Two Cent Tuesday - GoingtoSeminary.com v2.0

The semester is almost over and one of my big summer projects is going to be working on the launch of goingtoseminary.com version 2.0.  I have a bunch of ideas I’m wanting to put into place, but before I rush in and commit all this time and energy into it, I wanted to check and see what you all thought.  So, sound off… What do you like about the site?  What do you dislike?  Any ideas for things we should put into 2.0?

Some of the things I’ve been thinking about:

• Minor design tweek (nothing major, just a little change)
• Adding an online forum
• Hiring (yes, as in paying) some other seminarians to help write

Feel free to let me know what you think about those ideas, but more so, feel free to let me know what you think would be a great addition to the site!  Vod or Pod casting? Book reviews? More contests? Less Contest? Social networking? … You name it, I’ll consider it.  Now is your chance… share your two cents!

Seminary Meme Competition

Update: For some reason Technorati and Wordpress are not picking up all the links from everyone’s site who is participating in the meme.  For this reason, please drop a comment on this post after you’ve filled out the meme so we can ensure that you are entered into the comp.

This month’s competition at Going to Seminary is a good (and easy) one. The best part though is that one of our site sponsors, Eisenbrauns, has offered to supply this month’s prize… a $100 gift certificate to their online bookstore!

So, how can you win the $100 gift certificate? Easy:

This Seminary Meme is part of a competition sponsored by Going to Seminary and Eisenbrauns. If you’d like to be entered, simply answer the 7 questions below and tag 5 other people. You’ll also need to post this paragraph (links included) with your answers as the links will be tracked back to your blog and will count as your “entry” into the competition. On April 30th, 2008, one blogger will be selected at random to win a $100 gift certificate to the Eisenbrauns online bookstore.

Please feel free to modify the question so as to make it appropriate to your situation as a pre-seminarian, seminarian, or seminary graduate (example given on first question).

1. Where do (will/did) you attend seminary?
2. What class do you think has most impacted your spiritual life?
3. What seminary professor has been the most influential while in seminary?
4. What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced in seminary?
5. What has been the greatest reward you’ve experienced in seminary?
6. What are your plans after seminary?
7. How many times have you been asked question #6?

Tagged (almost everyone who has ever left a comment on Going to Seminary): Jeff, Tyler, Shaun, Chad, Jon, tlange, Sovann, Julie, Chris, Jake, Paul, Jason, Terry, Anthony, Mark, Ryan, Jeremiah, Chris, Ben, Nick, Paul, Eric, RC, Raymond, Deb, Shari, and Andy

Your Seminary Blog Could Win You $10,000

Oh Happy Day!

Good news bloggers, someone FINALLY wants to pay you. The folks over at college scholarship are hosting scholarship competition for BLOGGERS!

Everyone rush over and drop in your application. Now, the scholarship isn’t awarded until October but, hey, go ahead and get your entry in… then you’ll forget about it… until you get the $10,000 email!

The iPods of March Competition - Win an 4GB iPod Nano

This year there is no need to “beware the Ides of March.” In fact, quite the opposite! This year you can look forward to the Ides of March to find out if you are the winner of a brand new 4GB iPod Nano from Going to Seminary… or other cool prizes:

1st prize - 4GB iPod Nano
2nd prize - 1GB iPod Shuffle
3rd prize - $25 iTunes gift card

Just as Rome was not built in a day, neither will this competition be won in a day (unless you’re really good). This one will take some effort, which is why I’m dropping the coin for the cool prizes. So, here are the rules:

This competition will be run on a point system. On March 14th the person with the most points wins. Winners will be announced on the Ides of March (the 15th).

So, how do you get points? Points will be awarded for various tasks you complete - see below. For some of these I will need you to report your activity to me, so I am trusting that no one will cheat or lie (seriously, that would be very uncool).

The Point System:

1 Point - Post a link to Going to Seminary that has seminary related words as the link text. (1 point limit PER DAY)
EXAMPLE:
- This is a cool site about going to seminary. (1 point)
- Check this out. Visit here. (0 points)

1 Point - Create a Going to Seminary flyer and post it somewhere on your campus. (1 point per flyer - 10 point max)
- for this one you need to email me (justaguy [AT] goingtoseminary [DOT] com) and let me know how many you posted and the name of the campus on which you posted them. You are welcome to use any graphics or images found on Going to Seminary for your flyers

3 Points - Add a Going to Seminary badge to your site (scroll down to get the code)

5 Points - If you email me a picture of your flyer hanging somewhere on campus (picture phone images are fine). Please include the name of the campus

10 Points - If you make a verbal announcement before the start of a class about the website (email me the name of your seminary and the class in which you made the announcement).

15 Points - Get your seminary to include a link to Going to Seminary on their next mass email to students (most seminaries have a regular email to students with announcements and events, etc). I’ll need a copy of the email to confirm

20 Points - Get your seminary to post a link to Going to Seminary on their website.

25 Points - For the most creative way you get the word out about Going to Seminary. (I reserve the right to give away more than one of these if you all get really creative)
Example:
- Getting a Going to Seminary tattoo
- Make a Going to Seminary t-shirt and wearing it to class
- Stand on the street corner with a banner with the site URL on it
- Get a skywriter to write the URL over the sky above your seminary
- Get creative… Get the points.

