I recently finished reading We Are All Weird by Seth Godin. Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

• “The epic battle of our generation is between the status quo of mass and the never-ceasing tide of weird.”
• “The ability to reach and change those around you has been changed forever by the connections of the Internet and the fact that anyone, anywhere can publish to the world.”
• “When you don’t feel alone, it’s easier to be weird, which sort of flies in the face of our expectation that the weird individual is also a loner.”
• “If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail. The only alternative, then, is to be something important to a few people.” (Tony’s note: We need focused vision and strategy.)
• “If you cater to the normal, you will disappoint the weird. And as the world gets weirder, that’s a dumb strategy.” (more…)

For a limited time, you can download two of WorshipHouse Media’s #1 selling videos for your church for free.  They normally sell for $30.  Visit WorshipGraphics.com and you can download them instantly.

Video #1: UPSIDE DOWN FAITH

Duration: 1:55

The Review: “WOW!  This is the first church video I’ve seen that has the same effect as the ending of The Sixth Sense. The first minute you’re thinking ‘okay, cool…normal video.’ Then it whacks you upside the head. This video really drives home the point in a powerful way that Christ turns everything upside down.”

Video #2: YOU’VE GOT 7 DAYS

Duration: 1:32

The Review: “I’ve seen endless ‘countdown’ videos for worship, but I’ve never seen a video you play at the end of a church service counting down until the next church service. This is the perfect ending to your next service.”

Visit WorshipGraphics.com to download both videos.

This is a sponsored post from WorshipGraphics.com, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.

My friends at Gateway Church near Dallas, Texas have produced a very creative video to express the reason Jesus was born. Their team spent 80 hours in production and animation on this project. For this purpose, they’ve stripped any branding for the church to make it available for others to use. Here’s the five-minute video:

Here’s the great news, Gateway is making the video available for free so other churches can use it. The HD download is available from their site in three formats: 1920×1080, 1280×720 and 854×480.  All three are in h.264 format. (I’m sure that means something to someone in the crowd.)

Consider this an early Christmas gift. Let me know if you decide to use it in your services.

Your teaching team may spend many hours and countless meetings creating all of the elements surrounding your sermon message. It may include a series video intro, print graphics, on-screen visual package, coordinated backgrounds for worship music slides, shooting and editing the intro skit video and even a physical set design. That’s on top of the research and study to prepare the message itself!

Once the sermon has been delivered at all of your services and all of your campuses, what happens to it? If you’re like most churches, the sermon probably spends seven days on the “last week’s sermon” box on your website, and hopefully shows up in your podcast for a few weeks. Then, it begins to die a slow death, slipping gradually into the annals of other great sermons that time forgot.

Why Sermons Get Lost and Forgotten

Here are some reasons why sermons typically carry a very short shelf life:

• Churches think of sermons as live events, rather than study and spiritual growth tools.
• Most church websites post sermons based on chronology, so the oldest ones get lost.
• Podcast feeds typically deliver only the most recent “episodes.”
• Many people only get sermons via podcast, and may never visit the website itself.
• Many churches still offer sermons only via tape or CD, which are becoming increasingly irrelevant in an MP3 world.
• Sermons are for Sunday. There is rarely a connection to any other activity or curriculum being shared in other corners of the church (children, youth, small groups, etc.).

5 Ideas to Get More Value from Your Sermon Archives

With a few tweaks to your strategy, though, sermons can become a useful resource for years to come.

1. Make sermons available on your website. If you’re not offering sermons via web delivery, do it! If you are lacking equipment or manpower, consider a pocket digital voice recorder like this.
2. Make sermons free. Give away your sermon downloads. Some churches will charge for a download of a sermon, while attending their church on Sunday is free of charge. We wrote more extensively about this on our blog.
3. Promote the popular messages. Publish a “most viewed” sermon list each month or each quarter. This implies that you have tools allowing you to measure these stats (which, by the way, are a very valuable thing to have as a feedback mechanism for your teaching team).
4. Offer tools to filter results. Allow searching/browsing by Scripture, topic, speaker or title (not just by date).
5. Extend the conversation. Develop curriculum for your small groups, to discuss the deeper points of a sermon. Consider packaging these with DVDs of your sermons so that if a group isn’t ready to tackle a series now, they can obtain it from the church later.

There are plenty more ways to add value to your sermons! We’re hosting a brand new webinar on this topic next week, and we’d love to have you join us. You can register for free.

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This is a sponsored post from SiteOrganic. They are an advertising partner on TonyMorganlive.com

“I don’t fear the wrath of what other church people think about the risks we take. Instead, I fear the thought of people who will live an eternity without experiencing Christ.” –Kem Meyer

Here’s the rest of Kem’s article on pushing the envelope.

Following my post about using tickets for Christmas Eve services, I had requests for samples of the tickets we use at West Ridge Church.

As much as possible, we encourage people to get their free tickets online. (By the way, if you live in northwest Atlanta metro area, we’d love for you to grab some tickets and join us at one of our locations with your friends.) As you can see, we use Eventbrite to process online tickets.

Below is a picture of the physical tickets we print. This is a sample for one of the service times. Obviously we print different tickets for each of the different service times and locations.

