Terrace Crawford is a youth worker and the author of Going Social, a new book out this month from Beacon Hill Press with the official site at GoingSocialBook.Net. Here’s an interview with him about his new book and you can read his blog here.

1 Tell us about the origin of your new book!
I meet a lot of church leaders who are hesitant to use Social Media for whatever reason. I think Social Media is one of the greatest tools of our time that God wants to use to help spread the message of the Gospel. I felt I could help provide a resource that would help dispel many of the common myths that keep church leaders from leveraging Social Media and also offer bite-sized tips on how to use it for ministry.

2 What is one of the most common mistakes when using social media?
My heart behind using any Social Media platform is to use it to connect with people. Whether you have a blog, a twitter or Facebook account, or a YouTube channel, you can use these tools to build relationships. You can inspire people, challenge people, and yes, even connect them to Christ! I think people sometimes forget that.

3 What are the best social tools for youth workers to connect with their students?
The best way to connect with students is generally by going where they already are. Students love Facebook, so you’d be fool to not use it. I have seen a lot more teens flocking to Twitter lately, so having using a Twitter account is a great idea. Some youth workers even use Twitter as a text-messaging service because any student can follow the updates regardless of whether or not they have a Twitter account. I also love using Simply’s Communicate tool to push mass text messages to our students.

4 Tell us about your passion for youth ministry – preferably with a great failure story?
Years ago I was planning to lead my youth group to summer camp.  We were literally two days out (from going) and I talked two kids who needed Christ into going along with us. Forms were completed, notarized (which seemed to take an act of congress at the time), and were hand-delivered to me the day before while I was attending a luncheon. I misplaced the forms and did not look for them (or even think to!) until the next morning upon our departure. At the last second I realized I was in deep trouble. It immediately hit me that the forms may have been left at the lunch table… and yep, thrown into the trash. In a last ditch effort I got on the phone and tried getting parents to have the necessary forms faxed directly to the camp. We all loaded up the bus (in faith that this would work!) and circled the parking lot only for me  to find that one of my star volunteers was found digging through the trash to look for the forms!  I’ll have that horrible site etched in my brain –forever!  I hugged my staffer and thanked him for going to such great lengths for students. Then we got on the road and headed to camp. Long story short… the forms were faxed by the parents, we had a great time at camp… and the two students accepted Christ by the end of the week!   I learned several things through this: 1) I hate camp forms.  2) I needed a personal assistant,  3) My staff will go to great lengths for teens! and  4) I love seeing students accept Christ!

5 What’s next for you? Got another book on tap or project in the works?
I am currently focusing on my student ministry and my Youth Worker Coaching Network right now, but yes, I do have a book idea I’m marinating on (but not yet ready to share).  I hope to develop the idea further and turn it into a book because I feel it will help a lot of people who are struggling in the church today.

JG