(I even designed a piece of software called Name Badger that helps churches provide nametags on-demand to walk-up users so that we could help people REMEMBER names at church. And a lot of our software is great for reviewing previously taught content. My money is where my mouth is.)

Several months ago I read the book “BRAIN RULES” …a summary of the latest research and it’s implications for teachers. I summarized that book and its implications for Sunday School teachers over at http://www.sundaysoftware.com/resources/research.htm  Read it!

Continuing on the subject….  I recently wrote the following short article about the IMPORTANCE of REVIEWING  PREVIOUSLY TAUGHT LESSONS in Sunday School. That article appeared in my Sunday Software Email Newsletter  (www.sundaysoftware.com/subscribe.htm) and has a lot of LESSON EXAMPLES for how to review over the short-term and long-term in the classroom. Those examples are listed below, and I’ve preserved that article below as well.

This version of that email news article has expanded comments for preachers.

 The expanded “preachers” content is in PURPLE.

5.  ARTICLE:  The Tremendous Importance of Reviewing Previously Taught Content

“Teachers who don’t review previously taught content with their students -might as well toss their lessons out the window.” 

It’s that simple and that important.

Preaching is Teaching. Thus the corollary: “Preachers who don’t review previously preached content….might as well not preach.”

The latest brain research into memory formation, -and the continuing classroom experience, makes it abundantly clear:

In order to build strong LONG TERM memories, we must:If you aren’t doing these three things, you are not teaching. You’re just taking up time.

Same goes for preachers.
You spend a lot of time crafting your sermons, so craft them for maximum impact on your listener’s memories.

Most people can tell you the TASTE a sermon leaves in their mouth (mind), rather than remember a lot of the specific content. They’ll tell you “it was good” but if you press them for details, they will have trouble telling you details, -except for the story you told, or the dramatic way you did something, or your ending. And yet, most preachers believe their DETAILS are important. 

 

 The Brain Research tells us how we can get our content remembered:

a. teach content in an impressive and concise way
b. follow up with review in the short-term
c. come back to that same content over the long-term

Impressive = memorable, concise, interactive, multimedia rich, multiple learning styles informed, and emotionally engaging.
The brain is wired to impress content into memory in a variety of ways.
Talking is one of the least impressive modes of teaching/learning (followed closely by reading!)

Problem:
Preaching is largely a “talking” medium, so it has a hurdle to clear. 

Suggestions:

Tell stories, rather than pontificate. Stories are multimedia gems. The brain loves them.

Be aware that they’ll mostly remember the LAST part of your sermon more than the first. Yet many preachers start strong but finish weak. 

Craft your language.  The ear and memory loves to hear content that’s poetic, alliterative, and pithy. This is one of the reasons many of us enjoy listening to “how” black preachers preacher (if not their content). It has a beat and cadence that’s appealing, and their words are often dramatically crafted for maximum EAR APPEAL.  Speech writers call this “punching up” the speech.

When I write a sermon, I will typically GO BACK after it’s written, and punch-up the language, while paring-down the actual number of words and sentences.

Move!  The eye is built to track whatever moves. Moving focuses the mind on what’s moving. It makes us better listeners.

Get over it and start using Visuals.  Stories are visuals. Words can be visual, but PICTURES are also visuals. Even writing and drawing on a board helps. (Time Magazine recently highlighted Willow Creek’s Bill Hybels preaching style of writing key ideas on whiteboards during the sermon. This is a smart visual aid that reinforces memory.)

Add Emotional Content.  The brain LOVES emotional content and stores it more deeply. Poignancy is crucial, as is YOUR emotional tenor during your delivery. A flat delivery will create flat memories. This is why poignant and personal stories are effective.

——————————————————————————-

Short-term Review = at the end of the lesson, before the day is out, and at the beginning of the following week’s lesson. Teachers who don’t summarize at the end of their lessons because they have too much left to do, are doing less than they think!.

Other important short-term opportunities: Take-home content, parents asking about lessons, a pastor referencing content in their childrens sermons and liturgy, referencing of content at mid-week program.

Review during your sermon!   Many preachers preach in a stream of consciousness style… getting to a destination or point. But the brain research says that we need to GO BACK to previously preached/taught content to stimulate longer-term memory. Thus, each part of your sermon should reference its previous parts, and at the end of the sermon it would be wise to reiterate the previous parts/stories/points of your sermon. This will trigger the brain to move those memories into longer-term storage.

Review parts of your sermon in other places in the liturgy. Reference ideas in the responses, in the prayers (don’t re-preach! …rather, “impress.”) This will trigger the brain’s memory process to store the content in longer-term storage. 

Shorten and “RESET” your sermons. 25 minutes is too long. The research says that most brains “fatigue” after 10 minutes, and need “reset.” Thus, you should create sermons that have distinct movements or units. 

A brain ”reset” is a cognitive, visual, and auditory BREAK.  It’s an intermission. It allows the brain to compartementalize content. It could be as simple as walking out of the pulpit to tell a new story, or switch to a new point.  The author of Brain Rules books is a teaching professor. He says that you have to RESET the listener’s brain about every 8 to 10 minutes. If you don’t, they wander, and your content gets fuzzy.

——————————————————————————-

Long-term Review = Quarterly and Annual “reviews”. The brain is wired to store memories more vibrantly into long-term storage IF the memories are refreshed and reinvigorated. A “talking head” review isn’t an invigorating review as far as the memory is concerned.

“Forcing” recall, –causing students to search their memories, rather than spoon feeding them the information, helps the long-term storage process. Thus, season ending “gameshows” and computer quizzes are a great idea.

Use other venues and time slots to go back over previously taught content, such as, mid-week Fellowship groups, childrens sermons, childrens worship –all of which can be used to schedule the reinforcement of key content. Also… repetition of key stories/content in the curriculum. For example, the Exodus story deserves to be taught more than once every 5 or 6 years.

REFERENCE PREVIOUS SERMONS. When you say, ”last week I told the story of the boy who…” – you are forcing their recall —which triggers the brain to put those memories into deeper storage. 

This is also why “sermons excerpts” should be printed in newsletters (and not necessarily the whole sermon everytime).

Why do many lesson plans and curriculums IGNORE the importance of review and quizzing?
In part because curriculum publishers want us to chew through lessons. In part because there is a lack of understanding of how memories are formed. And in part because “review” often consists of a talking head asking boring questions which students don’t want to respond to.

——————————————————————————-

 

REVIEW IS NOT BORING ON THE COMPUTER!

Quizzing & review was one of the very first things I realized the computer was great at when I first started teaching with software back in the early 90’s .

This insight continues to influence my software design. It’s why programs like Elijah & Jonah CD, and Jesus in Space, and Awesome Bible Stories are FULL of little mini-quizzes and quiz-like games.

It’s also why I continue to like 3-D style games like Exodus and Joseph… because kids will GLADLY play them again and again and again.

[Aside: Now you know why I'm a huge advocate of the Rotation model for Sunday School, ---teaching the same story several weeks in a row through different media each week.]

 

Sometimes teachers will say to me, “I don’t have time to get through everything on your CD.” And I tell them, “well, that’s kind of the point!” We have put quizzes and game-like quizzes in there for teachers to getBACK TO at a LATER time.

It’s really one of the secrets of understanding most of our “Sunday Software-made” programs. I’ve put in more than you can use in one setting, not merely to give you choices, but to give you ‘extra’ to use at a later time. And I’ve given you activities and games with “sneaky content” which they are MORE than willing to “play again.”

For example:  the Sumo Wrestling Game in Awesome Bible Stories’ Jacob & Esau story. The kids would play that every week if you let them, but they can’t advance without correctly answering questions about the story.

For example: the mini-arcade games in Elijah’s CD.

For example: The Whammo Labs Seder Plate game in Jesus in Space CD.

For example: The matching quizzes built into the “Professor’s bookshelf” in Life of Christ CD.

One week after playing the Jonah story in our Elijah & Jonah CD, start next week’s lesson by saying, “Before we start today’s lesson, I want you to take the FIRST 5 minutes of classtime and play the Jonah “Story Order” game.

Then, about 8 weeks out, make your computer lab lesson a QUIZ DAY. Write about 35 multiple choice questions about Jonah and all your other lessons you have recently taught, and type them into the Fall of Jerich CD Question Editor. First one to Jericho gets to see the walls knocked down!

Example #2
One week after studying the parable of the Good Samaritan in our Good Sam CD, have them take the quiz “Who Wants to Be a Samaritan” again that’s found on the CD, –even if you did it last week Tell them “let’s see how much your remember!” They’ll gladly play along About 6 weeks out, in the last 10 minutes of any lesson, turn on Crosswords CD on your computer and have your students complete your “Good Sam crossword puzzle” that you created for them.

Example #3
Four weeks after teaching a unit about Joseph, after you’ve already moved on to other stories, ROLL IN to class with your laptop and a copy of Joseph’s Story CD. The game plays them through the entire story IN SEQUENCE. And with THAT story, remembering the parts of that huge story is critical to understanding its meaning.

Example #4
Every 10 to 12 weeks, hold a “Game Show Event” for your grades. Come up with 50 questions about all your lessons and put them in a Jeopardy format, or edit them together as a question set in Bible Grand Slam CD or Fall of Jericho CD (these are quiz programs in the disguise of games)

Example #5
Edit together a collection of “memorable scripture verses” from your last 6 or 7 lessons and put them into Cal & Marty’s Scripture Memory Game CD for review. Put a chart on the wall and have kids work through the verses in the game to get their name listed on the “Wall of Honor.”

Have each student “sign” the puzzle and include an encouraging note. Have the youth write on the puzzle, “bring this back to me next Sunday and I’ve got a prize for you!” Not only will the younger kids respond, but the older kids will learn the content too! …and gain a sense of leadership.

Example #7
Use OTHER VENUES, such as, children’s sermons, to reinforce previously taught content. If your ch sermons follow up on what you’ve been teaching, your congregation will be impressed with what the kids know.

See what’s on sale this month at www.sundaysoftware.com/sale.htm

I’m what some would call a “power computer user.” Counting my 3 daughter’s computers which I’ve set up for them, I currently own 5 personal laptops and have the free AVG anti-virus  program installed on each. None of them has ever had a problem AVG couldn’t handle. (Each also has Microsoft’s free & built-in  ”Defender” firewall, and again, no problems there.)

