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It’s time to register for the Internet Ministry Conference in October.  You won’t want to miss this opportunity to absorb all there is to learn about ministry online if you’re anywhere near Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The speakers are amazing and literally I wish I could hear them all. Some highlights will include: Dr. Quentin Schultze (who I recommend here often) will present the devotional and David Russellof NCC will talk about websites. Kent Shaffer of Church Relevance & Bombay Creative will speak about Internet Ministry Marketing and Tailored Internet Ministry. Brad…

Accept the Virtual World’s significance (MySpace is the most visited site on the Internet) View online expressions of Christianity as valuable extensions of real world faith Embrace the opportunity for Church without borders (time, geography, etc.) Welcome the presentation of God’s Word in the vernacular of current culture Respond to the globalization of the planet with hope not cynicism Develop and maintain an online presence purposefully populating cyberspace Establish virtual outposts for evangelizing, preaching, equipping & training Create interactive portals for…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FoBsGYS7UQ If you enjoyed our interview with the Tall Skinny Kiwi a few days ago, then your sure to like this overview video designed to promote GodblogCon.

Last Thursday night, I had the privilege of hearing Washington D.C. Pastor Mark Batterson speak at the ECHO Conference in Dallas, Texas.  Mark is the Lead Pastor of National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America’s most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Pastor Mark is a widely read pioneer blogger (evotional). He’s also one of the very first pastors to add…

Earlier in the week, as a preview of GodblogCon 2008, several bloggers, including Dr. Andrew Jackson, Rhett Smith, Matthew Anderson, Marcus Goodyear and myself, got the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Jones, a.k.a. the Tall Skinny Kiwi.  Andrew, beloved missional pilgrim and blogfather to so many, can be heard via podcast at The Scriptorium. You can also hear him speak live by attending GodblogCon 2008.  

For the past several months I've been looking forward to being at MinistryCOM in Oklahoma City on September 18-19. With less than three weeks to go, the anticipation continues to build. Earlier this month I met with producer extraordinaire Mark Bennardo who is putting together quite the experience. I also spoke earlier this week with MinistryCOM maestro Terrell Sanders (the brain behind the whole event), and he is equally enthused about the great things in store. My prayer for this year's event has been that church communicators in attendance will be ministered to. A little less "com" and a…

All right, all right. I'm sorry for the lame title pun. Westchester Church decided to do something crazy--go skydiving. This church had a message to communicate: We are not boring; we are not safe; we chase lions. What better way to communicate who you are than to jump out of a plane from thousands of feet in the air? And in a church with a weekly attendance of 150, forty people signed up. And they saw God do incredible things that day. Here's a little bit from their pastor about one person who was particularly impacted: He’s not a Christian and admits he is not a very religious man but he…

We've seen some pretty crappy church marketing lately (not to say we haven't seen some great ideas as well). But which move was the worst of the worst of the worst? Only you could decide, and here's what you had to say: In a surprise move, you selected the most-hated church marketing move as the Focus on the Family commentator who is praying for rain on Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention. Given their recent history and rocky relationship, praying for rain seems like a compliment compared to what many evangelicals would wish on a Democratic candidate. My personal pick for the…

It's been awhile since we've had a standard Church Marketing Lab update, so we thought we would let you in on a little bit of what's been going on in the photo pool. Palm Valley Church is working on the branding for their small groups.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the Echo conference in Dallas, Texas, with a few hundred church media artists. I presented a spoken version of my "Bastards With Bibles" series that I wrote about here. The basic premise of my session was about identity and how we've got to figure out who we are, both as individuals and as organizations (i.e., church). It's a serious problem with serious implications which is why I get fired up about people figuring this stuff out. My wife and I visited a church community this past Sunday and I ran into a friend who happens to be a regular attender…

I am doing some consulting work with the SBTS right now and was invited to speak to the faculty about social media. (The presentation starts at 4:30 seconds) Video streaming by Ustream Social Media and Web Technologies Discussed USTREAM Facebook Eye-Fi Twitter LinkedIn

Wasn’t sure what to expect when Gabe asked me to be on his show. I was a little nervous. Its kind of tough to Follow Erwin McManus… I really enjoyed the interview, my favorite part is when I got to say things about Social Media that I am passionate about and have been burning a holes in my pockets Excerpt & Link to the Podcast We are partnering with our guest, Aaron Marshall, (interview starts at 22:33) this week to present a challenge for our listening audience. If you have an old (or new) iPod that you would like to donate towards the iPods4Africa mission, Aaron would love…

There is a fantastic new service that makes it VERY easy to live broadcast your event through the internet. One of the particularly neat features is that it allows you to broadcast through multiple websites at once. That means you can put live streaming video in a blog, website, Facebook page or anywhere else that allows you to embed a video. A Few Quick Steps to get Setup 1. Setup a camera that can be fed directly into a computer. This can be the web camera on your laptop or even a multi-camera system at a big church. Don’t worry about having the camera setup perfect the first time,…

Would you like to get solid biblical teaching into the hands of hungry African Pastors? So would we! This is the beginning of a new ministry with the goal of utilizing millions of unused iPods to make disciples and carry the Gospel to all nations. The concept is simple. You donate your iPod, we pack it with solid biblical teaching and send it to an African Pastor. Step#1 Send Us Your iPod iPods4Africa 5702 Timber Ridge Dr Prospect KY, 40059 Step #2. Your iPod will be Wiped and Loaded with Awesome Biblical Teaching Step #3 Your iPod will be Sent to an African Pastor Its that simple! If you…

Chad Lewis is one of the awesome pastors at my church. He had been blogging for years but took a break for awhile. When he decided to get back into it he looked around and realized that blogging had come a long way. He felt like his old blog account with blogger was inadequate. We gave his blog a WordPress makeover. Before After WordPress has a Tool that Makes it SUPER Simple to Import Your Blogger Posts AND Comments Chad had posts and comments all the way back to 2005. Using the WordPress import tool I was able to pull all of that seamlessly into his new blog. Phew. My Take On The WordPress…

