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.

How to prepare for a new Pastor

By Leave a Comment

Gayle Hilligoss Picture
Article by Gayle Hilligoss

Welcoming a new pastor is an exciting event in the life of a church. Pastoral changes happen for all sorts of reasons, of course—most good, a few not so. Circumstances surrounding the calling of your new pastor are bound to affect how you will respond to these changes, but your main goal is to act from wisdom, not from emotion.

Your preparation can help get things off to a good start; your expertise and administrative experience will provide continuity in the office and assist in a smooth transition. At the same time, the exercise of welcoming a new pastor can be an exceptional time of personal and professional satisfaction for you. [Read more...]

Church communications give a voice to the silent and shy

By Leave a Comment

Church Communicators can give a voice to the silent
Church Communicators can give a voice to the silent and shy through the tools we create.

I can be loud--really loud. Not obnoxious loud, not loud when I speak normally, just loud in volume when necessary. I often joke that it's because I'm the daughter of a drill sergeant, but regardless of the reason, if a group of people at church want an auditorium of milling adults and kids to be quiet so we can pray and no microphone is available, no problem.

Though I spend a lot of time quietly writing and putting together resources, love solitude,  and don't consider myself particularly chatty, I never really thought about what it means to be too shy, too quiet to talk about something when necessary. For some reason I assumed that most church communicators were people who didn't have a problem getting their message out when they wanted to and that the tools I create for them simply helped them do, in perhaps different or more professional ways, what they were already doing.

Then I got this comment after creating a series of church invitation cards for Come Back to Church Sunday (CLICK HERE if you want to see them): [Read more...]

How to get the best quality images for PowerPoint-based videos

By Leave a Comment

Here I'm sharing some of the lessons I've learned as I prepare videos for this training site.

I used to think that since the final result would be shared online, I could save the images at a low resolution--wrong conclusion as this video shows.

YouTube Playlists–videos organized by topic to help you learn

By Leave a Comment

With over 130 videos created over 3 years time, it can be difficult to find videos on similar topics in church communications from Yvon Prehn's  Effective Church Communications YouTube channel. To help you focus on whatever it is that you want to learn, I have organized the videos into Playlists that group the similar videos together and that you can watch together.

Some of the current playlists are:

  • MS Publisher Uses, Examples, Templates & Tips

  • How to create websites with WordPress

  • FREE Clip art Image Resources--video reviews

  • How to write for the web

I will continue to organize the videos into topics, please SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel and that way you will know when new things are added.

Check out how the Playlists work here:

Videos organized by topic into Playlists at http://www.youtube.com/yvonprehn

Just how important is Know-how?

By Leave a Comment

Gayle Hilligoss Picture
Article by Gayle Hilligoss

Ed. Note: Although I am always encouraged and motivated by the articles Gayle shares with us, this one is especially appropriate for the vision and ministry of Effective Church Communications. My goal is to equip you to share the Words of Eternal Life and as Gayle shows to do that best is not so much about what tools you have, but about YOU, your training, insight and use of the skills you bring to the church. Read on and be encouraged that the time you spend learning will give you a mastery far beyond your expectations!

Just how important is Know-how?

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord…” —Colossians 3:23

When it comes to getting the job done, it’s all about knowing what to do with what you have. The church with the most equipment does not necessarily produce the best looking publications. The one with the priciest management software does not automatically have the accurate and usable records. Nor does having an elaborate phone system guarantee the church’s calls will be handled properly. [Read more...]