Over the years, I’ve used Norton anti-virus, and McAfee anti-virus, and even occasionally paid to extend their free trials on various computers.  I have McAfee running on my business computer. But in all that time I’ve never had a virus or worm with AVG-free on the job, so now I save my money to waste on other things, and install it on ALL my personal computers. Just have to update them each year.

Important Notes on AVG’s free antivirus….

The free version will “expire” every year and send you a note saying you need to upgrade. Of course it will try to get you to buy their “upgraded” version, but you don’t need to do that if you are using AVG free for “personal” uses.  You can just uninstall AVG from your system and then download the LATEST new free version. It’s free, so you’re not messing with them.

AVG’s free license does not permit use of the free version for ”commercial”  or organizational use. Does this apply to a church office?  Yes.  “AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only.”  That said, I don’t think they’d be unhappy with you installing the free version to TRY IT OUT, and then selecting UPGRADE after you’re satisfied and paying them $34.99.  As a software developer and non-thief, I can tell you that this is the right thing to do.

Like Norton and McAfee , AVG’s paid version is an annual fee.  Yet if you’ve ever had a virus (and I once did many years ago) you know that you would have gladly paid 3 times as much to save all the aggravation and damage a virus can do.

The Free and Upgraded versions come with other forms of internet protection, anti-phishing filters, and such. But the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox come with those built-in.  Just remember to let Windows update itself regularly to plug security holes.

AVG ’s upgraded anti-virus can also install SPAM protection on your email program. I don’t use this feature because my email provider already utilizes a server-side spam blocker (”Postini” …which is the best).  If you’re using Hotmail, Gmail etc etc, they have free  spam blockers too. But if you’re using a regular email program like Outlook, and get a lot of spam, ‘turning on’ AVG’s spam blocker is a good idea.

AVG also offers “spyware” protection. I don’t turn that on because Vista and Windows 7 have that built in. That said, you still need to becareful what you download, especially if you’re a nOOb when it comes to the internet.

The less you know about all these things, the more this paid protection IS MONEY WELL SPENT.

<>< Neil

Advertisement for Name Badger from www.sundaysoftware.com

We bought the Olympus WS-400s at Office Max for about $60. It has a built in microphone, two recording quality settings, and 1 gb memory for up to 170 hrs of recording time. This unit is VERY small, -, it’s about 4″ by 1″ -or about half the size of a cellphone. It is very easy to use. Even has a built-in retractable USB plug so you can plug it right into your computer.

It records in the WMA  format (Windows Media Audio). On the high quality setting, a 15 minute sermon is just a 3 mb file. The tiny built-in microphone does a surprisingly good job of picking up the pastor’s voice. He lays it on the lecturn about 20 inches away from his mouth. He simply press the record button just before he starts to speak. The recording playback quality is good enough for the web. (The unit’s own playback quality is small and tinny on its own micro speakers, as to be expected.)  

To post the file at a website, you plug the recorder into your computer, open up a simple FTP (file transfer) program, and upload it to your website. Then, I take note of the file’s web address and paste that address in a file on our webpage. We use Wordpress to create our church site, so it’s all easy.

Now the question is, IS ANYBODY LISTENING?

Two months ago, the pastor asked for my help saying, ”The Consistory wants to start recording the sermons and put them on the church website.”  Our pastor doesn’t write out his sermons, so there is no text to post. 

I agreed to help, saying, “Sure, we can do that, but let’s also agree to revisit this decision based on ACTUAL USAGE STATISTICS. I’m willing to take the time to upload the files and create the links,  but only if people actually listen to them.”  “Fair enough,” was his reponse.

Then I told him this story:

Fresh out of seminary and serving as the Assoc Pastor in a NY church, I was in charge of making sure the services got recorded to cassettes and distributed to the old folks. One Sunday afternoon while delivering communion in a nursing home, I saw a STACK of service/sermon cassetttes on a bedside table.

“Quite a collection!” I said. “Do you enjoy them?” 

“NO” came the reply, “I don’t ever listen to them, too much fuss.” 

 ”Oh, well would you like me to have the Deacon stop bringing them?” 

“No” replied the senior, “maybe I’ll start listening to them.”  

Somehow I doubt she ever did.  She was being honest and polite. I asked several other older members if they listened to the cassettes, and was met with a variety of excuses.  “My hands hurt too much to press the buttons.”  “I’m all thumbs.”  “I don’t hear so well. “   But.. I decided that giving the Deacon a REASON to make that visit …having a cassette in hand, was reason enough to continue the tape ministry.

But posting them on a church website is DIFFERENT than the old cassette ministry.  These were likely going to be sermons for “the rest of the congregation” to hear, if they wanted to hear them. Our church has a fair number of snowbirds, so maybe the stats will go up during the off season as the snowbirds try to stay in touch. And maybe if someone was sick, or enjoyed the sermon and wanted to hear it a second time. Or maybe they wanted to hear a certain quote or reference. Putting sermons on the church website seems to me to be QUITE different than that old cassette ministry. So I’m intrigued to see if we get many “hits” on those files.

But I’m still going in cautiously. Some ideas, EVEN GOOD IDEAS, are often not worth the extra effort. They can be “make work.”  Or, “feel good” efforts that have little impact or importance.  And here I’m speaking to the church web techies:  they can ask you to do lots of little things like this, …and after a while you’re doing so many that it has turned into quite the project. So even with “good ideas” you need to TEST FOR RESULTS.

And that’s one of the cool things about websites, you CAN ACTUALLY MEASURE whether all the effort is worth it.  Even a modest website has controls you can set that can generate statistics of how many time the sermon audio files have been accessed. We’re using Wordpress for our church website, and the stats are right on the “Dashboard” …the control panel.  We’ll use those stats to determine IF and HOW MANY sermons should be posted in the future.

But…there’s one BIG problem with Web Stats:
Typical web stats will only show us how many times the audio file was “clicked for download.” They can’t tell us if the sermon was entirely listened to.

The Dec 20 2009 sermon had 24 “clicks” over a three week period. Our congregation has about 140 people in it. Some of those clicks may be searchbots, or searchers looking for “Advent Sermons” as their keyword. But the remainder, let’s say 12, is not an insignificant number.

 So here’s what I’m going to do…. 
I’m going to EDIT IN a special message half way through one of the next sermons I post. It will say, “We’re trying to figure out if anyone actually LISTENS to these sermons, If you hear this message, call my cell phone now, and I will give you a free gift.”   (It will be a copy of a favorite religious book).

On this page at a later date I’ll let you know how that works out !

Email:  Mozilla’s “Thunderbird” 2.0 

This free robust email program comes from the same group who created the Firefox browser. It’s free because it’s “open source” (many volunteer developers) and underwritten by the Mozilla Foundation, which was created after the final release Netscape.

Wordprocessing:   OpenOffice.org’s  ”Writer”  

Writer looks and functions a lot like Word 2003. This is a good thing because the new ‘ribbon’ interface in later Word releases is a bit confusing. This is not a truncated basic program like Wordpad. Rather, it’s a full featured wordprocessor with all the controls and options you’ll probably need.  Click thumbnail below to see a screenshot.  http://www.openoffice.org

 You can get “Writer” separately or as part of the OpenOffice.org 3’s office software suite.  The suite includes: a fully functional Word-like word processor, Excel-like spreadsheet program, Powerpoint-like presentations program, graphics program, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages (such as Word). It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

The wordprocessor in OpenOffice can be downloaded separately. It can import .doc and .docx files. It can also save in those formats, and many others, including the ability to save your docs as PDFs.  

The OpenOffice spreadsheet program replaces Excel, and their Presentations program replaces Powerpoint. OpenOffice.org is a community of developers sponsored by Sun-Java Microsystems.

First: Paypal. You simply sign up, fill out a form and they generate some code which you can paste into your website code. Paypal has several competitors, such as Google Checkout. Most are very similar. If you’re a non-profit, they take a certain percentage of every transaction (typically 2.5%), plus a per transaction fee (typically 30 cents a transaction). This is pretty standard for all creditcard transactions. To learn more go to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donate-intro-outside

There are many other web companies willing to set you up with a “Donate Now” button, but while their transaction fees are competitive, they often ALSO charge you a one-time set-up fee of anywhere from $50 to $250. Paypal doesn’t charge a set up fee for non-profits.

I made this button for the soup kitchen website I help maintain.

 The second option I want to recommend is www.NetworkforGood.org. This non-profit company offers two ways to let people donate to your cause: 1) Immediately through their webform, or 2) Through a custom form you can get from them (for a setup fee). The first time YOU go to their website, you need to perform a SEARCH for your organization. Look for the “Support Any Charity” option on their Home page.

There are similar non-profits on the web. Wouldn’t it be great if your DENOMINATION created an organization to manage this process to save costs and support things like missions?

To create a direct link to your donate now page at their website, you’ll need to register for their free option . They’ll need your organization’s EIN tax number and will send you a password. When you get the password, go back to their site and complete the registration. Their instructions will give you a link address to which you add your EIN number to the end of the address. That’s your donate now link you can post on any website or send in an email.  When somebody clicks that link, they are taken directly to your non-profit’s info at the NetworkForGood website, and a creditcard form that can be filled out on the spot.

When people click that link, they are taken to Networkforgood’s website where they see your organization’s name and mailing address data, and a Credit Card Donation form on the screen for them to fill out.  Very easy. [You could sign up and pay for a "custom" donate now page, but it's not cheap and has a monthly fee as well. The 'free' option works fine.]  When you donate through their form, Networkforgood sends a check to the organization you want to support. They know the mailing address, because every 501-3c’s  mailing address is a matter of public record.

Sounds simple, and it is, but the first time I saw this, I had to test it, so I sent $5 to an organization. And sure enough, about a week later they got a check in the mail from Networkforgood with my name on it as the donor. You also have to pay attention to their options for “organization” sign up.

TRY IT OUT !   Go to www.networkforgood.org and look down the right side of their Home page for the “SUPPORT ANY CHARITY” search box. Start there and search for your organization. When you find it, click it’s name and note the page URL that opens up. That’s what you can send others to -to make their donation.

Of course, Networkforgood.org collected 2.5% of my donation plus transaction fee. But any CC processing will do the same. So for example, if you make a $100 donation, Networkforgood sends $97.20.  UPDATE:  the rate is now 4.5% if you do not sign up as a “customer” and pay their registration fee and montly maintenance fee.  See my “COMMENT” below for details about this, and why CC processing charges are going up.

