Wayne Hedlund

Category: HEALTHY CHURCH

  • Sean Gladding Shares His Easter Story

    Sean Gladding, author of ‘The Story of God. The Story of Us.‘ shares the creative idea his church used to   illustrate the power of the cross on Easter Sunday.  It highlights how a well developed creative idea can become the impetus for a God moment. This pastor’s testimony is sure to inspire and encourage you.

    If you can’t see this video, click here.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

  • My Notes from Preach Better Sermons Online Conference

    For anyone who missed the workshop on how to ‘Preach Better Sermons’. I watched it and decided to take notes for you (with help from my friends at Elim Gospel Church). This seminar was sponsored by preachingrocket.com. Check out their website to see how this new service can help you be effective as a communicator and preacher.

    Here are the main ideas/concepts shared during the conference. Enjoy.

    PERRY NOBLE.
    Perry Noble is an author, speaker and Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina.

    • Why create a preaching calendar?
      I need to give my people time to prepare for creative elements. My job is to serve my team by planning in advance.
    • When did you discover you had a gift of preaching?
      One of the best sermon you could ever share . . . how you discovered Christ?
    • What do you do to get better as a preacher?
      Read Andy Stanley’s book, ‘Communicating for a Change‘. Trying to preach shorter messages. I’m going to be here a long time. I don’t need to try to say everything in one week. How can I say the ‘one’ thing.
    • How many times do you preach in the year?35-40 Times
    • How do I figure out what to preach on? 
      Nearly every idea I’ve preached came out of my quiet time. A preacher preaches best when he does so out of the overflow of his heart. I use Evernote to keep track of all my thoughts, ideas, concepts that I can preach on at any time. That’s what he uses as a resource for a preaching calendar.
    • What have you learned working with your team?
      We have a Creative Pastor who takes all our creative ideas and makes them happen. He invites various people to creative team meetings. Single people, men, women, married, etc. Different people give him unique ideas that he couldn’t figure out himself. I learned how to ask the right questions to the right people and have learned to listen to other people.
    • I don’t have a big staff? I’m the ‘Lonely People’ Pastor.
      You can do this without a staff. Invite {the right} people to lunch and tell them you want them to help you put your sermon together. They will come.
    • How do you deal with criticism & praise?
      Pastors have foes, fans, and very few friends. Foes tell you how bad you are (makes you think you’re worse than you are), fans tell you how awesome you are (makes you think you’re better than you are), friends tell you the truth. Your friends love Jesus first, the church second, and you third. So you know they will always give you the feedback you need because their priorities are straight.
    • Closing Thoughts:
      Let the Bible speak for itself and be your platform. Listen to other preachers as much as you can. I’ll say what other preachers have said all the time. Podcasts are the common day commentaries. Surround yourself with people who can help you communicate better. Get a great team to support you as the preacher. Don’t ‘give them hell’ on Sunday. ‘Give them hope’ on Sunday.
    JUD WILHITE
    Jud Wilhite is an author, speaker and senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. Jud talked about how we can find common ground with other people. We have to communicate in language that people relate to. Here are a few insights to do that.
     
    • Communicate from your life.
      I often start my messages by sharing something personal in my life that relates to my topic. The most powerful illustrations are when those illustrations overlap with the person’s personal experience/life. My favorite definition of preaching: expressing truth through personality.
    • Communicate honestly.
      Be honest about what you’re thinking, feeling, experiencing, etc.
    • Communicate to the broken.
      I imagine broken people around my desk as I prepare what I’m going to say. The 17 year old who doesn’t want to be there. A single person struggling at work. A couple struggling in their marriage. Someone struggling with an addiction. I write my message to each of them. I want people to feel like I’m talking directly to them. “If you speak to the broken, you will always have an audience.”
    • Communicate the Word.
      Just preach Jesus. We don’t have to apologize for the Bible. People are there to hear what it has to say. 2 Timothy 4:2. Be careful about religious language. Don’t water things down, just remember to use language that everyone understands and explain/define things when you don’t. I try to stay in ONE Bible passage when I preach. I shifted to the NLT version because it’s at a younger grade reading level so people could track with the task.
    • Communicate for Next Steps.
      Let them know whether the Bible has something to say AND it has a connection with their life. I ask what the text says to me as a person, to the imaginary individuals around my desk, and to my church and my community as well. I define a crystal clear ‘next step’ opportunity. 

    ANDY STANLEY

    Andy Stanley is an author, speaker, and Lead Pastor of North Point Community Church in Georgia. Get his book on preaching, Communicating for a Change.
     
