This diagram from Bethlehem Baptist Church:

This diagram from Soma Church:

Does your church use diagrams to explain how it works, or what its priorities are?

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THE GREATEST ART from Hillsong Church on Vimeo.

“The eXchange Film and Arts Festival was launched in 2009 with the goal of reaching out to the creative community. It started out being an exhibition at our Hills, City and South West Campuses and debuted at the Sydney Entertainment Centre 2010, which is where it will be held again this year.

Our central aim is to engage creative and artistic individuals in the church and in the wider community to express their gifts and talents. Also to motivate, encourage and inspire photographers, filmmakers and artists to create expressions of Resurrection, Sacrifice, Redemption, Forgiveness, Hope, Faith and Love.

Submissions open September 30th 2010 and close March 25th 2011. The winner of the competition will be announced on the day of the event April 24th 2011 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.”

Learn more at their website.

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Read more here. See all of the Word Bible Designs by Jim Lepage here.

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1. 10 common mistakes in Facebook advertising
2. A printing disaster of the highest order
3. The Christian commercial banned at this year’s Superbowl
4. 10 reasons your church should advertise on Facebook
5. You don’t need a massive budget to create engaging video

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You can read about it here.

Earlier this afternoon I spoke with the printer (who will remain unnamed) – he apologised, explained, and guaranteed it wouldn’t happen again.

Several people have asked about compensation. The printer didn’t offer a refund/future, discount, and I didn’t request it. To be honest, I’m not sure how to show grace in this situation.

Does a follower of Jesus just accept the apology? Or would it not be unreasonable to pursue some form of compensation?

A great example of the gospel intersecting with the business world – I’m just not sure how to respond.

What would you do? What would Jesus do?!

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Here’s how they look:

As they were being handed out to a child to invite his friends, he responded “that’s a bit rude”.

Why?

On the reverse of the postcard was printed the following:

Could the printer have made a bigger mistake?!

This artwork doesn’t appear on the back of all of the postcards, and thankfully, we’d only just started to distribute the postcards and have been able to pluck out the cards with this artwork on the back.

I would never have though to check each postcard for this kind of mistake – now I will.

It’s poor form, and I’m still trying to get in touch with the printer to let them know.

This reminds me of the ‘7 worst online ad placements of all time‘.

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However, this isn’t a reason to not to have one. In fact, there are at least 5 good reasons to include an email signature at the bottom of your emails:

1. To provide alternate contact information. Perhaps the recipient of your email would like to follow up by phone – I’ve been in this situation many a time, where I’ve wanted to call, but only had the email address.
2. To strengthen branding. At Church by the Bridge, we want to constantly reinforce why we exist – to live for Jesus, and to love like Jesus. The email signature is another medium to promote our mission.
3. To clarify working days/hours. Particularly in a church, working hours can differ from person to person, with different people taking different days off. Clarifying these details in an email signature can remind people when you’re not in the office (see example below).
4. To help people who receive your email via someone else. If an email you send is forwarded, the original recipient might know who you are and your other contact details, but the other recipients might not. Including a signature allows these people to learn who you are, and how they can get in touch with you. Other information (e.g. the web address) also provides these people with an opportunity to learn more about the church or organisation.
5. To legitimise the organisation, and your role in it. Anyone can create a domain name and start sending emails. An email signature says ‘yes, we’re real, and if you don’t believe me here’s a few different ways you can check for yourself’. When you’re sending emails to people unfamiliar with your church or organisation, this is an important inclusion.

Read more (and learn what not to do when creating an email signature):

• The art and science of the email signature, and
• 20 tips for creating an effective email signature.

I also recommend this interesting read on ‘Why emails include legal disclaimers‘. The reason isn’t what you might think.

This is the template we use at Church by the Bridge:

–
Steven Kryger
Media and Communications Pastor | Church by the Bridge
Office: +61 2 8920 9817 | Mobile: 0403 904 392
steven.kryger@cbtb.org.au | www.cbtb.org.au

Living for Jesus. Loving Like Jesus.

Please note: I am in the office on Mondays and Thursdays – thanks for your patience in receiving a response to your email.

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As always, content is king.

Example:

See more on YouTube.

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“Without a clearly drawn vision, employees tend to work at cross-purposes, often taking refuge in functional silos instead of collaborating to transform a shared picture of the future into reality.”

You can peak inside the book here.

Great graphic describing the difference between marketing, advertising, branding etc. (courtesy of Inju – click to enlarge):

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Here’s the last two pararaphs of the article:

“The Christian message isn’t a new message, and I can anticipate many objections to what I believe and why. My point isn’t to convince you to believe what I believe, nor to defend the Christian gospel in a couple of paragraphs.

No, my purpose is to urge you to work out what you do believe, and to make sure you’ve got some evidence and ultimately some confidence, to back up whatever that might be. Don’t go round that last corner blind-folded. The consequences are simply too great to just cross your fingers and hope for the best.”

A couple of weeks later I received this book in the mail from Pilotlight Australia – ‘Dying to Know – bringing death to life‘:

It’s well-produced and easy to read, and does what I was encouraging readers to do in my article – talk about death, and think about death. Not talking or thinking about it might be less painful, but it’s a very ineffective preparation for the inevitable.

As the book explains:

“People study for weeks for a birth,
why not study for a death?”

You can buy the book here. Nice work, Pilotlight Australia.

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