Effective Church Communications

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators. 

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators.
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Updated Resources added: Clickable List of 23 FREE & LEGAL Image Resource Sites

22 November, 2019 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Free & Legal image sources
We never seem to have enough resources for our church communications. This list will help and it's all FREE & LEGAL.

Update note: Tis the season of needing lots of images and below is a clickable list of FREE Image Resource Sites. I've added several new sites and along with them a short video and preview of the sites.

These are truly, totally free. No attribution required, no copyright infringement, they are all OK to use for commercial purposes (and for churches that means you can sell a t-shirt with an image used and be legal). I've spent many hours reading the fine print so you don't have to.

I did this because it really bothers me when you run across the frequent list of "free" images, but then you read the small print and you can't use them for anything but "personal use" (whatever that means) or that you have to print an attribution. I do understand why that is important to many people, but for many of the church communications we create, it simply isn't practical. Or it would look strange on an invitation card or similar communication.

There are thousands and thousands of images here and I recommend doing searches for what you need ahead of the time you need them. Just save in files under the categories you know you'll be working in (holidays, various ministries, etc.) and you'll have your own store of images when you are on a deadline to produce communications.

Here is the new updated list of video sources

  • https://www.freebibleimages.org/
    • Incredible collection of photo and illustrations
    • Cannot use for commercial purposes, ministry & educational only
    • For an example of a video you can create with these images go to one I did about the Prodigal Son: https://wp.me/pDky9-3Fh
  • burst.shopify.com
    • hi and low res options
    • lots of images related to coffee!
  • https://www.reshot.com/
    • I just really like them
  • negativespace.co
    • All CC0 license

[Read more...]

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: RESOURCES Tagged With: FREE & LEGAL image sources, free clip art for churches, free clipart, Free Image Sources

Free Image and media resources for church communicators

5 November, 2014 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Clip art is a key element to your seasonal masterpieces--here are lots of free resources
Images are a key element to your seasonal masterpieces--here are lots of free resources

In the coming months you'll be creating lots of communications for ministry and outreach over the holidays. As you do this, the following list of resources will help you with new images, photos, and an incredible way to create videos. All of the resources below have free sections, however, be careful because many of them also offer images for sale to finance their sites.

I didn't include standard, Christian sites because most of you already know about these and many of the images we use today are not your standard old-fashioned clip art images, but thematic photos.  I did include some basic clip art resources, but also a number of very contemporary photo sites.

I also included some smaller, new sites—if you like the material on these, be sure to download it ASAP—some of these sites don't last long, but have great images available while they do. Also, download the images before the site owners realize how much work it is to keep up the site and start charging for it, as I've seen happen on some sites.

TIPS on image collecting and organizing images and media

  • It's never too early to start collecting and organizing images for the upcoming holidays (and after Christmas it seems like Easter comes quite quickly). Here are a few tips to help you keep from getting overwhelmed.
  • Create folders on your computer for the different holidays and the images you'll save.
  • After some preliminary searching, decide on a theme, a look, perhaps even a color scheme for your upcoming holiday.
  • Use down-time to look for images ahead of time so you'll have them when you get ready to put your communication projects together. Doing this ahead of time makes actual production go much more smoothly.
  • If you have a laptop at home (this is what I do), browse through these resources while watching TV. There are thousands of images available today and it can take many hours to go through them to find just the right ones at the right price (free) for ministry projects. When I do this, I don't feel so guilty for watching TV.

Photos & other media

In many communications and on websites today the trend is towards using photos and not clip art (though there are times in church communications when clip art is still incredibly useful). Many church communicators think they need to buy photos, but the sites below have some excellent ones and all the photos are free and copyright free to use.

http://pixabay.com/  This site has an incredible collection of high quality photos that are all free to use under Creative Commons license. This site also includes simple vector graphics and illustrations. It has a useful search box that you can also sort your searches for photos, vector, or illustrations only.

http://www.imcreator.com/free/ Fairly new site, contemporary, high quality images. Many require attribution, but are free. Also has icons, website templates.

http://picjumbo.com/ very nice, contemporary photos, many of them free. Has a good listing of categories for searching. Not a huge site, but useful for up-to-date subject matter.

http://publicdomainarchive.com/  Interesting collection of images—some taken by the site owners others from public domain resources. Some are free, some for a membership fee. Worth checking back often as they post new images each week. They don't have a good search function.

http://nos.twnsnd.co/ New Old Stock—advertises itself as lots of uploaded old images or images in the public domain. Made me feel really old to see the space and astronaut images included.  No search function; and not particularly holiday related, but some great images and fun to scroll through.

http://magdeleine.co/browse/ "handpicked, free photos for your inspiration" very nice, contemporary photos, free to use attribution required. One nice feature they have is a search tool that you can search based on colors.

CLIPART and Image Resources

http://www.clker.com/ simple clip art images for the holidays, with an emphasis on very simple images, but often that is exactly what you need.  You have to scroll past some ads, but thousands of images here. One other useful feature is when you click on an image, they include a number of similar ones, e.g. search for "Santa" and on the download page are dozens of other Santa images in many different styles.

The program also has a built-in simple editing program, SVGEdit.  For example if you download a line drawing of Santa, you can open up the program and with one click change the color of the image to a red, instead of black line drawing.

http://thepatternlibrary.com/ Fascinating collection of patterns—not a lot of them, but definitely worth looking at and downloading—you can do so much with them later.