    • How did you know speaking was a gift for you?
      Taught a Bible Study in a home and a woman spoke a word of encouragement about that gift.
    • Discuss how you prepare your messages?
      Most importantly is that the process needs to be relational. The pattern I mostly use is Me. We. God. You. We. This approach can help you connect with the audience. It may allow you to be able to preach without using notes so much. It breaks your message up into chunks, instead of points.
    • How do you craft a Sermon based on application instead of information?
      I tend towards (wired) application because my strengths/gifts are exhortation oriented. I’m not satisfied if people don’t know what’s at stake and don’t know what to do. Make sure they know what to do at the end. It’s not just about what they need to know. It’s also about why it’s important to know it and what to do about it. It’s critical that you have a burden to preach.
    • How do you create these memorable phrases when you preach?
      It is very difficult to do, but the phrase is the best way to make an idea stick. You owe it to yourself to create a ‘bottom line’ phrase, question, application statement. It will equip you to be more successful as a communicator. I also prepare my sermons way in advance which also gives me a lot of time to mull over the concepts and get these nuggets. The ‘crock-pot’ approach. This approach also protects me from bad ideas. I have time to come up with something else.
    • What have you learned about ‘tension’ in communicating?
      It’s critical that you create tension in the first few minutes if you want people to track with you during the sermon. Tension makes things interesting. You are never bored where there’s tension. If it’s boring, then you haven’t interested people by creating a tension they can get into. I’m OK with developing an entire series to focus on one tension, as opposed to taking care of it in one sermon.
    • How do you preach to the unchurched & everyone else at the same time?Some of it comes back to tension. It’s not about content, it’s about the approach we use. Get his new book coming out in the fall to read about it more.
    • What are you doing lately to improve yourself?
      I watch myself preach. I listen to other people. I watch other communicators, including comedians, newscasters, etc.
    • Closing Comments
      When you speak, do it with a burden to reach broken, hurting people. Make it personal. Think of the person you know who needs to hear it or that you think needs to hear it. Pick a target audience and preach to them, not about you.

    JEFF FOXWORTHY

    Jeff Foxworthy is one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country. There are many similarities between what comedians and preachers do. One of them is using humor.
     
    • How can preachers lean into humor when preaching?
      It’s important for us to not take ourselves too seriously. I figured out that what I think, experience, and see probably isn’t unique to me. I trust that truth and am willing to take risks by sharing them with others.
    • What have you learned about timing with humor?
      Usually people who are good ‘joke-tellers’ have learned how to cut the fat (details). Trim humor down to the bare essentials. This includes telling funny stories. 
    • How do you prepare jokes/humor?
      I use note-cards. I put a thought that occurred to me on a note-card that I keep nearby. I try ideas/thoughts on people, either randomly or formally. The yellow notepad is where I develop thoughts and jokes to a context. When do you develop content . . . always. 
    • How can we reach the heart of men?
      Make sure we don’t portray Christianity or Christ as a ‘sissy’ faith.
    • Closing Comments:
      Be vulnerable from the pulpit. Let people see you living life to the full.

    Thanks to Eric Scott, Care Pastor at Elim Gospel Church for the below notes. Unfortunately, I had to step away from the conference at this point.

    VANABLE MOODY II
    Vanable (Van) Moody is an author, speaker and Senior Pastor of The Worship Center in Birmingham, Alabama.

    • Start with the end in mind.
      All navigational systems start with the end in mind.  A message is the same.
    • The most effective form of preaching is behavioral.
      Behavioral preaching goes after the impact the message has on the hearer. Jesus gives many examples in this way (John 4 or Pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to get better?” this was about behavior.
    • Impression or Impact?
      Settle this issue – Do you want to make an impression or do you want to make an impact?  It’s great to hear, “Good message!”  Yet it’s better when a person’s life is impacted with the gospel and it brings about lasting life-change.
    • The Behavioral Purpose.
      Come to an understanding of what the behavioral purpose is.  What is God wanting to change and do?  Craft your message around that purpose. When you are clear with this then you should be able to reduce your message down to one crystal clear statement – your objective statement.  The message should then consistently support this message.  What do you want people to do as a result of this message.
    • Message vs Messenger
      While behavioral messages are important, it is imperative that you not separate the message from the messenger.  
    • Keep it Clear and Simple
      Make sure as you communicate the purpose, make sure it is clear and simple. Use words phrases and sentences your people can grasp onto. Give points for their head and pictures for their heart. Provide a vehicle for them to do what you have been preaching about.  Muscles grow because they are exercised.

    DAN CATHY

    Dan Cathy is the President and COO at Chick-fil-A.

    • Strive to be a communicator who communicates to real felt needs.
    • When putting a message together work with a smaller audience first.
    • Rehearse the message.
    • Illustrations on stage are powerful!

    CHARLES STANLEY

    Dr. Charles Stanley is an author, speaker and Senior Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Atlanta.

    • The most important part of sermon prep is my personal walk with God.  A man can preach no better than he prays.
    • Discipline is key to the pastor’s life.
    • It boils down to this: I must have a balanced schedule, a healthy body, healthy relationships, the courage to be obedient to God no matter what he requires and most of all a pure heart before God.
    • You must have the weight of the message on your shoulders concerning what you believe God wants you to communicate through this message.  This way you’re preaching for impact.  

