FREE Materials | Effective Church Communications

How to make the most of Halloween for evangelism

22 September, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Ghosts aren't real but Jesus is --Resources for Fall and Halloween church outreach — Halloween can be a great time for evangelism and a small handout like this can make a lasting impact at your celebrations.

Halloween—it has become such a contentious time in the church. Even mentioning the term "Halloween" upsets some because of its pagan origins.

In response to that, many churches have switched from calling "Halloween" events to "Fall Festivals." I get it; I totally understand but bear with me a minute and consider that changing the name in this way takes away some of the potential for using this holiday as an evangelism outreach time.

What follows is not another Christian justification as to why you should let your kids go trick or treating, but an attempt to help you see how Halloween can be used as a significant time for evangelism. It really doesn't matter ultimately if you change the name or not but I want you to understand why I even bring up this point. The Apostle Paul said we should be all things to all people that we might win some and my contemporary paraphrase of his imperative of evangelism is that we need to use EVERY opportunity, every holiday, every time that we can to introduce people to Jesus.

Please consider what I'm about to share and I hope you'll agree that Halloween can be one of the best times of the year to motivate people to consider the gospel. Following is a podcast version of this information. If you want to see the images recommended and links to additional materials, keep reading.

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We are at the half-way point with Lent and here are 40 challenging images for you to use however you want

21 March, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Lenten Set of images from Effective Church Communications — This is the first of 40 images for you to download and use during Lent or anytime to help people grow in their walk with Jesus.

Lent isn't just for Lent. What I mean by that is Lent is a specific time when we can focus on denying ourselves so we can live more fully for God.

It is about so much more than giving up chocolate or social media or whatever other external thing we choose during this time. At its best, Lent is a time for quiet self-evaluation so we can grow more deeply to become who God wants us to be.

In that self-evaluation, it's time to add virtues, practices to our lives that will help us become more like Jesus.

What I have for you to inspire you during Lent

To guide you through Lent, I created a set of 40 inspirational images and I then wrote a brief challenge or thought-provoking idea to go with them.

I put the challenges into a free downloadable journal for you, plus they are on daily Instagrams, and in my favorite form, on a daily short YouTube video (less than a minute), where I read them to you along with a challenge and prayer. Please check that out--CLICK HERE to go to the channel. [Read more...]

An assortment of Lenten Resources including an eBook for Lenten Devotions and two Lenten flyers to share

27 February, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Perhaps it is part of getting older, perhaps it is part of traveling for a longer time with the Lord, but my view of Lent has shifted from in the past where I either 1) totally ignored it, or 2) resented having to observe it, or 3) gritted my teeth at whatever I was giving up and couldn't wait until it was over.

That has changed. I now see life as a kind of retreat, a time to slow down, to take time to focus on changes I want to make in my life so that I can better serve the Lord. I look forward to how He is going to work in my life and somehow Lent seems to give me an extra strengthening to do spiritual work.

Some of this shift has taken place as I worked on the Lenten Devotional Journal I'm sharing with you. I started work on it a year ago and as I've gone over various parts of it, many of the quotes in it from Christian saints in the past have challenged me deeply. I need all the help I can get to grow in godliness and to become more like my Lord. I'll be going through the booklet as a reader this Lent and I hope you'll join me.

Lenten Devotional Journal

I encourage you to use it in your personal devotions and you have my permission to make as many copies of it as you want for your church. Or you can post it on your website or link to it via social media for people in your congregation to download. Click on the image of the cover here to download it.

I am terribly sorry I didn't get it to you sooner. Health and work issues have been a challenge.

Lenten flyers to give out at any time during Lent

I took two of the devotions in the booklet, modified them slightly, and make them into the single flyer below that I'm going to put with my devotional booklet to remind me of behavioral changes I need to make. Click on the single flyer to download a copy of it and again, for this and the other flyers, you have permission to make as many copies as you want to share. You can see a larger version of the flyers by clicking on them. They have white backgrounds and when you click on them, you'll be able to read them more clearly.

Three versions of alternate ways to observe denying yourself at Lent

This flyer reminds us that there are many ways we can say "no" to ourselves and "yes" to God. To download a ZIP file of the flyers, CLICK HERE: Self Denial Options For Lent

To download a ZIP file of the flyers, CLICK HERE: Self Denial Options For Lent

25 years ago Gospel Light produced my first Desktop Publishing Training Video–I just found it and am sharing it

19 August, 2021 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

How some things change and how others stay the same! Below are two training videos from around 3 hours of training in creating communications with the computer which was a very NEW thing when I did the videos. I recently found them and decided to share them because it amazes me how the need for BASIC Training in church communication skills and the inspiration and motivation for why we do it in the church continues to be needed.

Below are the two videos and below them are the descriptions I put on the YouTube site. I know they are lengthy, but I do think they will be well worth your time to watch.

YouTube descriptions and background of the videos

This video, How to Use Your Computer to Make Better Newsletters, Bulletins, and More was made 25 years ago but the basic design principles in it are still useful. The description that follows is the same for both PART ONE and PART TWO of the video.

I recently (August 2021) found a copy of this video set in my files and though there is some outdated content and I have no idea what I did to get my hair to look like it does in the video, the majority of the video content is extremely useful. In addition, basic skills training like what is presented here is very hard to find for church communicators.

For training, you can find lots on the latest social media channel you should be using. How to write in a way that reaches busy people, basic design principles for any media, how to manage and stay strong spiritually in this challenging work is much harder to find. All this and much more is in the two videos. [Read more...]

FREE PRINTABLES, images for Mother’s Day in all formats and sizes

22 April, 2021 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Prov 31:30, to celebrate any woman who serves God — These images can be printed up in a variety of sizes to honor women at Mother's Day or any time.

I'm in the process of a HUGE change in the Effective Church Communications ministry and this set of images is a preview of them.

This is part of a collection of printable images you can download and use in any digital format in 96 dpi and also in high-resolution PDFs and 300 dpi jpgs that can be printed at large sizes through online printing shops. I can only give you some of the smaller sizes here (because of upload size limitations), but the larger sizes are coming.

Please click on the images and a larger view will come up.

I chose this verse because though it is a great one to share for Mother's Day, it applies to all women, biological moms or spiritual moms, or any woman who deserves praise because she fears the Lord.

At the bottom of this article are downloadable files that contain the images in these sizes and formats including:

INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK size 96 dpi images useful for any way you want to use them in a digital, social media, or web format.
Ready to print PDFs, 2 sizes in one folder for 8.5 and A4—the most common for a full-size sheet printed out in with standard church or office printers. Plus high resolution 300 dpi jpgs.

COMING SOON the Bibleverse Shop

I will have a system and a place (the Bibleverse Shop) where I can also provide a selection of sizes and formats that can be sized from small images to 24x36 and 30x30 in both high-resolution PDFs and high resolution 300 dpi jpgs. You will be able to use these files to have the images printed at your local print shops, or online with Costco, Vista Print, Staples, and many more.

At your home or office, you can print them out and then put them into frames for gifts or for inspiration around your church. The mockups below illustrate some of the ideas. These files (even when condensed) are HUGE which is one of the reasons why I have to have the other system I'm working on to be able to make them available to you. It is coming soon and these images show what you'll be able to do with the files I'll be providing: