Over the weekend, I stumbled upon the new Mormon missionary site, Mormon.org. I was blown away. I also stumbled upon the thought process behind the site. Turns out the site has been years in the making, much of which was research on people’s perceptions, misunderstandings, and beliefs about Mormons. Not surprisingly, the site was created specifically to address people’s preconceptions. As the Northtemple blog says:
For our prototype testing, we wanted to know more than anything if what we’re proposing would help improve perceptions of people about Mormons. We took our participants through several scenarios to help them explore the site. (There was a part of the test where we left the participant on their own for a few minutes and watched them click around the site. That was revealing.) We tested the visual design, tone of voice, information architecture, and interaction.
What we learned is that people did not know very much about the Mormons nor that we are a very diverse church. We also learned that people wanted to know what we believe in and, unfortunately, what we’ve prototyped was not enough. They wanted more. They also wanted to know some answers to frequently asked questions about the Mormons but didn’t know where to go. At the end of the session, each participant was asked if their perceptions of Mormons have changed after reviewing the prototype and most, if not all, said yes, on the positive.
Make no mistake, the new Mormon.org site is a carefully crafted project with a very specific purpose—to answer people’s objections, make a huge emotional impact, and to blur the lines between Christianity and Mormonism. By and large, I think they’ve succeeded. And as such, those of us who work in church communications have much to learn from the Mormons. » Read the rest of this entry «
We’ve started a new sermon series at Praxis Church called “The Survivors Guide to the Apocalypse”. We wanted to have some fun with this one and decided to go with a 1950s fallout theme. We created a guidebook and an innovative little film series. Here is the first film in the series. I’ll post up the others each week.
This Miller Lite ad that was pitched a decade ago by the famed Ogilvy & Mathers agency has surfaced on YouTube.com.
Gross, right? Miller executives thought so too…that’s why they killed it. But thanks to a spec reel on a personal website, we all have the pleasure of watching. There’s a lesson here in making sure that you have control of all your collateral – even the stuff you kill.
In any case, I’m sure you can find a sermon example from this video…maybe something relating back to dogs eating vomit?
We’re always trying to balance risk-taking with accessibility at Praxis Church. Above all else, we want to capture people’s attention and help communicate the Gospel effectively by adding to the overall impact of our sermon series.
This Advent we took a big risk with our “Give of Yourself” campaign. For the four weeks of Advent, Pastor Justin is preaching on generosity. My team came up with the concept of people literally giving of themselves to highlight the sacrifice true generosity takes. To be honest, I was skeptical that we could pull this off without being creepy…but hats off to my team for doing a great job. In the end, we approached the art to make it campy and over-the-top, which helped take the edge off. Here’s what we came up with.
We incorporated this art into our sermon study guide, which you can download here. The Church’s response has been positive.
Finally, we took a more conventional approach to our sermon intro videos. I firmly believe that culture is created by sharing stories. As such we chose to highlight four stories of extraordinary generosity in our congregation. Here are the two of the four videos.
The other day I was teasing my 3-year old, Liam, telling him I was going to put him in diapers.
“I don’t wear diapers,” he said indignantly. “Diapers are for babies!”
“Oh, that’s right,” I said. “You wear pull-ups.”
“Yeah!” He said. “I wear pull-ups. They’re for big boys.”
The point is that words are important. To the hearer, they signal different meanings – even when they are talking about the same thing. We have to be aware of the words we use and how they are received.
What words are you using? Are there better ones you can use? And do you think about how your audience is receiving those words?
We’re honored to have Professor John Lennox from Oxford University speak at our 5th anniversary at Praxis Church. Professor Lennox is a internationally-known lecturer on science and religion and has debated such notable atheists as Richard Dawkins.
You can learn more about Professor Lennox at his website.
Below is a video my creative team put together to promo the event.