Why your organization should accept Credit Card donations…

My instinct is to say, “Do I REALLY need to explain this here in the 21st Century?”  But yeah, we probably still need to explain it to some people.  Here’ s my explanation:  Credit and Debit cards are a fact of life. Many of us CHOOSE to manage our spending with these tools. We pay our bills online because it’s convenient and manageable. And the immediacy of paying through a “Donate Now” button allows us to follow through on our desire to be good stewards.  Trying to remember to send a check later in the month is not good stewardship.

There is no shame in giving people an option to respond to real needs. And some organizations have a real need to handle contributions VIRTUALLY.   For example, three of the four non-profit websites I work with belong to organizations that have FAR FLUNG groups of supporters. Our “members” don’t congregate on Sundays to put money in a basket.  

My church, for example, doubles in size every Winter with snowbirds. Our website is one way for them to keep in touch during the off season, and the Donate Now button allows them to support various fundraisers that pop up during the year when they are not physically present.   Most of them WANT TO SUPPORT these efforts. And giving them a convenient “Donate Now” option helps them feel connected across the distance.

Rather than be embarrassed by creditcard donations, -or thinking that they somehow cheapen the giving of gifts (as some old-fashioned folks will say), donating via creditcard is as an opportunity for people to RESPOND to NEEDS in a way that’s IMMEDIATE, and in a manner that’s CONVENIENT to them.  When someone comes to our soup kitchen website, we are ALREADY implicitly asking for their support. And God knows we need it… in any amount, as soon as they can donate it.

And before anyone decries the “cost of creditcard transactions,” consider the other costs:

• The cost of an envelope, a check and a postage stamp.
• The time and cost of accounting for checks
• And cost of losing potential donations because well-intentioned givers DO forget!

It has been said that churches should not be encouraging the use of creditcards, especially these days when so many people have abused their credit. My response to that is that we should not be encouraging the abuse of cash and bank accounts either. Stewardship is more than asking for money, among other things, it’s about helping people manage their finances so that they CAN contribute. That said,  I would suggest that we ask members to ONLY use their DEBIT cards, so that they are not financing their contributions.

If you discover OTHER ONLINE OPTIONS that are easy to implement and not very expensive, please leave your comments here below.

Advertisement:
Exciting Bible Software for Exciting Sunday School Kids
http://www.sundaysoftware.com

Would you like for users of your church library to get automatic emails about new resources?

Would you like to do that FREE and EASY?

…then read this article:

Church volunteers and librarians frequently email me asking “how to put their church library resources online to members can see what we have!”  And over the years I’ve pointed them to library software which can be put on your church’s server or just run on a computer sitting in the library.  Most cost money. Some are easier to use than others.   And if you want to make your  “library software” accessible online, it can quickly get complicated.

Library software has an achilles heel too:  ONE PERSON ends up managing the software -trying to keep it all up to date. And they have to do it where the software is installed, which usually means sitting in the library at the computer.  Eventually, both that volunteer and the software go out of date.

Fortunately, time has marched on!  And there’s now a FREE solution that’s REALLY EASY to implement, allows for searchability and multiple contributors, and has all the functionality that most church library will want.

Drumroll please!

Go create a free online library using free and easy to use “blog” software  at wordpress.com.  

You can do it from any computer, and start by posting your individual resources as “posts” under the “categories” you create through wordpress.com’s easy to use online blog software.

Look at my example at www.churchlibrary.wordpress.com  Took me about 25 minutes to make from home.

WHAT ???   ”Blog” Software? 
Yep, it’s easy! …it’s free, …and it will do everything the typical church library needs to do, –and some new things you always wish your church library could do! 

Come see my sample “Church Library Blog” at www.churchlibrary.wordpress.com

The Advantages of creating a Church Library “Blog” in Wordpress….

1. It’s free.

If I want to convert it to it’s own domain name, such as 1stChurchLibrary.org, I can pay a small fee to wordpress to do that.

2. You select from Templates to create your blog. No graphics or web-coding knowledge necessary. In fact, you can change templates with the simple click of a button.  (I can’t stress enough how SHORT the learning curve is for creating a ‘blog’ at wordpress.com.)

Link to our great software resources

3. Wordpress blog software can be accessed from any computer via the web. You do not install it on your computer. It’s on their servers and they update the software regularly for free. (and if you want a custom web address, it will cost you about $15 a year from wordpress)

4. You can easily set up many “contributors” who can help you build the site and edit it from their own computers. This keeps the site from dieing.

5. Wordpress blog features easy-to-add SEARCH FUNCTIONS, and tons of other widgets you can add simply by dragging the feature onto your template.

6. People can “subscribe” to receive email about new resources. You can set up a Feedburner Email Newsletter service right in the blog so that any “subscribing” to your Library Blog will instantly get notifications of your new postings. See my church website article which describes how to set up a free Google “Feedburner” email newsletter for any website.

See my article about Creating a Church Website in Wordpress which includes instructions on how to setup a free Google “Feedburner” Email Newsletter, – at http://www.sundaysoftware.com/wordpress.htm

7. With a little creative thinking and use, your blog can also track “who has checked out the resource” by using the blog’s comment features. See my examle at www.churchlibrary.wordpress.com

Privacy Note: Anybody can leave a ‘comment’ on any resource post you create. As the moderator of the site, you’ll get email notifications anytime someone leaves a comment. Then you must go in to ‘approve it’ to make it visible to other. Or …you can just read them and respond privately.

8. Did I mention that Wordpress blog software is intuitive and easy to use? 

9. When someone posts a “comment” to one of your resource posts in the blog, the blog software AUTOMATICALLY notifies you via email about the person’s comment. It acts as a message system.

————-

In my example Church Library Blog, you can see that I can create many many different CATEGORIES of resources, and then create individuals posts for each resource under the appropriate category.

Now I know that many church resources are coded BY NUMBER, maybe even properly coded!  The numbering system doesn’t have to go away. It can still be used to organize the materials on the shelf. And you can still INCLUDE the number in your online description. But ‘online search’ isn’t about numbers for the average user, –it’s about keywords (authors, titles and subject).   And the built-in search feature you can enable in Wordpress, will allow any user to search your entire site just by typing keywords into a search field. You don’t have to enter or organize keywords. The built-in search function looks at ALL the text you put in every post.

Why Wordpress and not Google’s Blogger ?? (aka Blogspot –which is another online free popular blog service).   Wordpress allows you to organize posts under ”categories” (subjects), whereas, Blogger/blogspot.com organizes posts by the date they were posted.  Wordpress is the solution.

Last but not least…
Suppose you “just want to have a computer in the church library with software that helps you organize the library.“   That’s cool, but you can still use wordpress.com as your “library software.”  The difference is that your “library software” isn’t stored on your computer, it’s stored online at wordpress.com. And that makes it accessible and maintainable from ANY computer –whether it’s sitting in the church library …or at home.  The fact that church members can now access your extensive cataloging work from THEIR home computers is merely a huge bonus.  

What to do next:

1. Go to www.wordpress.com and sign up for a free blog. Title is something like yourchurchlibrary.wordpress.com.  

2. Pick a nice simple starter template. Play around with the “appearance” and “widget” features.

3. Dive into the “dashboard and start creating some sample categories and posts.

Within a short time, you’ll be a wizard. And you can sit down with other volunteers to lay out how you’re going to organize things.

And don’t worry, nothing is carved in stone!  You can reorganize categories, pages and resource postings with a click of your mouse. It’s really quite Easy.

Neil MacQueen
www.sundayresources.net/neil
www.sundaysoftware.comPermission granted to copy for local church use.

Do Pastors and their Congregations start to look like each other? I think so. And obviously, this can become unfortunate!

Most pastors that I know WANT to be leaders, but do NOT want to lay claim to just how much THEIR personality and style influences that of the congregation. Indeed, the congregation DEPENDS on and is led by the pastor’s style and personality, whether they like it or not, for better, and often for worse.

Most pastors want to be thought of as pastoral & spiritual leaders. They don’t want people paying close attention to their personal moods, body language, and tone. But we do! Why? Because it’s the way we humans are built.

It is in the nature of all groups to take their “cue” from their leader. Paul understood this. That’s why he had so much advice for Timothy and called leaders to a higher standard of behavior. Jesus understood it.  Do you or your Pastor get it?

That pastors and congregation start to look alike is no fluke, it’s natural, and scientists have described the BIOLOGICAL FORCES at work: Synchrony and Affinity.

1. Synchrony

Synchrony is the scientific name given to contagious laughter and yawning. Synchrony is when one person’s clapping leads to a room full of applause. Synchrony is when one person’s tears makes another person cry. Synchrony is when we subtley adjust our body position to mimick another. Synchrony is biological. It’s coded in our genes. In fact, it’s a behavior shared throughout the animal kingdom.

Recently, scientists have describe “synchrony” as a form of “empathy.”  It’s a personal type of communication through which we say, “I understand you and I’m with you.”  It’s one of the many ways we connect with one another. The evolution of synchrony throughout the animal kingdom demonstrates that synchrony is a survival behavior as well.  Synchrony is a good thing, especially if you take advantage of it in a good way. A caring & warm pastor will usually rub off on the congregation, as will a dysfunctional one. 

Another way to put this is that congregations “tune” themselves to the pastor’s note.  And if the pastor’s note is dischordant, the congregation will (eventually) likely be as well. (You knew that! And now you know the science behind it.)

2. “Natural Affinity”
(a.k.a. “Birds of a Feather Flock Together”)

Contrary to what your mother told you, opposites do not usually attract. An overwhelming amount of anecdotal and scientific evidence indicates that we feel most comfortable in groups of people like ourselves.  The scientist call this “affinity.” This instinct for affinity is what’s at the root of tribalism, race, where we choose to live, who we choose as our friends, and spouses.

Congregational programming is a good example of this natural desire for affinity:  small group ministries, Sunday School classes, mothers-day out, Al-anon, senior groups, women’s groups, choirs youth groups, young adult groups, etc etc etc.  The problem is when churches and pastors do things that DERAIL affinity groups. Those who have a strong desire for affinity will go elsewhere. Those with a weak desire for filling their “affinity need” through the church, won’t care about church programming that much.

