This Wednesday I am being “locked up”  to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I can avoid being locked up if I come up with $3,200 in bail money (aka donations to the MDA). To raise part of this money I tried to use eBay to auction ringtones created by Mark “Turpster” Turpin and Patrick Beja, but eBay has restrictions on auctioning digital goods, so they shut down my auctions before they were finished.

All is not lost!  In fact, this may be to your benefit.  Patrick, Turpster and I have come up with a plan.  First, make a donation of $20 or more at my Lock-Up website: www.joinmda.com/clermont2010/shawncoons. Then send me an email at shawncoons@joinmda.com with your first and last name in it so I can match it with your donation record.  Then you will receive, not one, not two, but six ringtones from Turpster and Patrick.

Patrick has created one fabulous ringtone, while Turpster (by his own admission) has gone for quantity over quality with five separate ringtones.  I don’t want to ruin the surprise hilarity by uploading the recordings here, and if I did then anyone could download them without donating!  So let me give you some descriptive highlights.

Turpster does his own version of a famous internet meme, as well as a celebrity impression, and the ringtone so awesome that you won’t want to answer your phone.  Patrick’s ringtone announces to the world just what kind of person many men are…

But wait, there’s more!

If you donate $40 or more at www.joinmda.com/clermont2010/shawncoons (and send an email with your first and last name to shawncoons@joinmda.com) then you can have Patrick or Turpster create a one of a kind, personal ringtone just for you!  You can give them your name or other info to work from, or just let their creativity run wild!

If you have already donated out of the goodness of your heart with no expectation of goods or services then thank you!  Please feel free to drop me an email and I’d be happy to include you and your donation in this ringtone extravaganza!

My bail is due Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m., so you have 48 hours to take advantage of this.  Thank you for your support and big thanks to Patrick and Turpster for their efforts!

…to raise money to help fight Muscular Dystrophy!  I have been chosen to help in the 2010 Clermont MDA Lockup.

Sometime on June 30, I will be hauled away and locked up and I will need $3,200 bail in order to be released.  $3,200 may sound like a lot of money but I fully expect to have that and more.  My plans are to raise at least $5,000 in donations.

Why am I so confident?  Two reasons.

1.  I want to use this opportunity to demonstrate to people the authenticity of online friendships and relationships.

Through my adventures in the church, podcasting, and online gaming I have been able to meet a multitude of wonderful people across the country and across the world.  I have only met a handful of these people face to face, but the experiences and conversations we have shared online are more real than many “real life” interactions I’ve had with people.  I have also been impressed with the generosity and concern shown in a variety of situations by people whose only connections have been digital.

So I am asking any of my blog readers, Twitter followers, and Facebook friends to consider helping me out in this endeavor so that you can 1) support a great cause and 2) demonstrate the reality of these so-called “virtual” friendships.

The second reason that I am confident of blowing the $3,200 goal out of the water is because I have seen and experienced first-hand the incredible generosity of the people in the church.  I am continually humbled to be serving as a minister surrounded by people, near and far, who have chosen to give of their own resources because they believe that that is what God has called them to do.

The church often gets a bad rap.  God knows that we Christians do some pretty stupid and selfish things sometimes.  But we also are able to do some pretty incredible things too.  In my own church, four time a week we open our doors to people in need and provide meals, food to take home, and other material assistance.  And I know of churches and other faith communities that are doing a lot more.

So I am calling on people of faith to help me with this great cause as a tangible demonstration that our beliefs can make a difference in today’s world.

If you would like to help me with this cause you can see my MDA Lockup homepage by clicking here. Please don’t hold the dated page design or the slow loading speed against me!

If you don’t have the funds available to make a donation at this time but you do have some Photoshop skills then I’d love a donation of a picture of me in jail, behind bars, or somehow locked-up!

One more thing.  If I have the biggest dollar increase in donations by this Friday then I win breakfast at Panera’s for my entire office.  So far no one has even broken the $1,000 mark.  I can smell the fresh baked bagels now…

Thanks for considering this and stay tuned for more updates!