Jake Johnson is the publishing and content manager for Mars Hills Church, Resurgence and PastorMark.tv. He oversees content strategy for all of Mars Hill’s online platforms, social, media and various marketing efforts, including their new residence on Pinterest. I had the chance to ask Jake a few questions about what inspired their move onto Pinterest and ideas they would have to offer other churches.

What sparked the idea for Mars Hill to begin using Pinterest?

Jake Johnson: We were impressed with the growth of the platform and intrigued by its visual focus, as Mars Hill has always excelled at visual mediums like design and video. Additionally, we knew the users of Pinterest were overwhelmingly female and wanted to use that opportunity to speak well to the women of Mars Hill and to women who engage with our content.

There have been a number of social media platforms we’ve wanted to explore and expand into but due to lack of resources it was put on the back burner. With the recent addition of our new social media manager, we were free to move forward with some of those plans and Pinterest was our first choice. We love that it makes sharing content interesting and the potential it creates for content to reach far.

Mars Hill traditionally seems to be more masculine in its design and communication. Was this a way of softening your image and appeal to women?

Jake: Yes, in a way. In general, we’ve made a concerted effort to soften the design to be still masculine but more approachable for women. The redesigned marshill.com is a great example of that, as is pastormark.tv. Jesse Bryan, our creative director, has done an incredible job of spearheading the vision for much of our new look, which included adding in some new palate colors, a reworked logo, and a more classic design approach that relies on simplicity and grids.

Our content efforts are following the lead of the new branding direction. Pinterest is an example of that but so is featuring a lot more content on theresurgence.com from the awesome women who are leading ministries at Mars Hill as deacons. We plan on also featuring more content by our female leaders on the Mars Hill blog.

At the end of the day, we’re simply trying to reflect the reality of life at Mars Hill.

What type of content are you pinning? And why?

Jake: Our first priority, as always, is to talk about Jesus. We view all our online efforts as evangelical ones and want to steward well the significant platform God has blessed us with to preach the gospel. As such, our first and most prominent boards are the Jesus board—which is fun because when people follow it, a message says so and so is “following Jesus”—and the Gospel board.

Additionally, we’re highlighting events, design, sermon series, music, books, and dovetailing in support of our current sermon series, Real Marriage, with content applicable for men, women, couples, singles and parents.

It’s new territory, so we’re testing stuff out to see what has traction and what doesn’t. One board we’re looking forward to launching is a typography board that will have well designed type treatments of quotes from the Bible and from sermons.

What has the response been?

Jake: It’s been good so far. Many of the boards have over 700 followers and we’re starting to see some stuff re-pinned. Some folks who are especially passionate about the platform have thanked us for jumping on.

How do you think churches could effectively use Pinterest?

Jake: Pinterest will force churches to up their game on design, as it’s such a visual platform. In order to get noticed, you have to have great photography and art. Churches that want to gain traction should start making design a significant part of their content strategy so that when there is good content to share there is a good image to pin associated with it.

Any other thoughts or comments on this… advice from what you’ve learned so far?

Things can take off fast on the platform, so it’s a great way to get the word out about posts, sermon videos and events. One lesson we’ve learned is set up your boards before launching. Otherwise you’ll overflow people’s dashboards. The first day we launched, my dashboard was awash in a sea of Mars Hill posts.

Also, though it’s a fast-growing platform, the jury is still out on how welcome brands are and you need to think about it differently than Facebook and Twitter. As I’ve mentioned, thinking visually is key.

There’s definitely space for churches to engage in this new space and it’s great to take some notes from Mars Hill’s experience and think about how your church could leverage Pinterest.

Poll: What hip social media site is your church using?

In Egypt the Bible Society isn’t allowed to evangelize, so they advertise. They’re not allowed to give Bibles away, so they sell them.

Atallah admitted he freely borrows from the business world, saying “If it works for Pizza Hut, it can work for us.” That includes using billboards and even home delivery to spread the gospel.

While he faces opposition, he turns that obstacle into a solution. He spoke of three ways opposition has been helpful to his work:

1) Refining Faith
“Opposition to your faith makes you a better Christian,” Atallah said. “Otherwise you give up.” Having to defend your faith forces you to know it better and to live it out. If you’re not truly committed, you wouldn’t take the risk. “Hope flourishes in difficult circumstances,” Atallah said.

