Christian Geek Central "Extra Life" Team!

Hey Everybody!

I've just created a team for the Extra Life charity event that will be held in October of this year. (24 hours of video gaming to raise money for local children's hospitals) As we get closer to the event I'll be promoting it a lot at Christian Geek Central and on the SBU podcast. The name of the team is "Christian Geek Central", which you are welcome to join if you choose to register for the event at http://www.extra-life.org/

Those of you with iron-clad Sunday commitments (pastors, etc.), are welcome to put in your 24 hours at a time convenient for you if you decide to participate, rather than the default 8am-8am Oct. 25th-26th.

I've never participated in this event before and certainly haven't created a team for it before either. So I've set a modest goal of $200 for myself personally and $1000 for the CGC team as a whole. I'm hoping we'll just be able to ridiculously blow that number out of the water and then set a higher goal for the year after.

Anyway, if you were thinking of participating I wanted to invite you to join the Christian Geek Central Team. Together I know we can hit a donation total that will be even more exciting to report back to those who donate toward our efforts.

If you have any questions feel free to ask here or visit extra-life.org

Thanks!

I might be interested in doing this

Maybe its because I'm working nights this weekend, I've had very little sleep this weekend, and it's 3am here at work when I'd much rather be at home sleeping; but after looking at the site...I'm still not entirely sure how the process works and what exactly I would have to do.

I think I might be interested. Can someone break it down for me?

Tim wrote:Maybe its because I'm working nights this weekend, I've had very little sleep this weekend, and it's 3am here at work when I'd much rather be at home sleeping; but after looking at the site...I'm still not entirely sure how the process works and what exactly I would have to do.

I think I might be interested. Can someone break it down for me?

Basically you sign up, which is free, and then closer to the event you begin contacting people you know, asking them to consider sponsoring your efforts at a rate of $1 and hour. (So $24)

Then I believe they make the payment through paypal and all that's left for you to do is play the games! It's largely run on the honor system.

To be a part of the Christian Geek Central Team, you'll just need to select that team name from a looooooong drop-down list that becomes available during the sign up process.

Did you have any more specific questions?

Hey Everyone!

The Extra-Life Event is just 7 weeks away! I'm now officially entering "recruitment mode" in hopes of filling the ranks of the Christian Geek Central Team!

There are two chief ways you can be involved in this event:

The first way to be involved is to do your own gaming marathon as a part of the Christian Geek Central team. (Any kind of gaming, including board/card and Pen and Paper RPGs!)The Extra-Life organization is pretty loose with the "rules" of the event. So if you can't do 24 consecutive hours of gaming, you are welcome to split it up over multiple days. In the spirit of teamwork, participants are encouraged to complete their hours sometime on or near October 25th. You can choose to do it alone or involve your friends/family. No one from Extra-Life will be keeping track of when or even if you do your marathon hours. It's all on the honor system and the bottom line is about raising money for children in need of medical care. You can let your donors know that even if you burn out before hitting 24 hours, all of their donation will still go to the charity.

Raising money is actually very simple as well. You are encouraged to contact as many people as possible with the goal of getting at least 10 people to donate $10-$20 to the cause, with your personal goal being to achieve $100-$200 in donations. If you're shy or don't like writing, Extra-Life also provides a nice letter that you can use or modify as you seek donations. You also don't have to collect any money yourself, but simply direct people to a webpage where they can donate online.

As a member of the Christian Geek Central team, you are welcome to choose the Phoenix Children's Hospital as the hospital you wish to support, or choose from hundreds of other hospitals that are also part of the Children's Miracle Network.

For more information, or to sign up to join the Christian Geek Central Team and do a marathon, go to:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=15081

As you can imagine, doing something like this takes some advance planning to make room for it in your schedule, which is why I'm recruiting so early. I hope to have most of the Christian Geek Central team signed up by October 1st. Late-comers will of course be welcome to join, but they will have less time to raise funds for the event.

So if this option interests you, please take a good look at your schedule, talk to those in your life it will effect, and then visit the link above to get started!


The second option is, of course, to donate! if you'd like to donate in partnership with my efforts, you can do so here:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=92024

However feel free to wait and support another team member if you'd like. I'm making this option available now but will not beginactively seeking donations until the beginning of October.

I hope you'll be able to partner with me in both a celebration of the gift of games and an effort to be the hands of Jesus in the lives of hurting children.

Thanks!

Just wanted to refresh this topic and also add a few thoughts for those considering joining the CGC team.

If the idea of a 24-hour marathon is imposing or just plain unrealistic for you given your schedule or family situations, I want you to know that you can still absolutely be a part of the CGC Extra-Life team! The marathon is the "gimmick", not the core of what this event is about. So if you can't do 24 consecutive hours, split it up over multiple days over the course of a month. If that's still too much, just do 12 hours, and split it up if you like. Another option would be to host a gaming night in your home as an Extra-Life fundraiser on behalf of the Christian Geek Central team, asking attendees to consider donating as a part of the event. There are so many ways you can go about participating. The 24-hour marathon is just the default.

Frankly, you don't even need to pick up a controller or roll any dice to join the CGC team. (Of course, that's kinda missing the fun part, but it's still not vital.) The most important thing for CGC team members is their willingness to invite others to participate in tangibly blessing children who need medical care they can't afford. And as a reminder, Extra-Life has a really nice form e-mail you can use if you feel uncomfortable writing or talking to others.

I know participating in something like this, on any level, takes some stretching and re-arranging of life. But with my voice alone, we'll never reach the goal I've set for the CGC team of $1000. However, with a just a few people helping me we may be able to reach that goal or even shatter it!

Some people would say that geeks are self-absorbed people who obsess over their hobbies but don't have a foot in the real world. And maybe that's true of us sometimes. Either way, I don't think we need to justify ourselves to other people. And participating or not participating in an event like this does not make us more or less valuable people. It doesn't make us more or less committed to following Christ. But it's one way that you and I can practice looking outside of ourselves and develop the ability to embrace inconvenience in service to others.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. You can also find more info and sign up for the CGC team on the CGC Extra Life page.

Thanks for your consideration!

I am interested in this. That weekend is not a good weekend for me, but since you said that we can split it up over several days throughout the month, I think I'll sign up.