Creativechurchstuff.com

MinistryCSS.com - Church Web Design Gallery

2009-08-19T11:41:00.001-04:00

Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com blogged about a CSS Gallery Site for Churches. Pretty cool stuff.

For those of you who are web designers, this is just a gallery of great church web designs.

It's called MinistryCSS.com.

Check it out.

Posted via email from joshwillaford's posterous

Provide the Box

2009-08-07T00:01:00.002-04:00

A lot of people think that creativity means dismantling the box. The thought is that we need to have no boundaries or inhibitions to be creative. However, I've found something different to be the case.

Creativity creates a new box. This is why many creatives become frustrated in ministry. They are expected to be creative with no boundaries. They're given no clear budget for the event or project, no big idea, no concrete objectives.

It's like telling an artist to paint without being provided a canvas. They can't possibly be creative if they don't know what the size and shape of the canvas is. They'll bring the paint. You have to provide the canvas.

Actions steps for spurring better creativity from your team:

Set up a budget for the project. Don't worry if it's not huge. A creative person just needs to know what they are dealing with. In fact, some of the best creativity comes from small budgets.
Explain the what the goal of the project/event/series is. You can creatively miss the mark if your leaders don't know what you want to achieve.
Provide a deadline for completion. This can even be tentative. Deadlines help to motivate and regulate action.

Provide these items at the beginning of the process. There's nothing worse than dreaming up a $5000 idea and then getting told you have a $100 budget.

What are some other things that help set up boundaries that catalyze creativity?

Posted via email from joshwillaford's posterous

Is it Helpful?

2009-07-31T16:44:00.001-04:00

I have the opportunity to speak for the next few weeks at a church here in Cincinnati. While studying for this sunday, I ran across this great thought.

Homer Kent writes, "In Christian conduct and the exercise of love, such factors as one's influence on others and the effect on oneself must be considered. The question should not only be "Is it harmful?" but "Is it helpful?"

If we don't ask if what we are doing is helpful, then we are severely limiting our potential. The question "Is it helpful?" is a question of mission. Are we doing things that matter? Are we moving the ball down the field?

Yes, we may not be drowning, but we are just treading water. There is no direction involved. There is no progress.

What are the things you're doing right now that just waste your energy? Think about how to eliminate it or adjust it to make it helpful.

Posted via email from joshwillaford's posterous

Posterous - The One Stop Shop

2009-07-30T20:37:00.001-04:00

Tony Steward posted a note on facebook about blogging and how it's evolving. While the post was interesting, he referenced a service called Posterous. Basically, its a very simple blogging format that is updated through email. This is not a new blogging feature. However, Posterous fully integrates with other social networking and social media sites. You can update your facebook, twitter, flickr, wordpress or blogger from one spot.

In an age where there seems to be a lot of social media irons in the fire, it's kinda nice to have one spot to manage.

Posted via email from joshwillaford's posterous

I remember when...

2009-07-28T21:21:00.007-04:00

I am not that old. I can't even say "that old". I am a young 25. But, in my lifetime, church has dramatically changed.

Early in my childhood, I remember the dramatic transition from hymnal to transparencies and an overhead projector. Then, as a teen, we switched from the "overheads" to a remedial computer and a projector that could have be no more than 500 or 600 lumens (in a room that had stained glass windows that lined the walls of the sanctuary).

This was a big change, but it seemed to stall out there. I mean what could a screen and projector be used for other than words on a screen?

Obviously, a lot has changed even in the last few years (check out this old post of Kent Shaffer).

I wonder where it will go from here...

What are some of your funny old school church tech memories?

Church and Technology

2009-07-24T13:23:00.007-04:00

The church in America is in the middle of this really big conversation about technology and media. Certainly, media and technology have taken big strides forward in the last few years. It has changed how the country operates.

Like him or not, one of the reasons Barack Obama was able to communicate his message so effectively was because his team leveraged technology and media in way that no candidate had ever done before.

This post is not about explanation; it's about conversation.

What does that mean? Well, I'll put it subtly: Comment.

The question is what is your church doing to leverage technology and media, or what have you heard of other churches doing?

It doesn't have to be anything special or spectacular. Just post your stuff.

I Got a Ticket...

2009-07-23T10:36:00.004-04:00

Well, really it was an invitation. But, I like to call it my golden invitation. It sort of felt like a scene from a Willy Wonka movie. I just knew at any second Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp would spring out with some wee oompa loompas.

I digress. I got my invitation to Google Voice. I posted a video about it a few days ago.

My review: It's really cool.