Last March I was in Raleigh, NC for the Acts 29 Network (A29) Boot Camp with the Praxis Church elders and some of my fellow elder candidates. It was a great time of worship and teaching, with some world-class speakers and a lot of very practical information.
Everywhere I looked MacBooks were open and people were clicking away little “tweets” about the conference using the #a29 hash tag. If you don’t understand any of what I just wrote, God bless you. They were on Twitter. It piqued my curiosity, and I signed up for an account to follow the goings-on.
Fast-forward seven months or so, and today you’ll find me very active on Twitter (to the point that Pastor Tim unfollows me regularly because I tweet too much!) And as someone who is very active with many social media forms, including Facebook, Twitter, and blogging, I can attest to the fact that they can be both significant time wasters and narcissistic vehicles that give the appearance of community but lack any true substance. And before you know, if you let them, your social media accounts can take over your real life! Yet, they can also be very valuable and rewarding tools.
Internet Ministry?
When I came onto staff at Praxis as our communications manager, part of my job was to create a comprehensive strategy that used social media.
Early on, the biggest danger I recognized was that our online efforts could create a community that was engaged online with each other and church information, but that had little-to-no engagement with the actual body of Christ outside of that.
So, from the beginning I’ve intentionally not been satisfied with just interacting with people online. Rather, I want our online efforts to result in what I call incarnational interactions. The word incarnation is a theological word that refers to Jesus coming down from heaven, becoming human and taking on a body like ours, and living among us. Paul talks about the incarnation in Philippians 2:5-8:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”
For me, it’s important that our online interactions as a church result in incarnated moments – times when we come together in person, ditching the computers for a deeper, more fulfilling relationship. At Praxis, we have no interest in building an awesome online community in and of itself. Everything we do online is engineered to bring you into physical (incarnate) community with our church. It’s easy to hide behind a monitor, breaking off relationships with people who challenge you with the click of a mouse. It’s much more messy, difficult, and challenging to walk shoulder to shoulder with the people whom God has called you to be in community with, a community that celebrates with you in the good times and mourns with you in the bad times. A community that is called to incarnationally live out the gospel, just as Jesus did, to each other and to the world.
The Kentucky Connection
I’d like to share a story that illustrates how approaching social media this way might work. When I first started using Twitter, I naturally spent most of my time finding interesting people to follow and interact with.
My first searches were for people who were connected with the A29 network, since I have a vested interest there. One person I came across was Chris St. John, who is now a good friend online.
Chris lives in Somerset, KY. As we began to interact, I learned that Chris had a brother in Scottsdale, Craig. Later, I learned that Craig went to Praxis on and off, but wasn’t sure he wanted to commit. Chris in Kentucky introduced me to Craig in Arizona. As I got to know Craig better online, we decided to get together and hang out. Today, Craig is now a part of my missional community and a regularly attending Sunday services at Praxis.
In Craig’s words, “He was ready to get off the wall and commit.” All this happened because I met Chris in Kentucky, who introduced me to Craig in Arizona, and because I intentionally moved the relationship from behind the monitor to a handshake. That is the essence of an incarnational interaction.
So I encourage you to put some thought into how you use the Internet and social media. Are there ways that you can better utilize them for the gospel? Are you taking your online interactions and turning them into incarnated moments? If not, please consider doing so. As a body of Christ, we’re called to live life together – both online and offline.
You can follow Praxis Church on Twitter @praxischurch and on Facebook – just don’t make that your only interaction with the church!
This weekend we are launching our annual Missional Community Kick-Off at Praxis Church, which will focus on our vision and passion for growing smaller throughout the Phoenix valley through small communities of people who strive to live life together. More than the traditional model of small groups where people gather once or twice a month to do a Bible study or do a prayer group, Missional Communities are dedicated to living out the gospel and furthering the kingdom of God in their local context through what Ryan Eland, who oversees the Missional Community ministry, calls missional rhythms:
Eating
Celebrating
Recreating
worshiping
serving
investing
learning
The goal is not to be an insular group of Christians, but a group of disciples that employ the tools the elders and ministry leaders have equipped them with to do the work of the ministry. There is no prescriptive formula to work this out practically. Each MC leader and community is charged with prayerfully considering how they might reach their community with the gospel, whether that be through BBQ’s or theology pubs.
