From Sampler to Sower

As you know if you followed this blog before we fell off the map for a month, our youth group is currently running a series called mybrandnewlife.org.  A core component of this series is seeking to get into the Word through daily devotions which we provide on the website.  An essential objective for us, then, is to find a way to bring students back to the site every day.  As a result, we’re running some web-based contests.

To be honest, Water’s Edge’s Funniest Videos didn’t work so well, and we even extended it’s run an extra week to try to get more submissions in.  However, our current contest is a little more fun

We called it Macro-Middletown.

The idea’s pretty simple.  Last week I went out and took some close up pictures of public places around town.  Each day I post a few on the website.  Students then head out around town and try to get someone to take a picture of them at the places portrayed in macro.

For example, here’s a photo I took to use to demonstrate the contest to our teens:

And here’s a picture of me at the super-secret location:

Students can take the pictures and turn them in anytime before our next youth service.  However, to incentivise coming to the site every day, we only post a few pics each day. And if students turn in the photos (either by sending an email or sending a pix message to an email address) by 11:59 pm on the day they are posted, they get double points.  Winner takes home $20.

All photos were taken in public places so no one has to go onto private property to compete.  Likewise, all pictures were taken outside so students don’t get kicked out of establishments around town.  You can visit the contest site for more examples and the official rules.

But no answers.  I’ve still got students out looking.