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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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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I don’t always learn a lot (in my experience, speakers at technology conferences often pitch their material at an introductory level, e.g. ‘what is social media’). However, they are great places for inspiration, and as I sit and listen and then browse the exhibition halls, my mind buzzes with even more ideas than usual!

I’ve compiled a list of conferences (most in the U.S., unless stated otherwise) that are:

• helpful to those of us with a communications/technology interest,
• have speakers that I greatly admire, and/or
• look otherwise interesting.

I’d love to see more of these type of conferences taking place in Australia. However, if you can’t physically attend these conferences, many of the talks and resources become available online shortly after the conferences finish. I’m really thankful for the generosity of these ministries in making these resources available.

If you’re aware of others, please share them via the comments section below.

Catalyst Conference

• 17 February, 2-4 March, 11-13 May and 5-7 October.
• Here’s a great talk by Francis Chan from Catalyst East 2010 – we’re called to a radical life.

AdTech Sydney

• 9-10 March in Sydney.
• Not a Christian conference, but great to hear what’s happening in the digital world.
• The keynotes and exhibition are free.

Shepherd’s Conference

• 9-13 March.

Ligonier Ministries Conference

• 24-26 March.

Drive Conference

• 28-30 March.

The Gospel Coalition Conference

• 12-14 April.
• Topic: Preaching Jesus and the Gospel from the Old Testament.

Exponential Conference

• 26-29 April.
• A conference for church planters.

Q Gathering

• 27-29 April.
• Discussing the church’s role in the biggest issues facing society.

Cultivate Conference

• 4-5 May.
• “If you are creative, strategic, and responsible for influencing how your church or organization communicates, there is a chair waiting for you.”

The 99 Percent Conference

• 5-6 May.
• Not a Christian conference, but focuses on turning ideas into reality.

Next 2011

• 28-31 May.
• Topic: How does Christ transform the way I look at the world?

Hillsong Conference

• 5-8 July (Sydney, Australia).
• The ‘Creative Worship‘ stream looks like it has some sessions relevant to church communications.

Echo Conference

• 27-29 July.
• “A three-day gathering of creative church leaders who are passionate about digital media and the gospel.”

Oxygen

• 29-31 August.
• John Piper and John Lennox at Katoomba, NSW.

NewSpring Leadership Conference

• 8 September.

Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference

• 8-10 November.

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“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” – James 4:14

We forget how quickly our lives pass. We are here today. Soon we won’t be.

This video is an advertisement, and quite a moving reminder of how swiftly our lives pass from one season to the next, until they are no more.

It’s a reminder our world needs to hear.

It’s a reminder Christians need to hear.

“Only one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last”.

This is a similar video (beautiful, but in my opinion, less moving), that shows the passing of a year in just 40 seconds:

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” – Psalm 90:2

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At the end of last year I received a Wufoo-themed balloon and card in the mail.

Here’s what the hand-written card said:

It was a small, low-cost gesture, but it meant a lot. Why? Because it was intentional and personal.

The internet is growing fast – there are now five-times as many internet users as there were just 11 years ago.

Regardless of how much of the world is online, hand-written cards will never go out of fashion.

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A post from 18 months ago – ‘15 ways for churches to use Twitter‘ continues to be a very popular post for exploring the opportunities that Twitter provides. It’s good to plan ahead – to schedule different types of content, to engage in different ways with different people.

This infographic from Social Media Examiner is also a helpful reminder to think through the different types of content a Twitter account can provide:

The accompanying blog post is also worth checking out too, especially as you consider scheduling content in advance.

If you’re scheduling content on Twitter, here are a couple of tools to consider:

• Hootsuite
• TweetDeck
• CoTweet
• Buffer

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I was also pleased to see the website for Youthworks College listed – my friend Robert is the brains behind this site:

A similar gallery website is CSS Religion:

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• 10 questions from Don Whitney. My favourite: ‘What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?’
• 10 questions from the C.S. Lewis Institute (PDF). This Annual Spiritual Checkup includes 10 categories of questions, with sub-questions within each.

You might also be interested in ‘15 questions to consider our Bible reading habits‘.

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1. 10 resources to make the most of Facebook pages
2. 30 churches on Facebook (and four observations)
3. 40 worship presentation tools
4. Reflections on watching ABC1′s Q&A featuring Richard Dawkins
5. 14 sites for inspiring sermon series artwork
6. 15 examples of church newsletters and bulletins
7. 13 common objections to the proposed internet filter
8. 5 dangers of using technology in the Christian life
9. Resources: how to protect our children online
10. A curious experiment with Facebook advertising to promote carols

I also managed to get a couple of articles published elsewhere this year:

• At Gizmodo – ‘Keeping kids safe cannot be outsourced‘, and
• At The Punch –  ’Who needs porn when you’ve got MTV‘.

Merry Christmas!

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