That’s me with Chris and LV from Catalyst. They and Jesse (from the Catalyst blog) were at the Church 2.0 Local Forum - Atlanta. Behind us is the infamous “Vanagon” that LV has been driving around the country. It’s pimped out on the inside - don’t let the outside fool you. Jesse blogged about Church 2.0 a week ago HERE. I’m trying my best to be at Catalyst this year, like I have the last 3 years. Are you going to be there? I had an amazing time in Atlanta. I heard of what the Church there is dealing with - good and bad. My heart was encouraged to hear of…

An Apple iPhone or iPod touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University’s innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president. At ACU - the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class - freshmen will use an iPhone or iPod touch to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other…

The Don Moen Company Purchases MediaComplete (below is a press release from them): We are excited to announce that the Don Moen Company has recently purchased MediaComplete Corp. The acquisition caps weeks of discussions and planning for how to best resource the church for a new generation of visual media. The new entity will be known as MediaComplete LLC. Don Moen recently founded the Don Moen Company. He is best known as a songwriter and worship leader having written some of the most recognizable songs in the church today. Don commented on the acquisition, “We believe that making…

So nice. Love Coca-Cola’s homepage. Very sharp stuff going on with Coke these days. YOU can design a Coca-Cola bottle HERE. Enjoy! EXTRA: Church 2.0 Local Forum - ATL goes down today from 10am to 2pm (EST). Direct Twitter me with your questions or topic suggestions. Pray that God moves here in this great city.

This is from WiredChurches.com - We’re looking for original films created by church volunteers or staff to further their mission, illustrate a point, or promote or highlight an event. Professionals in the film and advertising industry will determine the top films in each category to present during the film festival at Granger on Thursday, September 18. To get more info, go HERE. PERSONAL: Today I fly to Atlanta for the Church 2.0 Local Forum - ATL tomorrow. See you soon ATL!

I love facebook for lots of reasons. At the top of the list is the amazing connections. It's like two degrees of separation. Got friended by my freshman locker partner from High School not long ago. Reconnected with so many "long lost" friends from high school and college. But I got a message today that was over the top.Someone messaged me and asked if I was the son of Don and Bonnie Batterson. I replied in the affirmative. And they told me that in 1959, my grandparents led her parents to the Lord! My grandparents, who were amazing people, made such an impact that one of their daughter's has…

I just read the latest issue of Outreach magazine and the feature was an interview with Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic in LA. He said something that was so profound. Really made me think. "I think a lot of pastors have a dream that matches the life of the pastor who is the living the dream they want." Man, that stopped me in my tracks.I think there is a such a temptation to copy when it comes to ministry. I wrestle with it as much as anyone else. I think we need models. I've got my fair share, including Erwin McManus. But I remember reading something Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in…

Did a chapel for the Jacksonville Jaguars tonight. What a cool experience. They are in town playing the Redskins. A friend of mine, Asif Shaikh, gave their chaplain, Anthony Johnson, a copy of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and some of the guys have read the book. So he invited me to come and speak.Man, some of those guys are huge. Physical specimens. But I also perceived tremendous spiritual hunger. Neat opportunity to speak a word of encouragement. And it'll be fun watching them play after praying for them.Also gave each of them a copy of Wild Goose Chase.

I'm going to start sending out transcripts of my messages via email. Actually, I'm resurrecting something I did for several years. If you want to subscribe you can do it here.For those of you who want the backstory, here is a little bit about the evolution of evotional. I originally came up with the name, with some inspiration from our team, as a description of an email devotional. So you drop the "d" and get evotional. Sort of a double entendre.Then I launched my blog by the same name. But evotional was originally an email version of my weekend message. In the past year, I've taken a little…

Just posted our Wild Goose Chase trailer if you want to check it out. We play this at the beginning of our messages as a "bumper" before I get up to preach. Six weeks. Six cages. Props to our media team and Jeremy Sexton. Love the vibe.

We are compiling an Innovative Magazine list for our readers. We would be interested to know what magazines you might think would be a good fit for this list. If it is not a mainstream magazine, please provide some information for us to check out.  It would be great to see innovative ideas, innovative products, innovative resources, and creative content for the focus of magazines on this list.  Team IML

www.philwickham.com Phil Wickham is one of our favorites on the Top Ten Innovative Worship Leader List. Lyrically and Musically Phil Wickham’s style sets a new bar in Christian Music. Recently he allowed a free download off of his blog for a 15 song live album. It has a vast collection of originals, plus some old school worship favorites. We would like to highlight some of the songs from his recent release “Cannons” which came out late last year. This is an album that we strongly endorse at Innovative Ministry Leader. It starts out with “Must I Desire” which a powerful description…

www.christomlin.com We had a chance to listen to an advance copy of Chris Tomin’s new album, “Hello Love.” What we really admire about Chris Tomlin is the anointing that God has given him over his career. “Hello Love” is a solid release, with the power anthems and expressive words to God that Chris has always been known for.  Here are Chris’s words on the new album: We need to introduce ourselves to love again. With each new record, I continue to strive to create songs that will help people voice their worship to God. I hold this as a great responsibility when I begin to think…

We wanted to pose the question to what many of you think about about Songwriting in Worship. Much of what we think about is the Pre-Fabrication of Worship Music, much of what happens in Nashville, Tennessee.  Confessions of a Worship Leader stated a month ago: “I say all that to say, I understand what the songwriter goes through. I also know, however, that a lot of what gets used in church comes from songwriters with the “Nashville Songwriting Formula” that no one knows about but those who are privy to it’s use. They go into the studio on Monday morning and bang out a song by…

In Craig Groeschel’s latest book “IT” he asked three questions that encourages us to turn outwards. 1. When is the last time you’ve had a lost person in your home? (The plumber who repaired you sink does not count) 2. How many meaningful conversations did you have with non-Christians this week? 3. Who are the non-believers you prayed for today? This is tough, but it seems we get so comfortable in our daily lives we forget about people that might feel the flames of hell, and continue to do nothing about it.  This woke us up…..please comment Team IML

I broke the trackball retaining ring on my Blackberry Curve (8300) right before my flight SNA-DFW on Sunday. Serves me right for tinkering with cleaning the trackball without knowing its fragility and never reading instructions manuals or user’s guide. I got sand into that trackball on the day before. The Curve is next to impossible to use without the trackball. Also very hard to use sealed inside of a zip-lock bag. The past 2 days, I used the Curve with the trackball precociously set without a retainer, fearing it’d get lost in the crevices of my pocket. It was gonna be $54.13…

