Three Things for an Up-To-Date Website (You do have one, don’t you?)

Asking if you have a website is hopefully a needless question. Being without one is comparable to Jonah refusing to go to Nineveh—if that’s the case, you really should consider life inside a whale for wasting such a God-given opportunity.

That said, what makes a good website for today’s online presence? Think three A’s:  Audience, Application and Accessibility.

1. Audience

Identifying your audience is a crucial first step. It determines the look of your site and the message you want to convey. But let’s back up: In order to identify your audience, you must also identify your goals. Here are some possibilities:

Church promotion
If your goal is to promote your church, to whom are you targeting the promotion? Potential new members from the community? Families? Professionals? Tourists passing through? Your website style and content should match that of your audience and their needs.

Member communication
Is your primary goal to unify your membership? Nurture their faith? Increase their awareness of what’s happening at church? If so, who are your members? What are their ages, their careers, interests and life situations? For mechanical purposes, what are their online capabilities? Are they tech savvy? Do they have high speed internet?

Outreach
Now, more than ever, the internet offers the widest, quickest access to the greatest masses. Is spreading the gospel is one of your website goals? If so, the world is your audience and you must assume zero faith knowledge. No shop talk allowed!

2. Application

By application, I’m referring to applying design and content elements to best reach your audience. While specific audiences require specific applications, there are some commonalities that work for all. Let’s look at those used today.

Show, don’t tell
Yes, we’re reading more online these days. Facebook, blogs and Twitter, that is. When it comes to websites, however, imagery still says more than words no matter how well you write. Don’t tell viewers your church focuses on youth. Instead, show images of young people on your home page. Use images liberally. Edit your text liberally.

3-click navigation
The same two rules apply today as in the past: Keep navigation simple and use the 3-click rule. Users should be able to go anywhere on your site within three clicks.

Use the right font
San serif fonts, namely Arial and Verdana, have long been the preferred choice for online reading. Without tails at the end of each letter, they present the easiest reading from a computer screen (as opposed to serif fonts which are the easiest to read on a printed page).

But times are-a-changing! We now have Georgia, a serif font developed specifically for the web. This is an easy-to-read screen font and has become very popular in today’s websites.

Frequent content updates
The days of putting a website online and never touching it again are over. Viewers now want updates and they want them often. An outdated, old-news website is an absolute no-no. Many designers now create sites with owner content management systems (CMS), thus enabling church personnel to easily update their own information.

3. Accessibility

We hear this word all the time these days. What’s it mean?

Accessibility means making your website accessible, or viewable, by as many people possible, no matter what browser or device they’re using.

The internet isn’t just for computers anymore. According to The Kelsey Group, almost 40 percent of users of mobile devices such as ipods, iphones and Blackberries are using them to access the internet. And you don’t have to live under a rock to know mobile devices are commonplace to anyone under the age of 50.

As Christians, there’s another online presence we should consider: those with disabilities using special browsers to accommodate their needs. Many of our old ways of designing, such as frames and outdated coding, are inaccessible to people using such browsers.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers extremely detailed and technical instructions for online accessibility. In reality, this reads a bit like Greek to most of us. Here are a few basics, however, to get you started:

Limit Flash
Flash is fancy. Flash is fun. And nowadays most computers can handle it. But mobile devices and many browsers for visually impaired viewers still cannot. Use Flash as an accessory but never for vital content.

Think scrolling
Mobile device screens utilize lots of vertical scrolling. Now’s the time to get rid of that introductory splash page and your wide width dimensions. If you’re designing specifically for mobile devices, downsize your site to a width of 320 pixels and put your best and most sought after information at the top of the page.

Use semantic code (at least HTML 4.0 Transitional)
Sorry folks, Word, Publisher and FrontPage just don’t cut it. These are not reliable web design programs and the code they deliver do not meet today’s standards. Learn to code. Use a true WYSIWYG program such as Dreamweaver.

