The iChurch Method TV – Ep. 4 – A Recap of early usage of The iChurch Method

In this episode I am discussing a recap of the first time I applied The iChurch Method to a church. I was asked to revamp a church’s entire online presence and I started to put together the basics of what would become The iChurch Method.

Day one, my objective was to figure out what was going on within the ministry in terms of where they were technically. When I started looking at some of the things that were going on, I saw just some of the basic things. They had a website but there were some things that just weren’t working. They were having issues with their online store and they were having issues with donations. They were generating a lot of money via online donations but the process was no as seamless as it could be. Basically I just looked at everything they were doing and I started dissecting it and figuring out how we could make this easier, better, and faster.

I put together a plan and I said, “Here’s where you guys are at,” and I made a real simple streamlined map of what was going on currently and where people were getting lost in the process. Then I said, “Here’s where it could be,” and I started showing them new things that we could do to make this process much simpler. In addition I also had to show them here’s the software that can actually make it happen. “We need a new website and here’s the software we can do that with. We need a new online store; here’s the software. We need an easier process to do online donations and here’s the software to do that.” Basically, that made it so easy for them to understand and see that eventually they allowed me to continue on with the other things I talk about, social media and mobile, just because I showed them that I actually knew how I could make this process easy for them.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/recap-of-the-ichurch-method/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recap-of-the-ichurch-method

The iChurch Method Vol. 2 is now available

In this book we’re just basically building upon The iChurch Method Volume One. We’re taking every chapter to another level.

This book talks about how to take your website to another level, how to develop a good content strategy, how to utilize more up-to-date and current technological tools to build your website.

With multimedia we’re looking at taking that to the next level, the whole entire internet church campus. Let’s bring all the online video and the streaming into one coherent campus so that people can come interact with your ministry online.

With eCommerce we’re looking at how you make more effective, more secure, and more streamlined online donation modules. How do you have a better and more effective online store.

With social media we’re looking at the advancements and the rise of visual social media and how to utilize that with Facebook timeline, Pinterest, and Instagram. Social media is going entirely visual so we want to make sure that we address that.

Then we’re looking mobile. In the last book we talked about mobile websites, it’s time to talk about mobile apps and how to utilize those and tablets and all these new mobile devices that are coming down the line.

So, in this book we just want to help ministries take their ministry to another level online and continue to stay ahead of the technology trend.

Click Here to Get Your Copy today

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/the-ichurch-method-vol-2-is-now-available/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ichurch-method-vol-2-is-now-available

The Importance of User Interaction for Your Church Website

Why is user interaction so important when building a website for your church or ministry? User interaction is a tool to get visitors to your site to explore, to delve more deeply into the various pages and features. User interaction turns your site from a one-dimensional newsletter into a three-dimensional world, where they can virtually come inside your church and take a look around.

Some interactive features you should consider adding to your site are:
• I am New button, that takes new visitors to special introductory content to familiarize them with your ministry;
• Watch Now button, so visitors can see streaming video of a live sermon, or listen to a live audio broadcast of a sermon, church meeting or anything else that may be going on;
• Multimedia section, so that interested viewers can go directly to your multimedia page and see the latest postings;
• Self Help section, for visitors who are in need of spiritual guidance to go directly to useful content that will help them with their current difficulties;
• Web store button, to take visitors directly to your online store, where they can purchase DVDs, CDs, downloads and more.

Other ways to get visitors to interact with your website are to include things like:

• Online registration forms, for church events and activities;
• Online ministry forms, which will save your church printing costs when members print them out themselves, fill them out and return them;
• Online donations modules, where visitors can donate via credit card or their PayPal account;
• Online events calendar, where visitors can check times and days for mass, Sunday school, bible study, church events and more;
• Online prayer requests, to allow visitors to submit prayers for the ministry, causing them to feel more connected.

Your church is a House of God, and as such, your website should also be a virtual House of God, where visitors can come inside and see everything that your ministry has to offer. User interaction features make that possible, and encourage visitors to become part of your congregation. A visitor who has had an opportunity to take a long walk through your website is more likely to come and visit your church in person.

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/the-importance-of-user-interaction-for-your-church-website/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-importance-of-user-interaction-for-your-church-website

The iChurch Method TV – Ep. 2 – Social Media usage by Pastors

A lot of churches are basically personality driven. A lot of the churches that I’ve dealt with are personality driven; the pastor is the face of the ministry. So, I let them know that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if you decide you want to be accessible via Twitter then also understand that your life is going to be one continual show for people that want access and availability for you. Once they get that, they understand that there are things that they want to let people in on in their lives and there are times when they just have to disconnect from social media.

So, I want them to be social and understand that it’s not just a one-way street where they’re constantly broadcasting to people and talking at people not responding, but they also have to understand there are limitations to social media and how much access they give people to their lives.

Let’s say the pastor decided they didn’t want to be accessible via social media because they don’t want stuff like that. The conversation is going to happen whether they participate or not. So, as you stated earlier where people are outside with their phones recording and taking snapshots, they’re going to have the conversation about you. Some pastors have PR people and some pastors can be genuinely truthful and speak about the situation and kind of guide that conversation, some pastors will just try and disconnect and hope the conversation will go away, but it won’t. So, it’s better that they can help address that and give some truth to the situation, otherwise the internet will create its own truth, and you don’t want that.

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

2013 Pastors and Leadership Conference

Two weeks from today I will be teaching at the 2013 Pastors and Leadership Conference. The topics that I will be teaching are Social Media for Ministry (Beginners and Intermediate) and How to Advance Your Ministry Online. At this conference I will be releasing quite a few new products and services. First and foremost, The iChurch Method Vol 2: Changing the World When You Login will be released and on sale. Additionally, I will talk about my new online training course based on The iChurch Method and finally, I will release a surprise product that I have been working on for the last 6 – 9 months.