While I’m waiting at John Wayne Airport (SNA, aka Orange County Airport), it’s possible to connect up to the Internet via WiFi. No free WiFi hotspots (yet?), but there are several pay options. Here’s the SSID list that showed up via Wireless Network Connection: tmobile this T-Mobile hotspot is located between Gates 7 and 8 at food court — costs starting at $6 or monthly subscription starting at $19.99, cf. subscription info; WiFi signal broadcasts from United Red Carpet Club JWA WiFi or JWA Hotspot or Nextphase Wireless hotspot throughout terminal — costs…

This is way forward-thinking: Gnomedex is live-streaming its main sessions right now, for another day (up ’til 5:45pm Pacific Time / 8:45pm Eastern). They’ve been doing it for several years now (audio since 2006; cf. the Gnomedex philosophy) This conference allows its non-attenders to watch it all live streamed over the web! See the schedule to catch the segments of most interest to you. Does live-streaming discourage people from attending and having to pay registration fees and travel costs? Nope, still sold out! Gnomedex is on my short list of conferences I really want to go to.

Question>> I’m about to launch an intentionally diverse church, and sometimes I get asked whether we should be intentionally diverse or just start and see whom God brings. Well, I have an answer as to why we want to seek being diverse and exemplify diversity on our leadership team. However, there are many churches that start off as Asian-American churches and seek to be diverse, yet only attract Asian-Americans. So, I was curious if you had any insight you’d like to share on this question to help me with a different perspective? djchuang’s reply :: As for becoming a…

Stopped by the City Walk soft urban side of our Vantis housing community here in Aliso Viejo this afternoon. City Perk, our local coffee shop / cafe, is doing an unofficial soft opening for a week or so, looking for feedback on the foods they’d carry. I take it that means they won’t carry everything on display right now, but who knows. So I walked in, greeted the managers, and walked out with a box of yummy cookies. They’ve got mini cheesecakes, croissants, cookies, muffins, and of course, coffee and espresso drinks. The concept is that mini pastries would accompany the…

Never think that church nursery ministry is babysitting. It is actually a great opportunity to minister to and teach the youngest guests of your church. WHY CHURCH NURSERY MINISTRY MATTERS Four-month-old babies can recognize emotions in people’s faces according to the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development. (source) This means a nursery worker’s mood affects the babies. Nine-month-old babies focus more on an object’s identity when pointed at by someone, and they focus more on an object’s location when reached at by someone, according to the Centre for Brain and…

The Barna Group has published some interesting research that investigates the moral downfalls of adults (age 18+). Here is what they discovered: DURING THE PAST WEEK, 28% of adults cussed >> 64% of Mosaics (ages 18-25) >> 60% of Atheists >> 33% of Men >> 33% of Non-Christian Religions >> 24% of Women >> 19% of Baby Boomers (ages 44-62) >> 16% of Evangelicals 20% of adults gambled (including purchased a lottery ticket) >> 25% of Catholics >> 23% of Men >> 18% of Protestants >> 15% of Women >> 2% of Evangelicals 19% of…

Church Relevance’s list of the top church websites has now grown to 90 sites. Church web designers keep launching new beautiful sites each month. Here are the list’s new additions and redesigns in alphabetical order: College Park Church (Indianapolis, IN) Christian Tabernacle (Houston, TX) Fellowship of the Woodlands (The Woodlands, TX) Redesigned but was previously on the list. First Baptist Church (Dallas, TX) Island Evangelical Commuity Church (Quarry Bay, Hong Kong) NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC) Northstar Church (Frisco, TX) Redesigned but was previously on the list.

MediaPost recently collected and published some interesting statistics about kid psychographics. Here is an overview: COMPUTERS (via Packaged Facts) BOYS & GIRLS general = Kids are most likely to spend their time on computers playing games. younger = 80% use computers at school, and 75% use computers at home. older = 90% use computers at school, and 85% use computers at home. BOYS older = 20% (ages 9-11) have a computer in their room. GIRLS older = 25% (ages 9-11) have a computer in their room. INTERNET (via Packaged Facts, eMarketer, & Nielsen Online) BOYS & GIRLS general = The…

Last month, Carlos Whittaker of Buckhead Church (Atlanta, GA) blogged the dangerous question: What is the biggest gripe you have about something a Sunday worship leader does? The 185+ responses were fascinating, insightful, and offensive to some. To cut through the clutter of all of the opinions, I made a very rough tally of all the pet peeves to determine the top 10 pet peeves about worship leaders. Keep in mind these are subjective opinions. Top 10 Pet Peeves About Worship Leaders (with examples) Asking the Congregation to do Something (21 responses) >> Makes us shake hands with the…

I found this video of Donald Miller’s pre-benediction video over at Brian Kiley’s blog. The video is done by Sarah Pulliam for Christianity Today. Good video. Curious what you think? I hesitate to get into politics because it never seems to turn out well…conversationally speaking with many people. When Donald Miller came to our college group a few years ago, it was definitely a great night. But one of the more heated moments during the night was during the Q & A where Don was faced with some political questions by some of my college students. Though I would say the…

The below is an excerpt from Seth Godin’s post the dead zone of slick. There was a terrific duo playing live music at the farmer’s market the other day. They were well-rehearsed, enthusiastic and really good. Being a patron of the arts, I bought a CD. I hated it. I’ve thought a lot about what turned me off, and I think it’s the curve above. Faced with the excitement of making a CD and all the knobs and dials, they overproduced the record. They went from being two real guys playing authentic music, live and for free, and became a multi-tracked quartet in search of a…

Just posted the below blog over at Leadership Network. Take a look. A few months ago I noticed the book The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam appearing over and over again at Amazon in the section "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought."  It was alongside a lot of my favorite books so I figured I should give it a read. The subtitle of the book is "Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures" which is something that intrigued me as possibly being a very effective tool in ministry, leadership, counseling, business, social media, etc.  I figured that it must…

Formulating an Online Strategy for College Ministry Part 1–Simplicity, Flexibility, Cost and Speed. Part 2–The Purpose of Your Website Part 3–Why You Should Be Blogging Part 4–Using Facebook Effectively Part 5–How Twitter Can Catalyze Your Ministry Part 6–Using Social Network Platforms as Your Central Hub Part 7–Flickr, YouTube and Other Forms of Sharing and Streaming Part 8–Ministry Collaboration Using Wikis Part 9–Opening Up Your Ministry’s API Thoughts? Suggestions? Corrections? Affirmations? Resources? I’m listening….

