My blog is hosted on WordPress, which tracks a number of different stats for the blog. Not only can I see how few people are reading my blog, but also I can actually see what search terms people used in order to find TheChristianNerd.com. Below are some of my favorite common search terms.
Star Wars porn.
These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Tauntaun guts.
Avengers porn.
Words with Friends curse words.
I can’t imagine the disappointment people felt when Googling “Avengers porn” and landing on my less than pornographic site.
One term popped up yesterday that I hadn’t noticed before and it made me so proud: “youth pastor nerd.”
I don’t know if there are three better words to describe me. I most often self identify as a youth pastor and a nerd. Being a nerd greatly influenced my decision to be a youth pastor. Other than working in the gaming industry, I couldn’t think of many jobs that would pay me to play video games.
Being a nerd isn’t necessary to be a youth pastor, though. I know plenty of youth pastors who are totally cool, play sports and don’t own a vast collection of Star Wars shirts. They love their students just as much as I love our students. God works through them just as much as he works through me. The only difference is they probably use surfing analogies and I always use LOTR analogies.
That’s the beauty of ministry and spiritual gifts. God knows that we’re all different and he doesn’t care. He didn’t create just one model of person who could be a youth pastor. There are all sorts of different people who minister to students. This truth doesn’t just apply to youth ministry; it applies to all the gifts and every ministry.
You could be an introverted small group leader.
You could be passionate about IT and network administration.
You could be an easygoing administrator.
You could be a responsible drummer.
There are so many different ways that God has gifted each and every one of us. We don’t have to try and fit inside some mold in order to serve God, we just have to be willing to use what we’ve been given.
God gave me a passion for nerdclinations and students; by his grace he is allowing me to use those to serve his kingdom.
What passions has God given you and how might he be calling you to use those to serve his kingdom?
lol
I get the 'Star Wars porn' search result all the time too! I sometimes wonder if the whole point of my blog is to trick people surfing for weird porn into hearing the gospel!