One problem with “affinity” in the church is that if you don’t nurture it, you don’t get it, -and eventually you end up with a congregation full of people with low expectations. Another problem is when the PASTOR has a low need for affinity. I’ve seen this up close and personal in two churches: the pastor act like a wallflower in many settings outside the sanctuary.  This obviously has short-term consequence, but long term as well as the natural instinct for “synchrony” means that a wallflower pastor can often encourage apathetic “wallflowerish” behavior (affinity) within the congregation.  (Almost invariably you hear this being expressed by visitors and members as “is church friendly, or not friendly?”) 

A corollary of “Birds of a Feather” can be seen in the Sunday morning sanctuary where people tend to sit in the same location every Sunday, year after year. We are creatures of habit. And those habits shape us, and comfort us. And churches depend on them, indeed, ENCOURAGE them. Churches depend on the habit of giving, and the habit of getting up on Sunday morning.  The problem comes when give people a reason to BREAK those habits, such as sliding away from church, and they’ll fill naturally the spot vacated by their old habit with a new one. 

I’ve often wondered why the parents of teenagers were the least likely to belong to an “affinity group” or attend fellowship events. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand the reason:  the older we get the more likely people are to have established affinities OUTSIDE of the church.  And once our kids were no longer part of an affinity group, the greater the tendency is to become “merely” a worship attender. Part of the church’s response is to pull those middle-aged adults into positions of leadership. We put them on finance and mission committees. Problem is, those are hardly faith-stimulating affinity groups. “If I were starting my ministry over” I would focus on solving the problem of middle-age affinity groups, -and they would function and look different than my young adult group.

Synchrony…Part II

Synchrony is why Jimmy Swaggert cries. It’s why Rod Parsley yells and  jumps around. They understand that emotions are infectious.  But synchrony is how a room full of worshippers can all start to become restless, or ready to jump out of their seats. Synchrony is why even children know to sit still during prayers. They are born with a “group sense.”

Synchrony is how HUMOR in a sermon, or passion, or a compelling story can seem to grab the entire room.  In comedy shows, the comedian often hires a “shill” to help the audience laugh. In some churches, the deacons sit up front and shout “Amen”.

I’m not suggesting you do install shills in the front pew!  …but YOU CAN BE YOUR OWN SHILL, pastor!  Loosen up! Laugh, smile, get giddy, sway, move around, …in other words, quit being a stiff when you’re in front of people,  -and synchrony will help everyone feel more connected.

When Synchrony and Affinity Collide:

Imagine a pastor delivering a sermon in a dull tone and stiff body language.  They “lose the room” as entertainers would say. —And they drive off those who don’t feel an affinity with the pastor, leaving birds behind who don’t mind the pastor’s dull and stiff personae. 

You can actually see this in a lot of churches…  a difficult pastorate creates a faithful remnant that has become acclimated (or at least “apathetic” about) the reality and consequences of the pastor’s style. I once belonged to such a church. It was disheartening. It wasn’t dramatic, but over time, it created a sense of frustration, and some people quiety faded away or left.

Synchrony is infectious, –which can be a powerful force for good, but it can work against a congregation if the infection is apathy or conflict. Apathetic “birds of a feather” will continue to flock together, even as their numbers shrink.

#1 Suggestion:

Pay attention to the pastor’s personality, energy, charimsa, body language, etc, BEFORE you hire them. Talk to as many people as you can who know the pastor but are NOT on their official ‘references’ list.  Go view them in action and quietly talk to members of their congregation.   No, this is not “polite” …but hiring the wrong person is even less polite.

You should also take notice of the pastor’s “demeanor” when they are into their pastorate. People change. Sometimes pastor’s get under great stress or go through depression… just like real people!  But because of their position of leadership and visibility –and the natural forces of synchrony and affinity, the pastor’s problems can affect the entire congregation.

Other Suggestions:

Get Feedback and Evaluate Worship on a regular basis. Seems obvious, but most churches don’t do it. Many Worship Committees are reticent to criticize the pastor’s leadership.  Create a tool that invites anonymous feedback from time to time.

No more “Pastor Fizzler” !  Insist that staff continue to develop their “people and presentation skills.”  There are plenty of seminars, books and “coaches.” Businesses make use of them. Talk to a business teacher at your local school.  Make it part of every staff person’s job description and evaluation.

Hire a “presentation trainer” to help the pastor do a better job of leading worship and teaching. There are many such experts around, check your local college.

Have many leaders.  Don’t have the pastor at center-stage in every event.

Bring in outside preachers from time to time, and not just when the pastor is on vacation. A pastor can learn knew tricks from other preachers.

Experiment with various styles and formats of worship. Bring freshness and creativity to people’s experience as well as your own.

Harness the power of synchrony in worship by being a “worship leader instead of reader.” Look for ways to personally connect through your body language, movement, tone, and position. In the old days, they called this “charisma.”   See my other blog post on this subject at http://sundayresources.net/neil/2008/07/09/the-view-from-the-pew-what-every-pastor-needs-to-know/

Bill Easum, the respected church consultant, once said that churches should hire worship leaders –people who are GOOD at being up front and focused on the experience of worship and not just the message (though of course, the experience is part of the message!), –rather than first hiring a youth pastor. Not every preacher is good at worship “leadership” …building a sense of synchrony and affinity. Gifted worship leaders intuitively understand the needs of synchrony and affinity.

Create more affinity groups within your congregation. They don’t have to be permanent or monthly.  (A church I know of organized a “Men and Their Tools” group. They did some service projects together, and invited local craftsmen to come teach them the finer points of things like plumbing and show off new tools.)

Don’t SQUASH spontaneous synchronous actions, such as, “clapping.”  In some churches clapping is considered “unseemly.”  What a dumb opinion. It also sends the message that how you feel in worship (expressing your joy by clapping) is not welcome.

Hope this helps the discussion wherever you’re at.

I used to think the Church’s general problem was lackluster programming and preaching, or congregational apathy. But the more time I spend in various congregations, and the more conversations I have with pastors and Christian educators across North America through my software and CE work, the more I have come to realize that DYSFUNCTION is the elephant in the room.

Years ago when people were beating a path to our doors, mild to moderate dysfunction could often be overcome. But in today’s world -where competition is coming from other churches and other options, and with added stresses, such as, the economic downturn, the COST of dysfunction has taken on dire consequences for many congregations. Indeed, in some churches, dysfunction has changed the discussion from one of VITALITY -to one of MORTALITY.

How to spot a Dysfunctional Congregation? 

Here are a few markers:

1.  Pastor comes across as “fake” or aloof.

2.  Problems are not discussed.

3.  Staff members not getting along.

4.  A small group of inner circle people seems to be running things.

5. New ideas are not envisioned and/or are not whole-heartedly supported.

6. A minority within the congregation mistrusts leadership and sows discord behind the scenes.

7. Lack of an active & effective evangelism and member care program.

8. A pastor who seems to “opt out” of participating in or visibly supporting various initiatives.

I’m sure you can add your own to this list.

What to do?

“What to do?” is a difficult question. As church consultant Bill Easum says,

“The Unmotivated are Impervious to the Obvious.”

If the pastor is a big part of the dysfunction, you will probably be shunted aside if you complain directly.

If you are a staff person, you can stonewalled, ostracized or fired for your efforts.

If you are a member, you can become known as “a complainer.”

Churches, like every other institutation, can become very effective as marginalizing those who think the emperor has no clothes. And quite frankly, all some complainers know how to do is complain.

Change must be both confessional and strategic. 

“Confessional” meaning you have to create a way for people to admit the obvious rather than be impervious to it.  Rather than  complain, church leaders need to have a mechanism by which they can can admit what’s wrong without feeling under attack.

“Strategic” means you don’t swat at flies and gnats. “What wrong” is usually not just one or two gnats, but a systematic pattern of behaviors. Individual complaints and corrections can be skillfully dismissed.  Strategic change doesn’t just focus on one or two issues, but on the common thread between them (poor planning, apathy, conflict, etc.) Strategic change is a more fundamental shift in attitude and behavior.  And it’s a longer process.

Here are three suggestions for church members about what to do:

1.  Get on the the Personnel Committee
Regardless of whether or not the dysfunction is pastoral or congregational,  this is one of the most effective spots to seek change. You can suggest seminars. You can discuss staff goals.

2. Get on the Nominating Commitee
Change who the leaders are, rather than what the leaders do.

3. Get a Long Range Planning Process going
Almost by definition, this committee’s work is to LISTEN to the congregation in a variety of ways that give people the forum in which to speak up. 

Suggestions for church staff:

1. Get your leaders to READ together.  Bring in outside voices and experts Criticism from within is often minimized. By reading and researching, the criticism will seem less personal. And there’s a strange comfort in knowing it’s “not just you” …but a problem many churches are dealing with.

There are several good books out there about examining and changing congregations. Start at Bill Easum’s resource site:  http://21stcenturystrategiesinc.com/  Look in their book’s and articles section.

2. Attend Workshops together. Staff growth and church improvement workshops are out there!  Call up your local denominational office to inquire. Get on the mailing list of other denominations in your area. Invite leaders to go with you.

3. What’s sauce for the goose….  Begin your overhaul with your own ministry. Examine how YOU operate, treat others, deal with criticism, and have a plan for change (or don’t).  Over the next few weeks, invite some individuals to have lunch with you, telling them in advance you want them to come with some criticism, even if it’s not their own.

4. Quietly discuss problems with a member of the Personnel Committe whom you can trust. Suggest ways in which they can NUDGE staff members forward towards dealing with problems.

Almost every pastor and staff member I’ve met at SOME TIME IN THEIR PAST wanted to be an agent of change. Over the years, they may have developed bad habits and had their expectations beaten down. So I would encourage you to begin with the assumption that those acting like OBSTACLES and creating the DYSFUNCTION, –may also be your biggest ASSET …if you can rekindle that spark which made them want to lead in the church in the first place.

A last and probably unpopular thought…

I believe that many ordained pastors are ill-suited to the demands of the 21st Century church. They gravitated to the ministry because of their sense of spirituality, desire to study the word more deeply, perhaps their ability to lead youth groups, and their feeling that they had something to say from the pulpit. Few have people-management experience. Few feel called to evangelism or calling on visitors. Few have a people-leading charisma. etc etc. etc.