    Preparation Process:

    • Ask: “What’s the need of the people listening?”
    • Ask: “What is the text that best speaks to this need?”
    • Ask: “Now, what does it say personally to me?”  
    • Number your statements as you gather materials and then ask yourself, “How do I put this together into a  format that will work?”  With that in mind, ask, “What is the one thing they can walk away with?”
    • Once this comes together the outline comes next with the theme in mind – that one thing.
    • Look for clarity, movement and always with the idea that this must have impact.
    • You cannot be thinking about yourself and also have an impact on others.  You’ve got to have the people in mind.
    • I does not give an outline to the congregation.  I want it bottled up inside me until it is just right in my mind, even up to the evening before.  I do not want anything between myself and those hearing the message prior to giving it. I do not manuscript, but use an outline and memory.
    • In the midst all of this I pray and ask for help with points in the outline that are troubling me.
    • It should be a rare exception to step into the pulpit without proper preparation.
    • “Obey God and leave all consequences to Him.”
    • “Your personal intimate relationship with God is above all else.”
    • I feel a tremendous responsibility when I think about who I am speaking to and who is listening and that deeply moves me.  I am not nervous, but feel very responsible to communicate for impact.
    • My goal during personal devotions is to ask, “What are You speaking to me, Lord?”  If my life is not right, it will not communicate what it needs to a waiting world.  Every test and heartache I have had has been seen later as something God worked about for good.
    • Changing Bibles periodically helps me quite a bit in reinvigorating my personal devotional life with God.
    • Closing thought:  “See everything that comes at you as coming from Me (God).” If you’ll come to this then you’ll begin to see the purpose behind the circumstance that came.  He’ll turn it for good if you’ll turn it over to Him, listen to Him and obey Him.

    LOUIE GIGLIO

    Louie Giglio is an author, speaker and Lead Pastor at the Passion City Church in Roswell, Georgia.

    • Recognition of the gift came early and encouraged came in phrases like, “You have no idea what God has in mind for your life…”
    • Calling and self-discovery plus affirmation tells you that you are in the right spot.
    • There was an inner-witness inside of him that said, “I’m going to speak here someday.”  However, you need to park that in the recesses of your spirit and speak where you can, where you are invited and grow from there to the place where that word actualizes. 
    • The God Factor – At the end of the day it is the Spirit of God moving through God’s Word that impacts people.  Even Paul said he was not perfect in speech.  It’s more about the power of God happening there.
    • Ask: “God, what do you want to say and what do You want Your people impacted by?”  And then get to work.  Craft it into a message that impacts people.
    • Preparation and presentation are much like a funnel.  The wide end is all your life, experience, study, etc., but you need to bring it down to that one thing that comes from all that wide area of the funnel and work it down to that one thing. 
    • Let the text work its way through you until what comes out leads to that place of impact.

  • Thursday Quote: Simply Strategic Growth

    Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan published the book, ‘Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church‘. It’s a great book with a ton of simple ideas/principles you can use to stimulate strategic discussions about becoming a Guest Friendly and attractive church in your community. Each chapter is very short and to the point, which makes it a great bathroom book too (you know what that is, but I talk about it more right here).

    This quote is from the chapter entitled: Thou Shalt Stop Using Christianese

    “Several years ago when we moved into a new house, I met one of our neighbors. This guy didn’t know I was a pastor. He only knew that I was moving into the neighborhood. And yet his conversation dripped with Christianese. “Glory to God.” “Hallelujah.” “Praise the Lord.” It made me sick, and I’m a Christian! My heart sank because I thought, “This guy is going to be an obstacle for me in building relationships with my neighbors.” I’m sure he had no idea how he was coming across.

    “Consider these examples of what we say, and how a ‘normal’ person in our culture would say the same thing:

    • Christianese: “Share some blessings with us.” Normal: “Tell us what God is doing in your life.”
    • Christianese: “Can someone share a testimony?” Normal: “Let’s hear some stories.”
    • Christianese: “How long have you been saved?” Normal: “When did you begin following Christ?”
    • Christianese: “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” Normal: “Say what?”

    Add Simply Strategic Growth: Attracting a Crowd to Your Church to your library today!

    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

  • Copyright And The Local Church

    TRUE STORY #1.

    Yesterday I was browsing through a bunch of blogs I read each week. The title of a popular blog and christian leader caught my attention, so I clicked the link in my Google Reader and opened it up. The first thing I noticed was the image that the author used. It was a great image. I know. I have the same one on one of my posts. The second thing I noticed, after a little searching, was that the author didn’t give a source for the image.  I was very disappointed. I see this happen a TON on the internet, but I didn’t think someone so well known in the nation would miss this. If he only knew that all it would take is ONE email to the right person and his whole blog/website could potentially be blocked from the internet!

