Paint the Town..err..Web!!

Post originally on Church Marketing Sucks

There are endless ways you can promote your church online and we’ll just list a few ideas to get you started. Remember that the idea is to spread the word about your church, not relentlessly spam people. Keep it relevant and personal.

• Facebook – It’s the largest social network ever. If you want to connect with people, they’re probably on Facebook. There are a lot of ways to promote your church on Facebook, from liking your church’s page to adding comments on their posts. To get more involved you can share their content with your friends, post your own links, photos or videos, invite your friends to church events and more. The activity of your friends is what gets noticed on Facebook, so talking up your church is a good way to casually introduce your friends to your church.
• Local Listings – Make sure your church is listed accurately in local sites like Yelp, Foursquare and more. Check in, post a comment, add a rating or review. Whatever the particular service lets you do, do it so your church has some activity and credibility.
• Create Pages – Head over to some of the content creation sites like Pinterest, Squidoo, Storify or Wikipedia and create pages for your church. Maybe you pin your church’s sermon graphics or you create a Squidoo page about an upcoming event. It might be harder to meet Wikipedia’s guidelines, but some historic churches might fit (remember that Wikipedia is about unbiased facts, not marketing—follow the rules or your page will get deleted).
• Create Groups – Create groups for your church on various social networks like LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. It’s a good way to pull people from your church together and that can be stickier for new people. Sometimes it works best to have a specific topic in mind, like a jobs/networking group for LinkedIn.
• Conversations – There are a lot of local groups, forums and sites online where you can join some local conversations. This is where you need to be personal and relevant. Form relationships and talk about your church when it’s natural. Don’t just blow through local forums posting random invites. That’s spam and will do a disservice to your church.
• Links – It’s as simple as linking to your church. Google has turned links into gold by pairing them to search results. So link to your church from your site. Add links in your blog posts whenever you can and help boost your church in the search results.
• Email Signature – It’s kind of old school, but your email signature is another place where you can promote your church online. It might be a little odd to constantly promote your church there, so maybe reserve it for special events or tack on a holiday invite when you’re emailing local friends.

Leadership Lesson…Take 2!

I have never been one for taking initiative. I have never been one for taking risks and chances on things. So, I have never been one for remotely considering myself as a leader. And that’s ok…right?

I have been blessed to be part of an organization that has bombarded this extremely Type-B personality with biblical lessons in leadership. I have learned that ultimately anyone can be a leader…because leadership is influence.

Leadership = Influence

Here’s where my habit of over thinking things comes into full force. For me, a definition like that gives me the idea that I, as a leader, should for the most part have the answer. If I am going to influence people, they are going to look to me. Here’s my problem…I don’t have all the answers. But that’s ok because its not about having answers to give others to then influence them.
I think its about seeing something and not just showing others where to go, but taking them by the hand and involving them. I still have a long way to go with this and I’m ok with that too. God sent Jesus as the ultimate example of what it means to lead others and I pray I can learn through His word what it means to be a leader for His glory.

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Am I going crazy?

Ok, this guy is crazy.
Why is he playing clarinet? I would’ve liked to seem him play a Sousaphone.

Anyway, I have figured out that leadership is hard. Balancing getting work done and leading a team can be frustrating at times. I think it’s easy for potential leaders (like me) to feel like a total failure or even burn out. I know I have felt this way and are still having moments of feeling this way too. Here’s where I think my problem is…and it may be the same for you. I thrive on doing my job alone. A better way would be I thrive on individual accomplishment. But I don’t like being alone in my accomplishments. I love working with teams and impacting others.
Am I going crazy? Is this normal? By working on what I am doing individually, am I focusing too much on being a “me” player instead of a team player? Am I owning all the pieces or just mine? This is frustrating.
I have 3 things working alongside me that is making this more difficult:

#1. Perfection = ?

I’m somewhat of a perfectionist. I’m not on medication for OCD or anything like that, but I do struggle with letting go. I find I often say to myself “Geez, it’s so much faster if I just do it myself!” Please tell me I’m not the only one out there that says things like this. ☺ Ultimately, I know replacing myself is necessary if I am going to be effective to my organization.

#2. Rut Row. (Scooby Doo)

I have tasks, deadlines, goals, etc. and I plan to finish them. So, I begin my race and go, go, go until it is finished. Once I cross the finish line, I start immediately on another race. No time for anything else because I am constantly at a starting or finishing point. More of a never-ending cycle.
The problem is if I’m here to long…I feel jammed. Stuck. Rut Row!

