How many times have I unfollowed someone on Twitter because they link to their blog every hour?
How many times have I rolled my eyes in a Facebook group for youth pastors because I ask a question, and instead of interaction I get linked to a blog?
How many times have I had a conversation with a youth pastor, and all they can talk about is their accomplishments?
It’s annoying, guys. But it’s also pretty accurate of what most of us do at times. Youth pastors, and pastors in general, love to promote themselves. Why is this?
The Psychology
Youth pastors, by spiritual nature, are teachers and desire to contribute knowledge to their community.
Sometimes at church we might get shut down by a committee, pastors, or even our students. And perhaps we are insecure; when things aren’t going so hot at church, we over-talk the things we are proud of. We try to contribute to a community of other youth pastors that can see we have some strengths; strengths that our churches can overlook.
Youth pastors are also used to trying to promote their youth group and begging people to check out their church, web page, or event. So it makes sense that when we post a blog, we begin begging people to read it.
The Problem
Pride creeps in and tells the pastor that their blog or contribution to the youth pastor community is their identity. Pride tells them that if they get 100 retweets or comments on their blog, then they are valuable and worthy.
And others can see this pride–it’s redundant when someone fills up my feed with their blog posts and nothing else. It’s annoying when I ask somebody for help and they just link me to their blog. It’s usually irrelevant as well. And hopefully, it’s misrepresentative of the pastor.
As someone who has always struggled with finding her identity in the affirmation of others, it is draining for both my self and for those I interact with. If I am only finding my confidence in others, where is God in this equation?
The Proper Ways to Promote
Promote your group.
You want to fill my news feed up with something you love? Quit filling it up with yourself–fill it up with how much you love your students. Your students see your stuff too, and will see that you love ministry not because it makes you “famous” (in your own little world) but because you love students.
Promote community.
Realize that you need community, not a pat on the back. It’s great when someone retweets me or tells me I had a great post. But what we really yearn for is interaction with that post. So that means we need to interact with others as well.
Promote others.
You want to post links to great information? Great! Post a variety of links to others’ blogs. I love posting links to different stuff in my Twitter account; whether it’s youth ministry blogs, parenting sites, youth culture reports, etc. This shows I don’t just love my blog and what I have to say, but many others.
Promoting others is promoting learning and promoting humility.
What do you guys think? Are you fed up with youth pastors promoting themselves? How do you make sure that you “promote” your blog, website, or group effectively without becoming obsessed or annoying?
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