    TRUE STORY #2.

    About a year ago I ran across an article that caused me to question something I had been doing for a long time on my blog. Nearly every Thursday I post what I call a “Thursday Quote“. I try to share a quote from something I’m reading or have read that I know will be an encouragement to my readers. Sometimes I will share additional thoughts as well. At any rate, I became concerned that perhaps I was defying copyright law, so I pulled every one of them from my blog. After months of research I finally came to the conclusion that I was still ‘within bounds’ from a copyright perspective through what’s called the ‘doctrine of fair use’ . So I’ve been republishing them over time. Moral: I’d rather err on the side of integrity and NOT post something than post something and hope it’s OK.

    TRUE STORY #3.

    Many months ago we began having a problem at my church with our ‘on-hold music’. The equipment we had been using just died. Not only was the music something for our telephone guests to listen to while on hold, it doubled as our lobby music. After some serious brainstorming we had a great idea. We connected a computer with internet access to the equipment and just turned on a free internet radio service like Pandora.com. Problem solved . . . for about a week. A nagging thought began forming in the back of my mind. What if we didn’t have a legal right to do that? I prayed I was wrong and did the research. I discovered I was right. It was illegal to use the service we had signed up for as on-hold and lobby music. I have to be honest. I was STRONGLY tempted to just pretend I didn’t know and keep it hooked up. After all, if I hadn’t given in to that ‘nagging thought’ everything would have been just fine.


    Copyright & The Local Church
    Sadly, many churches and ministries are guilty of plagiarism and/or copyright infringement. What’s worse is that many of them either know it or suspect it, but don’t do anything about it. This doesn’t just apply to things on the internet. It applies to everything from worship songs, lyrics, movie clips, YouTube video’s, images, and more. Let me share a couple more examples.

    • Example 1: Images. The secretary is trying to find a really cool image to put inside the bulletin for Sunday. She does a Google Image search and finds exactly what she’s looking for. A quick ‘Save As’ later, she has fulfilled her goal, and committed a crime on behalf of the church.
    • Example 2: Songs & Lyrics. During the Sunday morning service the congregation enjoys a lively and anointed worship service. The lyrics to the songs are displayed in large print on the giant screen for everyone to see. The service was great and lives were changed, but again, the church has dishonored the writers of those songs and misrepresented Christ by not displaying their CCLI# and the copyright information on the first or last slide (assuming they even had a current CCLI license.)
    • Example 3: Video. The preacher has the perfect example for the third point in the sermon. After a brief verbal setup, the lights dim and the congregation watches a 5 minute segment of a popular movie that was just released that week. Afterwards, with tears in many people’s eyes, he is able to drive home how the scene represented Christ’s sacrifice for them. The front of the room is flooded with people whose lives are forever changed. True ministry has taken place, but the means lacked integrity. 

    I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone. Really. I know what it’s like to do everything you know to be right, and still be wrong. What I am trying to highlight is how important it is that the local church rise up and learn what’s needed to stay compliant to our government while ministering in the power of God.


    Intentional Ignorance
    I’ve often thought that perhaps the best solution to this problem was to intentionally stay ignorant. After all, I’m not accountable to what I don’t know, right? Unfortunately, this mindset has several very important flaws.

    • It Won’t Hold Up In Court.
      As much as we’d like to think it’s true, the ‘ignorance card’ holds no weight before the judge. Our kids may be masters at “Asking forgiveness instead of permission.” but, as the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 13, “When I became a man I put childish ways behind me.” Should we ever be sued for copyright infringement, we will be responsible for what we know as well as what we don’t know.
    • It Dishonors The Author.
      There is a real and appropriate reason for copyright law. Like you, the person behind that symbol has to make a living. Whether they are rolling in the dough or not, we owe them their due. Otherwise we are technically stealing from them.
    • It Reflects Immaturity.
      Chances are, someone in your congregation knows something about copyright law. Musicians, artists, writers, business people, inventors, photographers, lawyers, web designers, managers . . . and so many more have to interact with this issue somewhere along the line. By choosing ignorance, we inadvertently communicate something to those who understand these things, even in part. We communicate that we either don’t care, that we’d prefer to ‘bend the rules’ or that we are simply not professional in how we run the church. 
    • It Lacks Integrity.
      I’ve heard a number of definitions of integrity over the years. To keep it simple, I’ll use dictionary.com’s definition: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. I’m convinced that integrity will never look the other way. Acting in integrity while practicing intentional ignorance is impossible. They are contradictory ideas. Choosing ignorance in order to justify disobedience is just plain wrong and dishonest.
    • It Misrepresents Christ.
      For all of the above reasons, and more, it misrepresents the character of Christ. That doesn’t mean we have a responsibility to never be ignorant. It just means we will never intentionally choose ignorance. Proverbs 2:10-11, “for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,” 


    What You Need To Know
    I’m no expert in this area, so I’m not going to try to explain everything in this post. What I will do instead is point you in the right direction. Here are a few links that you will find helpful. Also, at any time feel free to email me your question and I will do my best to help you find the answer.

