Lazy Saturday afternoon thought: How many email inboxes (or email addresses) do you currently manage?
My count is 5, and that’s not including some masked addresses.
Holy cow. Is that not just insane? What happened?!
Does this say anything about where we’re headed…? Does this say anything about us?
[Image from David]
This is our obligatory post to announce that yet another blog has been created in the world wide web.
But it’s so much more than that; this blog is a part of a growing community of people passionate about creatively using our gifts and technology for the Kingdom: It’s the 8BIT Network.
Help us do something incredible and be a part of something unique.
Oh, if we could be so honest! (See video above for those viewing in RSS)
Talking with a client this past week revealed how many people still think that perfect honesty is not the best policy.
I disagree.
I think we’ve culturally moved to a place where being transparent is one of the highest values in terms of social media and that it’s far too easy to spot a fake now. Although there’s always a line of being wise and discerning with what we blog and tweet about the point is that whatever we do decide to publish we should be honest about.
In other spheres it’s really more for your audience than for yourself, but as Christians I think it’s the other way around; being honest is part of what we do, let’s stay above reproach in all things.
A small notice in my inbox alerted me to the fact that Google has given ChurchCrunch a PageRank of 5/10.
Made my day, to say the least.
I’ve been happy with the growth and it’s been steady over the last year or so. It’s slowed down a bit but that’s because I’ve been spending more time planning than producing, and hopefully all will reap the benefits of that time well spent (or I’d like to think so).
One of the significant upcoming events is the growth of ChurchCrunch into other spheres and topics. There is an obvious need for solid, consistent, and valuable content that is practical in nature for the Church and Non Profits and I plan on providing that.
The simple fact (and this is really not a secret or anything) is that we’re looking into expanding and we’re going to need your help and contributions to make it happen. When I started this blog I was given a much larger vision for it; launching into that vision directly, though, would never have worked: You have to start small and then build up into it, especially in the online space.
In the next few months you’ll start hearing more about our progress, and we may start asking more directly for your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. ChurchCrunch has always been about community involvement and we’ll keep doing that if you let us.
So start dreaming again. Start thinking so much bigger than just 1 blog. Realize the gross need that has to be filled and imagine being a significant part in it. Because we’ll need your help.
Can’t wait to get you in on the action.
We are rolling out two experiences in January that are targeted at different crowds.
One is basically what you have come to expect from an internet campus, essentially a live stream of our Sunday morning experience. This is targeted at people looking for a church experience on the web.
The other experience is our big focus and will consume the bulk of our energies. This second experience is targeted at unchurched people and will look nothing like church.
The Internet Campus, like our physical Campuses, needs to be financially self reliant at three years. At one of our brainstorming sessions a couple weeks ago, the thought of running ads on some of our sites came up. We haven’t made any decision on it yet, it’s just a thought, so I thought I would engage the ChurchCrunch community on this one.
How could ads be used to support ministry oriented web space and still stay on mission, if at all?
It probably hurts other people’s eyes too.
And that’s not even the biggest issue though because if bad design didn’t impact effectiveness of message then who would really care?
But it does. Bad design produces bad results in the online space. This is so obvious that it’s painful (pun intended…?).
Be encouraged! There are tons of free resources out there to help you get some better design without breaking the bank. All you need to do is ask, investigate, and use Google to search for some answers (seriously).
Do something about “obviously” bad design. Be more effective.
This is a guest post by Chris Ames
One of the advantages of an online ministry is the inherent asynchronous nature within which it executes. Historically, if you wanted to get something accomplished in a church or non-profit the expected modus operandi would be for the team to be centrally located (or at least available) during a specified block of time on a typical work day to collaborate synchronously with other living, breathing human beings.
And while some of this also translates into the world of online ministry, a good bit does not. I want to focus on that for a moment because it is a game-changer.
Ready to recognize? Read more after the jump.
Wow, I’m really impressed.
AppChurch, a simple iPhone application that’s small in size but big in features, allows you to easily access your church’s microsite.
You can get church information, links to relevant websites, see upcoming events, and even download sermons.
Developed by Godios, Inc, the business model is a basic subscription service that you pay monthly. You really can’t beat $7.00 a month, especially if all you need is what’s being offered here.
I see it as a great way to get your ministry’s feet “wet” in the iPhone app game and see if it’s effective and a reasonable solution for your ministry long term. Then go after the bigger fish if necessary.
But, I can see a lot of smaller ministries (and even decent sized ones) using this for a long time.
What a simple win!
Again, I’m impressed.
I’m super-impressed with this video (embedded above) from the guys at FairHaven Church, who are obviously hiring a new Communications Director.
They put the time and the effort into styling a nice looking page, getting a script built, and pulling it off. It’s obvious to me that they value simple and effective communication, and using web technology (well) is obviously a value as well.
I know that whatever they invested to create this will pay off.
You invest in what you value, pure and simple.
[HT: MediaSalt]
YourPrayerChain.com launched and I’m having doubts.
It’s not that I doubt whether prayer is awesome (which it is) or whether or not it’s effective (I know it is) but whether these types of sites are effective or even necessary?
Maybe that’s just me. I’ll leave it at that. My hope is that it’s actually used by people and that it encourages a few, at least before the site is abandoned and overrun by spammers (just kidding!).
It’s built on WordPress and the P2 Theme. What are your thoughts?
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