Should Pastors be on #Facebook, #Twitter and other #Social Media?

Should Pastors be on #Facebook, #Twitter and other #Social Media? What if they say something wrong? Digital Technology has had a profound affect on the identity of the Christian Minister. Here is the transcript from the video above.

Well I think technology with the ministries that I’ve worked with—again they’re very much personality driven—what people want access to in addition to the church is the pastor. What technology has done is kind of torn that veil from us. If you look at a typical weekend service you’re not able to get to the pastor. You’re in a church with thousands of other members and once the pastor is done preaching then he pretty much disappears. You might have an opportunity to shake hands with him on the way out, very rarely, but for the most part that’s it. You saw him preaching the sermon and then he’s off.

What technology does, especially in a case of a large minister like Bishop Jakes, that’s him actually using his Twitter. Most people don’t believe that, but that’s him actually on Twitter responding to people, good and bad. And when people ask him questions, him actually putting out the daily devotionals and him talking to people. That’s what he wanted; he wanted access to the people as well as them having access to him.

That’s what I think the digital technology does, it gives people access to the pastor and lets them, for good and bad, have a glimpse of what he is like outside of the pulpit because that’s all people are used to seeing. Or the especially high quality produced segments where the pastor’s talking about some type of campaign or some type of next message that’s coming up or something like that. No, you actually see this pastor on a arbitrary 12 p.m. Saturday talking about, “I’m out with my family running around at the park,” or something like that. You see how the pastor is a real person and may not always, usually is not 24-7 spiritual churchy mode all the time, and you get access to that.

That is a good thing but it also can be a bad thing because you actually see the pastor in a real light as far as the beliefs you 100% agree with and the beliefs that the pastor may have that you don’t agree with. You may see that via social media or any type of digital media. That’s the stuff that people sometimes can deal with or sometimes cannot deal with. And they look outside of the local area for the most part for the pastor to have a national reach or international reach; they associate that pastor with the church. They may not even know the name of the church but they know the name of the outreach ministry. For example, people know T.D. Jakes Ministries. They may not know The Potter’s House Church. People know Ever Increasing Faith Ministries but they don’t know it comes from Crenshaw Christian Center.

So they associate that pastor with the church and everything he says is an extension of that church. So, when he says something, they feel like the pastor offended them, the church offended them and they don’t want to be affiliated with that anymore. That’s the bad part about it; it amplifies the pastor’s reach.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/digital-technology-the-christian-minister/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=digital-technology-the-christian-minister

The iChurch Method TV – Ep. 5 – Do Churches Fear Technology?

Continuing my interview on the state of the church and technology, I gave the following insight on my thoughts on the church and technology.

The church as a whole, I’d say maybe there are about 5% of churches that really have a good grasp of technology. They have the resources to actually utilize a lot of the new things that are going on out there, but 95% of the churches I see out here just don’t have the resources. They know what they want to do but they don’t have the resources and expertise to actually implement it. They might have a volunteer come in and do the website; someone that really has a good heart but just doesn’t have the knowhow to make it look as effective as it could be. Or they may hire somebody that doesn’t have the integrity that the people in the church have. If they don’t have that integrity then they might just basically take them for their money and not give them a high-quality website.

So, in seeing those types of situations, I started to realize what they needed was someone they could trust and someone that also has the expertise to allow them to take advantage of the technology that we have out here because it changes rapidly.

[Question: How are people receiving the ichurch method strategy] It’s being received with resounding success. I think that once the light bulb goes on and people understand and realize that the method that I’m producing and the way that I’m presenting it to them is bringing down the technological barrier and helping them actually be able to utilize technology on a level that they understand, then they realize that they can use this to actually help advance their ministry online and not be intimidated by technology.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/do-churches-fear-technology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=do-churches-fear-technology

How Come Only a Few Fans See My Facebook Posts?

I originally wrote this post in Summer 2012 and I wanted to put it out again because a few weeks ago I read this article on AdAge Digital, “Facebook Admits Organic Reach Is Falling Short, Urges Marketers to Buy Ads“. I have seen quite a few fanpage owners ranting about how their posts are not reaching as many fans as previously and that something was going on. Well, Facebook has finally admitted their plan (which I knew was coming a few years back when they went public), which is to make you buy ads and promoted posts to reach your Facebook audience.

Developing social media strategies for churches was originally something that I did out of necessity because I would be one of few people working for a ministry that knew how to utilize social media. As these strategies started to show some measures of success, I would analyze, optimize and repeat. A good social media strategy is to provide inspiration, information and communication to the variety of networks that you are one. Once you provide that then analyze the results, fine tune your approach and then repeat the process. This always works, even though Facebook seems to be changing the rules.

Once Facebook went public, they changed from a focus on connecting people as a social network, to a profit minded, business entity. Facebook’s initial IPO was good but immediately their stock started tanking and they were losing market cap value. Many people wondered if Facebook even had a business model and what exactly were they selling.

Well Facebook does have a business model, and they sell you the ability to communicate with millions of people all around the world. Their Facebook newsfeed is their “Golden Goose” and millions of businesses strive to get their content into people’s newsfeeds. Facebook uses an algorithm called Edgerank to determine what information appears in your newsfeed and what doesn’t. Therefore, if you have 1000 friends on Facebook, you may only see the posts from 270-300 of them, based on who you communicate with the most. Likewise, if you are a fan page, and you have 1000 fans, on average about 125 of them will see your posts, based on who interacts with your page the most.

Now, here’s the kicker, Facebook has a “Promoted Post” option where they will “SELL” you the ability to have your post viewed by more people. So, not only do they not let your post be seen by all the people that have “Liked” your fanpage, they sell you the option to make that possible. From a business perspective, I must admit, I like it, but from a Facebook user perspective, this sucks.

Therefore, there are options such as Facebook NewsFeed Optimization where you actually have to develop a content strategy to push out high quality visual content via Facebook (ideally photos and videos), make a call to action in the post so that people interact with it (share or like this photo, click this link), and even promote the post to increase engagement. This is the new Facebook, it’s time to adapt.

**Another key point I want to add is that I am going to advocate that all the ministries, churches and organizations that I work with and speak to at events, please diversify your social media networks. Do not put all your eggs in Facebook’s basket. If you have the resources, please use Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and/or YouTube… (as well as Instagram, Pinterest and Vine).

For more information on this and other Social Media topics, get your copy or How to Get One Million Social Media Fans today.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/facebook-is-a-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-is-a-business

Social Media Webinar

Make sure to join Joel Sams from Symbiota.com and myself for a great social media webinar Dec 16 at 1pm CST and Dec 17 at 7pm CST. We will discuss 5 Big Mistakes Churches are Making on Social Media, mistakes such as:

• Not Engaging Your Audience
• Not Diversifying Your Networks
• Not Changing Up Your Content
• Not Getting the Word Out About Your Social Media
• Not Taking Advantage of Automation Tools
• and more…

Sign up below to be notified when registration opens on Thursday

We look forward to seeing you there!!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/webinar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=webinar

Create Multiple Products from a Sermon

You can take a powerful sermon, church pageant or any other film-worthy event from your church and create four different products which you can sell online and in your church bookstore to bring in revenue. Here’s what you’ll need:

• A computer, preferably a Mac;
• iTunes media software;
• A good video camera with microphone;
• ImTOO Video Converter standard video conversion software (available at imtoo.com);
• A Google Docs account, or Adobe Acrobat full version plus MS Word;
• A PayPal business account.

