KTUAM Training Video #2 from Christian Ministry Videos on Vimeo.

As a wise man once said, “to get people to read your blog one must have killer content or show goofy videos!!”. With the help of Christian Ministry Videos I have chosen to go with the latter of the two options. We hope these videos in satire will cause you to laugh and motivate you to do what is right when it concerns your involvement in missions.

 As SENDERS we must “handle the Word of God according to the Word of God”. I cannot say enough between the correlation of expository preaching and teaching and young peoples understanding with their role in world missions. It is impossible to properly teach the fundamental truths of missions outside the Word of God. The Bible contains the why, what, who, and even the where of world missions.

I cannot say enough about the importance of teaching the Bible in church planting. It is the only thing that will produce a true New Testament church. It is the Word of God that will change lives, draw crowds, and change more lives. In the Great Commission we are giving the command to teach people to “observe all things”. These things are are giving to us in the Word of God.

Fellow SENDERS please join me in a commitment to the Word of God. We need more than GOERS trained in addressing behavior modification with an arsenal of moral platitude to lists. We need men of God who can handle the Word of God with integrity.

• Let’s spend real time in the Word of God as we study for lessons that will influence other SENDERS and GOERS.
• Let’s make sure our speech about missions in grounded in the teachings of the Word of God. (as in the example of God’s will – I will have a post dedicated to this)
• Let’s help GOERS find Biblical truths that are true eternally and in every culture.
• Let’s help our GOERS understand the difference between culture and Biblical principles.
• Let’s help those we lead understand their identity in Christ. Nothing  energizes the missionary call like hearing it as one who has a proper understanding of who they are in Christ.
• Let’s fight racism with the Word of God. (yes it is still alive and hurting our churches)
• Let’s not be sensational in our preaching making the next generation think we are expecting something that is unreplicable. Let’s be practitioners and not oratory entertainers.

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So, you’ve been thinking about creating a blog for your church but you’re still in the “mix” about the “why.”

You’ve been told a thousand times over that you should by “everybody” but your leadership team needs a bit more “concrete” reasoning other than “Hey, everyone’s doing it and they say it’s awesome!” speech.

Perhaps the chart on the left can help?

What it explains are the fundamental reasons why large enterprise businesses choose to do “Social Media Marketing.”

Also, what their experienced benefits have been after using the media.

In other words, why they choose to engage in a number of social networks and blogs and what the return on investment (ROI) has been.

Just take a look at some of the core reasons.

If you look at the results through the lens of your church needs and desires and goals for web technology, all of them really apply.

You want to engage those online who are in your congregation (and those who aren’t).

You want to have better direction communication with your congregation (and those who aren’t).

You want to be able to have faster feedback from your congregatoin (and perhaps those who aren’t).

You want to know more about your congregation and their needs (and perhaps those who aren’t).

You want it to be a low cost / high-impact initiative (Trust me, it is.).

You want to better build online equity and your ministry brand.

You want cheap, easy, simple “market research” for your church.

You want to leverage the existing network online and build “credibility” in the space.

You want to reach more people. Period.

Etc…

Right? Pass this on and give it to the “doubters.” They’ll thank you later.

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Taken from Michael Hyatt

To get this process working, follow these six simple steps. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes, max. These instructions assume that you already have both a Facebook account and a Twitter account.

1. Make sure you are logged into Facebook. Now go to the Facebook’s Twitter application page. Now click on the Go to Application button. It looks like this:
2. The application will now ask you to confirm that Twitter can access your Facebook information. Click on the Allow button.
3. Now log into your Twitter account by entering your Twitter username and password. The screen looks similar to this:

   Click on the Login button.

4. You can now actually use Twitter from within Facebook. The screen looks like this:

   Personally, I never use this. I want the reverse of this. I want to update my Facebook status from Twitter. Therefore, click on the Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status button in the upper-right of the screen.

5. You should get a confirmation screen that looks similar to this:

   Now confirm that you are willing to let Twitter update your Facebook status by clicking the Allow Status Updates button.

6. After you click this button, you will go to the Twitter application. Don’t Twitter anything from here. Instead, go to your Facebook Home page, by clicking the Home link on the Facebook menu.Now you can test the connection by going to your favorite Twitter application or the Twitter web page and entering a tweet. Wait a minute or two and go back to your Facebook home page and refreshing it. Your most recent tweet should be displayed as your Facebook status. This is how my status looked:

   

That’s all there is to it. Now every time you Twitter something, your Facebook status will be automatically updated.

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For our Dodge Hunger event I am running a Facebook ad. You can learn more about the lock in, dodge ball tourney, and food drive at  www.dodgehunger.com. So far, we have had 5,355 people look at the ad but only one has clicked on it. I have only had to pay 18 cents so far. I think that is a good price to have over 5,000 people look at my ad.