Does all this seem too complicated?

Well, sometimes it might just make more sense to consider a professional. Let them do what they’re good at, so you have time to do what you’re good at.

Press Release: They Don’t Call it Free Press for Nothing

O.K. I admit I’m a bit ambiguous in my use of “free press.”

Journalistically, the term “free press” refers to the uncensored freedom our constitution offers American media. For our church purposes, this term carries an additional reference: a wonderful opportunity to publicize our message of Christ.

For free. As in no cost.

A press release is free publicity

Direct selling expert Jeffrey Dobkin says a well-written press release is “the most valuable single page in all of marketing” (or, in our case, mission outreach). A press release is a document sent to media editors who, if they find it interesting, will publish it or decide to further report on it. For free.

You can send press releases to newspapers, magazines, radio, T.V. and now online publications. There are even online press release services that help distribute your news for you.

Of course, there’s a catch: You have to write it right

Editors receive a gazillion press releases each day. They have a ton of reading to do and not much time to do it. If you write your press release right, it will not only read, it will also get published.

Match your media

Make sure there’s a connection between you and the media. If you’re publicizing your church’s elderly day care, send a release to your local newspaper or AARP Magazine. The Onion newspaper would not be a good choice.

Contact the editor

After selecting a media, contact its editor and ask how you should send your release. Hard copy? Email? Addressed to whom? This is a good time to put in a quick plug: “I’m Joe, from Trinity Ministries, and I’d like to send a press release on our exciting Hispanic outreach program. Who should I send it to and in what format?”

Remember, editors are busy people. Get straight to the point. And call after the media has been sent to publication, such as the afternoon if it’s a daily newspaper.

Press Release format

Google press release template and you’ll come up with hundreds of helpful guidelines. They’re basically all the same and I’ve posted one here. Of course, since you’ve already spoken with the editor, you’ll know if he or she has particular preferences. Customize your release to meet those preferences.

Use the Inverted Pyramid

Another journalism term here. But, hey, when in Rome…

Think of your document as an upside down triangle, with the wide base on top narrowing down to a point at the bottom. The broad base represents your opening paragraph and your most newsworthy information. The point at the bottom represents the last paragraph and the least newsworthy. In other words, if the newspaper needs to cut out the last paragraph for lack of space, make sure everything the public needs to know is in the first paragraph.

Note: This style of writing may be absolutely opposite what you learned in school, particularly if you’re a pastor. Remember, think journalism.

Absolutely NO passive voice!

The media is about action. Write in an active voice. Use strong action verbs. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check this out.

Five W’s and an H

Who, where, what, when, why and how? These are journalistic questions you have to answer. Is your church sponsoring an overseas missionary? Tell who she is. Where is she going? When will she go? What mission work will she do? How will she do it? Why?

Why? Because of Jesus.

The public media hardly seems a receptive tool for spreading the gospel of Christ. If you come on too preachy, you’ll likely never make it off the editor’s desk. Jesus was often subtle in his manner of teaching. We can be subtle too.

“Building a new school during tough economic times is a challenge,” says John Jones, principal of Abiding Word School. “However, we know God has a plan and we trust it will be a good one.”

Imagine how the Holy Spirit can use a quote as simple as this to work miracles in the hearts of thousands. Talk about free press!

Press Release: You Gotta Have a Format

Writing a press release? Follow this easy template.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
Contact Person
Company Name
Voice Phone Number
FAX Number
Email Address
Website URL

Headline Announces News in Strong Active Voice,
Ideally Under 80 Characters

<City>, <State>, <Date> -The lead 1-2 sentences must contain your most important information in 25 words or less. Answer who, what, when, where, why and how.

Keep the following paragraphs short, with no more than 3-4 sentences. Some say the total word count for your release should be no more than 800 words. I think even that’s too long and prefer to keep it to 500-600 words. It must be written as factual, with no hype or salesmanship. Any information that is considered subjective, such as an opinion, should be expressed as a quote.

Use the last paragraph to inform the public of your church or organization. Follow up with: “For more information, call or email…”

- END -

Type “End” after the end of your story to let journalists know this is the end of your release. If your release goes onto a second page, type “MORE” at the bottom of the first page.

If relevant, include a quality, black and white photo image relating to your story.

Public Relations: For Churches Too?

Happy Inauguration Day!

Whether you’re Democrat, Republican or an Independent, you’ve got to admit President Barack Obama certainly has captured the public’s attention. Yesterday alone, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Obama reiterated his strong stance on public service and thousands of Americans joined in volunteering.

As Christians, we can easily parallel this agenda with God’s command to love one another. Because he first loved us, we too reach out in love to others. But in doing so, how much attention do we attract? What kind of attention? Do we want attention? Does attention communicate the message of Christ?

Here’s where the term “public relations,” a.k.a. PR, comes in.

Yes, once again, we’re applying the business world to our church world. Can we rightfully do this?

Yes, we can.

Read my disclaimer

Will this business tool bring lost souls to Jesus? No, of course not. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Might the Holy Spirit use this tool for his purposes? Of course. Along with his command to spread the gospel, God also gives us knowledge—practical knowledge that can be used completely to his glory.

PR can be God’s outreach tool.

What is PR and how does it apply to our job of communicating Christ?

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) gives a lengthy definition of PR. In college I learned a more succinct definition: Using communication to create a positive image of an organization or product to the public.

News articles, T.V. interviews, web site, advertising…these are a few of many ways we can communicate a positive image of our church, and ultimately Christ, to the public.

Has your youth group recently held a food drive? Send a press release to your local newspaper. Has a member participated in humanitarian work overseas? Promote it on the Internet. Is your church raising money for a mission? Put up a poster showing your results.

Isn’t this bragging?

Jesus tells us we are the light of the world. He describes us as a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Furthermore, he says “…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven,” Matt. 5:14 & 16.

PR can allow our light to shine. PR can glorify God.

In a time when the media commonly portrays Christianity in a negative light, it’s imperative we counteract with a positive light. It’s vital we communicate Christ.

Coming next: Writing press releases that get published.

Marketing: One of Many Business Evils?

Use the word “marketing” in a church setting and you’re likely to evoke arguments as hot as Wisconsin is now cold. A perfect example of this is Christianity Today’s recent article by Tyler Wigg-Stevenson today titled “Jesus is not a Brand.” Within days blogs everywhere responded with followups.

While Stevenson makes some very good points, his 8-page article is so convoluted with analysis he loses context of God’s simple command: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation,” Mark 16:15.

Whether we refer to it as outreach, evangelism or marketing, our goal is to spread the good news of Jesus. To do that, we have to get out of our jar and get out into the public. Simple as that.

With this thought in mind, let’s examine a simple plan. Yes, it’s a marketing plan and, yes, it originally developed in the business world. But before you get all riled up…

Read my disclaimer

Will this business tool bring lost souls to Jesus? No, of course not. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Might the Holy Spirit use this tool for his purposes? Of course. Along with his command to spread the gospel, God also gives us knowledge—practical knowledge that can be used completely to his glory.

A marketing plan can be God’s outreach tool.

So what’s a marketing plan and how can we apply it to our outreach?

As Wikipedia defines it, a marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing (or outreach, in our case) objectives. A marketing plan helps us define our outreach goal, what we need to do to achieve that goal and in what order. It helps us organize our thinking.

Marketing plans vary but they usually examine three main points:

1. Define your product, service or unique selling proposition

O.K. This one’s a no-brainer. Jesus. Only Jesus.

Who is Jesus? What are his physical or spiritual features? What benefits does he offer? What sets him apart from anything else? What worldy things compete with Jesus for our love and attention?