What we’re lacking in many congregations is the will and mechanism to say one of two things:
either, “Go learn how to lead us better,”  or “Time to Go.”

I have met many congregations, leaders and staff people who feel stuck with ministers who have led them into a corner. The skills and agenda that served the congregation in the first five years of their call, never adapted or changes for the next step. If the average church was a corporation, the Board of Directors would have hired a new CEO a long time ago. Indeed, many pastors overstay their welcome. 

I used to worship in a church where the congregation actually shrank over a ten year period …while the surrounding community it was in grew by leaps and bounds. Yet nobody ever questioned the pastor’s ability.

Going back to Easum’s quote, churches must MOTIVATE their pastors to deal with the obvious. One way to do that is clear goals, honest review and accountability for goals, and insistence on continuing education and skills development.

This would go a long way to cure some of the dysfunction that’s stunting vitality, and threatening mortality.

EnergyStar is the quasi-governmental “non profit” agency that monitor the appliance industry and educates consumers. They have created materials for churches which can be found at http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=small_business.sb_congregations

Their webpage includes a pamphlet for congregations, cost analysis of various energy savings, educational materials, and material & technology suggestions.

Churches in the US spend over $3 Billion dollars a year in energy. Imagine the stewardship savings if every church saved just 20% of its costs!

But nowadays, just by looking at the names, it’s nearly impossible to figure out whether an AMD “Turion” is faster than an Intel “M” Processor.  And even within the Intel line it’s not always easy to know which chip to pay for. For example: Is an Intel 2400 @ 1.83 ghz faster than a Intel Core2 T5500 @ 1.6 ghz?  Yes, but only by a smidge. But didn’t you expect the 5500 to be faster than the 2400? It’s not!  

Knowing Your Processor’s Speed Matters…

Reason #1 It Matters:
They are charging EXTRA for allegedly “speedier” processors. You might think the Intel T7300 is worth $50 or $100 more than the T5370, but you’d be wrong. They both test at nearly the identical speed.

Reason #2 It Matters:
People are expecting “Desktop performance” out of laptops these days. And a lot of inexpensive notebooks are coming out with sub-par processors. You want to know… especially if you like to have multiple programs open at once, are a power user, or gamer.

Reason #3 It Matters:
The notebook market is flooding with inexpensive $500 or $400 laptops, and even a $350 “netbooks.” And not all of them are created equal. You may be sorely disappointed with the speed of that laptop, depending on your expectations. Rather than save $100 and be disappointed, know what you’re buying.

Reason #4 It Matters:
People will pay extra money for an allegedly ‘faster’ processor, then skimp on RAM, when in fact, you’re better off getting the maximum amount of RAM and saving a few dollars on a slightly (apparently) slower processor.

HOW TO KNOW:
“Benchmarking” is how the computer industry determines the “real world speed” of a processor. One of the better processor comparison charts I’ve found is at http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html  Click that link to see how the processor you are thinking of buying (or already own) compares to other processors.

But PROCESSING ISN’T EVERYTHING!
RAM matters, as does something call the L2 Cache (which is like additional memory that your computer/processor can use to speed up your computer’s performance).

And “GHZ” or “gigahertz” as a measurement of a processor’s speed STILL MATTERS too, inspite of what some salespeople are saying. In general, a 2.0 ghz Dual Core processor IS FASTER than a 1.8 Dual Core Processor. But it gets murky when you’re comparing INtel to AMD because AMD chips do not tell you their ghz.

So if you’re comparing an “Intel Dual Core T6400 @ 2.0 ghz” speed to an “AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+” how do you know which is faster, and which is worth the extra money?? –You look it up, that’s how, and you’d discover they are nearly identical in performance, but not in price!)

My Best Advice: 

1. Compare your processors using a benchmark chart and not the salesman’s opinion. See the link above.

2. Always get the MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF RAM your laptop can handle. You’ll be glad you did.

3. All video chips are not created equal! For gaming and multimedia use, pay attention to the Video Chip they put in the laptop.  Rule of Thumb: If they offer an Nvidia graphic chip…get it. It’s likely better and faster than the less expensive “Intel Express” chips.

4. Stick with Dual Core, rather than the older style single core processors. Yes, they still sell laptops with single core processors.

5. Keep your Computer in Tip Top Shape: The longer you use any computer, the slower it will get. It’s the nature of the beast.

a. Uninstall unneeded or rarely used programs using your Control Panel’s Uninstall Programs feature.

b. Turn off unnecessary processor/memory users, such as Photo Gallery software and special Printer features (HP, for example, gives you the option to NOT install their extra features).

c. Defrag your harddrive every couple of months (click Programs, then Accessories then click Systems.

d. Keep your anti-virus and spyware programs fully up to date. Nothing slows down a computer like nefarious software.

e. Buy the larger harddrive if it’s not too expensive. The more free space you have, the faster your computer will stay, -as you begin to fill up the harddrive.

f. For laptops, -turn than off when not in use so that they don’t overheat. Don’t set them on the couch -it will smother the fans. Clean the air ports.

an article by Neil MacQueen originally posted at www.sundaysoftware.com
with implications for teachers and preachers

This article summarized the book “Brain Rules” by Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist (and guy with the brain over his head here). Brain Rules is itself an entertaining summary of the latest brain research especially for leaders and teachers. It’s also a NYT Bestseller.

It’s more than “just hype.”

There is now an extensive body of peer-reviewed brain science supporting the reasons why interactive multimedia should be part of our teaching and learning.

Interactive computer software attracts the learner’s attention and promotes better retention of content because it delivers content the way the brain is WIRED to learn and love it. And as new research continues to unlock the secrets of how the brain learns and remembers, the case for multimedia-based learning only gets stronger.

Thus for teachers, the only question is this: how can we take advantage of this tremendous opportunity?  This is the question I encountered when I first began teaching with software in 1990. I could see that the kids (and adults) were fascinated. In each version of my book, Teaching with Computers in Christian Education and numerous articles and teaching guides at this website -I have continued to refine my insights based on classroom experience and the research. This article is about some of the latest research.

Some of the latest Brain research is summarized in an easy-to-read entertaining book by Dr. John Medina titled:

“Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School.”

It could have been titled: “12 things you need to know about how the Brain really works.”

Dr. Medina, is a developmental molecular biologist, University of Washington professor, and award winning brain researcher, with a special interest in explaining and applying the brain research to benefit teachers, students, and parents. His website, www.brainrules.net, is also very informativeand graphically rich.

Outline of this Article

1. First, I want to mention how as a minister I got interested in Brain research, and how it has affected my ministry.

2. Second, I will summarize the 12 Brain Rules and highlight the insights for Sunday School teachers and those who teach with multimedia software.

1.  How a minister got interested in Brain Research

I first got interested in how brain science informs and enhances our teaching and preaching while serving as a pastor for Christian education at a Chicago area church in the early 90’s. The Chicago Tribune ran a series of articles on the early brain research coming out of the the University of Chicago, …much of it being funded by Alzheimer’s research. Like many teachers, I intuitively knew that creative teaching wasn’t just “entertainment,” it was essential, and the research was beginning to put good science behind it. I was particularly interested in how our memories work –mostly because I was tired of my students forgetting half of what I taught them!  But also because I was interested in how we remember things like sermons and Bible passages.

While at that Chicago church, I designed a new model for Sunday School called The Workshop Rotation Model.  The Rotation Model is a multimedia informed re-design of the traditional program, which also addresses how teachers can get better at their teaching. At about the same time I read about Harvard University professor Howard Gardner’s groundbreaking work in the theory of “multiple intelligences.”  Gardner’s insights and research into how we learn provided the scientific basis for our leap into the Rotation Model. In that model, one story is taught through a series of different media over several lessons in several different rooms with several different teachers. The Model has now spread to thousands of churches. (to learn more go to www.sundaysoftware.com/rotation.htm or www.rotation.org)

Then in 1996 I started a company to help churches learn how to teach with computers and software. Some churches DIDN’T CARE “why” or “how” –they just wanted to see the kids “happy.” But “happy” wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted to know “why” they couldn’t leave the computer alone, and how we could better harness the computer’s attention grabbing power to improve our  teaching. So I continued to read the research, and I began to examine more closely my own software teaching experiences. 

In 2000, I began designing a whole new kind of Christian education software, –applying what I knew from experience and from the research. And that quest continues. I also continue to write. (Text and the spoken word are not dead. They simply aren’t the only way our brains are wired to learn.)

2.  So what DOES the research say?

Brain Rules summarizes what the research is telling us about how the brain works, learns and remembers. Much of the research is very recent due to the advent of new brain scanning technology and increased funding (due, in large part to Alzheimer’s Research). And there is a lot of it. Dr. Medina’s 12 Brain Rules are not the conclusions of one study, but of many.

Some of the conclusions are surprising, but… others only confirm what creative teachers have known for years and can now say “told you so.”  But rather than only say that, we also should be using the research to improve our methods, as well as, using the research to address critics in the church who think some of our creative methods are superfluous “entertainment.” 

So here’s a short summary of the 12 “Brain Rules”. You can see them creatively presented at www.brainrules.net. The following are excerpts, and I have modified some of the wording in order to condense or explain them here in this short format. The book is much more expressive and full of stories and examples which illustrate the points.

My own comments are in BLUE.

The 12 “Brain Rules”  
…what the body of research says -so far

Brain Rule #1:  To improve your thinking you must move. Our brain organ evolved for a walking animal not a sedentary one. Exercise is required to bring your brain the large amounts of glucose it needs, and the oxygen it requires to soak up toxic electrons. Exercise also stimulates the proteins that keep neurons connecting to one another. Aerobic exercise twice a week cuts the risk of Alzheimers by 60 percent. 

Getting the kids moving in the morning is a good thing. The case for active learning and for recreational breaks continues to grow. Sitting and listening to someone talk is not what the brain likes to do.

Brain Rule #2:   We have three brains in our head, not one, and each has a distinct structure, with rather distinct functions. And each competes to a certain extent with the other. The “lizard brain” handles automatic functions, such as breathing. The “mammalian brain” handles the four  “human needs” ::: feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction. This second brain includes the amygdala and hippocampus which are critical processing centers, especially for memories and emotions. The Cortex is the third brain –where logical, creative and symbolic thinking happens. All three parts of the brain have evolved to help us survive in a complex world.