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This is a simple idea but I am very excited about the response we have seen from it. Every Thursday night we take sometime for our students to mention the name of the teens we have not seen in awhile. We pray for them and I encourage the students to contact them. Recently we have taken that a step further. We have made and printed a postcard for our student ministry. So now when a student mentions that he or she misses seeing another teen in the youth ministry we give them a postcard to write them a note. After they write the note. they turn it in. and we mail it out for them.

If you are youth pastor and you would like some help please let me know. We have people on our team that might be able to help you with design.

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Here is an email he sent summarizing his belief on what a church website should accomplish

An effective website will attract visitors, answer their questions, and give them a reason to come back.  And you want to do it in such a way where they will become a part of your church, not just your website.

So the challenge is to design it appropriately for the stranger, the interested, and the committed. 

  

1. The stranger.  A fickle internet browser. Your goal is to attract them to your site and present them something useful that will interest them.  There are a lot of things that go on in this area on and off of the web.

2. The interested. Someone who has reason to be at your site.  Maybe was witnessed to, invited, or new in the area.  They are wondering what your church is like.  So it needs to tell them and take away some of the mystery of coming to your church

3. The committed.  The one who wants to keep connected to and involved in your church. So, the site needs to be structured and have functionality to be able to be used as a tool to communicate with them.  Where it will be another platform to give additional resources, announcements, information, etc.

 

 

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I read after dozens of church leaders. Some our church planters, some pastors, and a whole slew of them are youth pastors. I just wanted to take a moment and rant about my personal dislike for the use of “Xmas” for Christmas. It seems ridiculous to me how many youth pastors feel the need to be as edgy as possible. They are always trying to fine the line and run alongside of it.

It has been the trendy thing to be a church leader that accepts and uses the term “xmas”. Below is the story behind the whole “xmas. I want to make it clear that “yes I understand and no I still do not like it”.

Taken from snopes.com

Origins: The abbreviation of ‘Xmas’ for ‘Christmas’ is neither modern nor disrespectful. The notion that it is a new and vulgar representation of the word ‘Christmas’ seems to stem from the erroneous belief that the letter ‘X’ is used to stand for the word ‘Christ’ because of its resemblance to a cross, or that the abbreviation was deliberately concocted “to take the ‘Christ’ out of Christmas.” Actually, this usage is nearly as old as Christianity itself, and its origins lie in the fact that the first letter in the Greek word for ‘Christ’ is ‘chi,’ and the Greek letter ‘chi’ is represented by a symbol similar to the letter ‘X’ in the modern Roman alphabet. Hence ‘Xmas’ is indeed perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the word ‘Christmas’ (just as ‘Xian’ is also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word ‘Christian’).

I am a youth leader who does have a working definition for the word Christian liberty, as I know many who do not. However you decide to exegete I Peter 2:16 or I Corinthians 10:23 it is clear Just because you can do something does not mean you should. Many church leaders out there remind me of the little dog who runs up and down the fence row when they have a huge backyard they could be running free in.

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It allows me to be in conversations that I would not normally be involved in.

The relationships are students are in have a great influence on their lives. It is great to know when they enter and exit a relationship. When I see a relationship started if it is one of girls dating a guy I do not know I try to meet him and I have my wife talk with the girl. My wife covers things such as; need of approval by parents and that God is the only one who satisfy your need to be accepted.

So as I seat in my office studying today. My assistant Facebook sent me a update on one of my teens. It is sort of an electronic personal assistant.

Below is a “conversation via comment” by one of the young ladies in our youth ministry and her new boyfriend. Last names erased to help protect their identity.

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I had a great time tonight with a fellow youth pastor, Chad Gordan. He invited me to speak at his Parent Appreciation Meal. I gladly accepted his offer to come out tonight. It is always an honor to teach Gods Word, but I also always enjoy my time with Chad.While I was there I encouraged him to Twitter. He already had an account. Actually he had one way before I did. I have only been twittering for a few days now, but am really excited about it. People, including my wife, have asked why I think it is a great tool. Here are some personal notes for myself in case I one day ask myself “why did I think that was a good idea”.1. It allows me to stay aware of what my friends are up to.2. It helps stay accountable in the work.3. It helps me introduce some of my friends to other friends of mine they do not know. Especially like to introduce missionaries to youth pastors (aka missions mobilizers)4. I see the work schedule of some very successful people.5. It helps me keep in the loop of what some of the “big” youth pastors are up to.6. it updates my Facebook status.. where hundreds of my friends live and move.7. It is a simple, cheap, and convenient way to promote world missions from my office.8. It helps to remind me I am not alone on this wall (Nehemiah reference)9. It only takes about 10 minutes of my time a day but has saved many minutes by my friends on twitter answering questions I have asked.. (kind of like making you friend surfing the web your personal assistant) 10. I like the news I get when a new twitter comes in. (not really but thought I should have 10 on my list)  

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