50 Points - The big daddy… Get a seminary (or, heck, anyone) to become a site sponsor.

So, there you have it. Go get some points and I’ll start tracking the results.

Going to Seminary Gets a Facelift

Wow… it is 2:56 a.m. and it is finally finished. If I wasn’t so exhausted I’d explain how INCREDIBLY difficult this conversion was. Well, I hope you like the new digs… I’ll be tweaking it here and there over the next couple weeks, so feel free to let me know what you think.

…sleepy time…

Googling to Seminary

After months of hard work we’ve finally claimed the #1 spot for the search query “going to seminary” on google.

For the last 4 months I’ve been #2 on this results… behind some blog post some guy wrote in 2006.

My goal… however ludicrous it might be, is to get #1 ranking on the search “seminary” … yeah, I know, I said it was ludicrous.

The Art of Distraction

I am the KING of being distracted. However, I tend to be distracted by things that are actually important. The bad thing about that is I feel justified and guilty at the same time.

I find myself having a plan for the day and easily diverting from that plan in order to accomplish something that, yes needs to be done, but yet isn’t on the plan. For example, I’m a web developer. To pay the bills I make websites. In order to maintain a balanced life I schedule out my week to a fairly precise timing. There is a time for work, a time for study, a time for class, and a time for family. Now, if I would stick to the schedule I actually think I’d get a WHOLE lot more done. However, while studying I check email… checking email leads to check a blog leads to editing a blog leads to answering a clients question leads to fixing a glitch on their site leads to…. spending my entire study time working.

I don’t have any answers here… so this post is basically pointless… except for the fact that it is distracting me from (let me look at the schedule)… yup, reading.

Do I need to post? Yes. Was I supposed to post 5 hours ago so I could be reading now? (sigh) Yes.

Anyone have any tips on keeping to your schedule… I’m a pro at making them… it is keeping them that I find difficult. Help?

Bible Meme

First, I still don’t really understand this whole “meme” thing… I think that since I got tagged, I now have to answer and then tag 5 other people?

I’ll do it, but someone please explain this whole phenomenon to me:

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best?

• I’m an ESV guy.

2. Old or New Testament?

• Is that even a legit question? Do you like the first half of the movie or the second? Do you like the front of your car or the back? Do you like your left or your right nostril? Sorry… Whole thing.

3. Favorite Book of the Bible?

• Ephesians

4. Favorite Chapter?

• Ephesians 2

5. Favorite Verse? (feel free to explain yourself if you have to)

• Ephesians 2:4 “BUT GOD…”

6. Bible character you think you’re most like?

• The number of funny jokes I came up with here is amazing. However, none were very good for public consumption… that and I don’t want to get struck by lightening.

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you?

• Just one… sheesh… Let’s start with the Hebrew language (I’m taking Hebrew II right now)

8. Moses or Paul?

• In a cage match… Moses. I’m sure he got some mad ninja training in Pharaoh’s house… then all those years herding sheep… He was probably a tough cookie… that, and the bible is clear that Paul let other people do the fighting (Acts 7:58). So, yeah, Moses in a cage match… was that what was ment by the question?

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get?

• Shoot… all makes sense to me Seriously though, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. Why am I even in seminary?

10. Coolest name in the Bible?

• Zebediah (means Son of Michael… and, yeah, my friend Mike named his kid Zebediah… now that is cool!)

Now tag five people. Chad, Nick, Jeff, Paul, Julie, & Terry

Share the Semiary Love - WINNER

Well, the first contest put on by Going to Seminary has come to a conclusion on this St. Valentines Day.

As you may or may not know, we’ve been running a contest to see who could drive the most visitors to the site and over the past couple weeks we have seen hundreds of first time visitors pass through the pages of our humble site.

So, to everyone who joined in on our little game, thank you. Hope you had fun…

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… the winner is:

Benjamin Myers of Faith & Theology

To the victor goes the spoils of a $50 gift card to amazon.com and a brand new copy of A Reader’s Greek New Testament (book courtesy of Bible Geeks Gone Wild… thanks Shaun).

Honorable mentions for their efforts (and some link-love to show our appreciation):
Diary of a Seminary Student
Disruptive Grace
Outside is Better
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
deTheos

Keep an eye out for our next contest coming up in March. If “i” can convince Just a Gal to let me drop the coin, “i” think “i” might even up the prize value to something “i” think you might really like… but more on the pr”i”ze next month.

Subscribe to Comments

Want to keep tabs on the discussion in a post?

Now you can. I just added a “Subscribe to Comment” option in the comment section. Now, when you post a comment, simply click the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” box and you’ll get updates whenever someone responds.

Hope you like the addition. I know I really enjoy reading what everyone has to say. Thanks for sharing all your thoughts here. You’ll probably never know how many people your comments help. So, thanks!

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