Opening Up Your API An application programming interface (API) is a set of functions, procedures or classes that an operating system, library or service provides to support requests made by computer programs.[1] * Language-dependent APIs are available only in a particular programming language. They utilize the syntax and elements of the programming language to make the API convenient to use in this particular context. * Language-independent APIs are written in a way that means they can be called from several programming languages. This is a desired feature for a service-style API which is not…

If you're a Senior Pastor at a church in the United States, you're probably making about $80,000 per year. That is the finding of the 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff survey of nearly 5,000 churches and 11,000 employees. Here's the breakdown: If your church averages 100-300 people, the average pay is around $73k (including benefits). If your church has a weekly worship attendance of between 300-500, that number jumps to $88k. And the total compensation average for the senior pastor of a church $103k if attendance is 500+. I'm wondering... if you're reading this, how are you…

Ed Stetzer has posted a great article on the state of Christian blogging. Ed writes: Blogs seem to magnify an existing problem in the body of Christ: We don't do a very good job listening to and learning from one another. It seems large numbers of the Theologi­cally Preoccupied scowl across the pages of their study Bibles at the Evangelistically Fixated and accuse them of being culturally adrift--in some cases rightfully so. Many of the Evangelistically Fixated chuckle when they see books on evangelism written by many of the Theologically Preoccupied who sometimes consider the smallness of…

According to the Dallas News, the all-male elder team at Irving Bible Church spent 18 months studying the Bible, reading other books, hearing guest speakers and praying about the possiblity of having Jackie Roese, the church's teaching pastor to women (and a doctor of ministry student) preach from their pulpit on a Sunday. They concluded that despite "problem" passages, the Bible doesn't prohibit a woman from instructing men in theological matters. Last Sunday, Roese spoke, for the first time, to all 3,500 plus people who attended Irving Bible Church. According to Senior Pastor Andy McQuitty,…

Atheist and Evolutionist Richard Dawkins is no friend to Christianity, that's for sure... but what did these 'Christians' think they were accomplishing when they sent him these emails? I think this is just proof of how longsuffering our God is, not only with the people who wrote these emails to Richard, but in the way he forgives me of my stupidity and stubbornness... daily. glumbert - Extreme Hate Mail

What if I told you that Reader's Digest was getting ready this fall to test market a new magazine called "Purpose" based on Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life"? There are reports out today that say it will happen. Although a publishing spokesman said "I'm not allowed to talk about it" and a 'spokeswoman' for Rick Warren, when asked, said: "If such a project were to happen, we would know about it, but can't confirm anything of that nature at this time." (Wow... I bet Rick's spokeswoman got an "A" in spokeswoman school... what a great answer). So... let's suppose, for a moment that this is…

I’m an idea guy. It’s one of the few things that I think I can do well. In addition to coming up with ideas, I love to implement them and see/measure the results. If you ask my team, I’m confident they would tell you I’m fairly impatient at seeing an idea go from concept to completion. I get the opportunity to talk with some pretty smart people who have interesting theories. Based solely on my interaction with theorists, I’d describe or define theories as ideas that will never be acted on. I know that’s not an accurate definition…just one that helps…

Do Fewer Meetings Most people in ministry do way too many meetings. Instead of scheduling a typical 1 or 2 hour meeting, you might try a 15 minute touch-base meeting. You may cover even more in that brief time. Or better yet, cut the frequency of your meetings in half. Instead of meeting weekly, try meeting every other week. If that is not possible, you might cancel 1 of 4 meetings a month. Doing fewer meeting forces you to think further ahead and encourages better planning and intentional communication.

Plan for Shorter Appointments For some reason, when someone schedules an appointment with a pastor, they generally assume it will be a one hour appointment. Most one hour appointments could be handled in much less time. Years ago, I shortened my appointments to 45 minutes. We’d explain ahead of time that I have 45 minutes allotted for the meeting. No one complained. We got to the important stuff a lot faster. After some time, I shortened most meetings to 30 minutes and some to 10 or 15. It is amazing how much important ground you can cover when both parties understand how much time you have…

One of the most common risks leaders face when making tough decisions is the risk of criticism and perception. When you step out and try something new, there are often many people just waiting to say, “You’re wrong,” “You’re crazy,” “It will never work,” and “You’re an idiot.” And if it doesn’t work, they are the same people who’ll say “I told you so,” and “I can’t trust you,” (even though they never did). The irony is that risk takers need these people. They are the ones who actually…

Let’s Have Lunch in My Office Eating out can be a huge time waster. (I’m not saying that having a nice, long lunch isn’t occasionally important, necessary, or enjoyable.) Travel time to many restaurants takes 15 to 30 minutes (or more). Many restaurant meals can take 45 minutes to an hour. A simple lunch can easily eat an hour and a half of your day. I suggest some other options: If you don’t have a lunch appointment, consider bringing lunch from home. Not only can you save money but also time. You can eat in a few minutes in your office and continue working. If you don’t have a…

Call Recorder for Skype is by far the best little add-on that I've seen to use to record interviews via phone call through Skype.It's $15 and it's for Mac only.PowerGramo does the same thing for Windows users and it's free.

