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Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: 5 Improvements Your Church Website Needs Immediately

It’s 2013 and the majority of churches have a website, this is good news. Unfortunately, the mere presence of a website isn’t enough. Just as a pastor must prepare, research for and develop a sermon, churches should prepare for a website, research websites and develop a plan as to why and how they should utilize a website. A 2011 LifeWay research project shows less than half of the congregations that have a website actually use it for interactive purposes. Scott McConnell, the director of LifeWay Research, summed it up by saying, “Many churches are using their website like a Yellow Pages ad characterized by basic information and infrequent updates.”

From 2000 – 2012, internet users grew an outstanding 566% worldwide. Currently, there are over 2.4 billion internet users worldwide. What does that mean? It means a church who utilizes their website has an amazing opportunity to, not only reach local people, but reach those 2.4 billion people who are actively connected to the internet. No longer are websites a simple source of information for local visitors, church websites are now an active and growing source of ministry, sharing the Gospel and making disciples all around the world. In 1534, Martin Luther finished his German translation of the Greek and Hebrew bible. Through media and the technology of the printing press, Luther was able to make the Gospel available to a large number of Germans and put a spark in the protestant reformation. The fact that so many churches have a website is great news, but are those churches using the available media and technology to spread the Gospel and make disciples? Some churches are, but there are a lot of churches that could improve their websites. There are five areas I believe church websites need to improve upon:

1. A website isn’t an online brochure
Out of the five areas church websites need to improve upon, this is the greatest most important area. As it is said in the real estate business, “location, location, location”, the mantra of church website owners should be “Content, content, content”. In the same LifeWay Research survey I talked about earlier, one of the results show 42% of churches only update their site once a month. Most church websites only show the basics, such as location, service times, church staff and an overview of their ministries. The question is, why more? Why should a church add more content, aren’t those the most important things a visitor looks for when trying to find out information about churches?

The answer goes back to my introduction. Church websites should not only focus on providing information to potential guest, they should also be a source of ministry and sharing the Gospel. Yes, absolutely add information for your local audience, but don’t neglect the fact that your website can and will be accessed by people seeking answers to biblical questions. People locally and people on the side of the world will come into contact with your website.

2. A website isn’t it’s own entity
Everyone has heard of Twitter, Facebook and the recent explosion in social media growth. One of the church’s main reasons for having a website should be engagement. To obtain growth in engaging potential members, visitors and those who are curious about the church’s message, church website owners should not constrain themselves within the bounds of their own website. Going back as far as the book Acts, community has played a huge part in the church. Personal and local community is great but digital community should also be a consideration when managing a website. Church websites need to integrate with Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media websites to help build a community. Anytime there is an update made to your website or an event going on at your church are you tweeting about it, posting a Facebook status update or adding pictures to Pinterest? Does your church website show an active stream of your church’s Twitter account or show a Facebook updates widget? Is it possible for members and guests to share a blog post on your site to Facebook directly from the blog post page itself? Your church website should be viewed as the hub of your online community. Church websites should allow direct interaction with social media from the website and social media should be directing people back to the churches website.

3. A website isn’t enough, it must look good
I might step on a few toes but a large majority of church websites are…well…not attractive and that’s a problem. A website is the digital face of your church, a representation of how much importance the church places on it’s online presence, the proverbial book cover of your church. We all do it, we all judge books by their cover. Unless we know the content of the book is exactly what we want, the cover is the first thing we notice and analyze. If content is king, design is a knight in shining armor protecting that king. If a church website has a lot of great content but the colors have bad contrast, the text formatting is off or the website breaks on certain browsers than the potential of loosing visitors is pretty great. Why do companies pay tons of money for graphic designers to create beautiful package and marketing designs? Good design builds trust. One of my favorite quotes comes from Steve Jobs:

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

Did you get that? According to Jobs, design is the expression of the soul of the product or service. Does your church website express the soul (in a manner of speaking) of your church?

