Church Brand Architects

Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Sharing documents have never been easier -One of the most pressing issues with business or ministry is being able to seamlessly work with your team, especially if you are in different places. Here comes Google Docs. Google Docs allows you to share documents across multiple platforms.

I have been using Google Docs for about 1 year now and it has drastically increased our productivity here in the office. Having a common repository allows multiple people on my team to work on projects together. This gives us quicker turnaround and better synergy. No longer do we have to wait or look for a document on someone’s desk or desktop. Or if you are like me, I work on multiple computer in the course for the day – Google allows me to start a document on one computer, move to another computer and pick up right where I left off.

Oh and it is free. This is a great way for a ministry to get started without having a great big outlay of cash. But don’t take my word for it. Take a look at the Video Below.

Wordpress is at it again with a brand new version of Wordpress – - This one is called Theolonius (one of my favorite artists) is packed full of new an inviting feature. We have been testing for a few weeks and although a couple of bugs, we will begin the process of upgrading many of our blogs in the next few weeks.

Major new features in this release include a sexy new default theme called Twenty Ten. Theme developers have new APIs that allow them to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies. (Twenty Ten theme shows all of that off.) Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation. As a user, you will love the new lighter interface, the contextual help on every screen, the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click, and much more. But don’t take our word for it – Watch the video below.

If you can’t see the video click here

ChurchBrand Architects

Your Urban Church Marketing Specialists

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In my last post  we discussed the necessity of social media for ministry growth; not just leading people to a building but to a relationship or greater relationship with Christ and greater fellowship with each other. Social media is not the ONLY way to do that but it offers the tools to help. In this post I want to follow up with SPECIFIC ways to do that. But before I go into “specifics” let me lay some groundwork:

1. It starts with the top: Ultimately, it is leadership that sets the culture of an organization (or ministry)–whether that culture be progressive or not it starts with the top. If the leadership is not sold on social media the ministry will not benefit from it.
2. Social media is a tool of ministry, not its “savior”: Many ministries struggling often see  this technology as a haymaker shot: “If we get on board technologically speaking, that’ll save us.” Technology doesn’t save ministries great leadership with purpose does. Technology that’s used in line with a core purpose will always bear more fruit than technology that’s used for the sake of being used.
3. Social media efforts must be measured: Sometime ago E-marketer released a survey where 84% said that they don’t measure any type of social media ROI. This is astounding considering the fact that social media allows us to better track our efforts. Granted, some things can’t be measured but there are things that can–track the things that can.

Social media and ministry

So without further ado here they are: some strategies that can enhance ministry effectiveness.

• Use Facebook ads: Paul Steinbrueck recently recalled how his church used this to advertise their past Christmas play. The ad was run for 9 days prior to the weekend of the performances.  Over that time, it was displayed 900,000 times and clicked on 600 times.  Total cost of the ad campaign was about $475. Wow!

• Consider a blog-centric strategy: Some ministries have different ministries that do different things at different times.  A blog-centric strategy allows the church to have a main blog and each ministry to have a blog. Feedburner is set up for each blog, so people can get info from whatever blog they want.

• Launch a Facebook Campus: That’s what Central Christian church did.  Following their mission of “connecting the unconnected” they launched the campus and hold services 7 times a week.  The Church partnered with Plainjoe studios and Facebook to develop the campus after positive responses from its year-old online campus. Launched in September, the inaugural service of the Facebook campus saw more than 450 attendees from around the world comprised of a wide variety of demographics.

• Listen: Granted, social media gives us a bigger microphone to speak from it also gives us a greater opportunity to listen to what’s being said.  You remember the saying: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” In this new era of social media, we’re being asked to be more transparent and personal–its our job to make sure people know HOW MUCH we care.
• Show who’s using it: Mickey Mellen (follow him @mickmel) gave an example of how his church does it.

• Got an event? Promote it through Tweetvite: Tweetvite allows you to create events specifically designed for Tweetups (or “meet ups” that use Twitter). Its free and offers a fully search able listing of upcoming Tweetups (should you want to get out the house). You can sign up through your Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace account; it allows you to map the location of the tweetup; and you can use your own URL. It’s great for informal get-togethers outside of of church as well.

The end of the matter

I must admit, there are endless ways to use technology for ministry. But the one criteria is this: it must be used prayerfully and purposefully.

We as believers have an obligation to “redeem the times”? Or as Paul said, “Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity.” [1 Colossians 4:5 The Message)

And truth of the matter is, the "traditional church" is on its deathbed.The times have changed and will continue to change...but our Message never will. This new landscape presents us with new opportunities. But, its only an opportunity to those who see it as such.

Guest Blogger Mike Holmes

Bio: Mike Holmes is the author of I Shall Raise Thee Up: Ancient Principles for Lasting Greatness. He’s also a blogger that writes on leadership development from a Biblical perspective. It’s leadership by the Book! When he’s not writing blogs or speaking he can be found writing bios in the third person. Check out his website/blog here.

Http://www.churchbrandarchitects.com

Over the week-end, I was the keynote speaker for the Networking and Technology Luncheon in South Plainfield New Jersey. What a great time we had exploring all of the unique ways of integrating technology into ministry and business. The luncheon was sponsored by Kenneth Irvin and Man2Man Ministries. Also joining me on the luncheon was Keith Sedor from Apple Consultants. Needless to say his presentation was so impressive I have committed to transitioning my whole office to Apple products before the end of the year. I thought you might want to see some of the things we discussed, as well as the resource form I gave out of the tools I use for my business and ministry.  Please enjoy.