    • Fact Summaries from CCLI.com.
      To date, ccli.com has been the most reliable and helpful christian copyright service available to churches, in my opinion. Click on ‘More Information’ at each section to learn more about what you CAN and CANNOT do without a license.
    • Fact Sheets from CopyrightSolver.com.
      This website does a great job explaining copyright law in relationship with the local church. Just keep in mind that it is also a company wanting you to use them for all your copyright solutions. Consider doing some shopping around before deciding on using their services; you may find other solutions cheaper.

    Image from porcorex on istockphoto.com.

  • Giving Guests the VIP Treatment at Elevation Church

    I ran across this post at www.timschraeder.com that I just have to share. Evidently, Tim showed up at Elevation Church, with Pastor Steven Furtick, and had an outstanding experience. He called it his ‘VIP Experience at Elevation Church’. I know Elevation boasts a huge staff, lots of money, and an amazing facility. So do a lot of mega-churches. However, what Elevation gave Tim was much more than a ‘big church experience’. They expressed a very high level of excellence, mixed with awesome systems and an intentional ‘guest friendly‘ culture.

    You can do that at your church too. It may not look like, sound like, or smell like this; but I’m pretty sure it can feel like it. Take this article to your version of a ‘First Impressions Committee’ and hold a strategic session about what you can learn from it. Enjoy.

  • Tumblr vs. Blogger

     

    This is a guest post by Josh Cummings. Josh serves as the Technical Director at Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY. Josh is passionate about all things audio & visual. His world includes wires, cables, buttons, knobs, computers, software, lights, speakers and a million other odd and weird knick-knacks. He is, by far, the coolest tech-dude I know.

     

    If Facebook got married to Blogger and then had a trendy teenage son, that would be Tumblr. When I saw the Transforming Leader post on 2/14, teaching you how to create a simple blog using Blogger, I immediately thought of how Tumblr could be useful for ministry leaders. I have used Tumblr for a personal blog for a while, and I would advise anyone contemplating creating a blog for their ministry or organization to consider using Tumblr.

     
    Here’s a few quick thoughts on using the Tumblr blog platform:

    First things first: if you don’t know why you should blog, check out some of the older posts in the Transforming Leader that explain the rationale of using a blog for your ministry or organization. You’ll want to read those first before getting into the details of how to create a functional, appealing, and effective blog.

    Both Tumblr and Blogger are free and have features such as: mobile apps, customizable design templates, custom domains, photos, videos, group blogging, email and mobile posting, additional pages/tabs, Feedburner support, third party apps, scheduled posting, and custom CSS and HTML. Tumblr has many of the same features as Blogger, but if you’re deciding which blog platform to use, you want to know what the advantages are of each blog. Let’s take a look at appearance, media, social interaction, and comments in order to compare Tumblr vs. Blogger.

    Appearance: Tumblr
    The Tumblr theme garden has much more visually appealing themes than Blogger. The first thing that people will notice when they visit your blog is the visuals. If a blog’s layout is outdated, it is likely that the reader may assume that the content may also be irrelevant. Both platforms allow customization, but in general, Tumblr blogs have a better design than Blogger blogs. You’ll be able to create a more attractive blog with a smaller time investment.

    Media: Tumblr
    Blogger does allow you to post photos and embed videos in your posts, but Tumblr simply outperforms Blogger in this department. Tumblr supports photosets similar to Instagram, allows you to post audio clips (as long as you don’t break copyright law), and to post quotes.

    Social Interaction: Tumblr
    Tumblr is basically a cross between Facebook and Blogger. With one click, you can reblog another users post. Not only can you follow Tumblr users (or subscribe via RSS if you’re a non-user), but you can favorite posts and post automatically to Twitter and Facebook. One killer feature for users of Tumblr is that you can subscribe to tags. For example, I am subscribed to tags such as Tozer, Tim Keller, and Francis Chan. Whenever one of those names is mentioned in a post on Tumblr, it is sent to my list on my dashboard. If I click on that list, I can read all posts that include those tags in their posts.

    Comments: Blogger
    With Blogger, comments are built in to your blog. Tumblr users have to use a website like IntenseDebate to get custom HTML to modify their blog to support comments. Once you’ve done this, it’s no different than Blogger, but it requires some basic tech savvy to set up. Every blog should have the ability to leave comments.

    Tumblr also has a few more features that Blogger doesn’t, including private blogging, a Tumblr bookmarklet, call-in audio posts, blog rights, and a cool question and answer feature where readers can ask a blogger questions. This is similar to a comment discussion, but it’s a new post that will go to all of your subscribers’ inbox or RSS reader. If you want to compare more on your own, check out Tumblr’s features and Blogger’s features.