Videos

www.animoto.com  I LOVE this program! It allows you to create incredible videos (think alternative announcements, etc.) by simply adding images and captions, hitting a button and then the program turns them into great videos with amazing graphics and transitions. When you first look at the program you may wonder why it is listed as "free" but scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a section for "non-profits" where you church can get a free membership.

I know there are many other sites, PLEASE send me the ones you like and I'll do another collection of them, email to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Clipart, Seasonal Tagged With: free clipart, free images, free images for churches, free seasonal images

FREE Clipart site that solves a copyright problem

1 May, 2013 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Free Clipart Review
This is a free image from the site: OpenClipart.org, which is the topic of the video review here.

Church communicators are often frustrated, if they read the fine print of many clip art sites, both paid and free in the many areas they are not allowed to use the clip art in.For example, most sites don't allow you to use their clip art if you want to make a t-shirt with it. All the clip art on this site is totally copyright free,in the Public Domain and you can use it any way you want. Having said that, the clip art is a bit tricky to download and the site somewhat confusing to use.

This brief video review shows you how avoid problems with the site, download and use the materials for guilt-free creation of anything you want using the images.

PLEASE take a couple of minutes to watch the video--the site made me crazy (OK....it doesn't take much) trying to figure out how to download and save the images. It is not at all obvious--but it is simple once you figure it out and this video will save you time and frustration.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Clipart Tagged With: clip art for churches, Free Christian Clip art, free clipart, How to download clip art

Free Microsoft Clip Art and how to make the most of it

16 September, 2012 By Yvon Prehn 1 Comment

The Microsoft website has some of the most incredible clipart available or use in your church communication projects and it's all FREE! In addition to the free clipart, it has one of the most useful and fun to use search engines that allows you to find similar clipart, either in style or subject matter.

Both of these features are demonstrated on the video that follows.Below the standard resolution video is an HD video for Effective Church Communication Members.

Following are links for material related to the video, just click on the title to go to them:

  • PLAYLIST of additional videos on sources for FREE CLIP ART.
  • PLAYLIST of how to download and use PAINT.NET
  • Additional video preview of free clipart with copyright information.
  • The Text, PDF, and template of the simple church bulletin illustrated here.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Clipart, Design, Graphics, Images Tagged With: clipart, free Christian clipart, Free church clipart, free clipart, how to find free clipart

FREE videos, graphics and other resources and a new ministry model to create them

13 July, 2012 By Yvon Prehn 3 Comments

Muddy River media
Muddy River Media is a site that offers free media resources for churches based on a missionary supported model. Do check it out and consider donating if you use the resources.

The challenge for both churches and for the people who create resources for them is always how to have enough money to do what we all feel called to do. Creators would love to give away everything they do –but somehow the bills have to be paid. Churches struggle with how to balance budgets while finding the resources they need to do their ministry.

I just discovered a site that provides lots of FREE images, full-video clips and has a different ministry model to fund them. The site is: http://www.muddyrivermedia.org.

They truly do provide FREE video clips, images and assorted media for free. Check out their ever-growing collection.

A different model for support

Rather than sell their materials or charge a subscription, they are doing their work as digital missionaries. This means they solicit donations to support what they do. So please do consider a donation if you use what they create. I've often thought this would be a great way to do this kind of ministry, though a challenging one.

I like their material and hope to be in contact with them and find out more about what they do--but for right now I wanted to pass on what I did know so you can take advantage of it.

Enter a comment below if you have an opinion on this way of funding resources.

Even better, send a donation and pray for the success of the ministry! http://www.muddyrivermedia.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Clipart, Graphics, Images, Multi-media, Photos, Video, how-to Tagged With: free church video resources, free clipart, free images for churches

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

Seasonal Templates

  • OVERVIEW of TEMPLATES for Church Communicators, please read first
  • Valentine’s Day Templates
  • Lenten Templates
  • Easter Templates
  • Mother’s Day Templates
  • Father’s Day and Men’s Ministry Templates
  • Graduation Templates
  • Summer-related Templates
  • 4th of July, Canada Day, and GRACE for All Nations
  • See You At the Pole
  • Harvest Festival and Halloween Templates
  • Christmas Templates

Recent Posts

  • Free Easter Social Media Images, Postcards, and however you want to use images and messages
  • From our vault: Everything you need for Easter: Templates, strategy, inspiration and encouragement for all your Easter communications
  • FREE Facebook Size Valentines Day Social Media with Verses about God’s Love
  • FREE Valentines Day Backgrounds and How to Create them Using the Canva A.I. feature
  • Don’t forget to say “Thank YOU!” to your Christmas volunteers—cards done for you to help you do that PLUS a new PRINTABLE!

Most read posts

  • FREE Easter Jelly Bean Prayer for Children's Ministry
  • Easter Templates
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES
  • Free Easter Social Media Images, Postcards, and however you want to use images and messages
  • Why just "Come to Easter at Our Church" isn't enough--FREE invitations with short, but powerful messages
  • Six Steps to Simple filing
  • One Mother's Prayer, a new set of PDFs to share for Mother's Day and anytime for prayer groups

Misc. Church Communications Templates

  • Church Connection Cards
  • Business/Invitation Card Templates
  • Back to Church for Kids in the Fall Templates
  • Church Bulletin Template
  • Volunteer and Encouragement Templates
  • 2-page Senior Adult Print Newsletter Template
  • Misc. Church Templates

The Bibleverse Shop, a new resource to help you get God’s Word into all of life!

https://youtu.be/S07_DCsnaN0
Bibleverse Shop
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Copyright © 2023 · Enterprise Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in