The past three weeks, we’ve had a scammer/spammer leave comments with trigger words on one of the social media pages I admin (I admin multiple groups and pages).

The first week I took the comment seriously as I’d hope any compassionate person would. I’ve also been trained how to respond to certain comments and the steps to take in order to tell if they are legit.

So rather than reply with gut instinct, I replied as I’d been taught to do.

I quickly realized this wasn’t real and took immediate steps to safeguard that page.

The second week, I wanted to still exhibit compassion- which should be our default- while also maintaining the integrity of the page and any other admins.

By the third week, I needed this spam scammer to go away. So I began the process of reporting these comments.

As I was in the process, unknowing church members began replying to the scammer.

Since then I’ve been getting tagged hundreds of times a day by accounts I’d never associate, tagging me in content I’d never associate with.

So today I took steps to be Meta Certified.

I had already gone through the community manager course (and passed!), but today I got the blue certification check next to my name.

It’s only $25/month, but that’s a small price to pay.

Jesus laid his life down for His bride – the church. I think I can spend $25/month to ensure she’s protected digitally.

Church Communications 💻 ⛪️
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Most of you know I have a full time job that I love + a small side gig that isn’t too time consuming.
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In addition to those, I serve our church in the ministry of Communications.
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At our church I’ve got a little more access to our digital platforms than some other church members. Not full unlimited access, but just enough to serve in the areas I need to serve in.
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This brings me to YouVersion. In addition to YouVersion for Churches, our church has a “regular” YouVersion account.
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YV for churches is awesome, but still missing some features. A regular church account has features we like and use.
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As a volunteer, a personal boundary I’ve always had is to serve using my laptop/browser tab.
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My phone is not my computer. My phone is for unplugging (yeah for real). My phone is my personal space. It’s for playing solitaire, Candy Crush, and connecting with friends and family. It’s for taking pictures that may never get seen, and family group texts. It’s also for my personal Bible reading.
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I’ve actually been known to ask some people to email me images and files rather than text them to help maintain this boundary.
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However, recently YouVersion removed the ability to manage Bible Reading plans or accept friend requests from a web browser tab. You can only do this via the mobile app.
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And our Pastor wants to start a new Bible reading plan. I’m NOT criticizing this decision. If anything, I wish we – the church – did them more often.
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So yesterday I logged out of YouVersion as me and logged in as an our church.
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At this point, you’re probably like, “yeah so what?” But for me, it felt like crossing a personal boundary.
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Definitely not major. Not any sort of deal breaker, but just felt weird.
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But then I reminded myself of why I do this. Communications is more than design, websites, graphics, databases, and livestreams. Those things are tools to help people know Jesus.

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And I didn’t create the tools. I simply use them.

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So if you see me break my personal streak on YouVersion or it looks like I’m behind on my personal reading, just remember things aren’t always what they seem.