    I’m not trying to sell you Tumblr, but we all want to have the sharpest tools possible to accomplish our all-important mission of making Christ’s love known to the world. If you’re planning to do that through a blog, I think that Tumblr could be very useful to you, as it has been for me. If you go with Tumblr, I would encourage you to take all of the principles that Pastor Wayne outlined in his blog “Create A Simple Blog With Blogger” and apply them to creating your Tumblr blog. Make sure that your blog has comments and email subscription, and that you consistently update your blog with useful posts. 90% of blogs out there are quite narcissistic, and it’s the helpful, focused blogs that succeed and make a difference.

    If you’re curious, check out my personal blog Arthodoxy on faith and music or my (outdated) Elim Gospel Church tech team blog for an idea of what Tumblr looks like and works like.

  • Guest Friendly Greeting

     

    A while back I had the privilege of visiting New Testament Christian Church in Greece, NY. Among other things, I was impressed with how we were greeted. As we walked up to the front doors of the church a gentleman was waiting and opened the doors for us. Since we were carting the whole family in, that was helpful. As soon as we entered the lobby a very helpful greeter introduced herself and very quickly got us acclimated to the church. I received a welcome brochure, was asked to fill out a guest card and was quickly shown where Guest Services, the bathrooms and the children’s rooms were located. She was very friendly and comfortable talking with us. What a great way to enter a new church for the first time!

    In his book, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of your Church, Nelson Searcy shares four steps to greeting guests. I urge you to setup a meeting with your greeters/ushers this month and discuss how you are doing with each of these.

    • GREETED
      Obviously, your first step is to greet guests as they arrive. This means greeters will choose to focus on guests before attendees. Otherwise, your guests may very well ‘slip in’ unnoticed. It is very easy to greet guests. In fact, you can use the acronym “h.e.l.l.o” as a reminder.

    H = say ‘Hello’ (give an authentic and verbal greeting)
    E = engage in conversation (look them in the eye & refuse to be distracted)
    L = listen (let them share who they are with you, listen, and remember)
    L = listen some more (nearly everyone likes to talk about themselves)
    O = offer assistance (note any way the guest(s) might need assistance and offer to help)

    • DIRECTED
      It doesn’t matter how many signs you have posted (and you better have visible signs posted), guests want to know where they are supposed to go and what they are supposed to do. Are they supposed to drop off kids first? Should they go to Guest Services now or later? Or is the sanctuary the next stop? Don’t assume anything. Better to give your guests a little too much information than not enough. Confusion creates anxiety and you don’t want anxious guests.
    • TREATED
      Your next step is to ensure guests are treated well. Ideally, you will give them a VIP experience without making them feel uncomfortable. Think about what you would do if a very important person were going to visit your home. What would you do to accommodate and take care of them as they arrive and during their visit? Could you give them a special gift or offer them something to drink? Might they want a breath mint just in case they forgot to brush their teeth before leaving the house? What else?
    • SEATED
      Finally, remember to help your guests to their seats. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to escort them. It does mean you ensure, in advance, that comfortable and appropriate seats will be available as they enter the sanctuary. By the way, appropriate seating does not mean the front row or front rows. Most guests will feel self-conscious enough that they will likely prefer a seat in the middle or closer to the back of the room. This is especially true if they have young children. In general, guests want to maintain a good degree of anonymity during the service – so don’t seat them somewhere that will obviously highlight them to the rest of the congregation.
    To read more about the guest experience, I recommend you check out my Guest Friendly Series right here. I also suggest this article by Tim Schraeder outlining his experience visiting Elevation Church and this article by Casey Ross at a Northpoint Campus Church as he explores the question, ‘What Do Our Guests Want From Us?’.
     
     

    Image © denlitya – Fotolia.com

    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Create A Simple Blog With Blogger

    Last week I posted two articles about creating a ministry blog to build momentum and create unity. Here are those two posts for your reference:

    In this post I will share the first few steps for creating your ministry blog using Google’s Blogger.

    CREATE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT

    To start, you must create (for free) or login to your Google account. You can do that by browsing to www.blogger.com. If you do not have a Google account, click on the ‘Get Started’ button on that page.

    CREATE YOUR FIRST BLOG
    After logging in for the first time you will see a button prompting you to create your first blog. After selecting that button you will then be prompted to name your blog as well as give it a web address.
    • Name Your Blog
      You can name your blog whatever you want. Obviously, the more descriptive and interesting your name, the better. For example, if you are creating a blog for church volunteers in your guest or host ministry, you might name the blog: FCC First Impressions (with FCC being the name of your church). Note: you can change the name at any time.
    • Give Your Blog a Web Address
      You will also see a place to give your blog a web address. This is the address you will eventually give to everyone to find your ministry blog. Try to make the address simple and easy to remember. For instance, using the above example you might try “fccimpressions”. Blogger will tell you if the address of your choice is available. Note: you can also change the address in the future. Additionally, you may want to choose to buy your own web domain later on. In that case, you pick your own web address and are not constrained to stick with the .blogspot.com extension at the end.