Film the Event
Use a good quality video camera with a microphone attachment to film the sermon or other event. This can be as easy and inexpensive as a Flip camera with a wireless lapel microphone, or a high quality digital camera with a microphone attachment. In any event, you want to make sure you pick up the audio as well as the video.

Convert the Video to a CD and MP3
These are the first two products you will create. Import your video into the ImTOO software and convert it to an MP3 file, which you can sell in your online store as a digital download. Then import the MP3 into iTunes and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in a clear plastic case and sell it at your church bookstore as well as in your online store. You can even make a label for the CD case using a picture taken from the original video.

Convert the Video to a DVD and MP4
Your original video should already be in MP4 format from your camera, but if not, convert it to MP4 in your ImTOO software. Good specs to use are video size 640 x 480, bitrate 1200kbps, max bitrate 2500kbps, audio bitrate 64kbps and sample rate 48000hz. This MP4 file can then be placed for sale as a download from your online store.

Next, download ImTOO DVD Creator or Nero Suite, and use this software to turn your MP4 file into DVD format, which you can burn onto DVDs to be offered for sale in your church bookstore and online store.

Use YouTube to Advertise your Videos
Consider putting one or more of your MP4 sermon files on YouTube with a link to your online store. This will help generate an appetite for more videos and bring in customers to your store, and ultimately to your church as well.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/create-multiple-products-from-a-sermon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=create-multiple-products-from-a-sermon

Can Technology Help Us Fulfill the Great Commission Faster?

Continuing my iChurch Method TV series, I was interviewed at Abilene Christian University about the Theological aspects of Digital Ministry and my response is below:

Theologically I look at technology as a way to reach many more people than using methods that are not technology. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about technology is the great commission and taking the gospel to the four corners. If I had to think of a way to fulfill the great commission in the fastest manner, technology is the first thing I think of so that was the first thing that comes to mind.

I think the technology provides a way for the church to have a much larger reach and give people a way to connect and enhance their lives spiritually. The drawbacks I see about technology in terms of a theological perspective is when the technology becomes something that’s worshipped and takes precedence over the message.

What I believe is technology for all intensive purposes has evolved over time, but we’re still just trying to convey the same message of the gospel. Whether we had this conversation a hundred years ago or a hundred years from now, the delivery method will continue to change and evolve but the message will still be the same. So as long as the message is the focus and not the technology then theologically I believe we are sound and practical in our approach.

So, I just want to make sure that when I’m speaking with churches and we’re talking about a theological perspective, as long as their theological concerns are not based on not understanding technology, coming from a place a fear of technology, or just a fear of change, then I believe that theologically we can continue to have a conversation about how to continue to get the gospel out.

But, if theologically we’re just making sure that we’re trying to make sure the focus is on the message and not the technology, because I’ve seen people that worship technology no matter what’s coming through it; it’s about technology. I just want to make sure that the message stays the focus.

Again, the main thing I look at is that technology gives us a faster effective way to get the gospel out to the entire globe.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/technology-great-commission/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=technology-great-commission

The iChurch Method TV – Why I wrote The iChurch Method

I wrote the book for a few reasons. One, because I wanted to get the information and knowledge that God had put inside of me out to the masses. I work for large churches; they have large budgets and great resources and stuff like that, but smaller churches may not have the resources or the expertise to hire a Jason Caston, so I wanted them to be able to have access to the information and knowledge that I had. I wanted to put these resources into a book format that they could get access to.

The book, for a low cost of an average book, $9.99 and $19.99 or something like that, you can buy the book and see the approaches that I took with these large churches. Now, when you see it happening with these large churches you may think it’s costing $10,000 dollars, $20,000 dollars, $100,000 dollars just because you think that church has that budget. In actuality it’s costing $100, $500, maybe $1000 dollars, and that’s well within the reach of a small church. So, I wanted them to be able to have access to that.

Literally the iChurch Method, the book, is a brain dump of what I do in a typical week working with these ministries. I don’t want people to think the book was something that’s not actually going on right now in real time. It’s not old technology; it’s real technology that’s current and going on right now. I wanted them to be able to have access to that.

I also wanted them to have access and reach people the same way large churches are doing it because when it comes to a website it doesn’t matter if you have a bible study in your living room or a small storefront church or a large mega church. The technology that you have access to is all the same, so you just need to have the resources and the knowledge and expertise on how to utilize it, and that’s what I put in that book.

After looking at the book, the next step is to figure out how you want to approach it. The book was written twofold. The first half of every chapter is written with a strategical perspective, so that’s for the decision makers or the pastors or the leadership to be able to make a well informed decision about what they want to do with the technology that was presented.

So, if a pastor reads the first chapter which is about websites, the first half of it is about the strategy of websites and why are we using them and what technology is being introduced to provide that solution, that way the pastor or leadership can have a well informed discussion with the technical person that may actually implement the solution. The pastor is well informed enough to have a conversation so that the technical person is not able to take advantage of them. That was another aspect of me writing the book was to empower leadership and pastors and the people of the smaller churches to have the knowledge to not let companies take advantage of them that are maybe out to just try and make a profit off of the church. I don’t want that to occur.

The next step is to figure out, from a strategical perspective, if you want somebody else to implement it for you. If so, then you can take this book, know exactly how you want to implement it, hand it to them and say, “Look, I want you to do what’s in chapter one, do what’s in chapter three, not so much chapter two; we’ll get to that later, and do what’s in chapter four. I read the book, so I know what’s in it and I just want you to implement the solutions that I’ve seen.” I think that would be the best approach for that.
Now, there’s another aspect to it if you have a pastor that’s tech savvy. Some pastors I’ve worked with have wanted to implement it themselves. So, the second half of every chapter is a technical section where I’ve actually given code snippets or I give screenshots of walkthroughs of how to implement and set up Facebook fan pages, how to set up podcasts or how to load up videos on Vimeo.com and stuff like that.

If you want to get hands-on and roll up your sleeves and actually do it, then I provide solutions for that as well and examples on how to do that. If people want to do it themselves, they can; otherwise they can hand it off to someone who can do it for them and they know exactly what it is they want done.

The last week of April 2013, maybe early May 2013, I’m going to release Volume Two of the iChurch Method. Volume One that I released was called How to Advance Your Ministry Online. That was just the introduction as far as me showing people how to utilize the technology and advance your ministry online starting from nothing.

With Volume Two, Changing the World When You Log In, is taking what was introduced in Volume One to another level. For example, in Volume One we talk about how to get your website up, what content management systems to use. In Volume Two we’re talking about taking that website that’s already implemented to another level using technology such as the parallax, responsive design, and stuff like that. We just want to keep taking things to the next level.

A good example is in chapter two. In Volume One we talk about multimedia, podcasting, online video, online streaming. In Volume Two in the multimedia section we’re talking about creating an entire internet church campus. Now I felt like I had to wait to give people information on how to implement an internet church campus because I wanted them to first have a website before they tried to jump up and try to create an entire internet church campus.

Once you start putting all these multimedia aspects together and these interactive aspects together, you can start creating that internet church campus, and that’s what I want to start guiding people towards with that.
Of course with social media, the next level of that is we’ve seen Facebook bought Instagram, we’ve seen Pinterest really take off, and we’ve seen this visual social media really take off based more around video and pictures and stuff like that and I want to educate and inform people on how to utilize that.