#3. Good Stress. Bad Stress.

If one of our senses is damaged or lost, the others are heightened. If we have a whacked out muscle or group the others jump in and help the rest of the body. Something sacrifices attention from its job to serve and help the others. This is both good and bad stress in my opinion. It’s great because it is demonstrating the example of teamwork. That’s the good stress. Overtime though, it can pull the life out of the team. That’s the bad stress.

So am I alone in this? I pray that I am not. I have a feeling I’m not. But in the meantime, I will be looking to what God’s word has to say and will be sharing that with you all soon. Don’t be discouraged. Learn to understand that these issues are normal and work through them. We will all end up better people and better leaders not just for others, but more importantly ourselves.

Leadership Lesson for the Day.

I saw this video a while back and completely forgot about it…until now. Hope you all can enjoy this neat and creative leadership lesson. Enjoy…

Rethinking My Purpose.

I’m one of those people who thinks a lot. Sometimes…well most of the time, about some really random things.
My recent thinking has brought to surface some things that I am dealing with when it comes to what my purpose is as a young, single, Christian woman. One word comes to mind…waiting.

Now, this word waiting is not a new thing in my life. I’m a 24 year old graduate student who has never been in a serious relationship. I’m at the point in my life where all my friends are getting engaged and married within the same calendar year…and let me tell you, it’s not easy.

Please don’t feel sorry me, just hear me out. Our Christian culture, I believe, places a great deal of emphasis on relationships. I have prayed for God to write my love story and have cried many nights over my lack of even experiencing a love story.

But even in knowing and having to be reminded daily that God is faithful and loves me more than anyone in the universe ever could…I still have faced, seen, heard, and felt an incredible amount of pressure from the Christian community towards relationships and ultimately marriage. Girls seem to always be praised when they have found their dream guy. But when they still have yet to find ‘’Mr. Right’’ or ‘’Prince Charming,’’ they are told that God’s going to bring a man into their lives —as if the sole purpose of their lives is to get married.

So, here’s the question I have been rethinking in my head…how do I respond to this? I know people ‘mean well’ and they ask because they love me (especially mothers, grandmothers and aunts) but how do I respond without sounding or feeling jealous or bitter?

I mentioned earlier that girls always seemed to be praised when they have found their dream guy and those of us who haven’t…well, we just haven’t.

I feel that Christian communities tend to be sometimes unsupportive of single women. It seems like the very people who should be inspiring us to live a life completely devoted to Christ are the ones who severely lower our self-esteem, which in turn leads us to believe that we need to be married to be complete.

I found a book on Amazon listed under ‘Christian and Religious Books’, entitled, Getting Serious About Getting Married. I was shocked to read,

The belief that remaining single is legitimate and godly is a work of the devil. Read that again: Satan dishonors marriage by fooling us into believing that singleness is okay (page 43).

…men and women who are not connected in marriage are like the mutilated members of a mangled body (page 28).

Wait?! What?! Did that just say what I think it said? This book is saying that there is no way for a woman to glorify God other than getting married.

Are you kidding? Messages like this can lead many Christian women to settle for men who are mediocre and self-centered, just so they can supposedly fulfill God’s will.

Single women should not let their lives be consumed by their apparent “need” to find a guy. We should be concerned with devoting our lives to Jesus and serving Him faithfully. There is a song by John Waller called ‘While I’m Waiting’. Let these lyrics be an encouragement for you:

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting I will serve You
While I’m waiting I will worship
While I’m waiting I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait.

My purpose is not to fall into a slump of misery if I haven’t found my dream guy yet. My heart should be enlivened and grow deeper in my relationship with God. If I happen to fall in love with a great man, oh how blessed that man will be! Haha! But he will find me as someone who is devoted to her Lord first and foremost. If I don’t, that’s fine too, because my relationship with God is enough and provides me with the everlasting fulfillment that no human relationship can. My singleness is a journey, not a trapped prison. It’s growing in my trust of the Lord and believing and knowing He has a plan for me. Rather single or married, it won’t matter.

Is singleness a blessing in your life? Is it a burden? How will you be rethinking your purpose?

Check out more from an awesome blog called Our Single Purpose

Mentoring.

