Archives For ZERO

Special Notice: I have not been paid for this endorsement of Green Geeks, however the following post contains affiliate links that hold the potential of earning me commissions. Affiliate links are only one small way that I help cover the costs of hosting this blog each month. For more information about money earned on this site please read my full disclosure at www.jonathancliff.com/advertise/disclosure/.

Green-Geeks

Here is a post just to answer a question I get often from those that read my blog and are considering starting their own, or finding a more reliable hosting provider.

What hosting provider to you use?

I use Green Geeks

Why do you useĀ Green Geeks?

There are a bunch of reasons! A few of them are:

  • The do free site migration. When I transferred to them from a previous (and sometimes ruinous) hosting provider, they did all the dirty work of setting me up on the new hosting servers. It was FREE! (See all the Site Migration Details HERE.)
  • Free Domain for Life! It’s only $10 a year, but they take care of it for FREE. I don’t even have to worry about it anymore.
  • It’s Eco-Friendly, in a special sort of Technological way.

  • It’s really, really affordable.

I’d love to encourage you to check out Green Geeks as a hosting provider if you are anywhere close to looking at starting a self-hosted website; or if you’re looking at transferring your existing hosting provider. I’ve used them for over a year with ZERO problems. I’ve been safe from malware, never had site down times, and it’s been easy on the pocket book.

Green Geeks Web Hosting

This year has seen the most traffic in the 5 years I’ve had this blog. I’ve continued to meet new people, and have started more and more conversations with like-minded people every week. In fact, that last sentence could be the entire vision behind this blog. Thanks for everyone that has commented and taken time to read.

Now let’s tie up some loose ends from 2010:

  • Did you know I was the top 14 ranked Kidmin blog this year? That according to Ministry-to-children.com and their 2010 rankings. Pay no attention to the fact that I was #1 in 2009. All these rankings are arbitrary, and many could dispute the #’s used to calculate these rankings (for example the Google Reader Subscriber #’s were way off for many blogs); but this is a wonderful collection of other Kidmin-related blogs. That alone makes this list fabulous!
  • I started advertising this year at jonathancliff.com. My goal was to use all monies gained from advertising to meet my financial commitment to the Beyond Project at our church this year. I’m well on my way, and the advertisements have been a fun way to introduce readers to some great companies and products. In fact right now you can see the site sponsors include: Worlds of WOW, God’s Kids Worship, and the JUMP! Curriculum from Orange. I cannot say enough about what great organizations all three of these are. Go check them out today!
  • I changed the design of the blog this year. You noticed, right? I’ve moved over to the Standard Theme as part of my overall effort to make things easier on the eyes…and on me for editing purposes.
  • Many of the site visitors this year have found jonathancliff.com from the childrensministry.com website. I’m glad you visited, and I hope that if you aren’t aware of all the great content at childrensministry.com that you will visit today!
  • And did you know that you can read all this content over at cmconnect.org? Well you can! There is absolutely ZERO excuse for anyone working in Kidmin to not be a part of that community.

And as we head into 2011 I’m looking forward to being involved in some new things, as well as some recurring themes.

  • My job is changing somewhat this year. I’ll be doing much of the same things, but also have taken on a strategically different role at my church. As we get into January, I’ll be sharing more of what this means; and how my role is continuing to evolve.
  • In April I’ll be blogging again from The Orange Conference, and this time I’ll have many from my church attending along with me. Stay tuned for more on this!
  • Also in April, I’ll be speaking at the 2011 Children’s Ministry Telesummit. It’s all online, and it’s completely FREE! You can even sign-up today!
  • In October I’m going to be speaking at the Group KIDMIN Conference in Chicago, IL. It’s going to be a special Kidmin-only conference that is going to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen for those working for kids. Stay tunes for much, much, much more on this!

Thank you all so much for visiting this site this year, and I really appreciate the community that all the readers, commenters, and guests have created this year. I hope that you’ll visit my blogroll to check-out many others doing the same things as all of the rest of us!


Look Up Here, Look Up Here

August 22, 2008 — 1 Comment

There have been so many things said to me this week regarding the talk I gave almost two weeks ago. I’ve forgotten how weird it is to be in the spotlight. Let me explain. I love what I do, but I do it with about ZERO attention from anyone in the church. It’s not the church, it’s just the job. I have encountered more grateful people in Lubbock, TX than anywhere else I’ve ever worked, however it’s not uncommon to go 6 months without a compliment from anyone. It used to bother me, but now I’m pretty used to it. I figure I know what God thinks of me so why should I care if some parent never notices anything I do?

But after speaking in “BIG Church” on a Sunday morning, and exposing my passion and personality to a congregation of 2,000 people; I’m as popular as I’ve ever been. I appreciate all the kind words, and testimonies related to what I spoke about, but it’s unsettling to me just a little. It seems that the only way to get attention is to be on that stage. Is it just me? I love to hear I did a good job, I am human. I just forget how funny people are about that stage. I can remember a few years ago giving announcements at a church and afterwards thinking about what a great job I did; only to then walk into a classroom and have a kid barf on me. In some sort of weird way, I think I’d rather be taking care of a sick kid. Not nearly as complimentary, but it sure feels more Christlike.