deSingadvanced.net has the opportunity to help church planter, Darin Watson, with his design needs. Darin Watson will be planting an Independent Baptist Church in San Marcos, TX. deSignadvanced.net will be helping this Man of God with the following print and deSign items:

• 5,000 Prayer Cards
• 1,000 Custom Letterhead Prints
• 2: 24in x 71in Banners w/ Stand & Carrying Case
• Custom Website (Currently Under Construction)

Darin Watson can be contact regarding a meeting and possible support here:

What to look for in a web host for your church

After designing websites and helping churches get online, I have found one web host that is a cut above the rest. I find that BlueHost.com meets the needs for churches and more! What should be considered when looking for a web host for your church web site? I believe this list can be agreed upon as to the services needed for a church web site:

• Domain Name (ex. www.yourchurchname.com)
• Plenty of Web Space
• Personalized Email Addresses (ex. pastor@yourchurchname.com)
• Ability to Edit Pages
• MP3 Sermons

This is just a small list, but a needed list of goals when considering a church web site. Does BlueHost.com meet the recommended list above? Yes it does! Here are some mentionable features:

• Free Domain With 1 Year Registration
• Unlimited Web Space
• 2,500 Email Addresses That Match Your Church Web Site Domain
• Free Programs To Setup And Maintain Web Sites (ex. WordPress & Joomla)
• Host Audio & Video Files At No Extra Cost
• All This For Less Then $100/Year!

deSignadvanced.net is EXCITED to now offer our design templates. Many churched contact us with a need for design, yet they have their own local print company. Ofter times, there is a loyalty, and deSignadvanced.net feels that loyalty can build a relationship, ultimately leading a soul to Christ. Our ministry is geared towards HELPING churches, and is not run as a business. Our goal is to make one template per week. This will give a wide variety of templates for churches to use. When purchasing a template you will find the following:

• Zip file
• Front & back PSD Photoshop file
• CMYK color format
• Layer guides and full bleed

These files are meant to be used in Adobe Photoshop. Please make sure you use software with the capability of editing PSD files.

You can find our new line of products here.

If you would like to contact deSignadvanced.net for a similiar print project, fill out the below form:

If you would like to contact deSignadvanced.net for a similiar print project, fill out the below form:

1. Visits your church/Saved during visitation – First Touch

2. Receives 1st postcard 1st Monday after visit/conversion – Second Touch

3. Receives 2nd postcard 2nd Monday after visit/conversion – Third Touch

4. Personal home visit from Pastor/Sunday School Teacher/Other Laymen – Fourth Touch

5. Receives 3rd postcard Monday after home visit – Fifth Touch

6. Receives 4th postcard 2nd Monday after home visit – Sixth Touch

7. Personal home visit from Pastor/Sunday School Teacher/Other Laymen – Seventh Touch

At this point, the person performing the follow up will have an idea of the individual enrolled in this system. Here are some examples of postcards that have been used in the this process:

After helping many churches with Gospel tracts, I have found that some tracts have better results compared to others. This insight brought a question to mind….”What makes a profitable Gospel Tract?” Here are several “trends” that have proven be successful among Independent Baptist Churches and their Tract efforts.

1. Clean Images –  We know that Christ promised to build His church, but He gave His church authority to carry out the Gospel. That being said, we should represent our King as a King. Many times, I have seen tracts that looked like they were made 50 years ago. Please understand, I am an Old-Fashioned Gospel Preacher, but we as Independent Baptist’s are losing ground with our appearance. Clean, sharp tracts help a potential visitor see that your church made an effort to bring them in. I use high quality stock images for Gospel tracts, and I can’t find one, I take a photo myself. Remember, we are representing the King of Kings!

2. Specific message – This would be the first thing a person will see on your tract. It can be as simple as “You are invited to…” or can be for a day you are promoting. Either way, it should be something that will let people know that you are trying to tell them something. This can also be enforced with a few lines of that which you are promoting on that back, or somewhere else, but should be inline with the theme of the message.

3. Call to action – Most churches use this for a big day or church event such as a revival meeting. It is a final statement that makes it clear that a choice is to be made. I prefer that the call to action is a call for Salvation. My personal preference leans towards 45% promoting a church/event, 45% with a Gospel Plan of Salvation, and 10% with church contact information.

4. Clear contact information –  This is key, and I find that contact information should be mentioned at least two times. Yes, two times! I primarily make tracts that are in the 4 x 6 postcard format, meeting USPS standards. I put the church name, phone number, and web address on the front and the back has mailing address in the top left corner. Lastly, on the lower right side of the back, I place specifics such as: Church name, service times, phone number, pastor name, church address, and web address. I make clear mention of the name of the church, and give two specific forms of communication. This will make it so a person does not have an excuse of not knowing how to find your church.

I hope these tips help you and your efforts to evangelize your community!

To view some tracts that meet this standard, click here.

I have had the privilege to help several ministries place a web site online, and seeing the direction of technology, this is becoming major way of getting your church before people. Before I make a decision about which item I buy, or how to do something, I find myself searching the web for the best result. This can be applied to churches as well. It is said that most church visitors will first visit your church web site. If that is the case, then we need to make sure we have a proper presentation of our ministry. So…what is needed  to have good church web site?

• Hosting: A web site cannot exist on the internet without having a place to store the files that make up your web site. There are many routes to finding a good web host and every company has their personal benefits. When looking for a host, it is best to find one that charges annually. An annual charge will normally reduce the cost per month. Also, you will want a large amount of email addresses, primarily for different ministries and their leaders. Lastly, you want the most space possible. This will determine if you can have mp3 sermons and the amount of pages you can have on your site. My personal recommendation is Bluehost. They offer unlimited web space, 2,500 emails, and a FREE domain! All this for a little under $100!
• Domain Name: This is your personal www.yourchurchname.com. You need one that reflects your church name. It should not be something like: http://yourchurchname.onlinefreewebsite4u.com. This is part of branding. This helps build credibility among the person browsing. Also, with this domain, you can have custom email addresses, not from google or yahoo… The benefit of Bluehost, is that your account comes with a free domain for every year you sign up.
• Design: This will determine how professional your site looks to its audience. This is where I believe many churches lack. They have someone in the church that took a free class about web design or they learned html 5 years ago, and they think their designs are professional. We want people to help, but a standard such be in place before they start hacking away. One way to fix that is by buying a template for your site. I have switched all my clients over to WordPress and have them choose a template from ElegantThemes. WordPress is a content managing system that allows a user the ability to add and customize pages without knowing how to program. ElegantThemes has top notch templates that have fully custom options to make your site personal.
• Gospel: This is obvious, but your site has the potential to reach hundreds of people based on the plan of salvation found on the web site.
• Content: This will make up the actual web site. The content is normally divided into individual web pages. The normal church web site has the following pages: Home, About, History, Upcoming Events, Ministries, Pastor, Staff, Sermons, and Contact.
• Doctrinal Statement: Also, another obvious section, but it will let the world know your stand.
• Proper Contact Information: This is key to turning web visitors into physical visitors. The contact information should be found one every page. It could be in the header, on a side bar, or the footer, but it is a MUST. Also, on the actual contact page, a google map would help plus form that will send an email to the best web contact for your ministry. The contact information that should be found on each page is the following: Church Name, Pastor Name, Physical Address, Best Contact Number, and if possible, Service Times.