When I saw this comic, I chuckled. To be honest, I have always thought of mentoring as something that was ‘Out of this world’ in terms of amazing and important. Something only reachable for those who do things that as ‘out of this world’. I’ve always heard of others in ‘mentoring programs’ for pastors, politicians, or business owners. But let me be the first to say, I am wrong to even think that. Mentoring is crucial.

We each have people in our lives who have are best interest at heart. They push us. Push us to do better. People who are good at pushing us are everywhere, good or bad. They can use love and kindness or they can use fear and confusion. Same goes with using grace or guilt but the cool thing is many times the end result is the same….we’re better. Somehow we do better.

I have always had people in my life that push me. Since elementary school I’ve had people around me to push me on both sides. Good. Bad. Now my only set back is that I can be pushed all day long, but its not going to change me as a person. I can DO something different because someone pushed me or motivated me to do it, but at the end of the day…I haven’t changed myself. I haven’t become better.I need someone in my life to challenge me to become better. Now don’t get me wrong, I think I’ll always have people to push me. I need that. I need pushers, influencers, motivators.

But let me say that everyone should pray that God will lead us to a person who can be a mentor. I know that here I am talking about people needing to be mentored and I myself do not have a mentor in my life.

Yet.

But the least I can do is start pouring into others lives. To challenge.
To love. To support. To pray for. To teach. To Push. To motivate. To accept. To mentor. A mentor not only pushes us to change, but they cause us to become better people.

Now, since I do not have a mentor in my life right now, I have come up with a short answer to the question, “What do you look for in a mentor?”

I’m only going to list a couple things because some things are obvious (like godliness, caring, passionate, trustworthy, faithful):

*Authentic–Being genuine is so important to me. To everyone I believe.
Just be legit. [go ahead..."step to the rhythm of a sho-nuff winner(winner); I been here before, i ain't no beginner(word)"] =)Name that tune.

*Accessible–Some mentors have to be put into different categories, but ultimately I think being available is important. If your going to mentor someone, make sure are able to physically meet. Don’t have people struggle to get lunch with you. I’m not saying drop everything you have to do, but keep up with it. Doesn’t have to be everyday or even every week, but be intentional about making them a priority.

*Experienced (doesn’t necessarily mean ‘old’ though)–I want to learn. Others want to learn. From your experiences. Things that have worked for you and things that have completely bombed. And in your experiences, God has kept you teachable and has brought you through to mentor and tell others your journey.

*Humility–Basically, humility in and of itself will not only attract others to you, but will fuel these other qualities.

So there you have it. whew! That was some short answer…[sorry if you were expecting one or two words.]

I can only hope that I can say that my mentor(s), has caused me to BECOME someone different, or that someone could say that about me.

The most believable person in the world is the person who you know has your best interest at heart. -John Dickson

So true.

How about you? Are there influencers and motivators in your life? Has God placed a mentor in your life? If he hasn’t, start praying and ask God to show you who you could begin mentoring. They will become a different person as a result of your intentional, loving involvement in their life.

Mentor. Mentor. Mentor.

Pursuing Christ. Creating Art.

PURSUING CHRIST.CREATING ART. from Floodgate Productions on Vimeo.

One of the partners at Floodgate Productions (Gary Molander) has written a book for artists who are also pursuing a life of faith in Christ. Head over to GaryMo.com for more information.Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. is a series of faith-based explorations into the overlap between life as a Christ-follower, and life as an artist. It's going to be an AMAZING read and I look forward to writing my contemplations about Gary's new book. About our Creator, faith, creativity, art, life, and everything in between.

So go and pre-order Gary's book, Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. It's going to be great and I'm confident that God has placed this on Gary's heart for His purpose....for such a time as this.

Silent Transitions

Silent Transitions [6000fps] from Salomon on Vimeo.

Creativity and its Creator.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is to be near a large body of water at sunset. I think it’s just because I was born and raised in Florida and have always been near water.

I love nature and am baffled by it every time I am surrounded by it. Staring into fields as far as the eye can see, laying on flourishing green grass, peering from the ridge of mountaintops, sitting at the shoreline of distant oceans, and overcome by the beauty of the falling sun beyond the horizon. The detail, precision, and beauty of it all always leaves me
speechless and in awe.

