Category Archives: Marketing

Social Media Training For Church Leaders TONIGHT!

Posted on November 1, 2011 at sometime around 10:03 am

Calvary Assembly is hosting a FREE seminar on how ANY sort of church leader can use social media well – TONIGHT! This is not limited to pastors or “top” church leaders, but is available to ANYONE interested. There will be information that applies to the beginner and to the pro. I will be the teacher for the seminar and am excited about the discussion that will ensue tonight at 7pm.

 

Here are some of the topics we will cover:

- What is social media exactly?
- Why is social media valuable?
- What do you write? What if you don’t know what to say?
- 12 pieces of advice from Jonathan
- Where do you go to get good content?
- How can you use Facebook/Twitter and other platforms for your church organization?
- What is twitter and how do I use it?

The seminar starts at 7pm and will go just over an hour (including time for questions). As I said, we are looking forward to investing in anyone who is interested!

If you would like to join us, please RSVP to Calvary Assembly by 4pm today at 585.889.0190. We will have a binder full of information for you tonight!

I look forward to it!

-Jonathan

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5 Church Communications People You Should Be Following

Posted on May 24, 2011 at sometime around 1:21 pm

Today I aim to connect church communications people with one another.  This is a broad field and looks different in each church, but plays an important role in getting out the name of Jesus. Check out this list below…

 

 

 

5 Church Communications People/Groups To Follow:

 

1.) Church Marketing Sucks

Even if you are offended by their URL, you will quickly find that their content is extremely helpful for spurring your communications forward.  In fact, their mission is to “to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.” And they do just that.

Twitter link – Church Marketing Sucks

2.) Tim Schraeder

Tim is the Director of Communications at Park Community Church and a co-director (along with Justin Wise who is also worth a follow) of the Center for Church Communication.  I found his blog post titled, “What Is a Church Communications Director” to be a helpful resource for any person involved with church communications.

Twitter link – Tim Schraeder

3.) Kem Meyer

Kem is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church and advocates for “Less Clutter” & “Less Noise”. She even wrote a book about it, with the tagline, “Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bake Sales”.  You can read the cliffnotes to her book here (which I think will spur you on to buy her book!).  Kem is great and worth a follow.

Twitter link - Kem Meyer

 

4.) Brandon Cox

Brandon is the communications director for Saddleback Church (Rick Warren’s church) in California.  He is also Read More »

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Be Who You Are – A Hilarious Old Spice Commercial Reminder

Posted on October 14, 2010 at sometime around 12:41 pm

student-life-funny-video

Love this video below. Thanks for pointing me to this @DerekMelleby.

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What Dominos Pizza Can Teach Us About Our Faith

Posted on September 20, 2010 at sometime around 12:04 am

dominos

Have you seen all the new Dominos Turnaround commercials? They seem to be everywhere.  The company has made terrible pizzas for years.  The brilliant part about their new marketing strategy is that they are admitting they were wrong. And they went way over the top with it too.  They made a “documentary” and showed focus groups complaining that the pizza tasted like cardboard.  They put up signs in their stores apologizing for being “mass produced, boring, pizza.”  And their CEO was their leading voice in it all.

So what can we as a Church learn from this?

1.) Honesty and Transparency Matter

Being boldly honest is something that you can take a lot of heat for.  You’ll hear critics say, Read More »

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Test your Website’s Marketing Effectiveness

Posted on December 28, 2009 at sometime around 2:29 pm

website-graderI was recently recommended this Website Grader from HubSpot, which does a free, simple breakdown of your website’s SEO. This showed a few gaps in my site that I should take care of and I think could be useful for you. The blog section is especially helpful for bloggers.

Free, quick, simple, helpful. Love it. (HT @lofitribe)

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“Think Different” Ad

Posted on December 28, 2009 at sometime around 1:16 pm

think-different

This is an ad from 1997 by Apple. Video is above, text below. (HT @EssentialShift) Read More »

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Siggy’s Blogroll

Posted on October 19, 2009 at sometime around 7:29 pm

blog

Jesus/Church Blogs

Brian McLaren: Liberal author, speaker, and activist for the Kingdom of God

Church Crunch: Technological/Web Thoughts for improving and advancing the mission of Jesus of Nazareth.