2. Define your customers

Or, in our case, to whom are the people you want to evangelize? A specific neighborhood? Your city? A worldy mission? The online public? By defining a specific evangelism field, we can better deliver God’s message according to individual cultures and environments.

What are their demographics? Age? Gender? Income?

Where do they live? Where do they work? What are their habits and lifestyles?

What is their current faith status and affiliation?

3. Define Your Plan and Budget

How have you previously reached out to this mission field? What results could you see? What was most effective? What was your cost, in time and budget, to reach out?

What is your future outreach plan? What amount of your budget is allocated to this plan? In addition to God’s heavenly Word, what earthly tools can you use to implement this plan? In what order will you implement these plans and use these tools?

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Happy Epiphany

Epiphany…the twelfth and last day of Christmas. The day Magi visited the Holy Child. The day John baptized Jesus. Or, the day Jesus changed the water into wine.

Depending on the tradition, this ancient church holiday commemorates any one of these events. Above all, Epiphany (Greek for “manifest” or “to reveal”) celebrates God’s revelation of Jesus Christ as his own Son.

As a kid, I remember my parochial school teachers saying we shouldn’t take our Christmas tree down before Epiphany. Now, as an adult, I’ve grown beyond such ideas, not out of apathy towards a somewhat forgotten holiday but because our tree—which, by the way, we cut only three weeks ago from our own woods— had dried to a crisp and threatened to ignite the whole house.

Who cares about a tree?

Instead, let’s think of Epiphany as the celebration it is. A celebration of God’s love.

Being the mortal humans we are, there’s no way we can fully comprehend an immortal God. Yet, when God revealed himself as a man on earth— someone people could see, hear and touch—he gave us an opportunity to better know him, to more easily understand his saving grace.

Wow! God did all that for us!

Epiphany in those terms certainly outshines any effort we put forth in sharing our Savior’s message. In spite of that, we have our own God-given command to reveal his message and tools with which to do so—words, visuals and, oh, so much more. My goal this year is to use them to his glory.

From Our House to Yours

The beautiful season of Christmas…

A new-fallen snow,
a brightly lit tree,
the joy in a child’s eyes,

Yet, none compare to the beauty
of our Savior’s grace,
his love for each of us.

Communicating Contentment

Summer days are lazy days for sheep. They eat and they lie around. They drink a lot of water. Then they eat and lie around some more. Such a life, eh?

This summer’s been pretty nice for my sheep because, in spite of recent dry weeks, their pastures have been lush and green the whole summer. I generally let them graze on one pasture for a few days. Then when they’ve eaten it down, I move them onto another pasture where new, thick grass tempts their palate.

This makes them happy sheep. Full. Content. And they lie around some more.

Anyone who knows sheep knows life is good when they see their flock lying around. As ruminants— animals with four stomachs—sheep will eat their fill of forage in minutes and then lie down and chew their cud for hours. This chewing is actually a regurgitating, rechewing and reswallowing of the grass they’ve eaten, creating a natural antacid, so to speak, which allows for better digestion in all those stomachs.

Isn’t that appetizing?

Well, I suppose not. But from a practical standpoint, a flock of sheep lying down and chewing their cud is a healthy flock. They’ve gotten enough to eat. They’re digesting in the proper manner. They are happy and content.

David, the Psalmist, is someone who knew sheep. When he wrote of lying “down in green pastures,” he wasn’t just penning creative prose. David knew sheep lie down when they are cared for and content. Using subject matter he knew best—the simplicity of sheep farming—David beautifully characterized the confidence he felt in God’s loving care.

I love to look out at my pastures and see my sheep. And as they look up at me, with jaws gnawing away, I know the good care I give them is fragmentary beside the complete care God gives me.

Pausing for a Breath

I regularly read Penelope Trunk, a career-advice columnist with the Boston Globe and author of the Brazen Careerist. While her subject matter is sometimes off the wall and her manner of delivery is even more so, I still find her informative, educational and applicable.