2) Creating Cooperation
“Opposition encourages cooperation,” Atallah said. He routinely works with the Orthodox and Catholic churches and all the materials he produces need to be acceptable to all branches of Christianity. It can be difficult work, but the result is unity among these divergent branches of faith in a predominantly Muslim society.

“Independence is a product of prosperity,” Atallah said. He went on to explain that here in America a disagreement in church can easily result in splitting the church because it’s relatively simple to move down the street, buy your own building and start a new church. “In Egypt, we don’t have that luxury,” he said. They’re forced to get along, to learn how to cooperate.

As the church in America continues to splinter over every disagreement, we seem to have lost the value of cooperation.

3) Increased Creativity
When facing opposition, creativity is the key to survival, Atallah said. The limitations imposed on the Bible Society of Egypt have forced them to be more creative in finding ways to share the gospel. That’s included selling Bibles to avoid charges of proselytizing, offering home delivery and making the most of cultural insights.

Pray for the Bible Society of Egypt
I never expected a marketing lesson during church, but there it is. I would ask that you pray for Ramez Atallah and his work with the Bible Society of Egypt. Here are three things you can pray for:

1. Strength and encouragement for the Christians working in Egypt. Since the revolution many Christians are emigrating and they’re losing many of their brightest and best leaders.
2. That Christians would continue to work together to spread the gospel in Egypt. Atallah described a prayer gathering in November as the largest praying and worshiping event in Egyptian history when 55,000 Christians came together in a church founded by garbage collectors, one of the lowest classes in Egyptian society. The 12-hour event was broadcast live via satellite. While there is much to be concerned about in Egypt, there’s also much to celebrate.
3. Pray for all Egyptian citizens in these uncertain times. Pray that the rights and freedoms of all Egyptian citizens would be protected, for safety for all and provision through difficult economic times.

In speaking with you, the community we serve, the board has committed the year of 2012 to adding more value into the life of church communicators.  We believe there is much more we can accomplish together.  Stay tuned as you’ll hear more about these but a few of the initiatives we would like to tackle include:

• 101 Church Communicators Certification curriculum
• Church Communicators Annual Salary, Roles and Responsibilities Survey
• Coaching/Mentorship
• Outspoken Conference

Already a few people have raised their hands to volunteer to serve in building these.  Are you able to help serve?  Please let us know as these worthy projects will not be completed without the leadership from volunteers like you.

I want to thank several of the outgoing board members who volunteered their time for one to two years and have helped steer CFCC to a place of health that allows us to pursue new dreams.  2011 was a pivotal year for CFCC and we are encouraged by what God is doing and blessed to serve with you in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ!

We sat down with Cleve to get the latest on Creative Missions.

Last year was the inaugural run for Creative Missions. Can you tell us what it accomplished?

Cleve Persinger: We had high expectations for the first trip, knowing the level of talent of the folks who signed up, but I feel we really exceeded those.

A successful first trip resulted in a good buzz online and in social spaces, more folks wanting to know about it (signing up online), more sponsors coming forward (both individual and corporate), and increased sign ups for the 2012 trip thus far.

Finally, that first trip allowed us to fine tune our processes, both leading up to (selecting churches, assessments, etc.) and the actual week of the trip. A big shout out to my wing man, Andy Burns, for being there every step of those processes.

Here are a few numbers from the inaugural trip:

• 700 hours worked between all creative missionaries.
• Six websites.
• Three church logos.
• Installed worship presentation for two churches—thanks to EasyWorship and ProPresenter.
• One awesome invite video.
• More than five churches now have Facebook Pages (Eric Murrell was a rockstar with getting churches excited about using Facebook).
• Lots of signage.

What sparked the idea for Creative Missions?

Cleve: God laid it on my heart a while back after serving churches on numerous mission trips—usually involving backyard VBS and construction.

Most of these same churches were lacking in good logos, websites, weekend experiences, and other creative and communication outlets. These were the areas where I felt God had gifted me to help, and I knew my eagerness to help was shared by other creatives.

After much dreaming and vision casting (but not so much that the idea died like most crazy ones), and a lot of support from my wife, Katie, we ultimately asked the question on MediaSalt.com, “As a creative, do you ever feel you could be serving more through the talents and abilities God has blessed you with?”

We were overwhelmed by the positive response, and it’s been game-on ever since.

What kind of response have you had?

Cleve: From creatives we get responses like, “This is the missions trip I’ve been looking for!”

From churches, it’s generally a surprised reaction that someone cares enough about them to offer free creative services, followed by “Just last week we were just talking about how cool it would be if…” Usually not a dry eye in the house, either.

