Sunday school directors oversee volunteers who instruct children.

How much does your church pay your Christian educator minister? This question is an important one as it often determines whether the individual ministering to the congregation in such a capacity is being paid a sufficient wage or is forced to rely on his or her spouse to supplement the family income. A Christian educator minister is oftentimes known as a Children’s Ministries Director, a Youth Pastor, an Associate Pastor or as a Religious Education Director. In other words, this position is subservient to the senior pastor. Such ministers are tasked with proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, recruiting and training volunteers, working with members of the congregation and developing or acquiring curriculum or planning special events or both, among other tasks. The salary of a Christian educator minister varies depending on the church’s size, the person’s area of expertise and his experience.

Average Salaries

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides summary reports for hundreds of job titles, offering typical job responsibilities, knowledge and abilities, and salary information for each title. The bureau’s information is a benchmark and may not reflect your ministry’s pay scale or area of responsibilities. Nevertheless, the bureau estimates that the average annual salary of a Christian educator minister to be $40,600 or $19.52 per hour. Those ministers in the 10th percentile averaged $18,520 per year and those in the 25th earned $24,580 per year as of May 2010. A median salary of $36,170 was paid according to the bureau. For those in the 75th and 90th percentiles, their salaries averaged $49,640 and $69,520, respectively.

Industry Demographics

The bureau offers further salary information based on industries or employers. Religious organizations employed 13,350 of the 16,840 people counted as Christian educator ministers by the bureau as of 2010. This “industry” offered a mean annual wage of $38,020, slightly below what these professionals make at elementary and secondary schools. Such schools offered an average annual pay of $39,870 reports the bureau. Much higher than average pay could be realized by those professionals working for grant-making and giving services and for social advocacy organizations. These industries paid $62,390 and $53,640, respectively.

State Information

Across the United States, Christian educator ministers and similar professionals received salaries that varied widely, depending on where they lived. Top income of $83,000 per year was offered to those working in West Virginia, reports the bureau. Other top earnings states included Tennessee and South Carolina where such professionals earned $70,160 and $65,320, respectively. Lower than average pay was realized by those who worked in Hawaii and Montana, professionals who earned $27,270 and $25,220, respectively, on average.

Job Forecast

How does the bureau forecast job growth for such ministers? About average for all professions. Regardless of how the government perceives this field, workers may understand that these positions are a personal response to a calling from God, rather than simply a career choice. Some positions require such ministers to come to the job equipped, with the appropriate educational training, before assuming their position. Others are satisfied that God equips the called and will allow the worker to learn as she goes. In any case, the bureau reports that many such workers have post-secondary education with college degrees common, including master’s degrees, the latter usually essential at schools where such professionals assume administrative positions.

Resources

O-Net Online; Summary Report for: 21-2021.00 – Directors, Religious Activities and Education; 2010

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2010; 21-2021 Directors, Religious Activities and Education

Photo: MorgueFile

Firstly, this website exists solely to glorify God, to build up His church and to encourage everyone to turn to Jesus Christ.  WordJourney is non-denominational, but we’re not entirely inter-denominational. We weigh everything in light of the scriptures, “…rightly dividing the word of truth,” as said in 2 Timothy 2:15.  This website is contemporary in how we get that message out, but historical in holding fast to the faith.

Secondly, we have gradually made an editorial shift since this website was launched by Matt Keegan in November 2007.  Originally, Matt’s personal studies and reflections dominated this site. Today, we are following the lead of the Holy Spirit to build up His church, by sharing stories explaining what God is doing in the world and how they may participate, especially through intercessory prayer. News stories, book and music reviews,  and ministry spotlights are part of that fresh direction.

Thirdly, as advance the plan God has laid out for this website, we remain open to receiving original contributions from our readers.  Our news page outlines what we will consider for publishing here.  We accept press releases, but we will not republish them in entirety. Instead, your news release might be a springboard for a related story; please follow AP Stylebook guidelines when crafting your piece.

