter connection what brought Dana back to church? “You didn’t pressure me or use fear. You shared openly and were real, “Dana said.

When Christie moved to Daytona Beach, FL she began attending a singles group at church. It wasn’t long before she was being judged about having a TV, her work schedule and the probing questions she asked about the bible. She stopped attending church. I met Christie by connecting through Twitter. Not long after that we met in person at coffee Tweetups. At the Tweetups and on Twitter, Christie heard about the homeless ministry at my church. She traveled to thrift shops and stores to round up and then donate clothes for the homeless. Christie hasn’t been to a church service yet but she plans on doing it soon. She’s been away from church since 2001. After the Twitter connection what would make her consider coming back? Christie said, “You aren’t uptight, pushy or try to put unrealistic expectations on me. You’re friendly.”

Jane (@SeeJaneSell) stopped attending church 25 years ago. I met Jane at a coffee Tweetup and didn’t see her again until she showed up at a cold weather shelter for the homeless at the church. She had a horrible day at work and saw tweets about helping at the shelter. Instead of sulking she came to serve others. The next step for Jane was attending church. She now attends church weekly. Last Sunday Jane became a member of the church. After the Twitter connection what brought Jane back to church? She said, “I felt like something was pointing me there. You weren’t pushy. You opened up your arms to me and I felt like I belonged.”

What are you doing to intentionally find, follow, connect, engage, share and reach out to people through social media?

How do you search and find people on Twitter? Click here.

Would you like to see another post I wrote on Twitter Evangelism? Click here.

What is a Tweetup? Find out by clicking here.

Mike Ellis is a messed up Christ follower. The church he writes about in this post is First United Methodist Church in Port Orange, FL. He has been working in promotion and marketing for 31 years. He is not a social media expert but he does know enough to be dangerous. You can connect with Mike through his blog and follow him on Twitter at @MarketerMikeE.