Posts Tagged ‘African American Church’
Special Gift for You – I Shall Raise You Up Audio Book
From time to time special people come into your life that change your perception and trajectory of life- In this case that person is author Michael Holmes. You may remember Michael as one of our guest blogger who wrote these great blogs.
How to Use Social Media for Greater Ministry Effectiveness
Why Pastors Should Use Twitter
How important is social media in Church Growth?
Well now Michael has allowed me to offer his incredible book I Shall Raise Thee Up to you for FREE
I Shall Raise Thee Up is a book about leadership from a biblical and christian perspective. The book, expertly written is now available via download. That’s right folks – Michael is making that audio download available for FREE.
You were meant to be great. Regardless of color, culture, profession, gender, and background there are seeds of greatness in you that need to be cultivated. Understand that God has a purpose and a plan for your life. He Himself said: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
In this book you will learn:
• What true greatness means
• Why greatness means nothing without service
• The necessity of applying time-tested principles
• Why great people tend not to fit it
• Why desire is necessary before any great work can be accomplished
• Why God is always focused on sound character first and promotion second
• What principles great people apply to become great
• Why greatness was never meant just for you
And much more…
Know that it’s God’s desire to raise you up – He’s been preparing you for that purpose. He’s been getting you ready through every test, every trial, every setback, every victory…and deep down…you always knew it yourself. The time to unlock your greatness is now!
Follow the Leader: More Jesus, Less Personality Pastor
I came across this article on one of my favorite blogs Church Marketing Sucks. If you have not had time to visit, it is definitely worth the time to go there. The premise of this article, is that with the advent of so much technology, ie. video broadcasting to multiple locations, TV, and even the internet, the church must make sure the brand is Jesus and not a rock star Pastor. There are specific points I agree with in the post and of course, some points I don’t.
Branding is a 2 headed dilemma for the local Urban Church. Our Pastors are generally bigger than life and they are for lack of better terms “Rock Star” brands within themselves. it is the culture of the urban Experience. This is an argument I have with my Non-Urban counterparts on a daily basis. For better or for worse, in the African American community the brand of the church is often the brand of the Pastor. They are intertwined, co-mingled, and often not distinguishable from each other. Should that be the case? You weigh in. But not to sway your opinion – first read this article by Brett Borders. Then I will post my blog on the subject.
Posted in Church Growth, Church Marketing, General, Social Media | 
Tags: African American Church, Church, Church Marketing, Church Marketing Sucks, Churchbrand Architect, ChurchBrand Architects, Communications, Consumer Church, Facebook, marketing, Richard Byrd, Technology, UrbanChurch Marketing, Video Chat | 
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How to Use Social Media for Greater Ministry Effectiveness
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Happy New Year – Getting the Year Started Right
Hello everyone and Happy New Year – We are just getting back into the office officially and I wanted to start this year off on the right foot. In the accompanying video, I lay out my 5 foundational strategies for 2010. These are not resolutions but really a way of centering my self and the company for the prosperous new year. We are also participating in an Entrepreneur Fast – please check it out.
What can I say I am so excited by this new beginning. Leave me a comment and let me know how do you get your New Year started. God Bless.
Best regards,
Win in 2010 Christian Entrepreneur Fast
Courtesy of bensonkua
It is the beginning of a new year. A time to reflect on the past year, and recalibrate for the upcoming year. This is a time to set goals, make new choices and in some cases shed the old baggage that has kept you bound to an old paradigm. Wow that was a long sentence. One of the things that should be chief among any Christian entrepreneur, is to hear from the Lord.
As such, this year I have joined with Rod Kirby of the Success Center, as well as many other Christian entrepreneurs to sponsor, the Win in 2010 Entrepreneur Fast. What is it? Well, I will let Rod explain.
What Are You Doing?
The “Win in 2010? Entrepreneur Fast is a corporate fasting challenge designed to take your life and business to the next level. It’s based on a Daniel Fast which adheres to not eating meats, sweets, breads, and drinking water only. If you’ve never fasted before, don’t worry, you can sacrifice meat only, drinking water only, or not eating sugar only. The main idea is to sacrifice something to be blessed with everything you’ll need to “Win in 2010!”
For more information on the Daniel Fast check this out.
For information on the types of things you can eat read this.
Why Are You Doing It?
I personally wanted to do something for God that would be awesome and to share something with you that would bless your business. This was the best way to accomplish both goals. Also, I’m seeking the Lord to take The Success Center, Inside the Success, and everything that I do to the next level. I’ve accomplished a lot this year but I’m no where near where I want to be. This is an opportunity to quiet my soul in order to get the direction I seek.
Guys that is it in a nutshell – this will be a time for us as a kingdom business community to join together in personal as well as business harmony, and hear from God. I believe that my business is not just to make me rich. That will happen regardless. I believe my business is here to IMPACT the World. Won’t you join us. Watch the video below and then head over to the Success Center to get further information.