Fourthly, if you have a book or music CD you want to have reviewed on this website we are open to two approaches. The first approach would be for you to supply us with a review copy. The second approach is for you to provide your own review, unique to WordJourney Magazine. Self promotional pieces and advertorials are of no interest to you. We reserve the right to approve, edit or reject your review based on several factors including adherence to Biblical truth, its value to our readers and the quality of your work. Only work that edifies the believer is given primary consideration.

It isn’t the intention of WordJourney Magazine to please everyone. If we were to try, then we know we certainly aren’t pleasing God.  Our goal is to be dispassionate in reporting the news, but passionate in our belief that what we publish here pleases God and brings glory to His name.

Lastly, you can follow us closely by subscribing to our feed as well as joining with us on Twitter.

The best way to contact Matt Keegan, the administrator of this site, is to fill out the easy to use contact form. Easy, in that you only need to share with us your name, email address, subject and a few paragraphs about your request.

Once done, correctly complete the Captcha code and hit the submit button. That code keeps spammers at bay, so be careful to repeat the four digit code as shown.

The contact form doesn’t allow you to attach your news, but you can include a link to a web page or site. WordJourney isn’t interested in republishing news verbatim, but if you have a press release we’ll review your information to see if it can lead to a story.

Matt will contact you within 1-2 business days after receiving your request. If you haven’t heard back from him after that time, please try again. Sorry, obvious commercial tie-ins will be ignored.

Some examples of articles we’ll consider:

Ministry spotlight — Give us an overview of a particular ministry and the work that they do. It would help if you are affiliated with that ministry — we like “inside” news! We’re not interested in personalities, rather the work being done to share the gospel primarily and helping people secondarily. Yes, these two matters usually go hand in hand.

Event news — If there is a special event that will be taking place, let our readers know about it. One example of this was “Cry of the Orphan” an adoption event headlined by Stephen Curtis Chapman in November 2009. We featured that story on WordJourney and are interested in similar news.

Global stories — We’re always interested in sharing with Christians what God is doing in the world. This can be a tremendous source of encouragement for believers who see that their prayers are, indeed, being answered.

National news — WordJourney does not make a point to cover general national news unless it impacts the church. Even then, we’ll only add that information if it has an element where you can take positive action such as praying and informing others. For news from a Christian perspective, check out The Christian Post.

Artistic Reviews – On occasion, we’ll review a book or CD and post that review here. Let us know what you have and we’ll see if it is something that we want to review. If accepted, expect to send a review copy to the address we’ll provide for you.

If we agree to share your news please submit your work in English, adhering close to AP Stylebook guidelines, and with photos (optional) that are released or attributed to the source. It may seem odd to say, but we do run everything through Copyscape, rejecting anything that has been clearly plagiarized.

Thank you for following WordJourney; we are blessed through your participation and prayers.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. — C.S. Lewis

It may be summer, but the work of the Lord continues unabated.  My work load remains heavy, but I’m still keeping tabs on what is happening on various websites, through a number of ministries, and elsewhere around the world including:

• WordJourney was mentioned in Christian Carnival 335, a feature of the Other Food website. Other Food spotlighted a recent article published here about college students not being fully prepared to head off to college and what one Christian organization is doing to make a difference in the lives of college-bound Christian youth. Among the other articles featured in the carnival include: a look at happiness, an examination of accountability and two kinds of success.

• Nearly six months have passed since a violent earthquake shook Haiti, collapsing buildings and killing tens of thousands of people. The country has battled poverty for hundreds of years and this temblor has only exacerbated conditions on the ground. Thankfully, the response has been encouraging with Samaritan’s Purse working to build temporary housing for 7,500 families.

• Abortion mill Planned Parenthood is in trouble as its affiliates in California are being accused of massive fraud. The American Center for Law and Justice has filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, on behalf of a whistleblower, the state of California, and the federal government. The ACLJ contends that Planned Parenthood, “…illegally marked up the supposed cost of various birth control drugs when seeking government reimbursement, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of overbilling-at taxpayer expense.”