4. A website must have a purpose
I see a lot of churches that throw up a website and forget about it. It’s nothing more than a flyer or (see problem #1) an online brochure. When I look at these sites, I see a clear evident lack of identity, focus and purpose. If the only purpose of having a website is display the exact same information that can be found in the yellow pages or by a quick two minute call to the church, what is the point? Does your church website have a purpose? If not, why doesn’t it? If you’re not sure what purpose your church website should serve, I will tell you. It should serve as a means to share the Gospel and make disciples. One way this can be accomplished is through podcasting. When a pastor preaches a sermon, record it and put it up on your website. You can also submit your church sermons to iTunes. This opens up your sermons to millions of potential listeners. Another area which your website can build its purpose is through blogging. Pastors are extremely intelligent people and have a wealth of knowledge. Often times, they are also good writers. If your church website doesn’t have a blog why not? To get started, your pastor could easily sum up his sermon preparation notes into a 500 – 750 word blog post. This would provide a weekly blog post and would most likely be a great source of information for someone. You could also ask the deacons or elders to volunteer writing a blog post once a week or even month. Another area which can be taken advantage of is highlighting events. A church events calendar will give an inside look to visitors at what your church places emphasis on in relation to local community. If a visitor sees that your church has a dedicated group working at a homeless shelter once a week or doing odd jobs such as yard work for the elderly they will realize your church cares for others outside of the church. If a teenager visits your church website and sees pictures or videos from a recent youth group outing the will see church youth groups can actually be fun, exciting and laid back.

5. Intimidation is the greatest barrier
Volunteers are very helpful and a lot of churches rely on volunteers to handle website related issues. The thing is, sometimes volunteers just don’t have time. If your church has a website there should be someone on staff that knows how to add content, fix issues and manage the website. This means learning the backend administration panel, learning basic HTML/CSS and not being afraid of the unknown. I have encountered tons of ministers who say something along the lines of, “Well we want a site but we just don’t know anything about the technology.” That’s a shame because all it takes is a little bit of patience and a little bit of time. A lot of people are intimidated by websites and technology but when you think of your website as a ministry, why would you not spend some time learning how to improve it? If it’s possible to know the record of your favorite sports team for the past ten years, it’s possible to learn a little bit about website management and maintenance.

In the past five to ten years, technology has grown at an outstanding rate. In my opinion, the internet can be one of the church’s greatest tools locally and globally. I find technology absolutely fascinating inside and outside of the church, unfortunately I see technology advancing outside of the church at a far greater pace than inside the church. Having a well designed, user friendly, engaging, socially integrated website is, in my opinion, one of the greatest tools a church can have and use. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Will our churches use this technology to share the Gospel and make disciples or will we overlook a valuable tool.”

Dallas Bass is a professional web developer living and working in Amarillo, Texas. He is also the founder of ChurchPres, a business dedicated to providing a cost effective easy solution for churches who need a website. You can learn more by visiting www.churchpres.com or his personal blog www.dallasbass.com

4 View Comments March 24, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Lifelong Learners – Stretched by Shortcomings

Learning should not stop the day your ministry begins. Becoming an effective leader requires you to be stretched by shortcomings in order to become the best leader you can possibly be. Lifelong learners become stretched by shortcomings when they become aware of their shortcomings, make a conscience effort to learn from them and open themselves up to correction.

Becoming aware of your shortcomings
It’s pretty easy to fall into the trap of making the same mistakes over and over again. That happens when you become comfortable with a certain way of living. Whether your shortcoming is that you jokingly make fun of people or that you are always late, you have first got to recognize the shortcoming so you can get on the right track.

Conscience effort
After recognizing your shortcoming you’ve got to put forth a constant conscience effort into making a change. If you are constantly conscience, you are able to catch yourself before falling. You will catch yourself and be back on the right track. Accountability is very helpful as well in staying on track.

Open to correction
All of us can use a little correction now and then. Opening yourself to correction allows you to grow in ways unimaginable. People who are open to correction are teachable; they are the lifelong learners who are stretched by their shortcomings. Put aside your pride, you do not always know what’s best. Be ready to listen the next time someone corrects you.

Though you may fail at a particular task, it is important you get back up and try again. Lifelong learners are aware of their shortcomings, make a conscience effort to learn from them and open themselves to correction. With a desire, you too, can become a lifelong learner stretched by your shortcomings.

Ashley Fordinal is the Children’s Church volunteer at Family Life Church in Sulphur Springs, TX.

1 View Comments March 24, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts Non-negotiable Aspect of Leadership: Leaders are Team Builders

Leadership continues to be one of the hot topics in the church today. Now more than ever before we are seeing books, seminars and coaching sessions revolving around leadership. My hope of writing this series of blog posts isn’t to bring anything new to the table; rather I want to share with you what in my opinion are four non-negotiable aspects of Christian leadership.

Have you ever tried to lead without a team? How did it go for you?

