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Web 30

The Church at Starbucks

Posted By on January 2, 2010

This is a Guest Post by Sam Mahlstadt.

A couple weeks ago, Winston-Salem had quite a freak snow storm, at least by North Carolina standards. The result was our church’s trailer, full of our equipment – stuck in a storage facility by the snow and ice.

Enter the advantage of being a small, mobile, flexible church: We went to Starbucks.

We honestly only expected a couple people to show up. After all, we weren’t having “church” and didn’t think people would respond. Wrong. Over 30 people crammed into the Starbucks, including a couple first-time guests.

And the most shocking thing? The guests knew we weren’t having a service. This was eye opening to me, and I think speaks to the nature of our corporate gatherings. Let me say this before I proceed: I love a good corporate gathering, worshiping together, hearing a sermon (and/or giving a sermon). I love it all.

Here’s the thing though. Something happened… Continue Reading…

Google, RSS, Strategy, Web 11

A Look at ChurchCrunch Stats: RSS Feedburner Growth

Posted By on January 1, 2010

As you can see from above, last year ChurchCrunch started with about 280 subscribers who were reading daily. I can actually remember taking a look at this particular statistic around that time and telling myself that my hairy goal of making 1,000 by the end of the 1st anniversary was going to be a tight squeeze.

Apparently, my concern didn’t last too long as this past May we broke 1,000 RSS Subscribers.

At the same time I also created a new goal of breaking the 2k barrier before the end of that years as well. 3 months later we managed to meet that goal of 2,000 RSS Readers.

Sweet.

Although I may not have been explicit, I thought that it would be an insane goal of getting 3,000 by the end of the calendar year. As you may already know, we weren’t able to convert. Our top line reading was about 2,834 I believe. I captured a screen the day after that mark:

All good, right? I’m not at all worried or upset about not making my goals; I think it’s a healthy practice of failing!

From here on out I can’t imagine that I’m going to spend much time on this particular metric in terms of goals (although I definitely have some for 2010!) and I think there will be a number of factors that may impact it anyways (more to be known soon!).

How has your year been in 2009 for RSS growth? What have you learned?

Internet Church, Strategy, Twitter, Web 5

Confessions of an Internet Pastor – Six Month Review

Posted By on January 1, 2010

Six months ago my wife, myself and our two kids (6 & 4 at the time) and our weimaraner packed everything we owned into a Penske moving truck and left Murrieta, CA for Austin, TX. We moved here because I took a job as Internet Campus Pastor at Gateway Church and it has been a fun ride so far, and this is just the beginning.

New Town

Austin has been great. It really is an ideal town for my family and I. In fact, when I was doing assessments prior to coming across the Gateway Church opportunity with a couple church planting networks, the ideal target community for me was one that had a Whole Foods (liberal/highly educated communities) and Austin is where their corporate headquarters are located…sweet! One thing I can say is that I don’t think I could move to any town in Texas other than Austin…if you’ve been here, then you know.

New Church

Well, of course, that’s why we moved out here. It’s always a challenge to come on staff at a church, especially if you come in from out of town. Churches are living breathing things and getting in sync with all of the little peculiarities of a church can take some time. I can say that, in a good way, it feels like we have been here for years.

New Friends

For the last 6 years I have been planting churches in Murrieta and the bond you form with people that you have been in the trenches of church planting with are life-long. For anyone moving, it’s leaving friends that is the hardest part and we feel that all the time; Facebook, Twitter and blogs have helped. We have made some great friends already and we are well on our way to growing solid roots here in Austin.

The Little Things

I miss Mexican food. TexMex sucks.

I am jones’n big time to get on top of a mountain. Probably the single hardest thing for me…I have always had mountains right outside my window. Texas is pretty dang flat.

The arts and culture are incredible here in Austin, it’s as an eclectic of a city as you will find anywhere in the United States and we’re loving it.

The Next Six Months

We launched a new site this year on WordPress and we are starting to lay the framework for a more long-term and robust solution on Expression Engine 2.0. The Sunday morning portion of our Internet strategy goes live on January 17th and The Intersection is scheduled to go live February 21.

Watch ChurchCrunch for news about our live pre-launch party.

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