Of course in mobile, mobile websites are really the initial step of getting a church or ministry online, but now let’s talk about mobile apps and how to take that to another level. Let’s talk about tablets and how to best utilize those and implement and integrate those into the church.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/why-i-wrote-the-ichurch-method/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-i-wrote-the-ichurch-method

Join me at the eConnect Conference

What if your ministry could reach 10, 20 or 100 times more people.
Would your ministry like to use Social Media better?
Could your church benefit from learning how to better use technology to reach the world for minimal cost?

I would love for you to join me at the eConnect Conference on January 29-31, 2014 in beautiful Loveland, CO. Group Publishing is hosting this amazing event where we will be discussing how to use social media, online video and other online tools for greater ministry impact. I’m also very excited to be joined by my good friend Nils Smith, author of the Social Media Guide for Ministry and soon to be good friend, Brian Abbott.

At this event we will discuss social media, websites, mobile apps, and how all of these things translate to becoming effective ministry tools. I can’t wait for the conversations that will be had and hope you will be a part. Click here for more information and to register for this exciting event!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/join-econnect-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=join-econnect-conference

Objectives of an Effective Church Website

When designing a website for your church or ministry, you should start with your basic objectives. Ask yourself some hard questions, and take copious notes. What do you hope to accomplish with your website? Who is your target audience? With some exceptions, a church’s website has three basic objectives:

• To assist those who are looking for a church to attend, whether in person or online;
• To keep members up to date on current events, church activities and so forth;
• To provide spiritual content to help members grow in their faith.

Depending on your ministry, you may have slightly different objectives. Consider how the ones listed above apply to your own ministry, and write down different ones if need be. You will want to refer back to this in designing your website.

Website Design Criteria

Next you should consider some basic design criteria. This applies to all websites, whether for a church, a business or any other venture. Unfortunately, too many people disregard these factors and create websites that are entirely too busy, cluttered and difficult to use. If your website is not visually pleasing, easy to navigate and above all, useful and informative, potential visitors will leave and not return.

Build your website following these five design criteria, and you will have an electronic showplace that invites visitors to come on in and stay awhile:

• Clean and uncluttered. You should have a good mix of content and imagery, easy to read navigation buttons and one or two eye-catching banners to achieve just the right balance between simplicity and variety of content and options;
• Informative and full of helpful content;
• Interactive, causing the user to engage with the website;
• Interesting and engaging;
• Provide solutions, through content, multimedia and/or products.

Keep in mind that even though you are a spiritual organization, your basic goals are not altogether different than that of a business; you want to sell your product, to bring in customers, and grow your business. Your website needs to be fresh, informative, and provide some sort of take away value in order to attract visitors. That takes us back to your three main objectives.

If your website provides information about worship services, it is providing a useful service and will attract visitors who are looking for this information. If your website provides information about church activities, it will attract visitors who are already members of your congregation, who are looking for schedules, times and dates.

Finally, if your website is rich in spiritual content, it will bring in visitors who may not yet be members of your congregation but are searching for guidance. Consider posting videos of services or particularly engaging portions of sermons, written transcripts of sermons, helpful advice columns and evangelical blogs, to give visitors a real taste of your ministry.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/effective-church-website/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=effective-church-website

Website and Social Media for Ministry Online Course

I have had the great opportunity to work with Christian Leadership Alliance and Azusa Pacific University in creating as well as facilitating the Website and Social Media Ministry Course using The iChurch Method.

This 10 week course is designed to provide church leadership and tech staff with a better understanding of how to implement an effective online ministry presence. Give them a better understanding of how to create an effective ministry website and the benefits of it. The best ways to integrate multimedia into the church website and how to keep users engaged. How to implement online stores and online donation modules that create secure online transactions. How to provide inspiration, information and communication within the context of social media and take ministry to the people.

This online course can help your ministry go to the next level and better utilize your websites and social media networks. Sign up TODAY

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/website-and-socialmedia-onlinecourse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=website-and-socialmedia-onlinecourse

The iChurch Method – Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Since I have released The iChurch Method Vol. 2, I have been getting the same question, what’s the difference between the two books? And, which one should you buy?

First and foremost, the two books is that they are continuations of each other. They both focus on the five areas of The iChurch Method, which is websites, multimedia, eCommerce, social media and mobile. The difference between them is that vol. 1, How to Advance Your Ministry Online is the basics of The iChurch Method and vol. 2, Changing the World When You Login, is the advanced version of The iChurch Method.

 

Here is a breakdown

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Vol. 1 – How to Advance Your Ministry Online Websites Objectives of a Website Using a CMS (Content Mgmt System) Website Layout Multimedia Podcasting Live Streaming for FREE Archived Video Adding media to websites eCommerce Basic Online giving setup Basic Online store setup Social Media Social Media Strategy – Part 1 Sharing content from website Facebook/Twitter basics Mobile Mobile Websites

Vol. 2 – Changing the World When You Login Websites Advanced websites with Responsive design. Search Engine Optimization Analytics Multimedia Internet Church Campus Google Hangouts eCommerce Online giving forms Offline Commerce Social Media Social Media Strategy – Part 2 Visual Social Media Mobile Social Media Mobile Mobile Apps

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The reason I have two books is that technology is always evolving and changing, therefore in order for organizations to keep up, they need books and trainings that are always evolving and changing. I will continue to publish The iChurch Method volumes as long as necessary to keep ministries updated on current technologies.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/ichurchbook-vol1-vol2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ichurchbook-vol1-vol2

The Nines Leadership Conference

This year I have the great opportunity to speak at The Nines Leadership Conference. I will be speaking on Social Media and “What’s Working” for us at The Potter’s House of Dallas. I have had the great opportunity to see the social media at TPH grow from a few hundred fans to over three million social media fans. Thus, I look forward to sharing about what worked, what didn’t and how your organization can achieve those results. My speaking time is below and as you can see it’s Wednesday, November 13 at 12:19pm EST or 11:19am CST, so make sure you REGISTER TODAY.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/nines-leadership-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nines-leadership-conference

How to Quickly Analyze and Optimize Your Website

Here are a few key tips to analyze and optimize your website…

Measure and Compare
How many visitors does your website receive each day? Which pages do they visit? How long do they stay? Web analytics answers these questions. It is like having someone tell you how close your ball is on the green after you have hit it from the fairway. With information from web analytics, you can make adjustments on your site and improve the user’s experience. Web analytics can be obtained for free by using software such as Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Once you have your website up and running, there are two ways users can find you: knowledge and search. Knowledge happens several ways. The user may come to your church and receive literature with your website on it. Later, they access the site and begin exploring. As I hopefully hammered home above, social media is a big way users find your church. When their friend shares something and links your church, the user now knows about it. Knowledge of your church is great but the best way to reach folks who don’t know you exist or have friends who don’t know you exist is through search. When I type “Nondenominational Church in Dallas” in the Google search bar, The Potters House church pulls up twice. If I was looking for a church, I have a 20% chance of checking out their website. Another example is “divorce recovery in Dallas.” Both Watermark Community Church and Fellowship Church show up in the front page. So how did these churches land there? SEO.

SEO is a strategy that you can implement to bring your site up to the first page of key searches. It uses a combination of key words on your site and in your content and linking of your site to other sites. No one knows the exact mathematical formula for how Google, Bing and Yahoo! rank each site but programmers who specialize in SEO know how to increase the visibility of your website and get it up in rankings. And the higher it goes, the more traffic your website gets.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/analyze-and-optimize-your-website/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=analyze-and-optimize-your-website

What’s an Internet Church Campus?