Looking for background videos?Here are some free ones

Most of us use design to communicate our message. We pick the right colors, choose the right fonts, and select the right media. But in the world of search engines, they don't care what your website looks like, or how slick your user interface is. They only care about words. By indexing the words on your page, sites like Google and Yahoo can determine what your trying to say. they convert that into relevant information and plug your site into search results. Now enter, keyword clouds. This is a great idea to give a user a visual of what words are being indexed and in what importance on their…

Need to make a sweet video using still photos and a music clip? Check out Animoto. It's as easy as 1,2,3...A N I M O T O via kwout

Ever lost a remote to a projector, dvd player, TV, etc.???Check out remotes.com

Okay, maybe there aren’t really 713 reasons to not use IE…but there are a number of them. The number reason is: Firefox is just better. The number two reason: IE is a pain to develop for and now Microsoft gives us a new reason: Porn mode. Fox news reports that Microsoft’s latest Internet browser includes a piece of software that allows Internet users to hide the audit trail of websites they have visited. The InPrivate feature on Internet Explorer 8, nicknamed “porn mode”, allows users to conceal the sites they have viewed at the click of a button. Granted, you can do the…

You need to see this, it asks a very important question: what are christians known for? As a christian you might feel a bit beat up in the beginning…but please, wait until you get to the outreach and confessional portion…powerful and sobering. Are we known for love? I’m not sure we are. Thanks Sean P for the link. ShareThis

This isn’t a political post…but it is about a politician. Obama has taken the elections by storm, here’s a man who on paper would never have a chance to be on the ticket…and yet people are paying attention. For the first time in my adult life I have watched the DNC…and I’m not a democrat. Now while you may not agree with all of Obama’s positions (at least I hope not) he has caused people to once again believe and take part in politics. Why? And so what? How did he pull this off? Sure he has charisma, he’s a brilliant speaker, but it’s more…

Fox news is reporting that cattle seem to know how to find north and south and have an innate sense of direction. Of course I didn’t know that when I first decided on the name Holy Cow…but I’ll take it. I originally decided on the name as that’s what I want people to say and to feel when they see how the church is communicating. I was working with a church on a pro bono project and they said “Holy Cow that’s killer.” … and the name was born. While we do certainly bring great creative to how the church communicates, I also want to help give the…

There’s a good post over at the Church Marketing Lab about taglines and how to ‘find’ the right one in which I make the simple statement: I -highly- recommend finding a great copywriter to work with. It’s easy to come up with a tagline, it’s even easy to be clever…but a copywriter will help you create something powerful. Logos, taglines…all easy to get done so you can check it off the list, but creating something powerful that is more than just a mark or words is worth the full effort. You see, when you don’t bring in someone who is really…

I haven’t had a chance to read through the entire book, but I have enjoyed The One Minute Entrepreneur so far!Here are some insights:In the US, 1 million businesses started each year. 40% fail within one year. 80% fail by the fifth year. 96% have failed by year 10.Primary reason for failure: “they are started by technicians - people who are skilled at something and who enjoy doing that thing…. They make the fatal mistake of continuing to do the work they’re skilled at while ignoring other vital parts of the business.” - Michael Gerber”We are becoming the…

I would love to connect with you personally on Wednesday, September 10th at 10am (Pacific Standard Time) in our next Teleseminar.The topic: “Moving People from Brokenness to Wholeness” - based on Uprising (a.k.a. The Character Matrix) We’ll also interact and I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.To Register, email your name and location to: teleseminar@ericbryant.orgA reply will be sent to you via email with call details and dial in instructions.A recording of the call will be made available 48 hours after the live call is complete.If you have specific questions you…

I wanted to re-post this previous post since there was so much good conversation before, so many asking about this topic, and with the elections on the horizon.Originally I had given one of the chapters in Peppermint-Filled Pinatas this title, but my editor encouraged me to broaden the topic and discuss serving, loving, and reaching out to all people no matter how the live their life morally - not just those who are living a homosexual lifestyle. The chapter is now called “Lots of Sex in the City: Engaging Others in a Post-Sexual Revolution World.”As we all know by now, same sex…

Several people around me have been sharing about their involvement with Foster Care. I am so impressed and grateful for people who have the calling and capacity to open their homes to kids in need. Here is an update on the First Annual iCare Foundation 5K Walk/Run For Foster Care: 1,500 people attended the iCare 5K Walk/Run 102 attendees signed up to become MENTORS to youth in foster care 35 attendees signed up to become FOSTER PARENTS 5 attendees signed up to ADOPT one or more children Over 150 VOLUNTEERS donated their time to help If interested, also check out the National Forum on Church…

If you aren’t yet a part of the Colbert Nation, you need to be! Colbert does a great job of lampooning our culture from a Bill O’Reilly-esque perspective. In many ways, his book I Am American (And So Can You) has the exact opposite goal of Peppermint-Filled Pinatas. My book is about embracing the people Christians “love to hate” whereas Colbert’s goal is help us do a better job at moving backwards as a society. Some fun quotes from Stephen Colbert: “Nature is a far bigger threat to us than we are to it. Nature has bears, twisters, lava, and daddy long legs.

DISCLAIMER: While spurred on by today's political climate, this post is much more about cultural/social shifts. And Jesus of course. Yesterday on NPR my wife and I were listening to some of the commentary surrounding the democratic convention. This was just after the first night and Michelle Obama's speech and folks were in full pundit mode around the issues of gender, sexism and the political landscape. DNC, night #2, was to have Hillary Rodham Clinton...

[More First Day Pics on Flickr] With Youngest joining her sisters at school, we have officially begun the empty-nest process. Our "baby" has begun kindergarten and there is something bittersweet about that transition that will probably take us about 13 years to get used to. It is not that she was not ready - oh she was so so so very ready - but that we are watching our babies grow up. Eldest began middle...

So even if I were not an Obama supporter, I would think this is funny. [h/t Katie and Mason]

It is a little after midnight and I have just checked into my room where I'll spend the next few days on study leave here at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, CA. I'll fill in more about the actual event that I am attending - The Racial Ethnic Advanced Pastoral Study Seminary (REAPS) - but I first wanted to acknowledge the surroundings. I know it does not need to be said, but I am not a...

So what if it is fake - curses Gatorade - this video is pretty darn awesome and whoever said we can't be inspired to great things by images and actions that are slightly beyond our own imagination? And as long as we are watching funny baseball videos, check this one out. Worth every bit of the 59 seconds. I promise . . . "And that happens."

God's anointing on my ministry and roll of the ME-Solution for churches worlwide.

