Patreon: Like Kickstarter, but not.

Patreon
Hello everyone! I recently discovered something online that I am pretty excited about. It is called Patreon. Essentially this is a website very similar to kickstarter. However, the biggest difference is that instead of raising money for one big project (kickstarter) you donate small amounts of money per each piece of content (Patreon). It is a way for me to make money from my blog in a much easier way than running ads on it (especially since I think the day and age for ads is essentially past its prime).
So what really is this all about?
Basically, what I am trying to do is make some extra money on the side doing something that I actually enjoy doing. At present, I am the youth pastor at a small church. There is no way that they can really support me financially at this time. Some people in small churches are able to fundraise their salary to support their ministry. I am not able to do this. However, I am able to make a blog based on spiritual things and other interesting topics. What Patreon does is set up a safe place for you to support me financially for doing kingdom work. You can see it as supporting me as a youth pastor, as a blogger, or even as just a funny guy. In reality, I will be using Patreon as a way to support me though my blog. I will post other things on there as well, but the financial aspect will come from “weekly” blog posts. Weekly is in quotes because obviously I am not currently producing a blog post every week. This is because I also have a full time job that has kept me extremely busy the past couple of months. (Actually, if you check out my Patreon page you will see that my first goal is to make $10 a blog post and at that point I will see my blog as an actual part of my job and will post every week as if it were my job).
So what is Patron going to do to my content?
Nothing. Setting up Patreon is not going to affect my content at all. When you go over there you will see that there are different rewards that I am able to offer. I can change these rewards around if I want to or whatever, but for now I have a number of things set up. Everything I post will still be free of charge. However, as a financial supporter through Patreon you will get some added benefits to my content. I will still post to my blog and work in youth ministry regardless of the success of this Patreon account, but I thought it sounded like it could be fun and help to inspire and motivate me to do more with my free time. Who knows, perhaps someday I can actually make a career out of all this stuff.
What am I going to do with the money?
My first goal financially is to become debt free. So basically any money that you give through Patreon will help support my wife and I in paying for bills. Ultimately, it would be amazing to make enough money through blogging that I am able to quit my job and focus on ministry full time. That is what I meant by supporting me as a youth pastor. Some people might say that what you are doing it supporting a missionary in America to the small community that I serve in. The less I have to focus on making money at my “real” job to survive, the more I can focus on ministry. I actually think that it would be pretty cool if I could be supported primarily from my blog and not actually have to be paid by a church at all. If this were to happen, I would never actually have to be paid by a church to do ministry, I could simply serve in the church and make money from blogging. Patreon is a step in this direction and I thank you for your support.
Patreon explained.
Now, this all might seem a little bit confusing. Personally, I have never heard of Patreon before so you might be wondering what on earth I am talking about. Hopefully, this little video that they put together can help you get the gist of what it is.
Right now, I have it set up that you send me a “tip” for each blog post I make. As mentioned, you can set a monthly maximum (just in case I post more than once a week or something, or you just want to donate for two posts, or one, or whatever). Depending on the amount of support I get from Patreon, I might change up the rewards in order to be more interactive with those supporting me. For now, I am just going to see how this goes and move from there. Thanks for checking me out! Patreon.
-Pastor Zach