Below is a video my Communications Team put together to promote the event, and you can also hear some stories of those who have been involved in MC’s here. Big props go out to Silas Kyler, David Hildreth, and Adam Watson for their great work on this.
So, we’re starting a regular blog rotation at Praxis Church. In anticipation, I wrote a primer on 10 tips that make for a great blog post. The following is the first draft, and I’m hoping for some feedback. Comment away.
Introduction
At Praxis Church, blogging is a key strategy for communicating our vision, values, thoughts, and ministries to our community. A simple definition of a blog would be an online post that communicates a message through some combination of words, pictures, and/or video. You can read a technical overview of a blog here.
As we gear up to launching an official blog rotation, I thought it would be appropriate to write a small primer on what makes a good blog post in the context of Praxis Church. The following are tips on how to write a great blog post that will engage our readers and further your ministry.
1. Be opinionated
It’s expected that a blog will express a strong opinion or thought. Strong opinions and thoughts generate reader interaction through comments, which furthers the possibility for an engaging conversation. Monitor the church blog, and feel free to engage our community in the comments section.
2. Clarity
Before you sit down to write, have your points thought out and logically ordered. Nothing loses a reader quicker than a lack of clarity in your writing. A blog that is written in a logical and efficient manner will increase its chance of being read.
3. Make it snappy
Most blog posts should hover around 500 words or so (you can see your word count on the bottom of most word processors). People don’t have time or patience to read much more than that online.
4. Layout is important
Reading on a computer is far more different than reading a printed document. Scanability is important. Try to order your blogs with sub-headlines, much like this document is laid out, and keep your paragraphs as lean as possible. Breaking up your post makes the blog more digestible for reading on a computer screen.
5. Bullet point lists
In the spirit of the last tip, whenever you make a list, use bullet points because:
It makes it easier to read
Creates better scanability
Draws the reader’s attention
Is a good practice
See how much better that is than: It makes it easier to read, creates better scanability, draws the reader’s attention, and is a good practice?
6. Edit your blog post
Make sure to edit your grammar and spelling. Taking the extra time and effort to ensure a well-written post will benefit our readers and show them that we care. Have someone proofread your post as well.
7. Keep it simple
While it may be fun to write in a flowery or academic style, no one wants to read that in a blog post. Keep your writing style simple and direct. Also, consider the jargon and lingo you use. Will someone who is not a Christian or a member at Praxis Church understand what you’re saying? Frame your words in the perspective of a person new to Christ and the church.
8. Make it personal
Readers respond well to stories that illustrate your points effectively and that communicate your personality and experiences. Part of our blog strategy is to provide a connection for our 1,000 plus members to get to know their ministers and ministries on a personal level. Don’t be afraid to be real and open up.
9. Write a killer headline
Believe it or not, the headline is the most important part of your blog post. It captures a person’s attention and draws them into the body of your post. Ideally, your headline should contain the elements of your entire blog in one succinct sentence. Here is a great blog post on the importance of headlines: http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines.
10. Link, and link some more.
Whenever possible, link to other articles and content on the Internet to create an interactive community and to allow readers to gain insight into your thought process. For instance I used this, this, and this to help write this document. If you need a tutorial on using hyperlinks, here is a great resource: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101659291033.aspx
Final Note
Have fun! If you enjoy blogging, that will shine through in your writing.
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thejakers.
The other day I was teasing my 3-year old, Liam, telling him I was going to put him in diapers.
So, we’re starting a regular blog rotation at Praxis Church. In anticipation, I wrote a primer on 10 tips that make for a great blog post. The following is the first draft, and I’m hoping for some feedback. Comment away.