Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; Effective Church Communications can help.

How Christians are like Pumpkins—a fun object lesson for adults and kids to grow as Christians together

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Pumpkin Carving and faith building project
Use this pumpkin carving lesson as a time to teach children about Jesus.

This is just the cutest, fun thing for Halloween!

But first the serious reasons behind it:

In the Old Testament, Jewish parents were commanded to teach their children about God's law during all of life.

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Deut. 6:7-9 MSG

In the New Testament, we are all commanded to do a similar thing—

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Col. 3;7, MSG

Though we are commanded to make God's Word and doing His will part of every area of life, that isn't an easy command to fulfill.

Holidays can help, even ones we wouldn't normally think would help us to grow in our Christian lives.

How pumpkins can help us understand the Christian life, what Jesus has done for us, and how we can live for Him.

We don't often think of Halloween as a time to learn about the Christian faith, but with a little imagination and creativity, it can be! Here is a pumpkin carving project that will help kids learn about Jesus.  Below is a short video that goes through the project and below the video is a link to a  ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project sheet, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version.

Please note: I saw many versions of this before I created my own and was never able to track down an original creator--if that's you or you know who it is, please let me know at yvonprehn@gmail.com.

Click on the following link to download a ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version: Pumpkin Project & Poem

Halloween responses to keep in mind–a flyer reminder to be kind when we might want to be grumpy

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This was shared on Facebook and is very worth passing on as a reminder of what can be a fun, but also a sometimes stressful time. Below it is another challenging thought from Facebook.

What is below is especially important if you are giving out a gospel tract or other information related to your church or Jesus at Halloween.

Below it is one more challenging example from Facebook about Halloween.

When we get it right at Halloween

FREE Valentines Day Backgrounds and How to Create them Using the Canva A.I. feature

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Free Valentines Background and how to create them
This is just one of over 3 dozen free background images you can use for Valentines Day. Download as either a ZIP file or link to Canva, use and modify.

The following backgrounds were all created in Canva, using their A.I. image-generating feature and they were then modified in Canva with some of their filters and image editing tools.

I have three sets of images for you with both links to the Canva files and also to download a ZIP file of 1080 x1080 px, jpg images. You can modify and use them however you want.

Before the images is a short video on how I created them using the Canva "text to image" or their A.I. image generation program. I'll be doing some additional videos about it, but I wanted to share these with you for Valentine's Day.

Following the video are the three sets, first with the images, then the Canva Link and the jpg file link for each set below the images.

 

AI Valentines Day Backgrounds, set #1

1080x1080 px

Here is the link to the Canva File: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFXher_1o8/USvnVN3RGXGzQoBI6lxuBg/edit?utm_content=DAFXher_1o8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Here is the link to the ZIP File of the jpg images: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AI-Valentines-Day-Background-set-1.zip

AI Valentines Day Backgrounds, set #2

1080x1080 px

Here is the link to the Canva File: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFX43UGuNo/on8fUbCli-6Ve7q4ujWkSg/edit?utm_content=DAFX43UGuNo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Here is the link to the ZIP File of the jpg images: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AI-Valentines-Day-Background-set-1.zip

Valentines Day Backgrounds, set #3

1080x1080 px

Here is the link to the Canva File: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFZRrgtXbQ/ELmgA-ZQZ3joY1PMQftCfg/edit?utm_content=DAFZRrgtXbQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Here is the link to the ZIP File of the jpg images: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AI-Valentines-Day-Background-set-1.zip

 

Scam Alert for Geek Squad Users (or even if you aren’t)a video for you

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Scam alert for Best Buys Geek Squad
A quick warning video about a scam alert and the power of typography (check it out to see what I mean!)

The Geek Squad from Best Buy can be a useful resource for churches and one I especially rely on when getting a new computer and switching over programs. [ PLEASE REMEMBER Effective Church Communications does not take any advertising or do affiliate deals—this is just my opinion of the Geek Squad or anything else I talk about].

And so I was understandably upset briefly when I got an email saying that my membership in it was due and had doubled in price. The cost of so many things has gone up considerably, so I was momentarily panicked but then I noticed (seriously) the sloppy typography of the Geek squad logo in the email and it just looked off. I compared it with the real one (on my real Geek Squad contract) and yes, it was fake.

I called the company and they said that unfortunately the web is being flooded with these at present. They said to ignore it and forward the email to abuse@bestbuy.com.

There are lots of detailed warnings online for it and you can CLICK HERE to go to the one from the FTC.

However, I did a little short video to warn you and others (Please pass it on), plus a tiny typography lesson from it—that I'm sure many of you caught the minute you saw the fake email.