You know I truly believe that God will unleash His creativity within us through a varitey of means. We all have different talents that tap into our God-given creativity. We all have so many different things that make us who we are. Some of us design, paint, write, organize, decorate, plan, dream, build, invent, or can dabble in a bit of it all! Although all of these things and activities that engage this creativity that God has uniquely given us, in these moments we need to remember that creativity is a gift from God, too. (Now, please know that if you do not consider yourself “creative”…well, I’m excited to tell you that everyone is creative. You should read this before you continue. Gary Molander does a fantastic job making it a point that we all know that God is a creative God. So we’re creative too. Our Maker is creative, therefore we are creative.) Profound, huh?

One of the coolest things I’ve come to be reminded of is that not only was God the creator in the beginning, but He is still creating! It’s part of His nature, of who He is! After the sixth day, God didn’t just shut down His creating side. He continues to create.

He creates new hope.
He creates new opportunities.
He creates new portraits of redemption in the lives of His people.
He creates new things that we haven’t experienced yet. (Revelation 21:1-5)

In order to make the most of what we have been given, we need to know where it comes from. The source of all that we have and are is God.

What things unleash creativity, a generous and wonderful gift from God,
in your life?

Lights.

Just some food for thought.

Be Thou exalted over my reputation.
‘Cause applause is a poor form of soul medication.
And I’ve tried it for years but my symptoms remain.
Still fretting the day that they’ll misplace my name;
Still selling my soul for American fame;
Treating the promotion of Jesus like a well oiled machine;
Advancing His kingdom just to snag some acclaim.
Now, I’m both comforted and haunted that it isn’t just me though.
I see a nation of people needing to feed their own egos;
Parading status like steeples;
Do we not know it’s evil,
to love ourselves more than both God and His people?
But see, here’s where you turn this poem on it’s head.
‘Cause the greatest among us came as servant instead.
And You humbled Yourself to the point of Your death.
Apparently love for the Father’s glory runs red.
So friends, will we point to the Son till our own flames grow dim?
Will our bright lights become merely nightlights near Him?
Words echo once, let them echo again;
Be Thou exalted over my reputation.

-Jimmy Needham / A.W Tozer

Culture, Carpenters, and Jesus.

I’ve been recently thinking about how we define our church culture. Only recently has this even been something of importance to me. I have always just been taught that the words “church” and “culture” don’t ever go together. Because we are to be “in” the world, not “of” the world. But lately, I can’t seem to get those two words separated. And I understand about that whole “in” and “of” the world thing. This is totally a different, deeper thing though. Here’s a quote I read sometime ago that has recapitulated itself in my head.

(Yes. I just used a musical term for repeating a phrase in a Sonata-form piece):

Culture is: “…the sum total of the ways we express ourselves and relate to each other in the institutions we build to express ourselves and relate to each other”. -Ron Martoia

The church is supposed to be salt and light in the community, right? We shouldn’t band ourselves in our buildings. Packing ourselves in our huge and mighty fortresses and castles, warding off “evil” is not our purpose. Shouldn’t we instead use our minds to embrace the grace and truth that is the Gospel message and have dialogue and build intentional relationships with those searching for it?

I believe we must engage the battle as soldiers, not willing to retreat, with the full armor of God.
The bible says this in Eph. 6:10-13:

“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

It clearly says “…for we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world…” I think many times the church misunderstands that to be that we are fighting against “flesh and blood”. Against each other. Against those who aren’t Christ followers. The church cannot impact culture by condemning it…we must show love and compassion, as Jesus did, only then will they see God’s grace and mercy.

(But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum? When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy,
not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” -Matt. 9:11-12)

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Do you ever wonder the reason Joseph was a carpenter? I mean why was Jesus’ earthly father a carpenter? Why not a fisherman? or a herdsman? a merchant? or even a doctor? Is there something there for us to see?

I thought about this and came to this (sort of) conclusion….

My grandfather is a carpenter. He makes tables, chairs, desks, boats, and even birdhouses. He can make what other specify they want, and also takes those chairs and tables and molds the idea into something original. But he also creates beautiful original things. He is extremely talented and has always enjoyed what he does. He’s a craftsman. An artisan.

Maybe God wanted us to look at our lives through the eyes of an carpenter…an artisan for a reason. Maybe with our lives we are artisans, but instead of showing off what ‘we’ create….we are displaying the creativity of God. Each of us are different and unique and through those differences in each of us God is glorified! I think the point is for us not to retreat or withdraw from culture…but to shape it through the story of Jesus.

What are your thoughts? Am I completely thinking too much or is this something you all have ever thought about as well?