I am slowly learning over time about team building and team management. I have had two scenarios of leadership that have taught me the hard way a lesson I should have picked up on simply by following the example of Jesus.

My first hard lesson came when I worked at a summer camp in a leadership position. I wasn’t in charge of building a team, rather training them and working alongside the leadership team. My failure came in the form of not training people to do tasks I could do more easily by myself.

The second lesson came while working in my current church. I work in a midsized Canadian church and struggled for a long time with building a team. I procrastinated and it backfired. As a result of my failure to build a team I dealt with a period of decline in attendance and struggles of being overwhelmed with my workload.

I believe that we learn from the example of Jesus when it comes to team management. The first lesson we can learn simply is that we need a team. One of the first things Jesus did during his ministry was to gather his disciples. In the first chapter of Mark we see Jesus beginning his ministry by sharing the Gospel, and while walking along he sees Simon and Andrew and says to them “Come, follow me… and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1: 16,17). In addition to these twelve He also called an additional 72 to go and prepare the way for His coming. (Luke 10:1) Not only does Jesus appoint people to a place on His leadership team, He also takes the time to empower them. “And He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.” (Matthew 10:1) A key skill as a leader is to find a team and surround oneself with them. Once a good leader has found a team they will equip and train these new leaders with the skills to carry out the necessary tasks at hand.

How do you build and empower your team?

Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. You can follow his blog at: kylecorbin.blogspot.com or Twitter: @CorbinKyle

Add Comment March 24, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Transformational Youth Ministry

Theresaheadshot I’ve never felt more passionate about loving students than I do today. I count it an honor to be a part of Gods team as he transforms the most typical teen into an unbelievably spiritually aware teen.

Typical teens figure out how to survive each day- there may be no victories, no failures, but they’ve mastered the art of getting from one day to the next. Aware teens take notice of the day, recognizing the opportunities the gift of that day brings, even through disappointment. Aware teens look for lessons through hurt, anger, pain, and need. They are students of hope, mercy, forgiveness, and kindness. This kind of awareness only comes through the transformational love of God.

As a youth worker, I’ve made it my mission to serve, and cheer students on as God does his transformative work in their life. I love how God takes ordinary people and changes the world. I also love that he takes the most typical teen, and through his great love, transforms them into agents of his glory.

God transforms the heart and life of a teen. We serve, cheer, coach, and support as…

People of prayer
Several teens in my youth group were struggling with the use of drugs. I was worried. I had meeting after meeting with parents, interventions with students, and in a moment of desperation I decided to pray. I should have started with prayer. I printed out the names of students in my youth ministry and taped them all over my office walls. Every time I entered my office I got on my knees and prayed for each of them by name. I was desperate for God to do his transformative work. One by one these students began facing the issue and seeking help. Prayers were being answered. I will never underestimate the power of prayer in youth ministry.

Servant leaders
To participate fully in the transformation of teens, it requires more than facilitating the logistics of youth ministry. We must serve and invest in every student in our group. The success of a smiling, participating, pleasant youth group was once so rewarding to me. Every well-planned youth service and trip put me on the mountaintop. But then something happened. My youth leaders and I started talking to individual teens. We listed students by name and assigned them to a leader. Their names were not scratched of the list until an adult had invested one on one time with them. We did this over and over again. Many of these engagements turned into mentoring relationships. Once we learned to take the initiative, and began learning the needs of each individual student, we could serve each of them with new meaning and purpose. We discovered that our happy youth group was dealing with depression, abandonment, sexually addiction, and more. We now knew how we could serve. If a family needed a car, we knew about it. If a student needed counseling we knew about it. If a student needed affirmation, we knew about it. We were serving and respond to the hurts and needs of our teens.

Influencers
The godly influence of a loving adult in the life of a teen has huge impact. The things we model for our students will be the biggest lesson they remember. Teens not only do what we say, they do what we do. They are learning from our example. Are we patient, kind, loving, gracious, giving, and authentic? Or are we tense, hurt, bitter, frustrated, busy, and disingenuous? They may forget all about your theme from summer camp 2012, but they won’t forget you.

How has God’s transformational work in the life of a teen blown your socks off? How have you and your team participated in that transformation? Share with us in the comments.