Please pray for our friend Mike Arter in Thailand working as a missionary for Foursquare. [Some of you may remember him from New Hope Chapel as well as some of our earlier events at NHSB (He worked with our kids dressed as a clown.).] Mike married Bee (whom he met while out there) and she is now pregnant with their first child. Mike emailed asking for the following prayer request: There is no other greater excitement than to hear that my wife if pregnant. She is now 7 weeks pregnant with our first child together. Beam is her daughter of five years old. I love Beam as my own daughter. Several…

for my newly blessed marriage

For God to prepare me, provide job opportunities & give me favor with the relationships involved

my battle with my thoughts - jelous

If there is any place that social media, and especially services like twitter, are just mis-understood it is within church culture. That isn’t a knock in any direction, but just the reality a lot of us find ourselves in. So, as I get asked the question, “Why do you twitter? don’t you have anything better to do?” or “Those things are fun but they wouldn’t help in a day to day situation,” I nod and smile and affirm them that nobody ever has to use technology that they are uncomfortable with or don’t see the value in. Then I think about the true…

If there is any place that social media, and especially services like twitter, are just mis-understood it is within church culture. That isn’t a knock in any direction, but just the reality a lot of us find ourselves in. So, as I get asked the question, “Why do you twitter? don’t you have anything better to do?” or “Those things are fun but they wouldn’t help in a day to day situation,” I nod and smile and affirm them that nobody ever has to use technology that they are uncomfortable with or don’t see the value in. Then I think about the true…

One of the most beneficial book’s I’ve ever read is Mortimer J. Adler’s book “How to read a book.” So I was thrilled when I saw this post over on CopyBlogger - because it does a tremendous job in giving you the top level view. Starting with this post, and even getting and going through the book yourself will truly change the way you read for the better - I guarantee! The Four Levels of Reading Back in 1940, a guy named Mortimer J. Adler jolted the “widely read” into realizing they might not be well read with a book called How to Read a Book. Updated in 1973…

Jeremiah Owyang, and his blog www.web-strategist.com/blog/, is someone that has been a virtual mentor and social media teacher for quite a while. I was researching a lot of the information I have gathered over the past two years (you can access here) and came across this presentation he shared 5 months ago. If you are looking to launch an online community (FYI: if you are putting your ministry content online, they you are launching an online community - people gather to content online) then this is an excellent guide for how to plan, prepare, launch and have processes of sustainability built…

Obviously in the sake of disclosure I’ll write that I start working at LifeChurch.tv this September, and that this book review is the new book by Craig Groeschel, the senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. That said this book is really quite good. In fact it is much better than I expected it to be just because of all the leadership and ministry culture books I’ve read and found fairly lacking. But this book goes in a different direction. The “it” factor talked about in this book has nothing to do with technology, awesome videos, being multi-site or culturally hyper-relevant -…

The Sociological Quarterly published a notable research report on student achievement and church attendance.The bottom line of the report: students who attend church weekly have higher GPAs. Additionally, they are less likely to drop out of school and connect better with other students in school. The entire journal article can be read here. LiveScience.com also reported on the research: Students who attend religious services weekly average a GPA .144 higher than those who never attend services…The study does not suggest God is smiling on the students, per se. Rather, it identifies…

Much debate exists in the academic world on the difference between managers and leaders. Some say the leader position and the manager position are mutually exclusive – managers are concerned with how things are accomplished; leaders are concerned with what is accomplished. Others see overlap between the two roles. Regardless of the technicalities of the debate, much church work must be managed. And this work can become a hurdle for the church leader without proper management. In doing some reading for my PhD, I came across a great selection on the nature of managerial work in organizations.

Erin and I leave for Sarasota, Florida early tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed our ministry in Southern Indiana. Though we are excited about our new season of ministry, we will greatly miss many people. And we will continue to pray that God works here in incredible ways. The view of the landscape from our front porch will change – from corn to palm trees – but the mission to reach the people of the community remains the same.

As some of you may know, my wife and I are moving to Sarasota, FL to begin a new phase of ministry at Sarasota Baptist Church. We’re incredibly excited. Ironically, this new season of ministry begins at the height of hurricane season. We arrive on Wednesday at about the same time as Fay. HT: Tim Brister

In 1978 James MacGregor Burns published his seminal work, Leadership. This book shifted and shaped the paradigm on leadership studies. As a result of his work, researchers and biographers discussed less the character traits of leaders and focused more on the engagement of leaders with their followers for a common goal. Burns’ book focused primarily on the political sphere, but his leadership theories struck a chord with many. Other experts in the field quickly picked up Burns’ mantle, empirically measuring and validating the theory of what became transformational leadership that is…

Tom Sine’s latest book, The New Conspirators, celebrates the increasing diversity in the church. Sine’s book continues the theme of his classic book, The Mustard Seed Conspiracy, published in 1981. Sine was a ‘red-letter Christian’ before the official group existed, and in this hopeful volume he gives us examples across the spectrum of the 21st century church. Divided into five “conversations” Sine takes his readers on a tour of real places where real people are living out the gospel as they understand it in communities and congregations around the world.

I am not making this up.  According to Reuters, scientists have discovered that cows line up with the North-South magnetic axis of the earth when grazing.  Here’s how they figured this out: The researchers studied 8,510 satellite images of cattle and deer herds derived from Google Earth from around the globe, including 308 pastures and plains. Before Google Earth, who knew?  This information brings lots of important uses to mind: Large hairy compass. If you are ever lost, find a cow and you’ll know which way north is.  Unless of course, it’s pointed south. Okay, actually…

Some in my Southern Baptist denomination are calling for more stringent church discipline. That’s mostly because we can’t find about half of our 16-million members. Obviously, some of our folks don’t take church membership very seriously. The logical thing to do to solve that problem is tighten up — enforce church discipline — make members tow the line. But, that’s the wrong approach. My solution? Do away with church membership all together. There is no biblical basis for “membership” in a church, and it’s largely ineffective today. The…

Here’s the sermon I’m preaching Sunday, August 24, 2008, from Romans 12:1-8. I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday. Living Sacrifice, Graceful Service Romans 12:1-8 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3 For by the grace given me I say to…

Are sermons dying? I don’t mean is your preaching killing people, but are sermons themselves going the way of the dodo bird — headed for extinction? Worship in most evangelical churches, and that includes many small churches, still resembles evangelical worship in 19th century churches — singing, prayer, offering, preaching, invitation. Charles Spurgeon would be proud. Or would he? Read Kevin Kelly’s post about Clay Shirky’s talk on media here. Then, watch the video of Shirky’s talk in its entirety — about 8-minutes. You’ll be glad you did. One…

