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; we can help.

A reminder of the features and flexibility of MS Publisher

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MS Publisher for Churches
MS Publisher is a great program for churches and this e-book shows many of the reasons why.

I just finished an article for Ministry Tech magazine (if you haven't signed up for the FREE subscription to it, CLICK HERE) and as part of that article talked about how and why years ago I switched from using primarily Adobe PageMaker to MS Publisher to teach and equip church communicators.

As part of that explanation I mentioned an e-book I created years ago to illustrate all you can do with MS Publisher and how in many ways it can equal the design capabilities of far more expensive graphic design and layout programs. I wanted to share the e-book and you can download it by clicking here or on the image at the start of this article.

Some of the material in the book is a little out-dated, as Publisher has continued to improve, but it is still a useful reminder of how flexible and useful this program is for church communicators. [Read more...]

Q & A: I need a resource for bargain software—is Consistent Computer Bargains still in business?

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QUESTION:

Yvon,

A number of years ago (app. 2004 or earlier) I attended one of your seminars. You handed out a book with a couple of resource pages in the back. I’m interested in one particular resource, Consistent Computer Bargains (www.ccbministries.com).

In 2004 when we purchased a new computer we were able to order software from this site for a reduced price for churches, we saved quite a bit of money. We are again looking at purchasing a new computer and would like to again order this discounted software. However when I check out the website another site comes up that doesn’t look right.

Do you know anything about the current state of this company? Are there other companies out there who will give generous discounts on software programs to churches? Computers also.

I would appreciate hearing back from you so I can forward the information to the person at our church in charge of making a new computer purchase for us.

Thank you ahead for your help and for all you do to provide help for church secretaries and their churches!

Connie, Trinity UCC

ANSWER:

CCB onlineThe best place is till Consistent Computer Bargains. Though they have changed their name somewhat, here is their website: http://www.ccbnonprofits.com.

I spoke recently to their Director of Religious Sales, Patti Lojeski. I have known Patti and the folks there for over 15 years and I can't recommend them enough.

Not only for MS Publisher, the company still has many fantastic deals on software for churches—they are able to sign churches up for nonprofit pricing for the companies that offer this. You can't get these prices in regular retail stores, you must use a group like CCB.

In addition, they have also expanded their offerings in hardware, software, and cloud services.

I featured them in my e-book:  9 Reasons why MS Publisher is a great program for churches to use for print and graphic creation. This ebook is free for ECC MEMBERS and is an inexpensive download for others. For more about it, to link to the book and download, CLICK HERE .

Here is Patti Lojeski's contact information. She can refer you to someone who can specifically help you. Do let her know I sent you!

800-342-4222 ext. 107 | patti.lojeski@ccbnonprofits.com

How to modify templates for A paper sizes

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I created this brief video in answer to a question from Australia about what to do when the Effective Church communication files are in PDF format sized for American paper sizes, but these sizes are not the standard paper sizes for Australia.

This short video shows how to modify the communications in MS Publisher and MS Word to the "A" paper sizes, which is what most of the world uses. Being able to modify the templates is one of the benefits of Effective Church Communication Membership and this video shows how easy it is to do this.

Planning forms, ready-to-print PDFs & editable MS Publisher Files

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PDF forms cover
This is the cover for the set of ready-to-print PDFs.

This set of  forms is an invaluable help in planning and tracking your church communications. These are the forms that are  shown in the videos and books on Planning. The Forms are FREE for ECC MEMBERS (click link at the bottom of this article) or for sale for anyone in an immediately downloadable ZIP format for $7.50.

The ZIP FILE contains TWO SETS:

1) A set of ready-to-print PDFs. Anyone can download and print these--you don't need to have any special program.

2) Editable templates of the forms in MS Publisher. You need MS Publisher to be able to open and modify these templates. If you have it and are familiar with it,  not having to do the basic layout of the templates will save you many hours of work! All you have to do is personalize or change them if you want to and you have them on computer files in your office.

The files are for planning your communications and for evaluation and recording follow up. They are the forms that were used in the Planning Video and Forms Video. Consistent use of these forms will help you honestly evaluate your communication program and give you an objective measure for success. For information on how to become an ECC MEMBER and have access to many more editable files, ebooks and more for only $9.99 a month or $99 a year, CLICK HERE.

EDITABLE FORMS Cover
This shows the cover for the overview that goes with the set of MS Publisher Templates. Please read through this as it shows an overview of the templates.

You have permission to use them as many times or however you want throughout your church.

Click on the ADD TO CART button below to purchase.

You will receive an email back immediately with your download. Download the ZIP file. Save it to your hard drive and then simply click to "unzip" it. You do not need any additional software to do this.

ZIP file of Church Communications Forms

$7.50

Add to Cart
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 Below is the FREE ZIP file of all these forms in both PDF and editable format for Effective Church Communication Members

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the Zip File.

SAVE to your computer (on your desktop makes it easy to find). Click to open and use. ***Remember you must have MS Publisher to modify the templates. They will open in MS Publisher.

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9 Reasons why MS Publisher is a great program for churches to use for print and graphic creation

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Why MS Publisher is recommended for Church Com teams
MS Publisher is a fantastic program to create not only publications, but graphics for print and web. At the end of this article, you can download this FREE PDF.

When I first encountered MS Publisher in the early days of creating communications with the computer, I would have never imaged I’d be recommending it as the program of choice for churches—and not only so you can create complex print layouts, but also graphics for print and the web.

At that time, if you wanted to create professional-looking publications, you chose Aldus Pagemaker.  Pagemaker gave you layout options and type-setting control, necessary for credible communications for churches, while Publisher’s main claim to fame was the ability to quickly create a moderately tacky-looking postcard quickly. [Read more...]