Theresa Mazza has been serving teens for over a decade both in the church and outside the walls of the church. She is a youth advocate, writer, and speaker residing in Broomfield, Colorado. She can spin a basketball on her finger like only Pistol Pete can, and plays a mean Ukulele! @Theresa_Mazza www.theresamazza.com

2 View Comments March 17, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Do Something

“Nothing happens until something moves.” Albert Einstein

Conferences are always mountaintop experiences. Training, sessions, tracks for days…then the real work begins when you return home. Here a few things you can do to make your ministry move:

Do something new. Do something you have never tried before. Totally new. Try something you believe will fail or seems non-relevant. Who knows? It might just work.

Do something different. Make little changes. Normally break small groups into gender? Try it by grades, school, favorite subject, etc. Write your message in your office? Try a local coffee shop, at home, in your car, or at the mall. Present your message via video (edited/non-edited) or Skype in from a different location at the church or a local school. Always have on-stage games? Try a group game. Fully reliant on technology during your service? Try a service that doesn’t use any computers, projectors, screens, or microphones.

Do something else. This is a “totally different.” Normally have small groups? Do away with them for one month and replace it with baking cookies for the church nursery. Maybe this is something you have done before and shelved it for some reason or another. I always hold meetings somewhere else other than my office, but this week I asked everyone to come to my office. This decision reaped huge dividends. It was different, and shook the conversation up.

Nothing happens until something (or someone) moves, so go do something!

What can you do this week to make your youth ministry move?

Andrew Brashaw is a youth pastor of 8+ years in New Lothrop, MI. He doesn’t blog or own an iPhone, but he does Twitter once a month @andrewbrashaw.

Add Comment March 17, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Tips on Welcoming Students

Have you ever walked into a place where you did not know anyone? Do you remember what you were thinking? Just imagine this story:

The day before Wednesday night, you were invited by a friend at school to come to church. Your friend even gave you an invite card with a cool design on it. Even though you aren’t a “church person” you decide to give it a try. Your Dad begrudgingly decided to take you but made a few comments on the drive. He said, “you know son, churches are all messed up, that is why I don’t go. I think it is good you are going but son, don’t get your hopes up, most of the those people are hypocrites anyway.” As he gets out of the vehicle, he quickly notices the buzz of people whizzing by. He sees people smiling. He watches adult leaders giving high-five’s and fist bumps. He is unsure. He thinks, “Is this church filled with uncaring people? What will happen when I walk in? Is my friend inside? I wonder where I will sit? I don’t have a Bible, I sure hope nobody calls on me to read or pray.” He decides to go for it. He walks in the door as an adult leader welcomes him with the love of Christ. He begins to wonder, “Will I belong here? Will I find people who truly care about my life?”

You see, this is a powerful moment. We must always think like this student. If we become too focused upon the status quo of the ministry, we can easily miss the people who walk in each week who need the love of Christ.
The key to building an environment of acceptance is by meeting people at their point of need. Each student who walks in the doors of the church is loved by God. Every student matters to Him so much that the heartbeat of the ministry should be to meet them with the unconditional love of Christ.

Here are a few steps we take on welcoming students:

First impressions. In the first 30 seconds of the student arriving, the goal is for a student to have some type of interaction. Any type of welcome (fist bump, high-five, kind word and smile) is huge to ease the pressure when each person enters.

t_shirts_source

Intentional Conversations. Some students do not have quality conversations. The intermittent attention spans of students are a result of our media saturated culture. We should make it a priority to have face-to-face conversations with students in our ministries. One of the goals should be for each leader to have 2-3 quality conversations with students each time. Whether it is a few minutes or if a student is pouring their heart out, the importance of an encouraging conversation is the key to building an environment of acceptance.

No One is Isolated. Look out for students who tend to isolate themselves and try to sit by themselves. Lead students and volunteers to always be looking for opportunities to build relationships with other students, especially those who are new.

Greeting team: We include a grade per month to come early and help the adult greeters welcome students. They help pass out information and encourage people as they enter. Each student has a name tag with “greeter” on the lanyard as well as adult volunteers.

token

New students: They will receive a Source tube filled with random candy as a gift as they arrive. Inside of the tube also has a wooden coin. The coin has our logo and it is a $1 token towards the café.

Once a student has visited, I send out our first time guest postcard with a personal note thanking them for being our guest and some encouragement. On the postcard there is a note for them to bring back to receive a free Source Student Ministry t-shirt!

What tips do you have on welcoming students? Add to the conversation below in the comments!