If you go to a mega church, you will likely observe a sprawling sea of buildings. You will also find a huge variety of places to go and things to do. There might be a women’s conference in one building. A group of men will be having a Bible study in another. There may also be a live service in the chapel. Some churches even have bookstores where you can buy the latest Christian books and movies. The fact is, this large physical campus gives you many choices to pursue your faith.

So, what is the Internet Church Campus? It’s the same thing as the campus described above except for one difference: it’s all online. The official definition of an Internet church is as follows: a multimedia-driven church experience that is entirely online. An online user can attend a Bible study, donate, attend live services, watch past services, attend a conference, buy the pastor’s book and do just about everything you can do in a physical church except the laying of hands. And it’s all driven by video, audio, images, chat and documents.

Here’s how far we have come. In the good ole days, you went to church Sunday mornings and then possibly to Bible study or another service on Wednesday evenings. Now, instead of you going to church, the Internet Church Campus brings the church to you. And the church doors are open 24/7 365 wherever you are because your mobile device, tablet or computer allows you to attend. That’s pretty exciting!

Chat Live
One option for your Internet Church Campus is the ability to chat live with your friends. If you were in church, you could lean over and chat to your neighbor about the service or message. With Chatroll.com, the Internet Church Campus can duplicate that. Some users really love that feature especially if they are watching the same program but from different locations.

Groups and Communities
Another great feature of Internet Church Campuses is online groups. Online groups are small groups that meet online to discuss Bible lessons, minister to each other and give the online group a sense of community, very similar to the home-based groups that are in some of the largest mega churches in the United States. Online groups use common group features provided by Facebook Groups or Google+ Communities. These social network group/community features allow a set number of people to interact online, share information and documents and form an online community all within Facebook or Google+.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/internet-church-campus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=internet-church-campus

Ministries Can Use Google Hangouts on Air

Google Hangouts On Air allows you to have an online meeting on camera with up to ten people with all ten talking and contributing if necessary. It also allows you to stream this meeting live to Youtube.com where anyone can watch on their computer, mobile phone or tablet. After you are done, Google will send you an MP4 file for your very own. You can then add this to your archived video and/or chop it up and repurpose it. If you prefer, you can make it private so that no one else can hear or see the meeting except the participants.

With Google Hangouts on Air, there’s at least five great ways to use it for the Internet Church Campus:

1. Stream your sermons or Bible studies live and record them on Youtube.com.
2. Interactive Bible Study or Ministry meetings that can also be recorded for record keeping purposes.
3. Interactive Counseling sessions.
4. Special Events such as conference previews, webinars and online trainings (note: Google Hangouts on Air does not work with paid services so your use of this will be free to users and viewers for now).
5. Podcasts done quickly and easily.

To setup a Google Hangout on Air for Ministry you just need to login to Google+ and click on the Hangouts option, invite the users you want to participate and launch the hangout. The only drawback is that each participant in the hangout needs to have a Google+ account.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/google-hangouts-for-ministry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-hangouts-for-ministry

The iChurch Method TV – Ep 15 – Ministry Growth Online

Continuing The iChurch Method TV series about ministry growth online, here’s the transcript from the video above.

I would tell a minister that basically you could continue to do ministry as you do it for your local and regional reach. Continue to push out the content that you already are; preaching your sermons and ministering the people in the way that you do. But, understand that now it’s going to be packaged and distributed to an international audience.

I’m not trying to tell them to change the way that they do ministry, I’m just letting them know that I’m giving you a larger distribution of the content and of the ministry and taking the gospel to the four corners of the earth.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/ministry-growth-online/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ministry-growth-online

Introducing The iChurch Academy

Truly understand and absorb The iChurch Method messages and concepts through our
Online School – The iChurch Academy!

Enroll Today at www.ichurchacademy.com

Participants in The iChurch Method online school will enjoy a unique and informative set of courses that delve deep into the concepts presented in both volumes of The iChurch Method books (available for purchase online here – Vol. 1 – Vol. 2).

Although the books will give you the insights and information you need to help take your ministry online and global, many people prefer a more in-depth discussion to answer questions that may come up throughout the course of reading the book.

Each chapter of both Volume 1 and Volume 2 is broken down into a week-long course incorporating videos and additional concepts that will be examined in detail. The courses include not only a chapter by chapter review from an interactive book module, a PDF version of the book for viewing as well and instructional videos that walk participants through a more in-depth, detailed discussion of each concept that will really drive the message home! Of course, a quality course wouldn’t be complete without some Q & A, interactive webinars, group discussions and brief quizzes to be certain that everyone understands the concepts to assure there is no stone unturned.

Courses are at YOUR OWN PACE, there is no set time that they begin or end, it’s entirely up to you. We suggest that each course take a week but if you want to move faster or slower, it’s entirely up to you.

Get more from The iChurch Method volumes 1 and 2 by signing up for our Online Training Courses today! Dive into the concepts and prepare yourself to head down the path of building your ministry online with a global mindset and get your message out there today!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/ichurch-academy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ichurch-academy

Where is Social Media going?

Here’s a question that many people are asking, where is social media going in the future?

More Mobile Device Integration – Right now we see social media integrated into many aspects of our lives and that will continue to grow. Facebook Home is a newly released platform that integrates Facebook very deeply into your Android Phone experience, basically putting your social media network front and center on the phone. This makes social media the main focus of the phone instead of the traditional focus of emails, text and phone calls. This advancements shows how deeply integrated social media will look to become since millions of people carry their mobile devices with them. Social media is looking to be the #1 use of your mobile device. Facebook has been the #1 app downloaded on mobile devices for quite some time.

More Website Integration – With Twitter cards now being more accessible via websites and the Facebook graph becoming more utilized, our social networks will play a role in our browsing and online usage. We will consult our social networks’ opinions in our shopping, online decisions and therefore make sure we are logged into our networks so that each website is catered to our likes. Facebook and Google look primed to lead this evolution.

Share as much video as we do photos – Right now it’s not as easy to share and consume videos like we do photos. Social networks and bandwidth restrictions make it much easier to share photos than video. Videos are increasing in consumption but they do not have the volume of creation and distribution that photos and graphics currently have. As technology progresses and networks continue to focus on visual content, video will become just as important as photos.

Social media will continue to integrate into new industries – Education and Health Care are two great examples of industries that are starting to use social features much more. This will continue to increase over time and more industries will see the benefits of having social sharing features more integrated into their online processes.

For more information on this and other Social Media topics, get your copy or How to Get One Million Social Media Fans today.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/social-media-going/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=social-media-going

Join me at the eConnect Conference

What if your ministry could reach 10, 20 or 100 times more people.
Would your ministry like to use Social Media better?
Could your church benefit from learning how to better use technology to reach the world for minimal cost?

I would love for you to join me at the eConnect Conference on January 29-31, 2014 in beautiful Loveland, CO. Group Publishing is hosting this amazing event where we will be discussing how to use social media, online video and other online tools for greater ministry impact. I’m also very excited to be joined by my good friend Nils Smith, author of the Social Media Guide for Ministry and soon to be good friend, Brian Abbott.

At this event we will discuss social media, websites, mobile apps, and how all of these things translate to becoming effective ministry tools. I can’t wait for the conversations that will be had and hope you will be a part. Click here for more information and to register for this exciting event!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/join-econnect-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=join-econnect-conference

Can Technology Help Us Fulfill the Great Commission Faster?