You get a central phone number that people can call or text. It then rings multiple phones (if you have more than one set up). You can choose to answer the call, send it to a Google Voicemail, or send it to Google Voicemail and listen in on the voicemail. The voicemail is transcribed and emailed to you and texted to your mobile phone.

You can also send as many sms texts as you want.

One other cool feature is that you can actually call from your google phone number from any phone you have selected.

I will say its not all roses. When you call the google number, a pre-recorded voice says something like "Please wait as we locate the Google Subscriber you are trying to reach." This is not the end of the world, but I'd like to see that go.

One note: It is by invitation only right now. You can sign up to receive an invite.

All in all, it is cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Next Post: How can google voice be used for ministry?

Video Teaching Launched

2009-07-21T21:56:00.003-04:00

Life Church just launched VideoTeaching.com. It looks pretty awesome.

Coolest part. My man, Scotty Gibbons, is one of the featured speakers.

Take a look.

Printyastuff.com Launched Today!

2009-07-17T11:20:00.002-04:00

Printyastuff.com launched today. Check it out.

Printyastuff.com Launches Tomorrow

2009-07-16T20:48:00.001-04:00

Printyastuff.com launches tomorrow. You have until 12 a.m tonight to sign up to receive one of six $50.00 coupons. So, go sign up already.

Share the Joy

2009-07-16T18:56:00.003-04:00

I'm a graphic designer. I really like it when things look great. In fact, I feel like I am honoring God when I design something that looks great. But, it's not the most important thing.

Today, I was at Target. Target has great design. Every aisle is chalked full of great marketing materials. Today, however, I wasn't struck by their new posters or banners. I left feeling good because of a customer service representative. This lady checked me out and she was having a great time. She made a simple impact. She shared her attitude with me. I came in with my attitude (which was average), and I left with her's.

Great design is important. Sharing the joy we have is the most important thing. In church, we need to share the joy and hope we have. Great design can never do that. People can.

Videoteaching.com

2009-07-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

Lifechurch.tv and some other great folks are launching videoteaching.com on July 21. So what is it?

To sum it up quick, it is a free resource that allows churches to download video preaching and teaching from top-shelf christian communicators.

This is a great resource for the pastor who needs a fill in or the leader who wants to shake it up a bit.

Check it Out.

Doing Ministry with Excellence

2009-07-14T13:32:00.008-04:00

Every once in a while, I have a client who asks me to design something that I know - because of experience - won't work without doing something drastic.

A common example would be wanting to change their information gathering system for guests from a perforated card in the bulletin to a card in the much smaller, seat back slot.

I am quite fine to design something like this, but I do inform them that they may need to lose content in the process to ensure a quality design. This is where many will use the phrase, "No I won't. I have seen this done before."

The questions that I often mentally retort with is "Yea, but have you seen it done well?"

To be frank, it doesn't matter whether you've seen it done before. The question that we have to ask ourselves is not whether something can be done. The question is "Can we do that something well?"

Printyastuff.com to Launch on Friday

2009-07-13T11:41:00.001-04:00

Update time...

Printyastuff.com is set to launch this Friday (7/17). You can still sign-up to win one of six $50 coupons. Don't miss out.

Great Font Site

2009-07-10T11:36:00.004-04:00

Great typography is one of the keys to great design. This is so true that some designers are able to design only with typography.

This can be a challenge when the great fonts cost a few hundreds dollars a font. I ran across a site that offers free or inexpensive fonts that look great.

The site is MyFonts.com. Check it out!

Google Phone Number

2009-07-09T14:56:00.001-04:00

Google does it again. Google number has about a billion uses for churches (especially church plants).

Reasons to Have a Marketing Budget

2009-07-08T12:14:00.003-04:00

We would all say that marketing is important for churches.

***When I say marketing, I simply mean raising awareness in the community about what you church is doing and why someone should attend what your doing.

However, few churches are really doing it. Even fewer have made it a budget priority.

So below are a few reason why churches should put marketing in the budget.

Consistency Brings Results.
A lot of people (even businesses) view marketing as simple addition.

Postcards + Stamp = Attendance

The majority of the time, this arithmetic doesn't add up.

The reality is that marketing is more like interest on an investment. For the most part, it pays dividends over time.

The only way for marketing to operate as an investment is if it has a consistent place in the budget. This means that you need to set aside a portion of income every month to raise awareness about your church in the community.

Budget Items are Priority Items.
Everyone would probably acknowledge that you can get a general sense of what an organization (or an individual) deems important by what they spend their money on.

For the most part, church marketing is about raising awareness about what your church is doing.
It is about connecting with those who are far from God and showing them the next step (e.g. coming to church, coming to an event, etc.)