• 180 college students are making good use of their summer break by helping out inner city children this summer. WordJourney has mentioned the work of Here’s Life Inner City previously; this summer college students are working with poor youth by providing them life skills, career development aid and food. HLIC is an outreach of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Summertime Devotions

How is your summer going? Are you spending time with the Lord or are you finding yourself busy pursuing unrelated activities?

No, I’m not looking to dispense guilt. Rather, I am exhorting you to value your personal time with God. That’s a challenge I’m facing this summer, but am managing to keep up my reading (Hebrews 11) and have enrolled our children in Vacation Bible School once again.

But, I wouldn’t be able to maintain WordJourney apart from the other blogs and Web sites I own. Though in some respects this site is a hobby, I also use it as my springboard for connecting to individual Christians and ministries. I am a freelance writer by trade, building on my connections to get the news out there.

Another way I distribute news is through press releases. Certainly, my personal online network has a good reach, but when I need additional exposure press releases provide that for me as well as for my customers.

This week, I launched a new Web site designed to reach customers who need a make some news. PRBeam.com is my press release writing service offering copywriter quality news releases for small businesses and nonprofits. I’m giving customers a compelling reason to consider my services, offering to write their news release for $99, well below the prevailing rate for this sort of work.

Under my current arrangement, your newsworthy piece of up to 400 words will be ready for distribution to newspapers, blogs, Web sites and other news sources. At this low price, I’m leaving the distribution up to the customer although I may modify my plan and charge a much higher rate by offering distribution too.

What does this announcement have to do with Word Journey? Plenty, actually. If your church, ministry or other Christian organization needs to share some news, consider contacting me through PRBeam.com to get the ball rolling. I have the experience to get the work done; I also love the Lord and will work to help you share with the world your news.

As you can see, there is a widget on the side panel for an ad featuring some other blog. These ads change on a daily basis and many of these advertisers also stop here regularly to drop their own cards.

For Entrecard users, you know what I am talking about. For others, I am speaking Greek. No matter, if you are interested in learning how Entrecard can benefit you and your community as well as connect you with like-minded folks, then I urge you to join.

I appreciate visits from each of my readers, but today I want to recognize my top droppers for the month of December 2009:

Please click on these links to visit their sites and, if you are an Entrecard user, feel free to drop your card and/or advertise with them today.

Yes, a relevant comment on these blogs would certainly make for a nice gesture too!

Importantly, Matt enjoys retweeting what others have to say especially if he can help out a ministry, someone in need, sharing an encouraging word.

So, why use Twitter? For a number of reasons including:

Connect with other believers. Yes, our face to face time with fellow Christians is still important. In fact, we should be gathering together regularly as outlined in Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Your local body needs you and you need them. Still, it is certainly nice when like minded people tweet together too!

Share the gospel. For the most part, Matt connects with other believers. However, a number of people are not so selective, seeking to interact with those Twitter users who aren’t following the Lord. A well timed tweet, a sensitive word could minister to one of Jesus’ wayward sheep.

Inform others. This is the single, biggest reason why WordJourney has a presence on Twitter: to inform other Christians as to what is going on out there. Matt has been concentrating on letting believers know what is going on with the persecuted church, sharing ministry news, forwarding prayer requests, and more. Sometimes this world can be a lonely place, especially for those who are isolated, often not at their own choosing – “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (Hebrews 13:3)

Have fun. In this entertainment crazy world, a little tweeting can go a long way. Seek the Lord on how best to use Twitter for his glory as well as your personal enjoyment. Like any, Twitter can become a time waster, but it can also be used to advance God’s kingdom. Ask the Lord to guide you.

As always, WordJourney thanks you for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment, ask a question or share a tweet.

Adv. – You can help Operation Christmas Child make a difference in the life of a young child. Pack a shoe box filled with goodies and Samaritan’s Purse will see to it that a youngster is reached in the name of Jesus Christ thanks to your faithfulness! Don’t wait, the 2009 campaign is under way from November 16-23.