Continuing my iChurch Method TV series, I was interviewed at Abilene Christian University about the Theological aspects of Digital Ministry and my response is below:

Theologically I look at technology as a way to reach many more people than using methods that are not technology. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about technology is the great commission and taking the gospel to the four corners. If I had to think of a way to fulfill the great commission in the fastest manner, technology is the first thing I think of so that was the first thing that comes to mind.

I think the technology provides a way for the church to have a much larger reach and give people a way to connect and enhance their lives spiritually. The drawbacks I see about technology in terms of a theological perspective is when the technology becomes something that’s worshipped and takes precedence over the message.

What I believe is technology for all intensive purposes has evolved over time, but we’re still just trying to convey the same message of the gospel. Whether we had this conversation a hundred years ago or a hundred years from now, the delivery method will continue to change and evolve but the message will still be the same. So as long as the message is the focus and not the technology then theologically I believe we are sound and practical in our approach.

So, I just want to make sure that when I’m speaking with churches and we’re talking about a theological perspective, as long as their theological concerns are not based on not understanding technology, coming from a place a fear of technology, or just a fear of change, then I believe that theologically we can continue to have a conversation about how to continue to get the gospel out.

But, if theologically we’re just making sure that we’re trying to make sure the focus is on the message and not the technology, because I’ve seen people that worship technology no matter what’s coming through it; it’s about technology. I just want to make sure that the message stays the focus.

Again, the main thing I look at is that technology gives us a faster effective way to get the gospel out to the entire globe.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/technology-great-commission/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=technology-great-commission

Objectives of an Effective Church Website

When designing a website for your church or ministry, you should start with your basic objectives. Ask yourself some hard questions, and take copious notes. What do you hope to accomplish with your website? Who is your target audience? With some exceptions, a church’s website has three basic objectives:

• To assist those who are looking for a church to attend, whether in person or online;
• To keep members up to date on current events, church activities and so forth;
• To provide spiritual content to help members grow in their faith.

Depending on your ministry, you may have slightly different objectives. Consider how the ones listed above apply to your own ministry, and write down different ones if need be. You will want to refer back to this in designing your website.

Website Design Criteria

Next you should consider some basic design criteria. This applies to all websites, whether for a church, a business or any other venture. Unfortunately, too many people disregard these factors and create websites that are entirely too busy, cluttered and difficult to use. If your website is not visually pleasing, easy to navigate and above all, useful and informative, potential visitors will leave and not return.

Build your website following these five design criteria, and you will have an electronic showplace that invites visitors to come on in and stay awhile:

• Clean and uncluttered. You should have a good mix of content and imagery, easy to read navigation buttons and one or two eye-catching banners to achieve just the right balance between simplicity and variety of content and options;
• Informative and full of helpful content;
• Interactive, causing the user to engage with the website;
• Interesting and engaging;
• Provide solutions, through content, multimedia and/or products.

Keep in mind that even though you are a spiritual organization, your basic goals are not altogether different than that of a business; you want to sell your product, to bring in customers, and grow your business. Your website needs to be fresh, informative, and provide some sort of take away value in order to attract visitors. That takes us back to your three main objectives.

If your website provides information about worship services, it is providing a useful service and will attract visitors who are looking for this information. If your website provides information about church activities, it will attract visitors who are already members of your congregation, who are looking for schedules, times and dates.

Finally, if your website is rich in spiritual content, it will bring in visitors who may not yet be members of your congregation but are searching for guidance. Consider posting videos of services or particularly engaging portions of sermons, written transcripts of sermons, helpful advice columns and evangelical blogs, to give visitors a real taste of your ministry.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/effective-church-website/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=effective-church-website

Should Pastors be on #Facebook, #Twitter and other #Social Media?

Should Pastors be on #Facebook, #Twitter and other #Social Media? What if they say something wrong? Digital Technology has had a profound affect on the identity of the Christian Minister. Here is the transcript from the video above.

Well I think technology with the ministries that I’ve worked with—again they’re very much personality driven—what people want access to in addition to the church is the pastor. What technology has done is kind of torn that veil from us. If you look at a typical weekend service you’re not able to get to the pastor. You’re in a church with thousands of other members and once the pastor is done preaching then he pretty much disappears. You might have an opportunity to shake hands with him on the way out, very rarely, but for the most part that’s it. You saw him preaching the sermon and then he’s off.

What technology does, especially in a case of a large minister like Bishop Jakes, that’s him actually using his Twitter. Most people don’t believe that, but that’s him actually on Twitter responding to people, good and bad. And when people ask him questions, him actually putting out the daily devotionals and him talking to people. That’s what he wanted; he wanted access to the people as well as them having access to him.

That’s what I think the digital technology does, it gives people access to the pastor and lets them, for good and bad, have a glimpse of what he is like outside of the pulpit because that’s all people are used to seeing. Or the especially high quality produced segments where the pastor’s talking about some type of campaign or some type of next message that’s coming up or something like that. No, you actually see this pastor on a arbitrary 12 p.m. Saturday talking about, “I’m out with my family running around at the park,” or something like that. You see how the pastor is a real person and may not always, usually is not 24-7 spiritual churchy mode all the time, and you get access to that.

That is a good thing but it also can be a bad thing because you actually see the pastor in a real light as far as the beliefs you 100% agree with and the beliefs that the pastor may have that you don’t agree with. You may see that via social media or any type of digital media. That’s the stuff that people sometimes can deal with or sometimes cannot deal with. And they look outside of the local area for the most part for the pastor to have a national reach or international reach; they associate that pastor with the church. They may not even know the name of the church but they know the name of the outreach ministry. For example, people know T.D. Jakes Ministries. They may not know The Potter’s House Church. People know Ever Increasing Faith Ministries but they don’t know it comes from Crenshaw Christian Center.

So they associate that pastor with the church and everything he says is an extension of that church. So, when he says something, they feel like the pastor offended them, the church offended them and they don’t want to be affiliated with that anymore. That’s the bad part about it; it amplifies the pastor’s reach.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/digital-technology-the-christian-minister/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=digital-technology-the-christian-minister

Create Multiple Products from a Sermon

You can take a powerful sermon, church pageant or any other film-worthy event from your church and create four different products which you can sell online and in your church bookstore to bring in revenue. Here’s what you’ll need:

• A computer, preferably a Mac;
• iTunes media software;
• A good video camera with microphone;
• ImTOO Video Converter standard video conversion software (available at imtoo.com);
• A Google Docs account, or Adobe Acrobat full version plus MS Word;
• A PayPal business account.

Film the Event
Use a good quality video camera with a microphone attachment to film the sermon or other event. This can be as easy and inexpensive as a Flip camera with a wireless lapel microphone, or a high quality digital camera with a microphone attachment. In any event, you want to make sure you pick up the audio as well as the video.

Convert the Video to a CD and MP3
These are the first two products you will create. Import your video into the ImTOO software and convert it to an MP3 file, which you can sell in your online store as a digital download. Then import the MP3 into iTunes and burn it to a CD. Put the CD in a clear plastic case and sell it at your church bookstore as well as in your online store. You can even make a label for the CD case using a picture taken from the original video.

Convert the Video to a DVD and MP4
Your original video should already be in MP4 format from your camera, but if not, convert it to MP4 in your ImTOO software. Good specs to use are video size 640 x 480, bitrate 1200kbps, max bitrate 2500kbps, audio bitrate 64kbps and sample rate 48000hz. This MP4 file can then be placed for sale as a download from your online store.

