Archive - July, 2009

5 (useful) links #14

July 31, 2009 in Links & Tips

Five websites and online resources to inspire, inform and enthuse.

  1. Technology and the mega church. An article by CNET.com. h/t @markliddell.
  2. “Australia would be better off without religion.” A debate (recorded in 2008) for and against religion.
  3. Twittering in Church with the Pastor’s OK. An article by TIME magazine.
  4. Free breakfast church. Could your church do this? h/t Without a Shepherd.
  5. The ‘longer lasting sex’ scam. Seen these signs around Sydney? A good reminder that big billboards don’t equal truth.

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it

July 31, 2009 in Social Media

I’ve now heard several times “I don’t get Twitter. It just seems to just be a website that displays your Facebook status updates”. If Twitter was just a place to display Facebook status updates, I can assure you, I wouldn’t be mildly interested! Afterall, if I just wanted Facebook updates, wouldn’t I just use Facebook?

However, to be fair, these comments are usually made out of ignorance. People haven’t used , but have already decided they know what it’s about, and have made up their mind that it’s no good. This doesn’t make sense to me.

  • If you told me that North African food was no good, but that you had never tried it, I’d tell you to go to Kazbah in Balmain and then give me your opinion on North African food.
  • If you told me that coffee was no good, but that you’d never tried it, I’d tell you to go to Campos in Newtown and then give me your opinion on coffee.
  • If you told me that going to the snow is boring, I’d tell you to go to Whistler and then give me your opinion on a visit to the snow.

You see, to write something off without even trying it is just nonsensical. Particularly when others can testify to the goodness of what you have written-off.

So here’s my challenge for tech-knockers. Give it a go before critiquing it!

  • Try out Twitter for three months. See how others use it for ministry. Put your brain to work to consider all the ways you could exploit Twitter for ministry and to make Jesus name known. If, after three months, you think Twitter has little usage for your ministry – that’s ok! But at least you can say that you gave it a go, did an honest appraisal and came to an educated conclusion that it’s not for you.
  • Try an online calendar for three months (read first ‘10 reasons to throw out your paper diary‘!) Experiment with it. Persevere with it. Hit the bottom of the learning curve and pedal hard until you reach the top. If, after three months, you think a paper diary is going to best suit your needs – great! But at least you can say that you tried both, and settled on the best option for you.

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Tweet the Gospel – it’s time to vote

July 29, 2009 in Christian Living, for Churches, Outreach

A little while ago I mentioned the challenge laid down by Acts 29 to ‘tweet the gospel’ (i.e. boil the gospel down to 140 characters).

95 entries have been received, now it’s time to vote for which entry best communicates the gospel in 140 characters. One of the comments about this post was helpful – the communication is different depending on who the audience is. Sin is a great shortcut for a 140 character summary, but doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. Perhaps part of the voting criteria should be the ease with which someone who is not yet a Christian can understand the description of the gospel?

Check out the entries, and place your vote at Gospel Tweeting Contest. Here’s a sample of the entries:

#54. a holy God w/ holy demands you don’t meet has both fulfilled these demands & taken the wrath due you. repent & believe he’s done it

#57. For God’s own glory: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”

#79. God’s heart shown through grace being poured out as a free gift, teaching us to live godly lives, in eager hope for Jesus’ return

#82. Knowing our need, God became a man, seeking to die and rise again to save us from ourselves and give us new life to His glory.

Church Commuity Builder: an apology

July 28, 2009 in for Churches, Pastors

Last week I wrote a post where I mentioned Church Community Builder and gave it a bad write-up, citing poor responses to my emails. I would like to publicly apologise to Church Community Builder.

The problems I was experiencing were not due to Church Community Builder failing to reply, but my email server failing to forward these emails through to me. My church uses two email accounts (an older account for a previous domain should be re-directing to the new account) and for some reason, this re-direction ceased. All emails sent to the old email account were not re-directed, and therefore I didn’t receive them. I’m still trying to work out why this is broken.

This explanation aside, I would like to make very clear that the issue was in no part due to poor service by Church Community Builder, and I would like to apologise to the CCB team who have built a great product and provide excellent service.

I have also removed the mention of Church Community Builder from last week’s post.

My sincere apologies.

What web app would improve your ministry?

July 27, 2009 in for Churches, Outreach, Pastors

I met a web developer who has recently quit his job and would like to create web applications that would be useful for ministry. Have you got any suggestions for websites/applications that would really help you in your ministry?

I can see a real need for a web application to help with rostering – all churches need rosters, organising and managing rosters is a messy and time-consuming task, and I’m yet to find a good web application to assist with this.

Can you see any other gaps in the market?

Poll: How should you begin an email?

July 27, 2009 in Christian Living, Pastors

A friend of mine always copped a lot of flak for his emails. He never bothered with niceties, and always cut straight to what he was writing about. No “how are you?” or “hope you’re well”. He just didn’t think this was necessary for email communication. After some suggestions otherwise, he now commences his emails with “Hi X, how are you?”, and then launches into it.

So is there an etiquette?

Personally, I think it’s rude to start writing without even acknowledging the person you’re writing to. For example, I’ve received some emails from church database providers recently who launch straight into answering my question, without any introduction to the email! If I were them, I’d include something along the lines of “thanks for your email and interest in [MY PRODUCT]” – contact is a gift and shouldn’t be painful!

I’m also not keen on the “Steve, blah…” approach. I feel there’s something to be said for starting an email with “Hi” – it’s two letters, but to me, they mean a lot. They are friendly and acknowledge you’re communicating with a person. Afterall, we usually start face-to-face interactions with a “Hi”, don’t we?

Do you feel the same?

How should you begin an email?

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