Unlocking the Secrets of Church Sound by Josh Cummings
Poor sound can be extremely distracting. We’ve probably all been there: the worship leaders mic gives annoying feedback during the service, the preacher sounds like he’s underwater, or you can’t hear the lead vocals over the band during worship. Though it is often a thankless role, the church sound tech has the power to enhance or detract from the communication of the gospel in our church services. With that much depending upon one person, I thought I would give you a few tips on how to improve in this article on the art of mixing. Read More.
Trust: The Glue That Makes Everything Possible by Tony Morgan
I have gained a great deal of insight from Sam Chand’s new book called Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code. Sam’s excerpt on “Trust” was so insightful that I asked him if I could share it on my blog. Trust is vital for any team yet it is fragile and easily destroyed. Fortunately, trust can be rebuilt causing a team to become stronger and healthier. “Mutual trust among team members is the glue that makes everything good possible. Without it, a team quickly disintegrates into a gang of people protecting their turf and forming angry alliances.” Read More.
2012 Challenge for our Catalyst Team by Brad Lomenick
Here are 10 points we discussed and committed to as a Catalyst team earlier this year in January. Thought I would share them so as to motivate or inspire you to challenge your team as well:
- Authentic. Be Real. Human. approachable. Guard against hubris.
- No sideways energy. Communicate. Focus. Guard against silos and wasted energy.
The Reason Many Policies are Written by Ron Edmondson
Many policies are written because someone didn’t want to solve a problem. In her book “Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands”, Nancy Ortberg talks about the need to differentiate between “a tension to be managed and a problem to be solved“…. Most of the time, in my experience, churches are notorious for creating a new policy to attempt to manage the problem rather than doing the difficult work of solving it. Solving the problem often involves getting personal with people. It involves challenging people. It involves change. It involves holding people accountable to a higher standard. That’s messy. It’s never fun. Most churches like neat, clean and seemingly easy. (Just being honest.) Read More.
How to Make the Host Ask: The 2012 Version by Mark Howell
(Note: Mark uses the term ‘Host’ to indicate small group facilitators.)
Getting ready to recruit HOSTs for an upcoming church-wide campaign? Let me give you my best shot at some keys to maximizing your impact. Here are what I think are the keys to maximizing the harvest. Read More.
Create a Content Strategy for Your Church Website by Bryan Young
Content Strategy is becoming more and more popular among web professionals — both the idea and the implementation. More focus has gone into design, user experience, and techniques of getting people to websites that the reason people come to websites can get lost. Of course, I’m talking about the content, itself. “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” (Kristina Halvorson) Just like you wouldn’t begin a sermon without first coming up with a topic, researching, and planning, you shouldn’t do the same with the content on your website. Everything successful, from businesses, to books, to websites, begins with goals and figures out the best way to achieve them. Read More.