Next, download ImTOO DVD Creator or Nero Suite, and use this software to turn your MP4 file into DVD format, which you can burn onto DVDs to be offered for sale in your church bookstore and online store.

Use YouTube to Advertise your Videos
Consider putting one or more of your MP4 sermon files on YouTube with a link to your online store. This will help generate an appetite for more videos and bring in customers to your store, and ultimately to your church as well.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/create-multiple-products-from-a-sermon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=create-multiple-products-from-a-sermon

The iChurch Method TV – Why I wrote The iChurch Method

I wrote the book for a few reasons. One, because I wanted to get the information and knowledge that God had put inside of me out to the masses. I work for large churches; they have large budgets and great resources and stuff like that, but smaller churches may not have the resources or the expertise to hire a Jason Caston, so I wanted them to be able to have access to the information and knowledge that I had. I wanted to put these resources into a book format that they could get access to.

The book, for a low cost of an average book, $9.99 and $19.99 or something like that, you can buy the book and see the approaches that I took with these large churches. Now, when you see it happening with these large churches you may think it’s costing $10,000 dollars, $20,000 dollars, $100,000 dollars just because you think that church has that budget. In actuality it’s costing $100, $500, maybe $1000 dollars, and that’s well within the reach of a small church. So, I wanted them to be able to have access to that.

Literally the iChurch Method, the book, is a brain dump of what I do in a typical week working with these ministries. I don’t want people to think the book was something that’s not actually going on right now in real time. It’s not old technology; it’s real technology that’s current and going on right now. I wanted them to be able to have access to that.

I also wanted them to have access and reach people the same way large churches are doing it because when it comes to a website it doesn’t matter if you have a bible study in your living room or a small storefront church or a large mega church. The technology that you have access to is all the same, so you just need to have the resources and the knowledge and expertise on how to utilize it, and that’s what I put in that book.

After looking at the book, the next step is to figure out how you want to approach it. The book was written twofold. The first half of every chapter is written with a strategical perspective, so that’s for the decision makers or the pastors or the leadership to be able to make a well informed decision about what they want to do with the technology that was presented.

So, if a pastor reads the first chapter which is about websites, the first half of it is about the strategy of websites and why are we using them and what technology is being introduced to provide that solution, that way the pastor or leadership can have a well informed discussion with the technical person that may actually implement the solution. The pastor is well informed enough to have a conversation so that the technical person is not able to take advantage of them. That was another aspect of me writing the book was to empower leadership and pastors and the people of the smaller churches to have the knowledge to not let companies take advantage of them that are maybe out to just try and make a profit off of the church. I don’t want that to occur.

The next step is to figure out, from a strategical perspective, if you want somebody else to implement it for you. If so, then you can take this book, know exactly how you want to implement it, hand it to them and say, “Look, I want you to do what’s in chapter one, do what’s in chapter three, not so much chapter two; we’ll get to that later, and do what’s in chapter four. I read the book, so I know what’s in it and I just want you to implement the solutions that I’ve seen.” I think that would be the best approach for that.
Now, there’s another aspect to it if you have a pastor that’s tech savvy. Some pastors I’ve worked with have wanted to implement it themselves. So, the second half of every chapter is a technical section where I’ve actually given code snippets or I give screenshots of walkthroughs of how to implement and set up Facebook fan pages, how to set up podcasts or how to load up videos on Vimeo.com and stuff like that.

If you want to get hands-on and roll up your sleeves and actually do it, then I provide solutions for that as well and examples on how to do that. If people want to do it themselves, they can; otherwise they can hand it off to someone who can do it for them and they know exactly what it is they want done.

The last week of April 2013, maybe early May 2013, I’m going to release Volume Two of the iChurch Method. Volume One that I released was called How to Advance Your Ministry Online. That was just the introduction as far as me showing people how to utilize the technology and advance your ministry online starting from nothing.

With Volume Two, Changing the World When You Log In, is taking what was introduced in Volume One to another level. For example, in Volume One we talk about how to get your website up, what content management systems to use. In Volume Two we’re talking about taking that website that’s already implemented to another level using technology such as the parallax, responsive design, and stuff like that. We just want to keep taking things to the next level.

A good example is in chapter two. In Volume One we talk about multimedia, podcasting, online video, online streaming. In Volume Two in the multimedia section we’re talking about creating an entire internet church campus. Now I felt like I had to wait to give people information on how to implement an internet church campus because I wanted them to first have a website before they tried to jump up and try to create an entire internet church campus.

Once you start putting all these multimedia aspects together and these interactive aspects together, you can start creating that internet church campus, and that’s what I want to start guiding people towards with that.
Of course with social media, the next level of that is we’ve seen Facebook bought Instagram, we’ve seen Pinterest really take off, and we’ve seen this visual social media really take off based more around video and pictures and stuff like that and I want to educate and inform people on how to utilize that.

Of course in mobile, mobile websites are really the initial step of getting a church or ministry online, but now let’s talk about mobile apps and how to take that to another level. Let’s talk about tablets and how to best utilize those and implement and integrate those into the church.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/why-i-wrote-the-ichurch-method/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-i-wrote-the-ichurch-method

How I got involved in working with Ministries

Continuing The iChurch Method TV series, here’s the transcript from the video above.

The first ministry that gave me the opportunity to work with them was Crenshaw Christian Center out in Los Angeles. When I got there in 2007 they were utilizing technology as best they could. The people they had on staff were working on some great technological things but they just didn’t know how to utilize the internet as best as it could be used at the time.

What I was able to do was come in and look at what they had going on and start looking at how they could do it better. Coming to a large ministry—from the outside looking in— you think that they know everything; they have everything going on. What I was able to see was how I was able to utilize my skill set and actually make an impact instead of just coming in and being a cog in the wheel.

With that ministry I was able to start working on developing solutions for their websites and multimedia, eCommerce, social media, and stuff like that, and see how it actually transformed the ministry because it was able to bring those aspects to the ministry in a way that they weren’t using them before.

Likewise, when I was working with TD Jakes Ministries and went out there—even starting back to when I came in for the interview—they asked me what I could bring to the ministry. I gave them five areas; I said, “I can help you out with your websites, multimedia, eCommerce, social media, and mobile.” Subsequently those five topics became the chapters in the book I wrote, The iChurch Method.

What really helped me out with these ministries is seeing the things that I was bringing to the ministry, actually seeing the impact of them and how people were able to interact more with the ministry via technology. But, I also see that even as large as these ministries were and the great impact that they already had from me watching them from afar all these years, I saw that something that God put in me was actually able to help them at a time such as now.

It was two-fold. First let’s go back to Crenshaw Christian Center. Starting with them I was a one-man department. Basically I was hired to revamp the entire web presence. Everything that was going on on the internet that you see such as the social media aspect of it, the mobile, the website, I was a one-man department. I had a graphic person that worked with me but any internet solutions, whatever I came up with, was the solution they went with.

I worked very closely with the pastor. He was a young guy like myself, early 30s, so we had a good idea what we wanted to do in terms of technology and he would give me his ideas and I would make them happen in terms of technology.

On the other side of that, with T.D. Jakes Ministries, it was a much larger environment. I was a part of a team. I came in and initially they wanted me to work specifically just on websites but then when I started telling them the other expertise that I had, which was the eCommerce, the multimedia, and stuff like that, I started to expand to other teams. Initially I came in working with online marketing and that was initially what they thought I could do. Then I kind of became a hybrid of working with IT because of the actual programming stuff that I knew how to do as well.

