Think Outside the Budget

I'm working on a brochure right now that will be passed out to college students, as well as play a role in a campaign to re-energize one of the communities in our church. In our brainstorming, we came up with the idea to have a photobooth for members of the congregation to get their photos taken to be used a as a background. Playing off the "behind every face lies a story" phrase, we were really excited about the idea. So, I began to research.

I found that renting a photobooth would run around $1700, while buying one would set us back a little over $6,000. So, it was time to think outside the budget. As I was researching photobooth photos to use in the initial brochure design, I found a lot of people posting pictures they took on their macs, using a program called photobooth. Great program with limited practical use...or so I thought. I figured, because the photos are going to be small and in the background, quality might not be an issue. So, we gave it a shot. After the services each weekend, the leadership invited people to come out and be a part of the project by getting their photos taken. We had over 130 people stop by to get their photos taken, and it really showed a great cross section of the types of people who "fit" here at church. More than anything, I was excited to see an idea work so well that was a result of not being able to do what we would have done if we had the money.

I think big budgets are often a hindrance. They allow us to rest on the fact that we can afford to do whatever we want. Sometimes not having enough money can in fact limit a project, but I think true creativity shows up when we are low on funds, and still deliver outstanding results.

Keep on Keepin' on

Very sorry for the massive delay in posting. I have been swamped at work with a major project, and now that it is back from print and mailed out to a few thousand households in the High Desert, I can reflect a bit on the chaos. The project was a magazine that we were trying to get done for Thanksgiving (along with a few other things all due at the same time). Typically we try to get our magazines in homes on the first of the month, but with Thanksgiving being a family gathering oriented event, we thought it would be great to have the magazine in the hands of the congregation to show to their holiday guests. Getting it in homes a week and a half early meant my deadline was a week and a half sooner than I was used to.

It wasn't just the deadline that made the project chaotic. The magazine was focused around compassion and I was having a really hard time figuring out how to communicate it visually without using the standard ideas. And not just once. There were three articles about it. I hit a creative wall, and couldn't seem to get through it. I began to realize that often the walls we face aren't because we are pursuing the wrong idea, rather, it is because we haven't pursued the right idea long enough. I am very happy with the final design, and am shocked to see where it is today, considering where it was just a few weeks ago. All the building blocks are the same...I just spent a lot of time moving them around.

From what I have seen, communications is no different. If you say something only once, the message will probably not make an impact. Instead, you have to live your life in a way that shows that you care about what you are constantly talking about, or your message will lose its teeth. Keep pursuing the thing that are right. If things don't seem to be coming together, then maybe you just haven't pursued it long enough.

Free 411...and more

Google unleashes a free 411 service. Nothing that I can say here that the video doesn't cover. But what about application? So I can get free 411, how does that help the church? Glad you asked.

Because Google is dominating the search world, and is rumored to be starting their own cell phone company, their presence in the hands of the consumers of America (and the world) is growing rapidly. And the church can benefit. Google has something called the Google Local Business Center. It's basically the service that allows you to input your business/church's important information so that the various Google tools can yield an accurate result. That is how this new Goog-411 service helps you.

As seen in the video, the caller can choose to receive a text message, or be directed to a map of the location they are calling about. If they are calling about a church in your area, you want to make sure your information is accurate so they can find it. Appropriate open hours (service times would be a great fit here instead of office hours) and contact information are available to anyone who needs them. This is a great, easy and free way to make your church easier to find for those who are looking. Oh ya, and it saves you a buck if you are looking for a place to eat in the area.

I Forgot

As my wife and I were walking out of church Sunday evening, she noticed that a container collecting food for a food drive the church was promoting was empty. She turned and said "how sad, there aren't any cans in the box for the food drive." Confused, I said "what food drive?" She scolded me saying, "the one in the bulletin last week. Didn't you read it?!" As a staff member in the communications department, I read it a few times. In fact, I proofed it before it went to print! That got me to thinking, why didn't I remember?

Part of the reason is that I don't go to church for events. I go to worship God, be developed in my faith, and be equipped to change the world for His glory. Now, that by no means trivializes the food drive. It simply explains why the small blurb in the bulletin didn't resonate with me. In that, I realized that once a week communication has some significant limitations. Mainly, most people forget the events of the bulletin by the time they reach their car after the service, let alone remember to go to the store, pick up some canned goods and return them to church the next week. So, how do we remind people?

Our answer is to use our blog. The church I work for is divided into different communities, each with their own programs, ministries and worship style, united by the same teaching. The youngest of the three communities has a blog, and uses it for general interest purposes. It isn't about this verse or that passage all the time. Sometimes it is a funny YouTube video that is going around, and other times it's an update on what the pastor does to relax. In this case, the food drive will be a perfect fit. Because we have a blog, we have a mid week opportunity to remind the congregation that they have an opportunity to give. By using the blog this way, it will take the digital communication and translate into a tangible result.

Another way I have seen work, but only works when planning ahead, is to provide some tangible reminder for people to take home. At my previous job, we used to literally have pallets of empty boxes for people to take home, fill up, and bring back. There were several reminders built in. First, you had a bunch of empty boxes all over the place screaming, "oh ya, there is a food drive". Second, people would literally have a box to see and remind them that they need to fill up a box. And finally, as the boxes are returned and stacked in various locations, people were reminded, "oh ya, I still have that box that I need to fill up".

Obviously different applications can be applied at different places, but those are two methods, one about damage control, one about planning ahead successfully, to reach your congregation more than once a week.

iPhoneslide

I found out about a great service today called iPhoneslide. It is great for a few reasons. First, its free. Second, it really makes managing all these various online tools nice when it comes to uploading media. Don't let the "iPhone" part of the name scare you off, it works from any cell phone or computer.

The idea is simple. I have a Facebook account, a blog through Blogger, and am playing around with a Flickr account. Now, if you are anything like me, I don't fully understand the depths of each of these tools. Because of that, I typically post similar information on each site. And there comes the hassle. I don't want post the same photo to three different sites three different times. I then say "bah! forget it", and my photos go nowhere. Well, the wonderful people at iPhoneslide have solved that problem, and more.

The idea is to be able to take your photos from your phone and upload them from wherever you are to wherever you want them to be. That list includes Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Wordpress, TypePad and Blogger. It is as simple as emailing your photo to post@iphoneslide.com. You will receive an email back with a link. Follow the link, and you are asked which sites you would like your photo uploaded to. You can even include title and descriptions for the photos by using the correct fields in the original email (check the FAQs). Amazing!

Obviously this has some really cool applications from the road. "Look, I'm stuck in the airport because of snow", or in the case of us southern Californians, "Look, I'm stuck on the freeway because there is a giant wall of fire in front of me". But it makes the upload to these various sites a lot easier even from the computer. Pretty cool stuff.

The Power of a Well Told Story

I talked a few posts ago about why story works. I was reading ESPN.com yesterday, and found the story of a young man who was the mascot for North Carolina. The young man was a believer, and I found his story to be a very powerful testimony of a life lived for Christ. Today, I found that his story has been forwarded to more people than any other ESPN article. Now that is the power of story.

YouTube outreach

YouTube asked the question, "how has YouTube changed your life", and video makers answered. I find it interesting that the insecurities of being a teenager haven't changed much, only the way one "deals" with them. This short video is a great evangelism piece for YouTube. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have something like this flying around in your church's your ministry circles talking about how your [insert life stage here] is changing lives.