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Why "Some" Think That Blogging is 1,000 Times Better Than Google Adwords

March 25, 2009 in blogging with 3 Comments

John Saddington of Church Crunch recently put out a post titled “Why Blogging is 1,000 TimesBetter Than Google Adwords.” I have to admit that I was fairly skeptical of such a claim. I mean1,000 better?! But after much thought, I have to admit that it was a genius piece.

Here is the crux of his argument. Many churches use Google Adwords to advertise their churches. Several weeks ago I wrote a post outlining my own experience using Adwords in my church. The problem with Adwords is two-fold: you have to pay for it, and when you stop paying for it, you are no longer advertised. There’s a ruthless logic to that isn’t it?

The reason, he says, why blogging is better is because you can increase the natural ranking of your church website just by writing about your church in a blog. The more you write in your church blog, the higher your ranking will be on google. I tested this theory by looking up his own church (he’s the web guru for North Point Ministries) and sure enough they had the number one spot without using any form of Google Adwords.

Another reason why blogging is so advantageous is because it is free! That’s always a big plus nowadays. And if you continue to blog on a consistent basis you continue to add to your lead in rankings.

So, I feel like I’m converted to the concept. And I’ll probably be starting a Carrollwood Church blog. But I do still think that it’s helpful to use Google Adwords. I know that there are many products, events, organizations, and services that I would have never paid attention to and found would it not have been for them being on the first page, towards the top, of the google rankings. So when I start this blog, I think I’ll decrease how much we’re spending on Google Adwords, but I don’t think we’ll throw it out entirely. Because as a church we are seeing people come through the doors as a result of finding it on Adwords.

Do you have a church blog? Have you tried Google Adwords? What have you found?

*Graphic using actual words of this post courtesy of www.wordle.net

What You Can Learn From Infomercials

March 19, 2009 in blogging,news item with 2 Comments

They usually come on late at night. You’ve probably seen them, those infomercials. It seems like the latest craze is that blanket that you wear called the Snuggie. Time magazine did a piece on it a few months ago where they quoted a young man sarcastically saying about the Snuggie, “It’s a bathrobe. That is really long. That you wear backwards.” I remember when I first saw the commercial I thought it was a spoof on cults because it looked so ridiculous and I couldn’t imagine anyone being that happy while wearing that thing at some sporting event.

But the great takeaway for me comes from the quote by A.J. Khubani on the success of such products in infomercials-”They’re typically inexpensive, solve a common problem, and they’re fun.”

I don’t have any answers here, but I wonder what would happen if a church embraced this concept and asked themselves, “is there an inexpensive way that I could solve a common problem in my town/neighborhood in a fun way?” Imagine if churches across this country lifted back the curtains in their neighborhoods and began to look at really common problems to help solve? I read about a church that would invite the many homeless people in their community to come in while volunteers would soak, scrub, and bring healing to their feet, which would end up staving off infections and more serious foot problems.

What would happen? I think many people in the community would look at it like some silly product, but a lot more people would call the 1800 number to get more information.

Why Do People Leave Church?

February 26, 2009 in blogging,Evangelism with 25 Comments

I’ll admit it. People have left my church. Attendance has been down a little lately. That’s why I was interested in a talk that Nelson Searcy gave recently at a coaching event describing why some people leave church.

He mentioned that one of the major reasons why people leave the church is because of sin in their life. Most people don’t mention this when they leave, of course. If asked, they will usually speak about superficial things like music or the children’s ministry. But they leave because he says, “it’s impossible for people to live too long without congruence between belief and behavior.”

For example, there may be someone that is struggling with a sin that they have overcome, but later on fall back into. For many, this lack of congruence between their belief and behavior causes them to split.

So what suggestions does he offer?

We need to teach that we’re churches of grace. We need to be “welcome back” churches. When we haven’t seen someone for awhile, instead of making them feel bad for not having been there, we need to welcome them back like the father of the prodigal son.

So how good are you at noticing people that have left and welcoming them back when they arrive?

I have to admit that with two churches, I often can’t even tell if someone hasn’t been there! Sometimes I may go a month or two before noticing and remembering that I haven’t seen someone in a while. So I do my best to try to remember, and give those that I haven’t seen a call or a note.

There was a family that I hadn’t seen in a year and a half. They attended for about 6 months, and then fell off the side of the earth. I never saw them again. I would call, and leave messages. I wanted to see them, but, it seems, they did not want to be seen. Finally one day I caught them on the phone and I told them I wanted to see them because I missed them. When I stepped into their home and, after speaking to them for a little while, I could tell that they had fallen back into some sins that they were not proud of. To make matters worse, their house had gone into foreclosure, and they were now living somewhere else. Emotionally, they felt defeated, and in the words of the wife, “would not be of any good to anyone at church.” It really pained me to hear her say that because it means that I had not made it clear enough that the church is a hospital for people that are sick and messed up. So I took a moment to pour out my soul and give them the true picture of what a church really is–a bunch of messed up people that are on a journey together, following Christ.

Hopefully when they do show back up, we can surround them, celebrate with a hug, and welcome them back as if they’ve never been gone.

What about you? What have you noticed about why people are leaving churches? What are you doing to follow up with those that have left? How are you welcoming them back?

A New Look For Modern Ekklesia!

January 20, 2009 in blogging with 0 Comments

Modern Ekklesia now has a new look that should make it a little easier to read.

The most obvious change is the new header. It’s simple, but looks a little better (I think), than the plain header I had before.

The column is also wider now. This makes it easier to read so that you don’t have to scroll down as much to read a post.

I found the header here. A special big thanks to Song from Style Discovery. She helped me work out some kinks in getting the header to fit right through some email help and an excellent blog post you can read here.

Thanks again!

Feeling Lonely at Church?

December 23, 2008 in blogging with 10 Comments

In my last post I wrote about the danger of loneliness at work and how that contributes to being miserable at work. I’d now like to address the more dangerous issue of loneliness at church.

It’s one thing if someone feels that they’re not accepted or aren’t connecting in their workplace. If someone feels they aren’t connecting at work the greatest thing they will loose is a sense of loyalty to the company. They will probably not be a long-term employee.

But when someone feels lonely in church, the problem becomes much more significant. One is an issue of loosing your job, the latter is an issue of loosing your faith.

Allow me to explain.

A few years ago my older brother finished all his schooling. He had been a professional student for some time, but he finally found a good job in Orlando, FL. Growing up in a Christian home, he sought to visit a church in orlando where he could begin to develop some roots. I will allow the name of the church to go unnamed, but suffice it to say that after six months of attending the church, my brother still felt like a stranger.

He felt like he wasn’t connecting. He felt like the church wasn’t making an effort to connect him. The people weren’t very friendly to outsiders.

Over time I noticed a transition in him. He went from using language like “I’m not liking this church,” to language like “I’m not liking the church.” He went from harboring feelings of dislike and disdain for that local church, to beginning to hate churches period.

This is what happens when someone begins to feel lonely at church. They’ll go from leaving a local church, to leaving the faith entirely.

This is the single biggest issue I think about in my churches, because I know that if someone is connected to at least a few people, they will forgive a multitude of sins that they see in the quality of preaching, music, or ministries.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting on a few things that I’ve been experimenting with to help people feel more connected in my churches.

If you’re a church leader, what are you doing to help people feel more connected to each other?

If you’re a church member, what are some good things that your church is doing to help you feel connected? If you aren’t feeling connected, what are some recommendations you’d make so that you could become more connected?