Smart teaching recognizes the total student. When we lead a class, each student is processing the experience at many different levels, -with different parts of their brain recording and reacting. Traditional approaches have over-emphasized cognitive-cortex learning, and underestimated the degree to which other parts of our students’ brains were ALSO forming opinions.

As a child, my mammalian brain wanted to flee Sunday School. As a youth minister, I saw the tug-o-war between between my students’ brains cortex and their reproductive hormones. It made me a much more sympathetic teacher.

A great lesson plan in a bad smelling room or threatening environment doesn’t work.

Brain Rule #3:   Every brain is wired differently. Even twin’s brains. What we do and experience and learn constantly changes how are brains are wired. The various regions within the brain develop at different rates in different people. No two people’s brains store the same information in the same way or in the same place in the brain. We have a great number of ways of being intelligent (more than even Gardner’s 7 intelligences), many of which don’t show up on IQ tests.

The current educational system is founded on a series of expectations that certain learning goals should be achieved by a certain age. Yet there is no reason to suspect that the brain pays attention to those expectations. Students of the same age show a great deal of intellectual variability. pg 67

These ‘variations’ are why I’m a proponent of the Rotation Model…where we teach the same story several weeks in a row but through different media each week, and with a different teacher. This provides our students with multiple ways to connect over an extended period of time, rather than shoving one lesson into one time period with one teacher with a limited number of activities.

It’s also why I like smaller class sizes, and as many teachers and helpers as we can put in a computer lab –to work with “individuals” and not just groups. 

Rule #3 also points up the folly of “8th Grade Confirmation Class.”  No way they are all ready or at the same place.

It’s one of the reasons I like software too… students can work in groups at their own pace. There’s some individuality to it, and differences the way a program presents its material appeals to various parts of each learner’s brain. Some response to the interactivity while others pick up on the music or animation a little better.

Brain Rule #4:  We don’t pay attention to boring things. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Audiences check-out after about 10 minutes, and you must grab them back by telling stories and creating events rich in emotion. Emotional content gets our attention very quickly. The brain is better at seeing patterns, changes, and abstracting the meaning of an event -than it is at recording details. The  brain is built to grasp the meaning of story more quickly and memorably than the details of the story. And with regard to multi-tasking and distractions… the brain can only pay attention to one thing at a time. Studies continue to show that the brain cannot multi-task and is easily distracted from content -if the content isn’t engrossing.

What we pay attention to is profoundly influenced by memory. We use previous experience to predict where we should pay attention. Different environments create different expectations. pg 75

A person who is interrupted takes 50% longer to accomplish a task. pg 87

The brain needs a break. (We have a) need for timed interruptions. pg. 88

It’s key that the instructor explains the lecture plan at the beginning of the class, with liberal repetitions of “where we are” sprinkled throughout the hour. pg 90

Every ten minutes in my lecture I give my audience breaks from the firehose of information and sent them a “hook” (a story or joke)  pg 91

When a student is focusing on content, we need to make sure we are reducing distractions from other students, other activities in the room, or other computers.

Software is certainly “fun” …but it’s more than just that. Sometimes people ask us why we make some of our software using 3D game engines, or drop mini-games into the middle of content (like Bongo slinging bananas at “surf mummies” in Bongo Loves the Bible, or Super Kenz flinging donuts in Attack of the Sunday School Zombies). These playful game elements break up content and give the brain a mini-break, -which rather than interrupting learning, refreshes the mind.

You’ll notice that most of our software programs are broken into smaller lesson pieces, rather than one long presentation. And the pieces are varied in terms of how they look and how the students interact with them,  After seeing a story presentation, they may find a quiz or a set of pop-up study questions, or a game about content.

Text can actually be quite attractive IF certain conditions are present:

1. The reader has a compelling interest in the subject. Take for example, your favorite novel.
2. Or in lieu of “compelling interest,” the text is presented in an interesting way, such as, the kind of text you often see in a TV commercial or in a piece of software.

Text is a great way of conveying a lot of information very efficiently, but it can fatigue the brain if overdone. The wonderful exception to this is “story” …which is the text painting pictures for the brain.

Brain Rule #5:  Short-term Memory: Repeat to Remember. Our brain has many types of memory systems. Your ability to remember something grows the more often you retrieve the memory. A memory is stronger if the event was meaningful, elaborate (rich in detail) and the context of learning was rich. Memories are more easily retrieved if the context of the original memory is recreated.

The majority of forgetting happens within the first few hours after class. pg 100

The more elaborate we encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory. …especially if we personalize it. pg 110

Making something more elaborate or complicated should be more taxing to the memory system, …but in fact, complexity means greater learning.” pg 111

Recreating original context is helpful. Learn something when you are sad, and you will better be able to remember it at retrieval if you are sad.   pg 113

Information is best remembered when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual (learned in a rich environment). pg 114

The more a learner focuses on the meaning of the presented information, the more elaborately the encoding (into memory) is processed. pg 114

Introductions are everything. pg 116

Yes, we’re trying to grab their attention…because that’s what the brain needs in order to learn. Many of our programs have eye-catching introductions, elaborate openings, music, key animations at the beginning. You’ll also see us “salting in” extra content at key points in a story. The pop-up study notes in Jonah or in the Creation Story (Awesome Bible Stories CD) ADD/elaborate on content.

The complexity of some of the software environments…the navigation and hunting for things on the screen… these help create that emotional connection (I wanna do this, I wanna win this!)

We need to train parents to “go over what happened” in Sunday School that day. Such rituals are important to memory storage.

Brain Rule #6:  Remember to Repeat:   Most memories disappear within minutes unless they are complex or have emotional content. Memories which survive this fragile early period of time strengthen over time if they are recalled. Long term memories are formed by the conversation between the hippocampus and cortex as the memories are periodically recalled, and can take years to become “fixed.” This periodic recollection at regular intervals is essential to long term memory development. Memory is dynamic: our brains reinvent/rewire past memories each time they are recalled or mixed with new knowledge. Memorization for the long-term requires recall  spaced at periodic intervals, rather than ’studied’ in one short period. 

A great deal of research shows that thinking or talking about an event immediately after it has occurred enhances memory for that event.  pg 131

The probability of confusion is increased when content is delivered in unstoppable waves poured into students as if they were wooden forms. pg 132

You must deliberately expose yourself to the information (again) in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want to retrieve it later. pg 133

So apparently all that testing and quizzing when we were kids was very important. It is important to remember specific information. But what’s also true, is that information SHAPES our brain much like waves shape a beach, though the individual waves may not be remembered in detail.  In other words, we are the sum of our experiences even if we can’t remember every experience or bit of information that shaped us. As Medina points out, the brain is better at concepts than details. But concepts are shaped by details.

Details are important. And now you know why many of our programs have quizzes, and why we often recommend “going back” to your previously taught-with software… because the kids need to have this information in their brains to shape their concepts. And they will gladly “do it again” on the computer, and it’s VERY important to their long-term memories. If you’re only teaching things ONCE, then it’s not important enough to teach at all because the odds a very much against your students remembering such.  Not that I think remembering every specific bit of detail or answer is important, but rather, –we strive to let this information stick “enough” to help shape their thoughts and experiences. 

It’s like the sage once said, “I don’t remember every sermon any more than I remember every meal, but I’m sure that I was nourished by all of them.”

Brain Rule #7:  Sleep well, think well.  Numerous and extensive sleep studies show that sleep loss negatively affects: attention, executive functions, working memory, moods, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and motor dexterity. Sleep appears to be the brain clearing and organizing itself. People vary in how much sleep they need, but there is a universal biological drive for taking an afternoon nap. 20 to 30 minute naps (and no more) significantly improve post-nap higher brain functions. It’s not just a matter of “getting rest” …it’s about giving your brain a chance to rest and clear itself. This process does not happen if you are awake and just resting.

Two things that don’t help our kids’ learning: Kids having late-night sleepovers on Saturday, and Sunday School that’s too early on Sunday morning.

Brain Rule #8:  Stressed brains don’t learn the same way as non-stressed brains. Stressful events are not conducive to learning because the brain goes into a stress mode. The presence of adrenaline in the bloodstream inhibits certain types of memory and learning functions. Chronic stress, such as hostility at home, deregulates the brain’s system which has evolved only to deal with short-term stress through the release of adrenaline and cortisol.  Chronic stress scars blood vessels which can lead to plaque build-up.  The regular release of cortisol (a stress chemical) damages cells in the hippocampus which can cripple learning and memory. This is why the testimony of witnesses to a stressful event is often considered unreliable. This is why children having trouble at home most often have trouble in school.

A student coming into your classroom who is under pressure, unhappy, experiencing (or expecting) peer problems, having separation anxiety, and other such stressful problems, will not be able to participate, learn and remember lessons nearly as well as those who are happy to be there.

Students who create stress for others in the classroom bring everyone down.
Yeah, we knew this…but here’s the research!

These are some of the reasons why computers are such great teaching tools:
The kids want to be there and use them. The computer gets them looking at a screen, rather than feeling like others are looking at them. The intense focus on the computer helps them to forget some of their problems for a while. i.e. it removes distractions.

Brain Rule #9:  To Improve learning, Stimulate more of the senses. Our senses are not separate, but rather, they have evolved to work together. Vision for example is influenced by hearing. Smells have an unusual power to bring back memories because they bypass the thalmus and tie into the supervisor of emotions called the amygdala. Past experiences affect how we perceive current sensory information so that two people can perceive the same event quite differently.

Groups in multisensory environments always do better than groups in a unisensory environments. pg 208.

When touch is combined with visual information, recognition learning leaps forward by almost 30 percent. Simply put, multisensory presentations are the way to go. pg 208

Cognitive psychologist Richard Mayer’s rules for multimedia presentations: pg. 210

1. Students learn better when words and pictures are combined, rather than just words alone.

2. Students learn better when words and pictures are presented at the same time (like a movie with subtitles), rather than successively (like in an old silent movie).

3. Students learn better when words and pictures are presented near to each other rather than apart from each other on the page or screen.

4. Students learn better when extraneous/unnecessary visual and auditory material is excluded rather than included.

5. Students learn better from animation and narration, rather than just animation with text.

The brain connects associates smell with emotional memories. This is known as the “Proust Effect.” pg 211

Brain Rule #9  is a commercial for why interactive multimedia software WORKS better than sitting around a table listening to the teacher talk. It also stresses the important of the learning environment. How well do we learn in a MUSTY BEIGE Sunday School room?