Church Planting is not about you.  So, if you wouldn’t feel comfortable worshipping one way or another, if a particular location or communication style wouldn’t ‘work’ for you, it really doesn’t matter. Church Planting is about reaching the lost.  Consequently, if reaching the lost means planting a church that meets in a pub after-hours, then meet in the pub.  If reaching the lost means getting on Second Life - even if you could care less about Second Life - then you get on Second Life.  If the lost love rap music, then you worship in rap. Once again, church…

Photo by Leo Reynolds People want to make church planting too simple or too complex.  We train church planters too little, or we train them too much.  We don’t give enough knowledge to obey, or we give so much knowledge that it strangles obedience.  There is a sweet spot, though, a green zone of multiplication.  A balance that is critical for reproducing disciples and planting churches that multiply. Our team saw this as we developed curriculum for church planters.  If we didn’t have enough Scripture (length of passage), then we couldn’t get enough of the context to…

My hike through parts of Second Life this weekend was pretty amazing.  Here are some of my observations: Second Life is a place that gives life to the deepest parts of your heart.  If you have evil thoughts and desires, they find life in SL.  If you dream of beauty, you can give that dream life. There is an economy in SL.  People buy, sell, and rent property. There is an exchange rate between SL and the US Dollar.  There are some people in SL who make a real life living off of selling products and services. Over 1.2 million people logged into SL in the last 6 weeks.  Anytime I logged in…

I’ve just set up a Second Life account.  (Here is a link to more information about Second Life.) The online world is pretty huge and intimidating.  I’m hoping to find some persons of peace who are open having Discovery Bible Studies with their communities. If you are in Second Life, or know people in Second Life, I’d love to talk with them. Please pray: That I can learn how to navigate the world quickly. That I will be able to identify communities in Second Life. That I will be able to find Persons of Peace and Persons of Goodwill as I find those communities. That I can…

A friend of mine tweeted: [My daughter] is in the recovery room… Trying to wake her up, but she’s SO SLEEPY! Obviously I was alarmed.  I picked up my phone to text him back and figure out what was going on.  In the middle of my text, my phone vibrated.  Another tweet from my friend.  This one said: Sorry, phone went crazy with calls after that last message! [My daughter] had her tonsil’s removed When I talked to him later, he laughed, “Yeah, I answered the first call.  After that call I checked my phone - 5 missed calls!  That’s when I tweeted the second…

It’s TIME for a PARTY! To all you RSS subscribers out there … I’d like to say “Thanks”.  Today I noticed that RSS Subscribers on FredMcKinnon.Com have surpassed the 200+ mark.  That, combined with an average of 550+ actual visitors on the website, I’m grateful to be approaching that 1,000 people/day mark. Why? Way back when, Carlos said it best: Because a click is a person. A person has a heartbeat. A heartbeat has a passion. A passion can change the world. You can change the world. Thanks for spreading the word about the ramblings I have over here. …

One week after the news broke about Mike Guglielmucci’s life of deception, we have learned more of the torment that he’s been under.  Living a life addicted to pornography and lies, they took their toll on him - physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I think it’s important to note that Mike wasn’t “caught” in this lie … the guilt overwhelmed him so much that he confessed.  I praise God for that.  I praise God that it was exposed - not for Mike’s shame, but for his own sake.  Make no mistake about it … it is God’s LOVE, GRACE,…

Hey Everybody, Sunday Setlists has been going great. If you missed it, check out this Sunday’s post, and see what all the other churches are doing. Today I was supposed to resume the now-elusive “CCLI Top Songs” series. But I can’t. Confession: I don’t feel myself. I haven’t since Sunday. Even my bass player said backstage on Sunday, “Fred, what’s up with you, you don’t seem yourself”. I even said on the Worship Confessional video that I felt out of sync. I went home yesterday afternoon and pretty much zoned out. I went to bed early,…

Hey Everybody - It’s time for “Sunday Setlists” - a blog carnival where I share our worship experience and encourage you to do the same.  It’s a great way to network and share our ideas, song lists, and worship experiences with other leaders and people of faith. The rules are necessary for this to work, so please follow them EXACTLY: 1.  Post your worship recap, worship confessional, setlist, etc., on your blog. 2.  VERY IMPORTANT:  in the actual BODY of the blog, you need to link back to this current “Sunday Setlists” post.  You may want to say…

(today’s FreePlay Friday graphic was generated by ME … haha, thanks to “cooltext.com” … no FreePlay Friday graphics were submitted this week - if you’d like to make a graphic and have your blog pitched right here, just email me a “FreePlay Friday” graphic! ) Hey Everyone, it’s “FreePlay Friday” (view all “FreePlay Friday” Posts) … the day where I post whatever I want, on whatever topic(s) I want, with no regard to whether or not it does (or doesn’t) apply to the main theme of this blog, which is worship, worship leadership, church…

This week was great, we had a great worship time with a trio of musicians up there for the weekend. Keys, Bass & Drums. No vocalists except for me. And it turned out pretty good. The upside - I got to experiment with my coldplay keys technique and try to come up with some catchy hooks for some of the songs that are normally acoustic or electric driven, so that was kind of fun. At the same time, doing that takes away from my ability to focus solely on leading people in worship. If we had another vocalist who could lead some of the songs that would have helped quite a bit. Here was our Set:…

In this weeks episode David and Kevin spend time talking about their recent Olympics experience and the lack of sleep they have had as a result of staying up too late to watch them. We talk about a topic Rich Kirckpatrcik brought up on his blog. After that we get into wrapping up our discussion on Worship Service Evaluation, among other things. We would love to hear your feedback on any of the topics mentioned in this weeks podcast. You comment on this post, or go over to the WMC Network and subscribe to become a member of our network and join the discussion on the forum there

Worship Ministry Catalyst is now featured on alltop. You can click here to read more about who alltop is. It’s basically a huge feed of related sites. The church.alltop.com section has several different types of sites and blogs listed. Some are are pastors blogs, others are media & design help for chuches, among many others. Head on over there and check out worship ministry catalyst on http://church.alltop.com/. And check out many of the other great links there.

