Spunk Design Machine is a graphic design boutique that helps creative agencies, companies, and non-profits create innovative design aesthetics to amplify their message.   sparkhouse was lucky enough to partner with this creative group, who assisted us in developing our brand identity system.  Recently, Spunk won an award at the AIGA Minnesota Design Show 2010 for their work on sparkhouse.   Congratulations, Spunk Design Machine!

ReNew: The Green VBS has a presence on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Are you following us?

Twitter

You can find us and follow us @ReNewGreenVBS (RSS feed of updates).  You are able to follow our ReNew Blog posts in addition to retweets of great content about how kids can grow in faith, have fun and change the world.

You can use the Twitter website or various applications to monitor posts from @ReNewGreenVBS and anyone else you choose to “follow.” Here are a few of our favorite Twitter feeds to follow so far:

http://twitter.com/charitywater

http://twitter.com/doitgreenmn

http://twitter.com/OneDaysWages

http://twitter.com/the_daily_green

http://twitter.com/wearesparkhouse

The reception has been warm. We have over 100 followers. Many have extended warm welcomes to ReNew on Twitter, like Erik Ullestad who wrote a blog post about ReNew (what he calls the VBS That Keeps On Giving) and tweeted it. Thanks Erik!

You can also search Twitter to see what’s happening – right now – about children’s ministry, creation care, green VBS, or sparkhouse. If you are not signed up already, start at the Twitter home page.

Facebook

Our ReNew (the Green VBSâ„¢) Facebook fan page has been a great place to bring together a community, too! Almost 700 of you are following our updates and thoroughly engaging in the conversations. Thanks for all your great comments on recent topics like community gardens, the ReNew Starter Kit and Kid Packs, and our decorating videos!

We’d love to connect with you on other social media platforms, as well, like Ning or YouTube.

What social media tools do you find most relevant to you and your church?

Last week – the first week of Advent – a dozen of us gathered together with a big box of legos and an even bigger question: how do we spark new life in youth confirmation ministry? Actually, the question wasn’t explicitly stated at all—we were a working group focused on a concrete set of tasks. We weren’t in “blue sky” mode. Yes, we spent some time getting to know each other (or reconnect). But we had a tight agenda. Tasks very much at hand. Agendas. Lists. Deadlines.

But the question haunted us, like a lone voice crying in the wilderness, as we gathered and got set up. When you look at the trends out there among youth and young adults, this is a question that can stir up some serious anxiety.

And then came tinkering. It was almost the first thing on the agenda. We all sat together and watched Gever Tulley’s TED Talk on his Tinkering School. His work with youth is outright amazing – he radically empowers youth through the simple gift of trust to unleash their creativity with transformative results. It wasn’t the first time many of us saw the video, but somehow it seemed like the most important time we ever did. Despite the eventual twists and turns in the conversation the next two days – even anxiety as we wrestled with tough theological questions – we seemed to know we were on the right path. There was a kind of true north among us, perhaps even a star. Together we were tinkering.

image source: TEDtalks