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