Join me in Dallas at the 2013 Pastors and Leadership Conference at the Dallas Convention Center, April 25 – 27, 2013. Me and my amazing web team from TD Jakes Ministries will be teaching on Thursday at 3pm and Friday at 10am and 1:30pm. Register TODAY

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/2013-pastors-and-leadership-conference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2013-pastors-and-leadership-conference

The iChurch Method TV – Ep 1 – Where did The iChurch Method Come From?

This idea came from when I was out working at [unnamed church] and they decided to let me know that they needed me to revamp the entire online presence. So, I looked at five key areas that I thought could really help them out; those were websites, multimedia, eCommerce, social media, and mobile. I started to notice that these five areas were not only key to them but were key to any type of ministry.

When I transitioned from that ministry out to Dallas, I implemented this method and I saw enormous results and then I realized that I might actually have something here. So, with those five key areas I put it all together in a book and that’s what we’re talking about here today.
I would advise that initially once you purchase the book and start reading through it and get familiar with it, then you start looking for probably two to three people. First I would look for somebody like a volunteer or somebody you trust to do social media. If not, then get versed in social media yourself.

Secondly, you need to look at somebody who is a web developer. Again, the iChurch Method gives you the strategies that a web developer should use so that you can have a coherent conversation with the technically savvy person and not let them take advantage of you.

The third person I would look for would be some type of financial person or something like that because you’re going to have to look at online donations and possibly setting up an online store and you want to make sure that your finances are well taken care of. This may be the pastor himself or maybe an accountant or something. But, when you start generating finances for nonprofits then we get into a whole other arena that needs to be addressed legally as well as technically. So, those are the people I would start off with.

[After reading the book] you should be able to understand how to effectively advance your ministry online. You should be able to know how to set up a digital ministry. If you desire, you can go and do it yourself. But, if you do not then you’ll be able to have a good conversation and identify the people who can go and do this for you.

http://www.ichurchmethod.com/where-did-the-ichurch-method-come-from/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=where-did-the-ichurch-method-come-from

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

Using Digital Ministry to form Communities

Here’s a good question to consider…does Digital Ministry help form Community? My answer from the video above is below

I think technology helped form community. I think it just gave people more tools to help form the community. What I’ve noticed if you look at it from a business perspective, when a business is trying to build a groundswell around a brand, sometimes they focus on these campaigns and they’re trying to get people to have buy-in. The church doesn’t have to do that. People are already bought into the gospel; the people are already supporting the church, we’re just giving them better tools to form that community around the church. That’s one of the main aspects of internet church is building communities that can connect online and feel like they’re a part of the local church, whichever church has this internet church campus.

I believe that technology is giving people the tools to connect much more often. The question is are those connections deeper? They can be, but technology is giving you the tools to do it but not necessarily making you do it or not do it. It’s just giving you the conduit to make those connections happen.

So, again, I think technology is providing us with tools that are helping us form greater communities, reach out to people, and commune with people that we probably would not have met. I can commune with people that are all across the country that I may never see, or all around the world that I may never see, but I can connect with them via digital media or social media channels and stuff like that. I think that helps me relate to them and talk about their life experiences and my life experiences and relate that to our spiritual experiences.

Now, on the flipside of that coin is how can technology be used to breakdown communities? The same tools that can be used for good can also be used for bad. If I have a sincere desire to break down the community, break down the unity and take my dislike of a ministry or the gospel and use it in a manipulative manner, I now have the tools to manipulate people. I think that’s one of the drawbacks of the digital tools that we have. People have to be much more cognizant of how thorough is the message and how thorough is the messenger. That type of stuff just makes people much more aware.

The benefit of that is technology gives us access to so much more; so much information. That’s the premise of the internet, access to information. It’s much more effective than the TV and the radio and the printing press and so on and so forth so it gives us access to information so much faster and helps us to make sure that the authenticity and the validity of the information and the message that people are bringing to us is actually valid and real.
In my experiences, church was where I went to look for healing, where I went to look for salvation, where I went to look for community, interaction, encouragement and all the things I looked for at the time in my life when I opened myself up to church.

The question is can those things be given to me online? If somebody tells me that I need to read Romans 10:9 to be saved, if they tell me that in person, can they tell me that online? If they can tell me that online then how does that not make it church? I was able to receive my salvation through the guidance of somebody. Just because we weren’t face-to-face does that mean that I’m not saved? So, those are the types of things we have to look at; can you receive the same things online that you can receive in church?
Now, if we get down to being baptized online or can I lay hands online, then that’s a different conversation and probably not the things that can happen online. But, for all intensive purposes, when we look at can church happen online and can we impact lives and save people and proclaim the gospel online, I genuinely believe we can.

I just think that where church happens from a theological perspective is going to continue to be debated as more ways come available that church can occur. I’m thinking back in the bible when they were talking about church happened in the upper room and stuff like that, once you left out of a room does that mean you cannot have church unless you’re in a room, an upper room? Can church happen in a mega church? Churches were smaller before, so when mega churches came on the scene could church happen in a mega church even though the building was so much larger and people were getting lost in there.

So it’s just that where church happens, I think, is the question that’s going to continue to be debated. And because we have internet church and methods and technology to use to reach people online with the gospel, I think wherever we can reach them with the gospel, however we can reach them with the gospel, that becomes church – basically church without walls.

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