The real kind of pivot came when social media really took off on the scene. TD Jakes Ministries, when I got there, they weren’t really using social media in that manner and this is 2010. So, when I started showing them some solutions and developing some strategies for them to help utilize social media on a whole other level—mainly Facebook and Twitter at that time—then they really let me just go ahead and run with it. Basically kind of probably to keep me quiet.

But, the thing that happened that was phenomenal was social media took off; it exploded. When I got there they probably had 2000 people just off of the name of the pastor, Bishop Jakes. Within two years we increased that to a million.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/working-with-ministries/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=working-with-ministries

Facebook was a Social Network, it’s now a For Profit Business.

(I elaborate more on this in my most recent presentation, “Taking Your Social Media to the Next Level”.)

Developing social media strategies for churches was originally something that I did out of necessity because I would be one of few people working for a ministry that knew how to utilize social media. As these strategies started to show some measures of success, I would analyze, optimize and repeat. A good social media strategy is to provide inspiration, information and communication to the variety of networks that you are one. Once you provide that then analyze the results, fine tune your approach and then repeat the process. This always works, even though facebook seems to be changing the rules.

Once Facebook went public, they changed from a focus on connecting people as a social network, to a profit minded, business entity. Facebook’s initial IPO was good but immediately their stock started tanking and they were losing market cap value. Many people wondered if Facebook even had a business model and what exactly were they selling.

Well Facebook does have a business model, and they sell you the ability to communicate with millions of people all around the world. Their Facebook newsfeed is their “Golden Goose” and millions of businesses strive to get their content into people’s newsfeeds. Facebook uses an algorithm called Edgerank to determine what information appears in your newsfeed and what doesn’t. Therefore, if you have 1000 friends on Facebook, you may only see the posts from 270-300 of them, based on who you communicate with the most. Likewise, if you are a fan page, and you have 1000 fans, only 160 – 200 of them will see your posts, based on who interacts with your page the most.

Now, here’s the kicker, Facebook has a “Promoted Post” option where they will “SELL” you the ability to have your post viewed by more people. So, not only do they not let your post be seen by all the people that have “Liked” your fanpage, they sell you the option to make that possible. From a business perspective, I must admit, I like it, but from a Facebook user perspective, this sucks.

Therefore, there are options such as Facebook NewsFeed Optimization where you actually have to develop a content strategy to push out high quality visual content via Facebook (ideally photos and videos), make a call to action in the post so that people interact with it (share or like this photo, click this link), and even promote the post to increase engagement. This is the new Facebook, it’s time to adapt.

For more information on this and other Social Media topics, get your copy or How to Get One Million Social Media Fans today.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/facebook-is-a-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-is-a-business

The iChuch Method at ACU Summitt

In the middle of Texas there’s a small city called Abilene. In Abilene is one of the most advanced Christian universities called Abilene Christian university. Prior to stepping foot on campus december 2012, I had never heard of the school but I am glad that I was invited back then as well as Sept 16 – 18, 2013 for the 107th ACU Summit.

In December 2012, I was invited by Prof. John Weaver to come record a set of interviews and teachings about my thoughts on Church and Technology. Here are the interviews.

It was a great opportunity for me because not only was I called in to be a guest speaker but also Prof. Weaver used The iChurch Method books in his course. This marked the second university (Biola University was the first) that used The iChurch Method as a training manual.

At the end of my visit, I was informed about an annual conference ACU has where numerous people from around the country gather to discuss how to better conduct ministry as well as learn from the brightest in the kingdom. I was also invited to teach The iChurch Method at this conference since it was one of the first methods for the church that focused on the technical aspects of doing ministry online.

Therefore, if you are able, join me Sept 16 – 18, 2013 at Abilene Christian University where I will be teaching The iChurch Method for 3 days from 4:00 – 4:45pm as well as selling and signing The iChurch Method and How to Get One Million Social Media Fans books.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/acu-summitt-2013/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=acu-summitt-2013

The iChurch Method TV – The Future of Technology and Online Ministry

I was asked about the future of Internet and Technology, here was my response (the video is above while the transcript is below):

If I had to prophesy then I would say the lines between offline and online are blurring. When you want to look five or ten years down the line, look at projects that are young in their infancy that make you think, “Wow, that’s pretty interesting.”

First aspect would be something like Google Glass where you have the glasses that are connected to the internet that you wear on your face that you can actually kind of change your perception; it’s like everything you’re looking at offline has an online component to it. That way you’re never disconnected. If you’re wearing those glasses and you’re always connected to the internet, let’s say you look at a church and automatically right there in those glasses that church website comes up or pertinent information about that church comes up as you’re looking at it or looking in that direction because it’s a virtual reality type of deal. That’s what I think we’re moving towards; virtual reality, an always connected life and pretty much existence.
Secondly we’re seeing that our appliances and everything in our households—SmartHomes—are coming along. All the appliances and everything that we use in our household will be connected to the internet somehow. Wirelessly actually, because we’re seeing 4G and by then it will be 6G and whatever the years down the line, so the internet will be much faster.

Think about when you get up. While you’re brushing your teeth in the mirror, the mirror has a computer screen on it and it’s going through your tasks for the day or something like that. But, before you even look at the task you see a Daily Devotional or you see a nice message from your pastor. The church has the ability to integrate media and stay connected in people’s lives all the time. That’s the type of stuff I’m seeing. Before you reach in the refrigerator there’s a Daily Devotional on the refrigerator. You’re constantly being encouraged because you’re constantly connected to the information that’s coming from your church or your ministry. That’s the type of stuff I think will happen. When we step in the car I think the cars will drive themselves. Google already has that. So, while your car is driving you to wherever you’re going, you’re listening to a sermon. I think that’s something that will be going on.

Let’s say there’s a live service going on, a bible study or something, you’ll be able to interact with the pastor during that bible study no matter where you’re at. So, even if you’re in the car you might Tweet something or Facebook something—whatever the new social media method is—and the pastor responds to you and you’re five states away, but you’re connected to that service. There will be no difference between offline and online. There will be pretty much a virtual reality type of world.

Our kids, that will just be normal to them. They’ll be able to consume, digest, and distribute enormous amounts of information via the internet and that will just be the reality to them. I’m not sure, Google or Apple, who wins out here in this iRobot type of battle but one of them is going to win out. I love Google backwards and forwards and I think Google has a lot of great things going on.

My kids have had iPods and iPads since they were three and five, so the ease of use of those devices, they’re going to be able to connect to their churches with those devices because they’re used to them and they were so easy to pick up. They’re not going to go away from that. Kind of like when kids are three and they see McDonalds. They don’t go away from McDonalds until they learn later on how the pounds don’t come off as easily, but it pulls them in at such a young age.

Our kids and the youth of the future are going to be so technologically savvy and always connected that as long as the church is online and providing information and connectivity and a way for them to get ministry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and not shunning technology and telling them to disconnect but to integrate that into ministry, then the church will always be accessible and it will evolve with technology.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/future-of-technology-and-online-ministry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=future-of-technology-and-online-ministry

Facebook Timeline, Pinterest, Instagram and the rise of the visual social network

Over the last month I have been updating some of the social media pages for the ministries I work with. The main updates I have been making are to facebook timeline, setting up instagram accounts and Pinterest accounts. These three networks have a common theme going on that I have noticed over the last year, they are becoming much more visual. The Visual Social Network era is here.