After last year’s trip, it was noted by Chuck Scoggins how cool it was to see the countenance of the pastors we served change in the course of a week.

Why did you pick Joplin, Mo., and Northwestern Arkansas for this year’s Creative Missions?

Cleve: Actually, it picked us. No kidding.

We were originally looking into several other regions of the U.S., but it was hard to ignore the God stories coming out of Northwestern Arkansas and Joplin. Some include Brandon Cox moving from Saddleback Church to plant a church in Bentonville, Ark., and Shannon O’Dell rocking rural churches and communities all throughout Arkansas. In addition, after the horrific tornado that ripped through Joplin, this is the least we could do to help that town.

God is truly at work, and we’ve seen it with our own eyes after taking two trips to the area and meeting with networks, churches and pastors.

Creative Missions 2012 is going to be special.

Applications are now being accepted, but just because you apply doesn’t mean you get to go, right? How are you deciding who gets to go?

Cleve: Correct. Unfortunately, we can only bring so many with us on this trip, and we need to make sure we’re pairing church needs with specific skills.

In the future, we want to bring more or have multiple Creative Mission trips, but we’re still getting our feet wet.

You also have room for some people to help remotely. What does that look like?

Cleve: We prefer folks work on-site to get the most out of a trip like this—community, understanding the culture of the church they’re serving, etc. However, we understand not everyone is able to do this.

Remote creative missionaries will be a paired with a team during the trip just like everyone else on site. Each team has a leader who will be responsible for delegating tasks.

But please note, very few spots are available for this option.

How can we support the Creative Missions effort?

Cleve: Anyone who is interested in supporting Creative Missions can do so in one of three ways:

• Financially: Donate to the effort and get a free T-shirt.
• Resourcefully: Can you donate worship presentation software, old speakers that are in a supply closet, etc.? Please email cleve@creativemissions.to.
• Creatively: Sign up to go with us this May.

We’re so thankful for all of the support CFCC and Church Marketing Sucks have given us. From promotion to handling the donations that are submitted, you guys are such an asset to Creative Missions. We couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you, Cleve. We’re thrilled to be a part of it. Learn more about Creative Missions and check out those links above to help.

We want your voice! Jump over to the Lab and join the conversation.

Widespread events are especially prone to this kind of treatment, from last night’s State of the Union to the upcoming Super Bowl, and anything that’s experienced by a large group, whether it’s national elections or natural disasters, or something closer to a home like a blizzard or local conference. Hashtags spring up on Twitter. Facebook has started collecting statuses about a popular topic.

How will your church service become more interactive?

I think this is a crucial question for pastors, because as this interactive approach becomes more common place, people will do it whether you encourage it or not. In some churches people are already tweeting about the sermon or having their own back channel discussion about it.

Churches can either encourage this conversation and shepherd it into something useful and productive. Or they can be left in the dust, once again seen as hopelessly out of date.

Encouraging interactivity can be scary. It means acknowledging that the pastor isn’t the only source of wisdom in the church. It means allowing for disagreements (and agreeing to disagree). But it can also be amazing as the body taps into the collective wisdom of the crowd.

A few ways your church service can be more interactive:

• Create a space to continue conversations about the sermon. Maybe it’s an online discussion board or a blog post with comments or even a discussion group that meets for coffee after the service. If you really want to get interactive, add a ‘talk back’ portion of the sermon where you actually discuss the sermon. Media Social might be another platform to allow for this conversation.
• Ask questions. Encouraging conversation is easier when you ask questions. A pastor could even include them in the sermon to stimulate ideas and push people to those spaces for conversation.
• Invite people into the sermon. A pastor could give a preview of the upcoming sermon, maybe sharing the passage being preached on or pointing to some research. There’s likely material a pastor goes over in preparing a sermon that isn’t used, but still might be of interest to the congregations (it’s like bonus material on a DVD!). A pastor could make that material available ahead of time and ask for people’s thoughts. Maybe there’s a question that’s troubling the pastor and they could ask for input.
• Interactivity shouldn’t be limited to the sermon. The age old congregational testimony is a standby for a reason. It’s a powerful way to show what God is doing in your church. Encourage the same kind of discussion as you would for a sermon. After the testimony, encourage your congregation to share their own stories is another forum (again, online or after the service).
• One church recently encouraged their congregation to Instagram the church service, taking pictures at church and posting them online. That’s a powerful way to encourage interaction and help your congregation spread the word about church.