Church Matters: Helpful Biblical ideas for the local church.

Church Relevance: Free online resource created to help train ministries how to more effectively reach people.

Dan Kimball: California pastor and frequent blogger on the things of Jesus of Nazareth.

Donald Miller: Story teller. Progressive Christian thinker. Author of “Blue Like Jazz”.

LifeChurch.tv: Swerve’s purpose (LifeChurch.tv’s blog) is to share and learn from leaders who are passionate about reaching this world for Christ.

Matthew Paul Turner (Jesus Needs New PR): “The Christian Jon Stewart”, frequent blogger, author of “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess”.

Michael Hyatt: CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company

Out of Ur: Top Christian blog for ministry leaders

Pete Wilson: Lead pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN.

Peter Rollins: Emerging teacher who just moved to NYC in late 2009. Author of “How (Not) to Speak of God”.

Ragamuffin Soul: Talented musician, teacher, and author, Carlos Whittaker. An authentic, real Christian.

Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake: Dwight from “The Office” has a team that seeks to “de-lamify” God and faith conversations

Relevant Magazine: Awesome magazine that “covers God, life, and progressive culture”. Great articles.

Rob Bell: Author and pastor. Writes great books and speaks even better sermons. Founder of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI.

Rod White: Progressive Brethren In Christ pastor in downtown Philly at Circle of Hope.

Scot McKnight: Frequent blogger on progressive Christianity

Shane Hipps: Progressive author and Christian preacher of emerging culture and a “third way faith”.

Stuff Christians Like: Humorous blog making fun of the stuff that Christians like

Tony Jones: Liberal Christian thinker and frequent blogger at Beliefnet

Worship

All About Worship: Worship Music Highlights

David Crowder: Worship leader who makes some good Jesus music.

Worship Matters: Bob Kauflin’s Thoughts and Resources on Worship (author of a book by the same title)

Worship Together: Worship resources and reviews.

…For more worship links, go to this previous post of mine: Online Worship Resources.

Music (I like Indie stuff, just so you know…)

Brooklyn Vegan: NYC-based indie music focused on music news.

Paste Magazine: Leading source of independent music reviews

Pitchfork: The indie elitist site. :)

Stereogum: A music-oriented blog that focuses mainly on independent and alternative music MP3s, videos, news, reviews, etc.

Others: Gorilla vs. Bear, LargeheartedBoy, IndieMuse.

Marketing

Barna Research Group: Visionary research on the intersection of culture and faith.

Church Marketing Stinks: Reasons why church marketing is awful and helpful solutions to fix it.

Seth Godin: The most brilliant mind on marketing and business alive.  Well…possibly.

Missions/Social Justice Organizations

Hope International: Microfinancing for those in need.

International Justice Mission: Leading. Advancing. Overcoming. Bringing justice and awareness to humans in slavery.

World Vision: Huge Christian humanitarian charity organization.

Friends

A Family Without Borders: Friends from Minnesota who share their stories of adopting two children from Ethiopia.

Chris Flinchbaugh: Progressive writer, musician, and leader of my former house church.

Jen Siegrist: Friend from Lancaster who creates free music mixes that are always a good time.

Katie Klos: Infrequent blogger, but good friend from Geneva College and good writings on “Thoughts. Struggle. Faith.”

Rhys Searles: Friend from college who is a youth pastor in Nashville, TN.

Shawn Anthony: My former pastor, incredible writer/leader, frequent blogger on the Kingdom of God.

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*Note: Just because someone is listed on this blog roll does not mean I endorse everything they say.  I read a variety of readings from a variety of people on a variety of topics.  I also frequent a lot of other sites, but thought this could be helpful for people who were interested in some of my influences.

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