This weekend was another good weekend. We had a new drummer this weekend - which was great. It’s great to have someone else who’s willing and excited to play. He’s got a big learning curve to pick up a bunch of new songs as he first gets going, but I’m sure he will do great. We did: Rest in Your Peace (my song) Portland City Fest Promo How Great is Our God Holy is the Lord VBS Highlights Sermon Everlasting God Bill was talking about rest and did a tremendous job talking about how we need to rest like a three year old rests with their mother. It was a great image to get people thinking…

In this episode of the Worship Ministry Catalyst Podcast we talk to Lee Campen. Lee is one of our drummers at our church. In the interview we talk about some philosophical issues when it comes to playing drums. We talk about some of the issues that aren’t talked about all that much when it comes to playing drums. We talked about some things a drummer needs to think when they’re playing the drums, playing dynamically, and much, much more. If you have some feed back for this podcast, if you’re a drummer and you have some further feedback on drums in worship, please feel free…

Are you a media pastor/director or in charge of outreach at your church?  If so, here is an opportunity to try a new ministry strategy with your church using short films.  I have ten short film DVDs available for FREE to the first ten media pastor/director or church outreach director that contacts me.  Just send me an e-mail with your address through the contact form at http://www.churchvideoreviews.com/contact .  I will get a DVD sent out to you with more information.  You can find out more about the DVD at http://www.globalshortfilmnetwork.com .

Are you looking for a good source of reviews, latest trends and media resources for your church or ministry?  I would like to recommend a great magazine, Collide .  They are just in their first year, but they bring a great wealth of information and knowledgeable writers together to produce a great magazine.  You can find out more and subscribe today at Collide Magazine’s website .

CHURCHES TO HOLD WEB FOCUS DAY APRIL 27 “How can we use this new-fangled Internet thing to share the gospel?”  Christians are asking. A worldwide ‘web evangelism focus day’ is helping to provide answers. Sunday, April 27, has been designated as Internet Evangelism Day. Churches can download free materials from the Internet Evangelism Day website. These varied materials make it easy for churches to create a short presentation about online outreach on or near that Sunday. They can choose from a PowerPoint, video clip testimonies, drama scripts, music and handouts to…

Here is a great opportunity to get another exciting new book from Ted Dekker.   It is titled “Adam”.  Starting today if you purchase “Adam” from the following book dealers below, you get a great special-offer. BORDERS - $10 coupon with purchase of ADAM BOOKS-A-MILLION - $10 gift card with purchase of ADAM BARNES & NOBLE - 50% off Skin by Ted Dekker with purchase of ADAM AMAZON- $10 credit with purchase of ADAM To get more information click here.  Book Description: FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark has been made famous by his arguments that religion is one…

Are you a teacher or know a teacher? Teachers can register and get Chosen and a book kit free for your classroom and school. Click here to find out more. You can download the first four chapters here and the study guide for the book here. Here is description of “Chosen”. Think with your heart and prepare to die for you have been Chosen. The land of the Forest Dwellers has been decimated by the Horde under the watchful eye of the vilest of all creatures, Teeleh. Thomas Hunter, supreme commander of the Forest Guard, is forced to lower the recruitment age of his army from 18 to 16.

10 more newsletter tips. How you can make your eNewsletter interesting and useful to your readers and truly effective at bringing people back to your website.

Today we’re going to talk about newsletter tips – how you can make your eNewsletter interesting and useful to your readers and truly effective at bringing people back to your website.

Limited resources force every organization to focus and target on specific demographics. But for churches, schools, businesses, and websites one demographic is by far the most successful to target.

OurChurch.Com’s staff is again participating in the Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit.  This has become an annual event for our staff - something we look forward to every year to help us grow in our leadership and our spiritual walk with God.  Because of this, support will be somewhat limited today and tomorrow.  We appreciate your [...]

Brian Kirschenbaum, who served as a missionary to Slovakia as a part of Campus Crusade for Christ for 9 years, writes about how the Internet was both a blessing and a challenge to his ministry.

Looking over stats (hits, keywords, referers, etc) and just knowing who is commenting here now, it seems that there are a great many new people here at mattsingley.com that don’t really know me.  Rather than rambling on about what color I like and what the first movie that I saw was, I’m just going to put up some links to some past posts that you may or may not find interesting.  I’ll make a list that stay on my side bar as well. 1. 100 Things In 1,000 Days - This is a list that I made at the beginning of 2007 of a hundred things that I wanted to accomplish.  Some big,…

Saw this commercial during the Olympics. The only version I found on YouTube has Spanish song lyrics, but you’ll still get the idea. Check this out, my comments are below. I get the whole underdogs things, poor little kids lost a soccer game and the big bad winners are kind of being jerks about it. But, I have two problems with this advertisement, and I’m picking on it because I think it’s systemic in our society. 1. There are winners and there are losers. Get over it. No, there aren’t “winners and non-winners” or “winners and…

Most people that I meet, if the topic of paid ministry staff comes up, think that people that work for a church are among the spiritual elite; that they pray and read their bible without ceasing and that they have a sort of fiber optic connection to God.  I’m sure that when looking from the outside in, especially at those that are on the platform (or podium or stage or whatever you want to call it) during the weekend service, this spirituality appears almost enviable.  The good news and bad news both is this: that often isn’t the case. I remember a conversation that I had with…

Continuing the conversation about dirty church secrets, you can read the previous post here if you would like, including the prologue that this isn’t about any one church, it’s about most churches. If there is one thing that church staffs are notorious for (and it’s not just one thing by the way, it’s many, but play along please…) it is burn out and exhaustion. It would be a fair and accurate statement to say that it happens in most businesses, not just churches, but my observation from working in both environments is that it’s far more rampant among church…

Prologue: This may be an ongoing category or a short series (not sure yet), but I’m writing a few posts under the name "Dirty Church Secrets".  I was thinking of "Sins of the Church" but it seemed a little dramatic. I’m going to post on a variety of topics that I have observed within the walls of the church that seem fairly consistent from one church to the next.  An important note, although I have worked at the top of two large churches, these are not aimed at them.  I have spoken at or interacted with a lot of churches all over, all sizes, denominations…

Should a church use marketing tools to communicate to their community? Can marketing be considered biblical or is it theologically neutral? Does marketing simply raise awareness of your church or does it cheapen the gospel? If a church does want to use marketing, how do they get started and what should they avoid in their approach? Inquiring Minds Want to Know! I am very pleased that I have the honor of doing some ministry marketing coaching in a telephone conference hosted by Bobby Gilstrap, Director of Missions for the the Huron Baptist Association and Southeastern Baptist Association…