Josh Robinson is a the Pastor to Students at Church @ The Springs, a husband and a father. Check out his blog at joshrobinson.cc or follow him on Twitter: @josh_robinson

7 View Comments March 17, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Teaching Kids to Love Their Neighbors

We all are called to a mission greater than ourselves. “The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:31) Our love should reach out to our neighbors and in turn, reach the world. But how do we get this message out to our kids? We can start by being an example, and then bring awareness of their neighbors to them and make a difference.

Be the example
Kids and even people in general, learn the most when watching. Show them what a true neighbor looks like. A neighbor includes: family, friends, those placed in authority, and even enemies. As an example, we should go out and choose to love our neighbors regardless of how they choose to treat us. When our neighbor gives us a dirty look, look back with loving eyes. When the elderly man who is constantly grumpy and speaks negatively towards you drops his cane, pick it up for him. By planting seeds of love in your neighbor’s heart, you are planting seeds of love in the hearts of the kids you minister to.

Bringing awareness
What is going on with your neighbor? Are they in pain? Are they in a time of need? Have they just made a big accomplishment in their life and want someone to celebrate with? You can make your kids aware of their neighbors by involving them. When your neighbor is in pain, have the kids make a card for them and take a small group of kids to their house to pray over them. When your neighbor is in a time of need, have your kids host a fundraiser for them if funds or needed or grab a group of kids to clean your neighbor’s home if they are depressed and their home is a mess. When your neighbor needs someone to celebrate with, involve the kids in planning a surprise party for them.

Make a difference
As you involve the kids and bring awareness to them, their creative juices start flowing and their desire to love their neighbors will significantly increase! Looking for ways to reach out to their neighbors will become natural to them and they will make a difference in their communities and have the means to change the world!

Get out into your community with the kids God has placed under you and show them what it truly means to love your neighbor. Lives will be changed and hearts will be filled with the love of God because you chose to make a difference!

Ashley Fordinal is the Children’s Church volunteer at Family Life Church in Sulphur Springs, TX.

Add Comment March 17, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts Non-negotiable Aspect of Leadership: Leaders are Learners

Leadership continues to be one of the hot topics in the church today. Now more than ever before we are seeing books, seminars and coaching sessions revolving around leadership. My hope of writing this series of blog posts isn’t to bring anything new to the table; rather I want to share with you what in my opinion are four non-negotiable aspects of Christian leadership.

When I was in Bible College we took a trip to the Canadian Rocky Mountains for a backpacking trip. There were 27 of us in total: 20 students, 4 teachers, and 3 guides. Our goal was to backpack from one side of a mountain pass to the other in 3 days. Before we set out from basecamp we took a vote to choose two students from our group and make them trip leaders. The role of the trip leader was to join the guides in learning navigation and group leading skills. The ‘trip leaders’ were also in charge of choosing when to stop for the night and when to take meals etc. I was selected along with a girl named Courtney. We were chosen because each of us had experience from spending time in the outdoors and we knew how to read maps and use a compass. Off we went for three days; everything went great until the end of the second day when we decided to push forward so we could have a more relaxing third day. A problem arose as we headed towards our last camp we pushed the team too far. We didn’t listen to the fact that everyone was too tired and didn’t want to press on. In the end we had a group of tired and grumpy people; tears were shed, words exchanged and people were just downright miserable.

Fast-forward two years, and I am leading a trip of 16 teens as a guide. We have been pushing forward for a couple days straight and have to choose where to make camp for the night. I turn to my friend and co-guide and we start to decide whether we should push it or just take it easy for the end of the day. Suddenly I stop; it hits me that this could be a complete do-over of my Bible School trip. So I turn to the campers and ask them for their opinion, they leave it up to us guides but I can tell by their reaction that we should take it easy and stop short.

Making the decision to stop was one of the best decisions I could have made on that trip, and to be honest I almost didn’t make the right decision. But I took hold of a lesson I had learned in the past and put it into practice.

There are a number of instances in the Bible where we see God, teaching leaders to become learners. We can see examples in the life of Moses and the life and teachings of Jesus.

Moses was stubborn; God gave him numerous chances to really rely on Him; and Moses pushed back against God over and over. In the end it was his refusal to open his eyes to what God was showing him that prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land. On the flip side we see Jesus; fully God and fully man; even went through a period of growing in wisdom (Luke 2:52). We also learn from the parable of Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27) that God will give us a little bit to start and if we are faithful and learn from that, we will be blessed with more.

What are some ways that you are learning?

Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. You can follow his blog at: kylecorbin.blogspot.com or Twitter: @CorbinKyle