May 8, 2008

Small Churches Should Embrace Cheap Technology

Last week's poll/quiz revealed the encouraging stat that 62% of churches have a web site, up from 57% in 2005 and 34% in 2000. The results come from a recent Barna survey (nicely summarized with pretty graphics by Kent Shaffer).

One of the interesting, though hardly surprising, things about the survey is that no matter the technology--web sites, projection systems, e-mail newsletters, podcasting--large churches are adapting these new technologies much faster than small churches.

Continue reading "Small Churches Should Embrace Cheap Technology"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:02 AM
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May 7, 2008

Quiz Time Poll Results

The most recent Barna poll asked about church technology usage, comparing the results across the years 2000, 2005 and 2007. We decided to quiz you and see how well you would be in tune with what other churches are doing. We asked you what percent of churches you thought currently have a web site.

44% of you guessed guessed that 0-50% of churches have a web site. Maybe that number is so high because 0-50 is the biggest range. Or maybe you just don't think many churches have sites.

The numbers go down from there. 21% of you thought that half to 65% of churches have sites. Another 21% of you thought 66%-80% have sites. That's the group I was in, as an optimist.

The really optimistic bunch of you thought either 81%-100% of churches have web sites. That'd be pretty sweet, but unfortunately, only in DreamLand.

Well, if you didn't cheat, the results are in...

62% of churches have a web site. That's up from 57% in 2005 and 34% in 2000. Check out Kent Shaffer's wrap-up for more complete results, including stats regarding e-mail blasts, social networking, projectors and more.

This week, we want to know, did your church do anything to celebrate Earth Day, either corporately or around the office?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:27 AM
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May 6, 2008

People Gotta Know

Earlier this week my wife and I were part of a conversation with a handful of churches brought together in Northeast Los Angeles. Those present were about as eclectic as you could get: inter-denominational, multi-generational, multi-ethnic and people from every part of the socioeconomic spectrum. We had come to discuss how our individual churches could unite together and be one church community within our city, particularly as it relates to addressing issues of poverty, homelessness, education and other hot topics confronting us. Unfortunately, this was an historic moment for churches in Northeast Los Angeles.

In response to how we could broaden the conversations we were having on this night to the rest of the people in our church communities, an elder in the room stood up. Tony was from one of the nearby Catholic parishes responsible for the only 7-day-a-week feeding program in the area. They've gone from feeding a handful of people to nearly 150 every day for lunch, and dinner on Friday nights.

You can imagine my surprise when Tony said the majority of people in their parish did not know their own feeding ministry exists. "In spite of printing something in the bulletin every week," said Tony, "our own people have no idea what's going on." Many others in the room nodded in sympathetic frustration. The collective sigh sounded like this: "How could we get others in our church on board with social justice topics when it seems like very few others even care?"

Continue reading "People Gotta Know"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:10 AM
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May 5, 2008

Job Lab and Freelance Lab Roundup

We've seen some good action in our Freelance Lab and Job Lab since our announcement that they're free forever. If you haven't been checking them out, here are some opportunities for you.

Design a worship folder and banner for Concordia Lutheran Church.

Create a wedding booklet for First Baptist Fort Lauderdale.

Or, if you're looking for more full-time work...
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is looking for a webmaster and a graphic designer.

Remember, if you're looking to fill a communication-related project or job opening, our Freelance Lab and Job Lab are now completely free.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:05 PM
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May 2, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Stages, Shirts and Summer Fun

Let's talk numbers here for a minute. We're only 52 members away from the 2,000 mark in the Church Marketing Lab, and the conversations just get better and better. Last June we hit member 1,000, and now we're already at 2,000! In October, we were looking at the 3,000th posting. Now, we're almost at 5,000! So if you aren't in the conversation, head over and join in. Here's some of what we've been seeing lately:

Here's a smorgasbord of ideas for a vision-casting print.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Stages, Shirts and Summer Fun"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:43 AM
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April 30, 2008

Flickr Goes Video, So Does the Church Marketing Lab

If you haven't heard, Flickr added video capabilities to their photo-sharing site. And if you didn't know, the Church Marketing Lab runs on Flickr. What does that mean to you?

Well it means that while you could always submit graphics and photos to the Church Marketing Lab for review and discussion, now you can submit your church's videos as well. Got a series bumper? A skit? Something else?

hsojeel, a Church Marketing Lab member, explains it a little more deeply.

Keep in mind that video is only for pro users, which is a $25/year upgrade from the free Flickr service.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:08 AM
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April 29, 2008

Quality Church Resources for Free (or Cheap)

The folks at Muddy River Media got in touch with us to let us know about their new and free church resource site. So we got to thinking, why not compile some other church resources? But Kent Shaffer of Church Relevance thought it faster. So here is his list of great free and paid church resources.

It's a great list, and I can't think of anything to add to it. Anyone else have some favorites?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 11:02 AM
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Local Labs Poll Results

Local Labs have really been taking off. They've been organic and exponential so far, so we wanted to see how an average reader would feel about a Local Lab in their own city.

It looks like the majority of you are adventurous souls. You would love to check out a Local Lab and see what it's all about if there was one in your city. Well 23 cities nationwide (and one in Canada!) have Local Labs so far, so you might be in luck. That goes for the 36% of you who would go if it were convenient. It very well might be close to you.

That's 86% of people who would go if the conditions were right. Wow!

Another 11% of you don't really need Local Labs. Is that because you aren't a designer or church marketer? Or are you just that good? And a final 3% of you like to keep your friends on the Internet. Maybe that means we need a Second Life Local Lab on our very own Church Marketing Sucks Island?

And if you want a Local Lab, but there's not one in your area, just head over to the Church Marketing Lab, start a discussion thread titled "Local Lab [your city]" to hook up with some people in your area!

This week, it's a quiz time. The results of this quiz are out there on the Internet, so answer before you find them! And we'll post the study next week. So click through from your RSS reader and check our right sidebar to answer, what percent of churches would you guess have a web site?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 10:29 AM
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April 24, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Flickr Gets Video

If you're familiar with our Church Marketing Lab, you know it runs as a Flickr group. And if you're familiar with Flickr, you know they recently started allowing the upload of videos up to ninety seconds. Folks in the lab have used the occasion to upload videos containing unicorns, gnomes, peeing dogs, moving heads and the numbers one through thirty. Here's what I mean.

This is a promo for a series inspired by Napoleon Dynamite.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Flickr Gets Video"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:59 AM
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April 23, 2008

Socially Just Poll Results

As we launched our new Social Justice category, we wanted to know whether your church puts a priority on social justice. Here's the breakdown of what you had to say:

31% of your churches are hit or miss. Some things you emphasize and others you don't. Maybe you drink fair trade coffee but all drive Hummers. There are just some issues that don't resonate with your church.

And slightly less of you, 30%, say your church only has a few issues it emphasizes. Of those of you, what issues seem to be favorites for churches?

17% of your churches are all about the gospel justice, not the social justice. Hey, people need both, so keep bringing that gospel message.

16% of you hit social justice issues most of the time, but not quite always. Are there certain issues you stay away from, or you just can't quite get to all of them?

The final group is the 7% of you who are social justice junkies. If someone shows up in a Hummer without information about the child they sponsor, it's straight to the altar for some laying-on of hands. This is the small, but (probably) vocal minority.

This week, we're looking to find out would you attend a Local Lab meet-up in your area?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:54 PM
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