In his landmark bestseller book Good to Great, Jim Collins lays out the now-famous hedgehog principle. It’s the idea that everyone, every organization, has a “sweet spot” that serves as the intersection of three circles.

Many organizations spend lots of energy chasing too many ideas and initiatives. The great ones know how to say “no” to the good stuff and focus on the ONE thing they’re really great at. (Dashboard Groupcraft is an entire consulting practice built around this simple idea.)

It’s powerful, it works but it’s hard to execute.

If you’re a church communicator reading this, you may conclude, “That’s for businesses. In the church world we’re not about ‘economic engines’ or profits, we have to serve many different people in many different ways.” Does this mean that there is no place for focused strengths within a church? Sadly, in fact, many church communicators’ programs suffer from a severe lack of focus. The results are lackluster–that is, if they even measure results at all.

SiteOrganic helps churches across the country with their church websites and overall online ministries. Much of their focus is on strategy. In a recent survey, SiteOrganic found that 53% of church website managers are operating with no strategy or focus. Another 40% said they had a strategy but it was imperfect or out-of-date. For these churches, the hedgehog principle yields to the scattershot principle.

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I’m seeing a lot more churches moving forward with communications director positions once they start bumping over that 2,000 barrier. It’s really at that point that churches need someone to help them streamline communications strategy. That’s important for what’s being communicated both within the church and in the community you are trying to reach.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked my Twitter friends if they could recommend good job descriptions to model what this role might look like in a church setting. Here’s the communications director job description we use at West Ridge Church. Based on Twitter feedback, you may also want to check out these articles written by a couple of people who have served in that capacity:

• “What is a Director of Communications?” by Tim Schraeder
• “Communications Director Job Description” by Kem Meyer

By the way, Kem has also written a book on church communications called Less Clutter. Less Noise. I highly recommend you pick that up and read through it together as a team. It’s good for all church leaders even if you are not serving in a communications director role.

If you happen to be a communications director, what other resources would you recommend to churches who are considering adding this position? Join the conversation by sharing your comment.

Your church needs a website. It’s that simple. This media-driven world may be a bewildering place, and a church website may seem complicated and expensive. But still, every church needs a website. Here’s why.

1. A church website brings people to your church. If someone wants to find a church in your area, how are they going to find it? If your first answer is, “check the Yellow Pages” you’re wrong. Most people go straight to Google.
2. A church website connects people. Fellowship takes place even when people aren’t physically together. Church websites give members a way to interact and fellowship throughout the week. This kind of interaction helps build unity.
3. A church website organizes church events. Church websites help people stay up to date with your church’s events—from softball games to Sunday services.
4. A church website answers questions about the church. People have all kinds of questions about churches. Music? Nursery? Denomination? Bible version? How can you answer all these questions? Two words:  church website.
5. A church website is the church’s testimony. Within seconds of accessing your church website, a person forms opinions about your church—for better or worse. A good website is a great way to communicate a good testimony.
6. A church website broadcasts your message globally. Instantly—without buying a ticket, experiencing jet lag, or eating airline food, your church can reach as far as Europe, Asia, or Africa. Regardless of its size, your church can spread its message worldwide.
7. A church website saves you money on advertising. Any pastor wants the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to church marketing. Church websites are way more visible and far less expensive than any other form of church advertising.
8. A church website stores your media. A church website gives you a digital media library. Storing sermon recordings online is a great way to increase the longevity and reach of sermons.
9. A church website increases your church’s income. People pay their bills online, invest their money online, and read their bank statements online. Can they also give to their church online? With a church website, yes.
10. A church website gives your church the relevance necessary to communicate today. This generation has witnessed the launch of the digital age. Creating a church website is the primary means of jumping on the information superhighway and reaching our generation for Christ.

Sharefaith church websites are an unprecedented way for churches to get online. Sharefaith has developed the world’s easiest, quickest, cheapest, most professional, and full-featured church websites. Sharefaith believes that every church in the world deserves an awesome website. Our dream is now a reality. This reality is yours—a full-featured, professional, easy, and free website for Sharefaith members.

If there was ever a time to get a church website, now is the time.

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This is a sponsored guest post from the team at Sharefaith, one of my ministry partners on TonyMorganLive.com.

I’m not sure what exactly prompted the recent conversation at the Morgan household, but the kids started whining about how we as parents aren’t fair. I think it may have been the recent gift we gave one of the kids while the others received nothing.

You may think we’re bad parents for treating our kids differently on different occasions, but we think we’re preparing our kids to leave our house and live in the real world. Life is not fair.

Of course, in church world, I see organizations all the time embracing the “fairness doctrine.” You see it most prominently on display when it comes to communications. Every ministry, regardless of priorities, has information linked to the home page of the church’s website. Every ministry, regardless of priorities, has access to announcement time and the bulletin. Every ministry, regardless of priorities, has their own logo and their own platform. We do that to be fair.

When fairness drives your communications strategy, your least important message has the same weight as your most important message. That leaves people wondering what’s most important. When fairness rules, the communications also become very confusing very fast, because every ministry wants a piece of the action. As ministry leaders, we feel like we’re doing the right thing because all our staff and volunteer leaders feel like they’re being treated fairly, but the people who we’re trying to reach or help take their next steps are left confused and overwhelmed by all our competing messages.

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