Facebook Timeline is a great example of a visual representation of our facebook experience. Prior to the launch of timeline, the facebook profile page was considered the most under utilized part of the social network. Profile pages and Fan pages were simply plain representations of the user but not very interactive or visual. Now Facebook didn’t want to go to the extreme of letting the entire page become customizable and load slow like myspace, but they knew they had to turn the profile page into more of a visual representation of the person and a destination that people will spend time at, mainly for advertising purposes. And as we can all see, Facebook timeline has taken social media by storm.

But let’s not overlook the other two great visual social media platforms, Facebook bought Instagram for 1 Billion dollars for one reason, it’s a mobile visual social network. 30 million users are on instagram and as of the announcement of their purchase by Facebook, they had added 10 million downloads of the mobile app on iOS and Android devices. Instagram is based on photo and video editing filters that people can add to their photos/videos they take with their mobile devices and post to their instagram account. Instagram accounts can be followed and commented on within the mobile social network as well as posted on other networks such as facebook and twitter. But the main draw of Instagram is that it is fully mobile, there is no desktop version of the platform, it operates fully within the mobile space and is just pictures and videos.

Next up is Pinterest, pinterest has rapidly risen to become the 3rd largest social network in the world. Having a large user base with women, Pinterest is a visual social network that has a mobile and desktop presence. It’s based on pictures and videos and allows you to comment, pin, create boards and repin photos and videos. This visual multimedia social network shows the evolution of the visual aspects of social networking and the focus they have.

The benefit to ministries is that these visual social networks give ministries the ability to tell their story using great multimedia. Using amazing photos and videos, ministries can visually capture moments of their ministry and share them with the world. Many ministries are able to tell their stories in print but how many can visually explain to the world how amazing their ministry is and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/facebook-timeline-pinterest-instagram-and-the-rise-of-the-visual-social-network/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-timeline-pinterest-instagram-and-the-rise-of-the-visual-social-network

Join me at 2013 MegaFest

Seven years ago I was enjoying living in my hometown of Chicago and getting acclimated to married life as I had only been married for a little over a year. I was job hopping between various web developer positions in downtown Chicago as I made my way through over 25 corporate positions prior to coming to work for churches mid 2007. My wife and I were very involved in our local church at that time and we would often watch many pastors on TV such as T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and Bill Winston. While watching T.D. Jakes back then we saw that he was putting on this great MegaFest conference in Atlanta and there were things to do for the whole family, we both thought it would be amazing to attend but due to our limited budget, we knew we couldn’t attend.

Fast forward to 2013 and there are a variety of changes that make the 2013 MegaFest not only a viable option for us, but I am helping make it a success in a variety of ways. We have moved from Chicago to Dallas with a short 2.5 year stop in Orange County, CA, therefore we are in the same city as this year’s MegaFest conference. I am not only a speaker at the conference (on technology) for the Mega-Youth Experience but I am also employed by the ministry as an Internet Church specialist. This allows me to help in the creation of the Mobile Apps, Mobile Website, Desktop Website, Social Media and Online Streaming.

I can’t say how excited I am to participate in this conference and to really reflect on how far God has brought me and my family. We will all be at MegaFest enjoying the numerous events such as Woman Thou Are Loosed, ManPower, MegaKidz, Mega-Youth Experience, Just Churchin Comedy Show, BallUp Basketball showcase, McDonalds Gospel Concert, Oprah’s LifeClass, The Faith and Family Film Festival and much much more! So if you get a chance to come to MegaFest, let me know and let’s connect offline like we do online!

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/megafest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=megafest

Digital Ministry – Ministry in Real Time

Continuing The iChurch Method TV series, here’s the transcript from the video above where I am talking about Real Time ministry and the impact of Digital Ministry, positive and negative.

Let’s look at the positives first. What I stated before was social media; the Facebook page was one of three or four ministries that I’m aware of that has over a million fans. That’s a lot of people that you can reach via social media and minister to. We see maybe we’ll put out a daily devotional or some snippet from the sermon or something like that, you see real-time ministry. You see somebody watching a clip of a sermon or reading that daily devotional and you see them saying, “That helped me today. That transformed my life. That impacted me.” So, with those types of results you really get a chance to see ministry going on around the world in real time, and nothing can top that. That’s amazing.

Likewise, with the internet church, when we do conferences or if there are sermons going on over the weekend then we have chat modules that might be next to these online video players and we’re seeing people chatting and ministering to each other or our online ministers are ministering to them. So we see all that stuff happening in real-time.

Obviously if people are online they’re chatting more and they’re speaking more so you’re hearing more than you may hear if you’re in an actual sanctuary. They’re not worried about who’s watching and stuff like that because usually they’re in the comfort of their own home or on their mobile device or something and they’re saying how they really feel about what’s happening.

Now let’s look at the downfalls. Social media gives our pastor a voice, it gives our leadership a voice, but it gives everybody a voice. I’ve seen people who may disagree with the pastor or disagree with the ministry, disagree with the theological approach or just disagree because it’s Tuesday. Those people are able to voice their opinions and some of the things that they say—words are very powerful—and the way that they slander the ministry or slander the pastor or just slander other people who are trying to better themselves or just get ministry for themselves, you just see how hurtful it can be. It takes you back to your school days; if a child hears some encouragement, it really impacts them. If they hear discouragement, that really impacts them too. We see that in the online environment via digital media and social media especially.

For more information on this and other topics, get your copy of “The iChurch Method Volume 1: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.” or The iChurch Method Volume 2: Changing the World When You Login or even sign up for the iChurch Method Online School.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/real-time-ministry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=real-time-ministry

Hootsuite Account hacked

Around 7:30pm CST on Sunday, Aug, 18, 2013, I got a text that said, hey your Twitter account is sending out crazy tweets, change your password. I didn’t think it was a big deal because I hadn’t tweeted from the account in a while but I do know that it’s not difficult to get your Twitter account hacked so I headed to my laptop to fix the issue. Prior to making it to the laptop I got two additional texts and a phone call which meant the issue wasn’t small and wasn’t just my personal account.

What transpired was an issue that seems to have came out of nowhere and just as quickly disappeared back from whence it came. My Hootsuite.com account, that manages my social media networks and two very large ministries that I work with (one with over 3 million social media fans and another with around 100 thousand social media fans) was hacked and sent out two spam email links. My first thought was damage control, so I immediately started deleting tweets from the ministry accounts and my business accounts, which in total was about 20 – 25 accounts.

I then started to research the issue by Googling “hootsuite account hacked” which gave me the following link: http://newthoughtmarketing.com/ntmblog/social-media/hootsuite-hacked-yesterday-july-28-2013/. Now this link highlights that issue that I dealt with in getting my hootsuite account hacked but it also highlighted the main point i’m trying to make with this blog post, there was no warning that my account would be hacked, and once the two links were sent, there was no further indication that my account was compromised. Furthermore, there hasn’t been a statement from Hootsuite regarding the hacks except the common directions to remove all social media networks, change your password on hootsuite and the social media networks and then reinstall the networks. This response is fine but outside of a person in a forum stating that the issue could be 3rd party addons giving hackers access to Hootsuite, there isn’t any information on how this attack occurs and how to prevent it in the future. It’s just a mystery with no rhyme or reason and that’s not a good situation to be in when dealing with multiple accounts for multiple organizations. I have reached out to @hootsuite and @hootsuite_help so hopefully I will hear something back in the near future.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/hootsuite-account-hacked/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hootsuite-account-hacked