    SELECT THE SIMPLE BLOG TEMPLATE
    You will also be required to select a template for your blog. To be honest, this isn’t the place or time to finalize what template you really want. So just pick the ‘Simple’ template for now. You can adjust the look of your blog later. Note: do not select the ‘Dynamic’ template.
    CREATE A TEMPORARY POST
    The next step I recommend is to create your first post. You will DELETE this post later so the content and formatting are not very important. The reason I recommend creating a post, though, is to help you see what your blog will look like with information applied. Write out two or three paragraphs of text and click the “Publish” button. Remember, you haven’t created a blog design yet, so don’t worry if the blog doesn’t look nice yet!
    UNDERSTAND THE BLOGGER INTERFACE
    Let me take a moment to help you understand the links in your blogger interface. Refer to this image and then see my explanations after. If your blogger interface does not look like this, then you may have ti first click the link at the top right of your screen that says “Try the updated blogger interface”. Or if you are already viewing your blog, click the ‘Design’ link in the top right of your screen.
    Here is a quick run-down of each of these sections. You may click on each one to see the content associated with them.
    Overview: This will give you some basic statistics on your blog as well as some helpful links (in the Blogger Guide section) to help you be a successful blogger.

    Posts: This is where you can edit or delete past posts.

    Pages: This is an advanced feature you may want to take advantage of in the future. It allows you to have multiple ‘pages’ on your blog. As an example, check out the various pages at the top of my blog at www.transformingleader.org. They include ‘about me‘, ‘services‘, ‘reading lists‘, etc.

    Comments: If your readers comment a lot on various posts, this is where you will go to manage comment options and individual comments.

    Stats: You can find out details about how many people are viewing different posts and when in this section.

    Earnings: This is for professional bloggers and probably not something you need to worry about right now.

    Layout: This is where you will adjust what else is on your blog page besides blog posts. For example, I have several elements in the layout of www.transformingleader.org, like subscription buttons, a general greeting, a search bar, the top 5 posts of the week, etc.

    Template: This is where you will determine what your blog will look like. There are numerous template options to pick from.

    Settings: This section will allow you to make various changes and tweaks to your blog to make it most like what you want it to be like. In particular, you can add authors in this section. For example, if you would like a volunteer or another staff person to be able to post to your blog, you can add their email address here and they will be able to create their own Google account and post to your blog.

    ADJUST THE LAYOUT
    Next you should spend time on your blog’s layout. This includes the various elements on the right side of your first blog. By selecting the ‘edit’ links next to each element you can adjust or remove them. To get you started, I recommend you remove ALL of the elements preinstalled except for ‘Blog Archive’. Next, I suggest you add each of the below elements (or Gadgets) to the right bar.  To add a Gadget, simply select the ‘Add a Gadget’ link. Drag and drop each element to your desired location after you have created each one. I recommend the following order:

    • HTML/Javascript (Welcome
      This will allow you to create your own text. I recommend a short greeting explaining the purpose of your blog. As an example, read the short greeting entitled ‘Welcome to my Blog!’ here at www.transformingleader.org.
    • Follow By Email
      This is very important. It will allow your primary audience to ‘sign-up’ for email updates whenever you create a new blog post.
    • Subscription Links
      Again, very important. This will give your more tech-savvy audience options to subscribe to your blog using a blog reader on their computer or phone.
    • Search Box
      Add the search box so that readers can search through past blog entries using key words. I suggest you only check the first check box. This will keep your readers on your blog when searching.
    • Labels
      Your blog will be much more useful if you begin using labels right from the start. You can always adjust labels for each blog later. For example, you might label upcoming event posts as ‘Events’, devotional thoughts as ‘Inspirational’, and particular topics as most appropriate, like ‘Leadership’, ‘First Impression’, etc. I suggest you uncheck the ‘Show # of posts’ checkbox.
    • Blog Archives
      This section should already be present. It allows your readers to go back and find blogs by date.

    ADJUST THE TEMPLATE (DESIGN)
    Finally, you will want to tweak the design of your ministry blog. You will do this by selecting the ‘Template’ link in your left toolbar. You will see a list of various blog designs and may select different ones to see how they look to you. IMPORTANT: First focus on everything except the background image. In selecting your template you’re looking for things like, “Is the text easy to read?”; “Do I like the design?”; etc. You can CHANGE the actual background image whenever you want.
    To change the background image, simply select the ‘Customize’ button after you have find your favorite template. Next, select the ‘Background’ link and then choose the background image and color scheme of your choice. When finished, select the “Apply to Blog” button at the top right of the screen.
    BEGIN CREATING POSTS
    You will learn best by doing. Begin creating posts and text by clicking the ‘New Post’ button. Always remember to create a Title for your post and 1 or 2 Labels for your post. By experimenting, you will eventually be able to learn how to add and adjust images, format text, etc. As you grow comfortable with creating posts, you will discover advanced features and options as well. For instance, it’s very easy to embed code (like for a video) into your blog by using the HTML button. Don’t forget that you can always delete old posts. You may also create as many Drafts as you want without actually publishing them.