PT, as she’s often referred to by her blog followers, recently wrote on the idea of the pause. She wrote in regards to public speaking and how a pause adds impact to the important things a speaker has to say.

Here’s an example:

You’re listening to a speaker fire away, non-stop, on, and on, and on. He doesn’t give you time to replenish oxygen let alone absorb what’s being said. In a more effective delivery, a speaker would briefly pause after specific points during his speech. He would give his audience opportunity to laugh at his jokes, feel the emphasis of what’s important, or collect their thoughts.

The same can be said for our writing
The long, drawn out paragraph is like the rambling, non-stop speaker. There’s a major difference, however. The speaker, at least, gets a start with his message before loosing his audience. The writer, on the other hand, loses his audience before his first words are ever read.

Why?

Because we, the audience, are automatically scared away by big blocks of written text. In today’s world of blogging, twittering and news articles, this is magnified all the more.

“I encourage people to pause in their writing,” wrote an instructor, who commented on PT’s blog. “I suggest that they write paragraphs of two or three sentences. This may not be what you learned in school, but it works. A paragraph break in a written document is like a pause in a conversation.”

Pay attention to the writing style of quality newspapers. Take note of well-written blogs. Learn what people are reading today and keep that form in mind as you write your message of Christ.

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Attitudes are Contagious

 

Our church is currently raising money for a $4 million building and renovation project. We’re doing this whether we can afford it or not. Well, sort of.

Nowadays, what congregation can afford to take on such a monumental expense? And what congregation operates on a relatively balanced budget? Certainly, not ours. Before starting the project, we conducted a feasibility survey and opinions ranged from half-hearted support to out and out refusal to commit. Most questioned how we could afford such an insurmountable task. In spite of this, we voted to go forward with construction.

Here’s where attitude comes in, and here’s where communication plays an important role.

We humans are fickle beings. Our attitudes are easily swayed one direction or another. Whether positive or negative, attitudes can be contagious. In the case of our congregation, where the vote has been cast and what’s done is done, it’s important that members’ attitudes go the way of positive.

Communication can shape attitudes. Communication can tell people how they feel or what they are. Tell people they are happy, they feel happy. Tell them they are go-getters, they become go–getters.

A quirk of human nature? A shaping of our emotional makeup? Oh, yes. The media, advertising and political arenas know this all too well. They successfully use it on us every day. Can we also shape attitudes with our communication, and can we do it in a God-pleasing way?

You bet.

For our capital appeal, the communications committee focused on creating a positive attitude that would dispel the Doubting Thomases. We chose a theme based on Isaiah 11:6 that provided a ready answer to the questions of why, when and how. We designed an accompanying logo that was bold, current and pleasing to all age groups…hey, even teenage boys were wearing the T-shirts at the church picnic! We regularly promoted church events to the community with news releases.

All of the above worked to permeate a sense of excitement in our congregation. But our campaign newsletters proved to be the biggest hit.

The appeal committee wisely approved a generous communications budget. This enabled us to professionally print eye-catching and well-designed newsletters that promoted enthusiasm and up-to-date information. Showcasing multi-generational families created a sense of heritage and history, as did photos and stories of bygone days from elderly members. Human interest stories, such as those of members going into the world with the message of Christ, reinforced our church’s mission. Stories involving community emphasized our relationship within our own city.

The tone of our newsletter was also well received. We kept the content light and easy to read. Of course we communicated God’s message—that is most important, after all. But we were also careful to do it in a non-preachy way. We included lots of pictures and most of them were of people. We recognized God’s blessings. We said thank you.

Have we raised our current goal of $1.75 million? Not yet. We’re still in the first of our 3-year campaign.

But God works in wondrous ways. What began as a negative attitude has shifted to a positive. Many people have commented there is a level of excitement and involvement within our congregation that they’ve never seen before.

To Him be all the glory!

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