There’s been a flurry of interest in Christian Social Media sites, web 2.0 and church websites.  The conversations are all very buzz-word heavy.

And at least one survey’s results have been published which draws upon data gathered in Jan / Feb of this year.

But what it all boils down to is very simple.  Does your website do what your visitors and congregation members want out of it?  How do you know what Christians want when they go searching for new sites on the web?

The answer is to ask.  That’s what the Churches, Christians, and Social Networking Study did.  They asked - what were the top things you wanted/needed in your church’s website?   How many of these needs is your current website ready to address if a visitor lands on your site today?

The Church is serious business.

Really.

According to the New York Times article, “Christianity, the Brand,” the merchandising of Christian values-infused products is officially huge.  Unless you have been sleeping under a rock the last several years, it’s hard not to notice:

“”The Chronicles of Narnia” took in more than $290 million at the box office domestically…

“The Passion” grossed $370 million…

Christian music now racks up $700 million in sales annually.

In 2004, sales of religious books reached $1.9 billion.

…Christian products will generate $9.5 billion in sales by 2010.”

The real significance of these numbers is that Christianity is a real influence in today’s culture.  Regardless of the debate on if the Church is doing enough to engage Culture, enough attention is being given right now in the stores, theaters and ever so importantly — in the press (more…)

Do you ever go out and do things without thinking about it first?  If this is a consistent way of life, you’ll likely find yourself lost or with no progress after awhile.

Measurement is critical if you want to define success or failure in any circumstance.

So what does your own measuring stick look like?

How do you define and measure the successes of your ministry?

Without being explicit in your objectives and goals, you can easily go into the slippery opportunistic mode for what you are doing with your ministry.  This is when you fall victim to whatever fire needs to be put out or whichever “great deal” or “great opportunity” comes across your way.  Or better yet, being stuck in opportunistic mode keeps you constantly behind the 8-ball or become complacent when you are able to do just enough to keep the status-quo.

The same goes for the mission of a church.  Without strategic vision and a clear set of objectives to measure against, it is easy for a ministry to loose focus and loose ground.

The Wall Street Journal featured a piece, “When the Pastor Says It’s ‘A Time to Sow‘” which touched upon just one factor of measurement worthy of consideration for any church.  Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC takes a suprisingly unique way to measure their own success. (more…)

Once you listen to one of Dr. Tim Keller’s sermons at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, you’ll be hooked.

There are a lot of reasons why Keller seems so spot-on.  One of them is his approach to how the Church, with a capital C, should approach Culture — with the aim of radical and penetrating transformation.

Dr. Keller recently spoke about Cultural Transformation a couple of weeks ago at the Westminster Chapel in London. Some of the points he makes are piercing and so full of truth, that you’ll find your head nodding in agreement many times during the videos.

The observation of how culture has robbed Christianity / religion of most of its assets is an interesting one. He certainly frames the path well which our world has taken to get to our now post-Christian world in this video. . . (more…)

WARNING:

THERE WILL BE A QUIZ ABOUT THIS

SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT MISSIONAL CONCEPT.

READ & THINK CAREFULLY!

Liquid Church of Morristown & New Brusnswick, NJ features a weekly “411″ video previewing the next week’s sermon message or events.  They usually close the promo vid by giving a call to action for viewers to invite a friend next week to church…“just don’t be weird” about it they always say.

Isn’t that great advice for sharing the Gospel or inviting friends /associates to a church worship experience?

Got it? Continue on only if you think you have completely understood this concept. . . (more…)

Doesn’t it feel like January and February just flew in a wink?!  Spring should be here soon….I hope.

I guess I’m ignoring the truth that Punxsutawney Phil already determined weeks ago that it ain’t going to warm up anytime soon.  So it was no suprise that I did not want to get up out from safety of our warm cozy bed for church on Sunday morning just yet.

Alas, the oasis of that early Sunday morning was invaded by our two kids barreling into our room and joining us under the covers.  It is one of the few times during the week when we have some breathing room at the start of the day together (church is at 9:30am vs. 7:55am drop off at school on weekdays!).