    FINAL COMMENTS

    There is no way that I could explain all of the details of creating and managing a blog in one post. I probably won’t follow up with many other explanations either, since this is not the primary purpose of this blog. However, I think this article will at the very least get you started. I suggest you take your time and slowly get comfortable using Blogger by experimenting and through trial and error. You will also find some great tutorials and more help in Blogger’s Getting Started Guide. Happy blogging!

  • This is church! (video)

     

    I stumbled across this video clip while reading my blogs last week and couldn’t help but share it with you. What a great video animation about the mission of the local church. The creators, Kelly and Niki Tshibaka own the rights to this video and have given permission for others to use it.

    Perhaps it would fit in somewhere in an upcoming Sunday morning service? Enjoy.

  • Why A Ministry Blog Beats Email Everytime

    Last week I wrote an article entitled, “Build Momentum & Create Unity With A Blog“. I’ve received a lot of questions about this topic recently. Underlying many of these questions has been the more foundational question of, “Why?” In particular, “WHY go through the pains of learning new technology and building new systems to create a blog when email works just as well?”

    Answer: Because email DOESN’T work as well.

    Reasons Why A Blog is Better.
    Let me explain why. Following are some of the top reasons why I want you to consider creating a ministry blog. Remember, I’ve outlined three target audiences for three kinds of ministry blogs: congregation, volunteers, leaders.

    • It Gives People Options
      Unless your target audience is living in the last decade, email is no longer the preferred method of communication for the world at large. Yes. Most people now have email, but in today’s social media driven culture, people want to have choices. A blog gives those choices to people. The tech savvy may choose to subscribe to your blog via a blog reader like Google Reader, NewsGator, or BlogLines while the less tech savvy still have the option to utilize email.
    • It Leverages Social Media
      Similarly, there are ways to connect blog entries to various forms of social media. For instance, every blog post could also be connected to your personal or church Twitter, FaceBook, or LinkedIn accounts.
    • It Encourages Feedback
      If you keep your blog’s ‘Comments’ feature turned on, then you will encourage input and feedback from your readers. Sometimes blog comments can become a great place for people to get engaged in the topic, especially if the author stays connected in the comment discussions.
    • It Expands Your Influence
      A good blog will make it very easy for readers to re-post individual articles to their friends and family – as well as to the world at large. For example, at the bottom of this post you will find several buttons that you may use to repost this article on your social media medium of choice (including email). You may also ‘Stumble’ this article which will increase the chances that stumbleupon users will find your website.
    • It Is Searchable
      It is easy for your readers to find you or a particular article. In fact, often they can search and find what they need right from a Google Search. For instance, if you Google “Ten Systems of the Local Church” you will very likely see several of my posts show up in the results. Additionally, you can add a search field to your blog, making it easy for your readers to search your blog for something you said in an old post.
    • It Stays Active
      Emails come and go at the click of a button. It shows up in the inbox, we read it, then delete it. Not true for blogs. Every entry is saved and readily available for your readers to quickly find and read again, as needed.
    • It Can Be Organized
      One of the best benefits of a basic blog is the use of labels or tags. An intentional blogger will tag every article with a category or label of choice. For instance, blogs promoting events could be tagged, “events”; devotional blogs could be tagged, “inspirational”; leadership blogs . . . you get the point. Again as an example, check out the labels on my blogs to the left on this site.
    • It Maximizes Communication
      It is so easy to help new members, volunteers, or leaders ‘catch up’ on things you have communicated and said in the past – especially if you use labels effectively. For example, let’s say you have a Host Ministry blog for your greeters & ushers. Every new recruit could be sent to the blog with instructions to read all entries labelled, “How To Greet” as part of their initial training.
    • It Gets Things Done
      Let’s face it. You probably don’t have the time or emotional energy to write a ministry or volunteer manual. To do it right you would want to include a lot of great material, like inspiration, instruction, policies, procedures, and especially values. You never get around to it because it’s such a big project. Your blog gets it done. Assuming you blog regularly, you will be closer to your goal in 18 months of blogging than you have been in years.
    I could go on. Suffice it to say, a ministry blog beats a email as a standard communication medium any day. NOTE: I am not suggesting you replace personal email communications with your blog. Let’s be very clear. I’m talking about ongoing encouragement, inspiration, and communication to your readers. I’m not talking about personal interaction. That will happen best face to face, over the phone, email, etc.