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.

Don’t let the need for custom graphics keep you from creating your website–do them with MS Publisher!

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Create your own website header with MS Publisher--it's easier than you think!
Create your own website header with MS Publisher--it's easier than you think!

You may be considering creating the website for your church or for a personal blog with WordPress, which is a great idea and one I strongly recommend. But though WordPress is a very easy way to create a website, you may be concerned about how to create the custom header nameplate and maybe some custom graphics for special events.

You have a reason to be concerned because many people will tell you that you need to create these in programs like Photoshop, but your church doesn't have money for the program and you have no time or desire to learn it. But did you know that you can create headers and custom graphics with MS Publisher? Really. You can. And it is SUPER easy to do. [Read more...]

Sugar water or sand, how to really change the world

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person thinking about life"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matt. 7:24-27)

The story is told of how Steve Jobs, the president of the new and struggling Apple computer company, enticed John Scully, then president of Pepsi, to come to work for him.

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life peddling sugar-water?” Jobs asked Scully. “Or would you like to come and help change the world?”

Scully came to Apple and though they built a computer empire, it ultimately betrayed both of them and they were ousted from the corporation, though Jobs eventually returned. They gave their lives to a cause that may not have been built on sugar-water, was literally built on sand. [Read more...]

The media isn’t our message— our message is Jesus

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Jesus contemporary imageMartha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” "Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:40-42)

When Marshall McLuhan early pioneer of electronic media, pronounced in the early sixties, that “the media is the message,” he was predicting that the means of communication would be more important than the message it carried. For his time, the primary media was television; more and more in our world it is computers, and in the resulting forms of digital communication: desktop publishing, the internet, small screen, and social media communications.

Though it is easy to get caught up in the complexity and power of digital communications, as Christians we must constantly remind ourselves that these incredible innovations, and any that are to come, are only tools. The power doesn’t come from the tool or media—the power comes from the message. [Read more...]

One Mother’s Prayer, free sample and for ECC Members the text and download link

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One Mother's Prayer
This piece has challenged and changed lives--CLICK on the image to download your copy.

This short piece, One Mother's Prayer, has probably been impacted more people than anything else I've written. It is the simple, but true story of a young man whose life was going very wrong, whose Mother prayed and his life changed.

It was first published in Today's Christian Woman magazine. It was repeated in their Best of Ten Years of writings, it has been reprinted and republished all over the world, and it continues to bring tears to the eyes of any group I read it to. You are free to use it any way you want and share it however you want.

It is useful for Mother's Day, for Moms in Touch and other prayer ministries and to give out in Children's ministries.

This sample PDF if free to download.You can click here or on the image to download it.

ECC Members will get the all of the additional PDF formats: 2 more 8 1/2 by 11 plus 4 other versions on half sheet size plus the jpgs of the larger files and an MS Word text file if you want to create your own publication. The text file and the link to all the other downloads is after the images below. [Read more...]

Want to use social media effectively in your church? Internet Evangelism Day can help!

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Many of your church members are using social media to connect with each other and friends outside the church. You know that it can be a great outreach tool, but you have no idea where to start using it.

The website and ministry: Internet Evangelism Day, http://www.internetevangelismday.com/description.php can help. It is both a resource site and a how-to site with dozens of materials you can use, plus newsletters and updates you can subscribe to.

In addition, once a year they host Internet Evangelism Day, which this year is on April 29. 2012.

It is a time for your church to give a special focus to internet-related ministries. For ways you can focus on digital outreach (not only this week, but always) check out this article: 14 digital ideas to share with your church on IE Day, CLICK on this link to go to the article: http://www.internetevangelismday.com/description.php

Though the site is a goldmine of resources, there is one more to recommend for IE Day. In celebration of it they are offering a lots of fantastic free materials on internet evangelism and related topics. CLICK on this link to go to this page: http://www.internetevangelismday.com/free-christian-ebook-downloads.php and do pass it on to your friends--they will thank you for it!

I cannot recommend enough this site and its resources. It doesn't take money or even extra skills to help your church become effective in sharing the gospel online and this site can help you do it well.

Additional free resource from Effective Church Communications

For a FREE webinar series on How to Write for the Web, CLICK HERE.