Twitter has emerged as one of the most powerful social media tools available. Founded in 2006, this micro-blogging site has revolutionized the way people interact online, through 140 character snippets where they can share a message, promote a product, proclaim news, etc. WordJourney is one of three Twitter accounts I manage, allowing me to connect with like-minded people as we advance the Good News.

Twitter Is Useful & Faulty

But Twitter is just as faulty as it is useful. Its plain interface has seen some improvements of late, but it is the supplemental “Twitter tools” developed by third parties which truly extends its usefulness. Had these tools not been developed, Twitter probably would have died shortly after its launch.

I wrote about Twitter Search on my Matt’s Musings blog back in January, singing its praises as a wonderful way to search for tweets apart from the nasty Twitter interface. I’ve used it several times, but it hasn’t been my favorite way to perform a Twitter search. Instead, I have been spending plenty of time over at Topsy.com which describes itself as a search engine powered by tweets. Yes, if you are a Twitter user, then Topsy just may be the site for you.

The Topsy Approach To Search

Topsy takes a different approach to web search unlike Yahoo Search, Google, Bing and similar sites. Instead of searching for specific files or documents, Topsy categorizes conversations, using Twitter as its focal point.

For example, if you were to type in the words “Christmas carols” you would find portions of conversations about that topic. The results delivered by Topsy are those things Twitter folks link to, when they’re speaking about your search terms. As Topsy says, the search engine “…ranks results based on how well they match your search terms, and the influence of the people talking about them.”

Topsy’s results are in real time as they are based on current conversations. In addition, you can find out what was talked about over the past week or month, extending back to when the service was first launched this past May. What’s more, every Twitter user has a Topsy page where all of your Tweets can be seen together.

First Seen Through Trackbacks

I first noticed Topsy about a month ago when my blog trackbacks included record of tweets people had been making about this article or that one. I decided to save each trackback in order to gauge just how well Topsy worked. Definitely, Topsy has been sending a trickle of traffic my way while giving me an accurate indication of the number of people who retweeted my articles.

Topsy does rank people by influence, meaning the more you retweet, the less influence that you have. But, when people retweet you, you gain some influence. Check out your particular articles and you’ll see that at least one person who tweeted was probably an “influencer” — a Twitter user that Topsy holds in high regard.

You’ve probably found me on Twitter through wordjourney or perhaps via theautowriter or mattkeegan. Regardless, I’m actively tweeting this or that offering a good share of retweets too as I relay news about the persecuted church or some other sort of Christian endeavor. Topsy is a useful tool because it pulls everything together for me, offering accurate search results listing Twitter conversations.

I’ve been considering sharing a few different studies here, but just haven’t had the time to really dig deep to come up with something that is solid enough to post. I’m sure some of that has to do with the distraction of Christmas approaching which (thankfully) doesn’t include me running to the mall, wrapping gifts, sending cards, etc.

Instead, I’m working on finishing up several projects that will come due next week while planning to take a few days off between Christmas and New Year’s Day. After that the real fun begins: I’ll be working on getting my taxes in order (and praying that God gives me the strength to stay sane).

My wife and I have been trying to watch a few Christmas videos these past few weeks, but haven’t finished one. The other day we were watching A Christmas Carol (1951 version with Alistair Sims), but had to turn it off when our children walked into the room.

They’re still not old enough to watch the movie without having nightmares, something I remember having when I first saw it when I was eight or nine. Most chilling to me was the face that appeared on the door knocker when Scrooge went home on Christmas Eve — I think I could handle the spirits, but not the face!

My wife also likes It’s A Wonderful Life, a movie that I wouldn’t watch for a long time, but finally saw in its entirety a few years ago — I like it. Sure, it is a corny movie but Hollywood doesn’t make actors and actresses like they used to. Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart made for a cute couple too.

I’m also fond of A Charlie Brown Christmas, an animated flick that I think is a must watch for families. Charles M. Schultz made sure that Linus quoted from Luke 2 when the show aired, a first of its kind production when it was released in 1965 (on December 9th, no less). The producers wanted to cut out the scripture reading, but Schultz stood fast — what a God honoring way to spread the Christmas message to millions of households!