The one thing that surprises me every time about my kids are just how astute they are at noticing things.

Of course, my daughter immediately urged me, “DAD!  Move over! Move over!”  Standing my ground, I didn’t budge.  It was time to try harder and burrow deeper to make a big burrito with myself and any scrap of the blankets I could snag.

But that’s when she insisted: “Move over! You’re on top of something!”

And sure enough, there it was. . . (more…)

As a parent, I’m always on the lookout for tips and reminders to help me be “on my toes” as a parent and work toward being the Super-Dad I want to be.

Today I received an email from Tumblon.com regarding developmental milestones of my 4 year old son.

The email from the parenting website that focuses on the 0-5 year old set shared some advice about the emotional development my son may be experiencing these days.

Here’s one segment of the email I received regarding moodiness of a 4 year old:

MOODINESS

Part of your child’s personality is moodiness. Even the most even-tempered child will experience moodiness at some time. Helping your child recognize what triggers his moodiness, learning how to control moodiness, and finding ways to overcome moodiness are essential to his development.

Part of managing moodiness is understanding the factors that trigger moodiness in your child. Some of the common factors are sleepiness, hunger, and frustration. Knowing what commonly triggers moodiness in your child and having him take ownership in avoiding situations that trigger it will help. For example, if hunger triggers it, remember to take a healthy snack when going out. Sometimes the type of diet your child has can affect his emotions. Paying attention to the way he reacts to different kinds of foods may help with some moodiness. . .

[exceprt from tumblon.com article]

In order to help my little guy in figuring out how to initiate, build, and manage his relationships over the next several months in particular I realize that the first step is to help him to self-inventory his own feelings at any given moment.

Being able to put a finger on how he feels right now will help him interact with his friends and sister (& mom and dad!) with much better results. Of course this is a classic win-win situation.

But then while I reflected upon this advice, it hit me (more…)

One of the most popular classic product marketing legends centers on 5 letters that incredibly turbo-charged sales.

By printing these 5 letters on the product label, sales had a significant and recurring boost.

It was a was a win-win situation.  The company’s products flew off the shelves.  Consumers used the product more, experienced more effective results, and felt better about it.

What were these incredible 5 letters? (more…)

My name is Benjamin White. I study Theology and the Bible at Princeton Theological Seminary — and I am a coordinator and cell leader of Circle of Hope Church (www.circleofhope.net), a network of cells in the Philadelphia metro area.

Spurred by Kenny’s recent posts, I was just looking at the websites of a few of our nation’s major mega churches (hardly an exhaustive sampling I assure you).

I noticed that none of these churches posted any real information about the people who were the church (at least not anywhere I could readily access it). All of the pictures were professional and all of the contact info was part of the machine. Look, another excellently lit, joyful mother and child fading into a sweet shot of a padded teen doing a frontside nose grind! If you need help call the prayer line! If you need childcare take this ticket and follow the blinking lights to the proper pod!

There is no way to actually connect, human to human. Where is the mess? (more…)

Known for his church of 8,000 Strong & the “fastest growing church” according to ABC News, Pastor Mark Driscoll was featured on Nightline this week.

If you know him or know of him, you are sure to have a personal opinion about if what he’s doing at Mars Hill Church is “right” or “wrong”.  (BTW, Mars Hill Church is not to be confused with Mars Hill Bible Church where Pastor Rob Bell preaches — a personal favorite of mine with his Nooma series)

Mark Driscoll has written a bunch of book that are refreshing for anyone that thinks the Church needs some shaking up, while hanging onto its core beliefs.  I want to share his ministry because anyone that wants to get to Church 3.0 needs to be aware of the things that are being done NOW to mix it up for how we “do church”.  Mark Driscoll’s work at Mars Hill is one of those data points you need to understand in order to integrate, refute or augment in your own vision for religion and Christian living.

For those that missed the TV interview, here it is again for your viewing pleasure: (more…)