Brain Rule #10:  Vision trumps all other senses.  Vision takes up over half the brain’s resources. Study after study shows that we learn and remember best through pictures and not written or spoken words.

If information is presented orally, people remember about 10 percent when tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if you add a picture. pg 234

Reading creates a bottleneck of pictures,….choking our cortex. This happens not because text is not enough like pictures, but because text is too much like pictures! To our cortex, there is no such thing as “words,” or “text” versus pictures. (Text is just another form set visuals which the brain must interpret).  pg 234

This is why especially to many young learners, reading is NOT as helpful to their understanding of a Bible story as “seeing” it. When we ask them to struggle with Bible text, especially text not written at their reading level, their cortex is focused on trying to read, rather than trying to comprehend what they are reading. And to those who are stressed by having to read in front of others, we know from Brain Rule #8 that the stress of reading in front of others releases brain hormones that can dampen learning and memory. What they will remember will be the stress.

Simple two-dimensional pictures are quite adequate; studies show that if the drawings are too complex or lifelike, they can distract from the transfer of information. pg 238

Pictures are a more efficient way to glue information to a neuron. pg 239

And now you know why we like to create rich visual environments in our software.

#10 also explains the attraction of cartoon characters. Animated Bible characters get “glued” in our memories because they are not “just like” every other person we see throughout the day.

Brain Rule #11:  Male and Female Brains are different structurally and biochemically, but the jury is still out on the significance of these differences. Men, for example, process serotonin faster. Men and women process acute stress differently. Under stress women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdala (the seat of emotions) and remember the emotional content of events more vividly. The research suggests that both nature and nurture are at work in the differences.

There is on-going research into the need and results of same-sex learning environments. Girls appear to perform better in math, for example, when taught in an all-girl setting.

Is there an application of some of these preliminary findings for Sunday School? Perhaps. What Sunday School teacher hasn’t noticed the difference between how boys and girls interact in the classroom. Some of it is nature, some nurture, but regardless, the differences need to be addressed by our teaching methods and environments.

Brain Rule #12:  The Human Brain has evolved to make us powerful and natural explorers -from birth. Babies are the model for how we learn throughout our lives:  actively testing our environment and relationships by observation, hypothesis, experimentation and conclusion. Some parts of our adult brains stay as malleable as a baby’s brain, so we can create neurons and learn new things throughout our lives.

Many of our software programs function like explorations…or what I have called scavenger hunts. Clicking on an object to make something happen helps feed our need to explore and manipulate environments to see what happens. When we do this: the brain focuses and remembers. Flying over the Galilee terrain in Galilee Flyer or Exodus Adventures, or meeting Pharaoh in Joseph’s Story CD (pictured)  i.e. … trying to discover how to make things happen, how to open up things… these things can frustrate a teacher who has limited prep time, but they EXCITE the EXPLORER’s mind.

Rule #12 also points out the importance of having high quality infant and toddler care at the church. The children ARE learning whether the church is good place to be, -or not.

Summary for Teachers:

Bring more:
Atmosphere
Multimedia
Low Stress
Interactivity
Creative variety
Mini-breaks
More individualized instruction
Repetition during the lesson, and afterwards at spaced intervals for long-term memory.

As an occasional preacher, here are my  thoughts on the book and research’s
“Implications for Preachers”

Create compelling introductions. That’s what bring the listener’s brain on-board.

Stories! …because they speak with images and emotion.

Don’t be afraid of eliciting emotional responses in your listeners. Emotions help them remember content.

Be visually interesting as a speaker. MOVE! (the eye and mind is built to pay attention to whatever moves)

Emphasize meaning over details. Details are harder to remember and have a limited shelf-life.

Break up your sermon into more digestible parts for the brain. According to numerous studies, the brain seems “wired to wander” after ten minutes. It needs a cognitive break, moment of refreshment, a change up to bring it back on line. Dr. Medina spends quite a bit of time in his book describing how he structures his lectures to reflect this basic wiring. His advice: Remember to bring the brain back on track with a fresh compelling content “restart” at least every 10 minutes. Sermonizers should plan for pauses to let the brain ponder and have a break.

Craft sermons that reinforce the main point, rather than meander through a shopping list of un-reinforced, unrepeated points. The brain is wired to better remember repeated content, rather than single unrepeated instances of content. Repeat, repeat, REPEAT.

Refer to important points in previously preached sermons in order to force the brain’s memory functions to recall and recement the memory of your content more deeply.

Get plenty of sleep before preaching, it will sharpen your mind and delivery. Same goes for the listeners.  Becareful not to put their bodies back to sleep with a room that’s too warm, or a stretch in the service where they have gotten a little too comfortable or sedentary.

Last but not least, get re-trained if need be. The “preaching” as it is taught in many seminaries, is more about writing than delivering.

 As mentioned, the www.brainrules.net site has a lot of this info presented quite visually.

Here, for example, is a good summary for PRESENTERS….

What is Facebook? 

Facebook.com is a website that allows users to create an online profile, then invite “friends” who are also on Facebook -to come visit their profile and leave messages.  Some people update their wall with comments on a daily or weekly basis. And others can leave responses to your updates. Furthermore, when you log onto your profile, you see what your friends are saying about themselves, and you can go visit their wall to see the messages others are leaving for them.  Only those you have invited can view your wall.  Facebook allows you to upload pictures and albums to your page, and you can send private messages to your friends on Facebook.

Facebook helps you find friends in several ways: 1) You can use Facebook’s search feature to find friends who also use Facebook. 2) Facebook looks at your profile information (High School, College, and where you live), and makes suggestions to you of people you might want to invite into your friends group.  3) Facebook looks at who your friends’ friends are, and suggests you become friends with them. So for example, if you invite your pastor to become your friend on Facebook, Facebook will tell you who your pastor’s friends are, and then you can invite them to be your friend too. This particular feature would allow church members to befriend each other quite quickly. And of course, you can turn down requests and be as private as you like.

___________________________________________

Face(book) the Facts: 

Fact #1  The Church is a Social Network, and Facebook is social networking technology.  Like the phone, the printed newsletter, email and Sunday announcements, Facebook allows you to get the word out, share your lives, and stay in touch over distances.

Fact #2:  As a church leader, it’s your mission to communicate and network effectively.  Increasingly, church leaders must use MULTIPLE ways to stay in touch with their parishoners. And increasingly, you must go to where the members are. Facebook is one good way to do that for free, and the results are almost immediate.

Fact #3: Many of your church members are already using Facebook. And many more will be joining the service in the years ahead. It’s a phenomenon, not a fad.  Originally designed for college kids to stay in touch, there are now more adults than kids using it, and more everyday. In fact, people are signing up and using Facebook faster than any other web application. As of Spring 2009 there are 200 million Facebooks users around the world, 60 million of them in the U.S.  Two-thirds of all Facebook users are out of college and the 35+ age group is fastest growing group of users.

Fact #4:  People are sharing much more than information on Facebook, -they are sharing their lives. For years we have encouraged members to share their lives with each other, to stay in-touch beyond Sunday morning. Facebook is a powerful and fun way to do that.

——————————

Many church leaders have already begun to use Facebook to connect with their members.

Jim, a pastor in Nashville emailed me this comment:  “At our last staff meeting, I asked my staff how many were on Facebook. Every hand in the room went up, except mine and the janitor’s.  Then the janitor chimed in, ‘I’m on MySpace instead of Facebook.’  (ed: MySpace is like Facebook) Boy did I feel old.  That afternoon they showed me how to get a Facebook page. Now we share notes with each other almost everyday, and have invited church leaders to follow our conversations.”

Steve, a small church pastor in North Carolina, ”facebooks” his daily life, including what he’s doing that day at the church. And his members and friends follow him. He includes photos of events the day they happen, and friends and members leave comments and encouragements. Steve is a musician as well and many of his members follow him to learn about local music events and new music.

Becky in Rochester works at a large church where over a 100 members follow each other’s lives on Facebook. “We don’t know where it’s going but it’s been a positive thing.”

Lisa in Canada wrote to say their Youth Group Facebook Page is “indispensable” to their group, as “kids don’t use email or check it, they are on Facebook.”

____________________________

Here are the Facebook features that make it a powerful application for church leaders:

1. Once you create a profile page, you can add written “comments” to your profile page as often as you like.  Many people update their daily. Some not so often. The Comments section of your profile is called your “wall.” You can also add photos. Facebook makes it O so simple.

You can create a personal profile, or you can create a profile just about your church.  Then church members can be ‘invited’ to follow your church page -and will get an alert everytime you post a message on the church’s Facebook page.  Many churches use this approach so that they aren’t following and reading the pastor’s personal facebook page.

2. Once on Facebook, you search for and “add friends” who are also on Facebook  –granting them access to read your profile and your “wall” comments. Once they accept your “invitation” to become a friend on Facebook, they can leave comments on your “wall,” and you on theirs.

Whenever someone posts a comment on your “wall,” you get an email notification.  (That’s nice because I have my email program open all the time and don’t keep Facebook open on my computer like some people do)

3. Now here’s the “kicker”…  When you accept someone as your “friend” on Facebook (granting them access to your wall -and you to theirs), Facebook AUTOMATICALLY suggests NEW FRIENDS you might want to invite to follow your profile/comments page –selecting from your friend’s “friends list.”   So if you have a friend who’s already connected to 10 other church members, Facebook will suggest them to you, and you can click “invite” to send them a request to be friends. ((This is what they mean by “viral” marketing. You don’t have to go out and do it, Facebook does it for you by looking through your friend’s friends list.))  This means that you can accumulate church members following your site VERY quickly.

My experience on Facebook…

Setting it up was quick and easy, …which is probably why Facebook has been growing fast among babyboomers.

It’s fun, but can get a little overwhelming at times. Some people leave comments all the time. And the more friends you have who you are “following” (seeing their every comment on your wall), the more you have to read, the more they can clog your wall with comments. Fortunately, you can turn off some comment features.

Facebook also has some features which you may want to deactivate, and which some of your friends OVERUSE. One of the things that makes Facebook popular is its “applications.”   For example, I have this one pastor friend who’s young daughter is always sending her mom “facebook gifts” such as pictures of hugs, and “splashing her” …and these items not only appear on her wall, but on mine as well because she’s my “friend” and I am “following” her. So when I pull up MY wall, I’m always seeing those comments. Fortunately, you can DEACTIVATE friends comments and some features. 