So, if that is true, then marketing is an extension of your efforts to reach your community. In a small but important way, having marketing as a line item communicates that you are serious about reaching people who are far from God.

It Forces Longterm Planning.
Budgeting by definition is thinking about tomorrow. It asks the questions "What are our financial priorities?" and "How do we plan to achieve them?" Having marketing goals is a great chance to think about where you want your organization to be in the future and how you are going to get your community involved to get there.

One final note: I know money can be tight. Remember, you don't have to eat the whole cake in one bite. Start somewhere. Even just a few hundred dollars can go a long way toward telling your community about what your doing.

Book Recommendation on Web Usability

2009-07-02T10:57:00.001-04:00

Great design and great content are not enough to make a website effective. It has to be usable.

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition

Great Book! Check it out.

Wanna Stream Your Service Live?

2009-07-02T09:22:00.003-04:00

So, you wanna stream your service live? Ustream.com. That's the ticket. It's a free service where you can not only stream live but you can have both a live twitter and chat. This is probably one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time.

Don't forget to sign up at printyastuff.com for the chance to receive one of six $50.00 coupon to for your first purchase.

Great Web Design Article...

2009-07-01T01:06:00.002-04:00

Daniel Darnell from Collide Magazine writes a great article called "Why Fixing Your Website Won't Fix Your Ministry". He shoots straight about how church web design should reflect what the organization already is.

It is a great article.

Cool Church Web Design Features

2009-06-29T09:58:00.004-04:00

When it comes to church web design, there are a number of standard features/pages that are floating to the surface. Some of these include:

Online Giving
Sermon Audio/Video
A Guest Page
Staff Page
Ministries Page
Welcome Videos

My question has been, "Who is innovating? Who is really coming up with some clever ideas?"

For me, that questions doesn't require some new radical technology or coding upgrade. It's more about the user. How are they making the experience for the user easier and more interactive?

Quickly, some features I like:

Site Map - I really like to see a full list of links on medium to large sites. I am one of those independent web users who wants to blaze his own trail. A site map lets me do that easily. It is also very helpful when you are looking for something really specific. (College Park Church does this pretty well with their ministry index at the top and footer at the bottom.)

Invite a Friend - Northside Christian is a great example. They have a simple form that users can fill out and invite their friends to church.

Downloads - Northstar Church in Frisco, TX is a really stellar example of this. They have banners and icons available for their church members to use on their blogs, myspace pages, and email signatures. What a great way for people to promote their church.

What are some things you have seen or would like to see?

Printyastuff.com Update

2009-06-26T10:08:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to keep everybody in the know...

If you sign up at Printyastuff.com, you could win one of six $50 dollar coupons toward your first order when it launches later this summer.

50 Great Church Website Designs from Vandelay Designs

2009-06-25T09:02:00.002-04:00

Vandelay Designs offers up 50 of the best church website designs.

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/best-church-websites/

It's pretty good. Check it out.

Church Website Navigation

2009-06-24T13:28:00.006-04:00

In any web design, there are areas in which you generally want to do well. The design needs to be pleasant and reflect the identity of the organization. The content needs to be concise and descriptive. The site needs to be easy to manage and administrate. Probably most important, the site needs to usable.

Many times, usability is the last thing that churches and ministries think about when they look to get a website designed. Over the past few days, I have taken some time to look at literally hundreds of church websites. Many of them have great design, solid content, but they are not user-friendly.

Where this manifests most is in the navigation. This next statement is the take away from this blog post:

Your navigational menu needs to be easy.

What I mean by that is that it needs to:

Be prominently placed.
Use terminology that does require you to be an insider. (Don't use creative cryptic navigational titles. People will not take the time to figure it out. If they do, they won't have a good impression of you because you made it harder for them to find out stuff about you.)
Be organized well.

To bring this plane in for a landing, there are a few things that I should never have to hunt for on a church website.

Service Times
Directions
Some way to contact you (preferably multiple ways)
Pastor's name and picture. (I don't even think you need a bio. I just want to see what he/she looks like and know what his/her name is.)

Better Website Statistics

2009-06-23T19:46:00.006-04:00

With the recent pre-launch launch of Printyastuff.com (Your Churches Sources for Quality and Affordable Printing). I have been very focused on my Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools offered through Google.

But, I found that I was frustrated with the delay in data. I also wanted something that would give me more of an idea of exactly how the user maneuvers through my site.

Then I found Clicktale.com. Basically, this service tracks exactly what users do and gives you a video of their behavior on the site. This can be invaluable information when you want to optimize your page layout and design for top-quality usability.

I will say, I have just started using this service, so I can't endorse it all the way. But, with a free membership, you can't go wrong trying it out.