I also like The Polar Express even if some of the scenes are dark or a character or two is a brat. The animation is simply awesome and the story line would enhant any child who believes in Santa Claus.

Christmas music is something I enjoy, particularly the hymns including O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard On High, and my favorite — O Holy Night. I also enjoy listening to various traditional tunes and get a chuckle when the cable channel’s non-stop Christmas station plays something funny including Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.  I absolutely hated the song when it came out in 1979, but not anymore — it is a good parody of the way we can look at Christmas, from a secular point of view.

As far as food goes, that could be my downfall especially if I’m not careful. Egg nog is fine, but I usually drink a very small amount right around Christmas as my cholesterol level needs to be kept under control. I can think of a half dozen or more treats that I like, but I dare not discuss what they are or I’ll have visions of chocolate kisses dancing in my head tonight.

The center of the season is, of course, Jesus Christ and we have a family advent calendar which our children love to open each morning. We’ll take in the town’s annual Christmas parade this Saturday and keep up with church services, but we’ll also read some stories on our own. This year I’m thinking of putting our children’s devotional book to the side for a few days and reading straight out of Luke 2 — our kids are familiar with the story, but I’ve generally given them kid-sized snippets — time to put away the milk and break out some meat!

My wife loves to decorate the home and with our children’s help it “looks” like Christmas here just after Thanksgiving all the way to the New Year. One of our boys is allergic to pine, so we got the fake tree up, but I do miss the smell. Poinsettias are out of the question because of our two cats and I seem to be the only one who likes holly scented candles.

However way you choose to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, my prayer for you is that this season would be one of renewal where the Spirit of our Lord would shine brightly in your heart and that you would rejoice with all of the saints and angels to give God the glory.

Christmas is just a few weeks away and the Advent season is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on God's love for you through the miracle of the virgin birth.

I’ve been making some changes to this blog over the past few months, beginning with the current theme which I plan to keep for at least awhile. I’ve learned that changing themes is one thing, but adjusting CSS code, tweaking plug-ins, fixing widgets and the like needs to happen concurrently with any updates, otherwise vital statistics and other background information can be temporarily lost.

I’m not someone who likes to make a big deal about blog house keeping, but I thought I’d let you know what I’m doing so that you can keep pace with these changes.

A few weeks back I added a Friends page which currently shows just two other Christian blogs. I plan on updating that page (probably in January, long after the holiday season is over) by including additional sites that I like and think you’d be interested in as well. Not too long ago I added the Entrecard widget to this site which has brought in some fresh traffic while giving me the opportunity to connect with other Christian bloggers. When I find something that I like, I’ll be adding that blog here as well.

Last month this site quietly marked its first anniversary, a milestone that I did not miss, but chose to let slip by. Clearly, I want to honor the Lord with this blog and I give to Him all the honor, glory and praise for his work in my life and for allowing me to share His truth with you.  At first, I didn’t accept comments as I wanted to concentrate on writing and not building a dialogue, but I lifted that restriction early in the summer to allow people to share their thoughts. I appreciate everyone who has participated including those people who simply like to lurk.

The newest feature to this blog is an Archives section which I posted today. I plan on tweaking the Snazzy Archives plug-in which powers this section to make it easier to navigate, but I do like having every post I’ve ever written filed neatly on one page, kind of like a glossary or index. What is especially neat about this plug-in is that you can either collapse the links or show them with a photograph and a brief summary. I prefer the latter, but I won’t be doing that until I fix some of the related coding to suit the blog’s layout.

I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas season which can be both hectic and immensely enjoyable. Our family is picking and choosing which seasonal events we plan to attend keeping in mind that the weeks fly by quickly, but we don’t want to crowd everything else out and lose what is most important to us — Jesus came so that we might live more abundantly, He died to give us eternal life, and He rose so that we will be with Him forever.