How else can today’s church service become more interactive?

A full 62% called it a gimmick. Maybe climbing up on the roof was a bit, well, over the top.

Next came the 15% that were thrilled that the church was talking about sex. Another 9% thought it was too much but still gave it a thumbs up, which adds up to a full quarter of people who actually supported the stunt.

Another 11% couldn’t decide.

In the end ‘gimmick’ is probably the nicest word we could give this effort. It might have sold books, but it feels like exploitation. And that’s not something we need in the church or in a conversation about sex.

Those three top posts, along with one more in the top five vote-getting posts, were all written by guest bloggers, which is something we’re hugely grateful for.

Of course the top five vote-getting posts constituted all the votes this poll had. Poor turnout seems to have plagued this one, but we’ll just blame it on the end of the year lull.

You can also check out our own selection for top posts of 2011.

We talked with Peter McGowan, the design principal at Plain Joe Studios, the company that designed Media Social.

It sounds like Media Social coordinates online reaction to a real-time event. For churches, does that effectively turn every Sunday morning service into the “event”? If so, is this something only the big churches can afford?

Peter McGowan: We believe that people want to engage at a deeper level. Media Social takes passive content and makes it highly interactive—making it a logical next step for churches trying to develop an online community. They can increase their evangelistic reach and get to know their online audience at the same time. Megachurches have proven that the online church model is a highly successful method to increase the number of people they are reaching as well as a viable platform for amplifying their message. Now, Media Social provides a simple to use, stable, professional, customizable technology for any church—big or small.

With Media Social, churches like Central Christian Church, Las Vegas; 12Stone Church, Lawrenceville, Ga.; Crossroads Christian Church, Corona, Calif.; Granger Community Church, Granger, Ind.; and Community Bible Church, San Antonio, Texas, have been able to broadcast high quality live broadcasts as well as leverage pre-recorded content with the added benefit of live interaction. Media Social is reliable, scalable and extremely cost effective—only $99 per month. It’s perfect for any sized church wanting to reach out beyond the walls of their building and into the future of online broadcasting.

How does this compare to OnlineChurch.org, the free service from LifeChurch.tv, that also offers an event-like quality to a church’s online service?

Peter: The free service from LifeChurch.tv is a great starting tool. They have done an incredible job laying groundwork and proving the kingdom impact of online church. It does comes with some great features but not all the features that would make it the right solution or tool to meet the needs of every church. We have priced Media Social so churches can have turnkey access to critically important features at a really affordable price.

[But] Media Social has key features that set it apart from other online platforms, [including Facebook integration, scalability, distributing pre-recorded content, a host dashboard system with increased data on visitors and the ability to embed the entire experience on your Facebook page.]

You have quite a few churches already using Media Social. What’s the reaction been? Can you tell us some stories about how it’s impacting lives?

Peter: Media Social is an easy to use online platform. Organizations and churches love that. They want something they can count on. Media Social is stable and reliable. They want something that they can easily tie into their own design and brand. Media Social is customizable.

Many of the churches that are using Media Social technology had tried other methods of growing their online reach but ran into issues like being unable to maintain stability during a broadcast, having interaction services unreliable, and not being able to scale the platform to meet their needs.

Central Christian Church in Las Vegas has actually been able to plan their multi-site campus locations based on the demographic information they received from the online campus location demographics. This allowed growth as well as vital, key areas to go to where community was already forming!

One of the greatest Media Social success stories comes from Community Bible Church in Texas. They maximized their online influence, broadcast live and pre-recorded content on their channel 24 hours a day, and created a Facebook campus that grew from 0 to over 120,000 fans.

You said this technology was developed for mainstream “broadcast” clients. Does this mean that the church could actually be getting on board with something at virtually the same time as the mainstream world?

Peter: Absolutely. We are engaged with several TV networks who love the technology that we’ve created and its unique integration with their Facebook viewers. They see how they can leverage it for their shows and events. They see the advantages of being able to target specific groups of people and contextualize content based on viewer demographics like age or location. Networks love the stability and quality of Media Social and the unique features that no other product currently offers.

So yes, this is a huge opportunity for organizations and churches to be right on the forefront of the same technology that major networks want and are planning to use. Online broadcasting isn’t just a fad. It is the future for anyone who has content and events that they want to broadcast—and that’s something the church has always had.

Poll: Is your church service available live online?