Eventually Facebook will have to give its users more controls over what things appear on your wall. But this is the nature of the beast right now… it’s designed to show you what’s going on in the lives of your friends, and to see what your friends are talking about. It’s definitely NOT a one-way church newsletter.

Oddly enough, I “facebook” with my own kids and friends who i see ALL the time!  ….in addition to following old friends I’ve reconnected with.  One of the interesting phenomenons about this technology is that people will post comments about their personal lives that they would otherwise maybe not mention in conversation. Several pastors I talked to said they have learned quite a bit about some of their members’ NEEDS because of this phenomenon. But you also read mundane stuff, which reminds you that your friends and family members are out there living their lives, –and willing to let you be part of it. It’s a privilege of sorts.

Facebook’s original intent was to let people separated by miles and years to stay in touch which each other. I’ve reconnected with some old friends, and that’s been very nice. This is a great feature for church members who move away and want to stay in touch with their “old” church friends.

Where is this all headed? 

We in the church have entered an era where can communicate immediately without the cost of postage, secretarial time or use of a copier. This is a godsend to those who need to communicate important information on a regular basis.

We are in an era where MANY methods must be employed, and not a limited few, and many of these new technologies “REMIND” you of new content, or can have their content delivered to the device of your choice.  Some people live by email, others by cellphone. Web-based applications such as Facebook and Twitter understand this, and their applications allow for people to receive updates via the method of their choosing. For example, if I sign up to read your Facebook postings, I can opt to get them by email. If my pastor is on Twitter and I have signed up to receive their “tweets” (messages) on my phone, others can sign up to receive those tweets via email. If I sign up at your church website to “follow” your website, the website can alert me with an email to new content at the site.

The technology of this new era improves on the past. It is quicker, can be more timely, and in most cases is free. It is also “two-way” in that email and Facebook allows for response and immediate feedback, and methods such as Facebook facilitate networking between members outside the building.

We are in a period of experimentation. Churches and church leaders are beginning to use Facebook with great intentions. And as the technology grows and changes, things will only get better for those who believe they have a message worth sharing, and for those who are seeking NEW ways to listen to the lives of those they are in community with.

Neil MacQueen, Copyright 2009.
www.sundaysoftware.com
www.sundayresources.net/neil

Postscript:
Understandably, some people have concerns about connecting with other people on the web. And some social networking sites are not for Christians.  But fortunately, Facebook seems to be taking the HIGH ROAD. It has numerous controls, and seems to understand that it cannot alienate the mass of people who want a safe place to connect with friends.  People who can view your information and leave comments are not anonymous. They can only be “invited” to your content, and they can be uninvited.  It will be interesting to watch how this and other networking technologies evolve.  And Christians should speak up so that these services stay church-friendly.

(Now you know where I come out on the issue!)

According to a recent Barna Research Study, currently, more than 9 out of every 10 churches offer Sunday school for elementary grades (92%) and adults (91%)  These levels are statistically unchanged since 1997. (See link below for source.)

In fact, Sunday School is THRIVING in many churches, and struggling in others. There are many local issues and situations which any one church might point to for reasons of its own decline. But in my experience, “decline” is often self-inflicted. Decline becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in many churches because they decline to do the things that make for long term success. But rather than do them, they cop-out –pinning the death of their program on “cultural trends” or “parents these days.”

I was recently quoted in a Wall Street Journal article about “the decline” of Sunday School. The writer saw an article I had written online and called me for some quotes. I did NOT like the article because:

a) It selectively quoted statistics. See the section below for the stats they reference.
b) It offered very little in the way of analysis or strategies for success. 

The article was boldly titled “Why Sunday Schools are in Decline” and the author told me over the phone that she was raised in Sunday School but no longer goes.   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124598071177158161.html

The WSJ article DID quote some Barna Research stats about Sunday School that are VERY interesting, but the WSJ DID NOT PROPERLY QUOTE the statistics. You’d think the WSJ would fact check! (see link below). 

The WSJ article says, “The decline in Sunday schools appears to be gradual but steady.”   Yet Barna’s 2005 study which the article refers to says, and I quote: “Church reliance upon Sunday school has remained stable: 19 out of every 20 Protestant churches (95%) offer “a Sunday school in which people receive some form of planned or systematic Bible instruction in a class setting.” Nearly the same proportion of churches – 97% – offered Sunday school eight years ago, when the tracking research began.” 

Here’s the link to the study the WSJ misrepresented:  http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/175-sunday-school-is-changing-in-under-the-radar-but-significant-ways

It can’t both be “in decline” and “steady”.  In fact, what the stats DO say is that youth classes are in a slight decline.  But could this be due to a greater reliance on youth groups to pick up the slack?  Is this a demographic/population trend? The article and research doesn’t go into it, but somebody should.

The most IMPORTANT statistic was this: Only 15% of ministers regarded Sunday school as a leading concern (!!!)  And…the younger the pastor, the study showed, the less emphasis they placed on Sunday school. Yet once, again, the Wall Street Journal writer gets it wrong.  This stat only indicates that 85% of minister might think that maybe Worship and Mission are higher priorities than Sunday School. Can’t argue with them. Read the Barna Report!  …it clearly ALSO says that 95% of minister rate Sunday School as an “important” concern.

But here’s why I think some younger pastors have a lower opinion of Sunday School:
a) They remember their own boring S. School experience and “10 foot pole” the program.
b) Most young pastors during their training years concentrate in youth work, and not children’s ministry.
c) Most young pastors are too busy doing other things to focus on a program they grew up disliking.

I have no doubt that Sunday School is in decline,
     –but it’s not due to the culture,
               ….it’s due to the people who decline to do it well.

Case Study:

I was a volunteer in a small church that had a thriving Sunday School in the 80’s. They held classes for te kids DURING worship. So if mom and dad brought their kids to church, the kids went to class while the parents stayed in the sanctuary. Then in the early 90’s that church moved Sunday School to the hour BEFORE worship, …which is a great idea. Kids belong in worship with their parents as much as possible. And for the next two years attendance was pretty good.  But attendance started to decline, and here’s why…

The switchover to a Sunday School hour required PARENTS to attend Bible study classes, and the church did a poor and inconsistent job of offering such. And because don’t drive themselves to church, their attendance started to decline.

Oh, they did TRY on occasion, but it was haphazard. The pastor rarely taught a class, and rarely promoted  them from the pulpit. They didn’t form an adult education committee or consistent group of leaders. The class would meet, and then stop meeting. They didn’t bring in outside speakers to occasionally attract new attenders, -though there were plenty of speakers to be found in the metro area.

And they did some foolish things. One fall they tried to start a new Sunday morning study with this approach: whoever showed up would be given the lectionary reading for the day. They’d read the verses and everyone would take turns saying what they thought it meant. The class lasted a couple of weeks. 

They DID have an ongoing older-adult study that had 6 or 7 regulars. But it was known to be so conservative that some people who gave it a try literally walked out of the class.  Parents who brought their children didn’t want to go to these “classes” and so ended up WANDERING in the hallways.  Eventually, they stopped coming.

They did offer some other creative fellowship events, such as, an inter-generational VBS’. But one of the secrets to successful Sunday morning Bible study is CONSISTENCY and QUALITY of effort. And it just wasn’t there. 

I did offer to help. I had led a successful Adult Ed program in a previous church. I offered to teach some series of Sunday morning Bible studies. But in 10 yrs of attending there, they never took me up on that offer. They said they wanted me to keep teaching the kids.  And perhaps, just maybe, they didn’t really want help. This is one of the other problems with some leaders, they’d rather let something die than ask for help, or let someone else try and succeed where they have failed.

Fast forward several years, and now you have a Sunday School “Declined,” and a membership that doesn’t take it seriously, or increasingly want it.  Over that same 10 year period , they were taking in small numbers of new members each year who were not joining the church because they wanted Adult Sunday School.  They were joining a church that didn’t expect them to come study the Bible.  Within a few short years, that small church had a growing group of adults who didn’t care and didn’t miss Sunday School for themselves, let alone for their children. 

Attendance is a habit easily broken, and difficult to create or fix.

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How to turn around a “failing” Sunday School…   a couple of thoughts:

Leadership is one obvious answer. If your pastor is one of the 85% who thinks Sunday School isn’t that important, you either need to:

a) Find a better pastor now, or next time
b) Convert that pastor to the importance of learning the Word of God! Often, they need to become involved in order to see it’s value.
c) Work around that pastor by gathering together a committed group of people who understand the importance of the ministry, and how not to make the same old mistakes*

*Not making the ”same ol’ mistakes” is another part of the answer. Failure is usually accompanied by a lack of passion, creativity, and long-term commitment. But in my experience failure is also the result of a hundred small mistakes along the way.  :: Dirty rooms, boring lessons, a dirty improperly staffed nursery, lack of quality communication, poor planning, poor execution, lack-luster leadership, lack of quality oversight, etc etc.

Other keys: This is a blog, so I’m going to end this post here, short of the goal. But I encourage you to read more of my thoughts on The Future of Children’s Ministry over at www.sundaysoftware.com/stats3.htm  where I lay out the “characteristics” of such a healthy Christian education ministry, and offer many more suggestions.

This blog article is brought to you by www.sundaysoftware.com  Check out our great Bible story software and Bible games for kids! Neil MacQueen is a “techie-pastor” who writes about tech subjects for church staff and anyone else who wants to know.

Getting content from your computer to your phone, or from your phone to someone’s email is not only EZ, it can be a lifesaver.

The other day a friend EMAILED me ELABORATE DIRECTIONS to her home. Problem was, I needed those directions on my cellphone to take with me in the car. So I forwarded that email from my laptop to my cellphone.   Then yesterday one of my programmers needed to have me look at a screenshot right away, but I was away from my laptop, so I told him to “send it to my cellphone as a multimedia text message.”

And frequently, I take photos with my camera phone and want to put them on my computer or send them to someone else’s computer.

Here’s how you can send a TXT Message or Photo from your cellphone to an email address:

1) In your cellphone’s text message program, type the email address of you want to receive your text message into the “to:” field and press send.  That’s it!  (If including a photo, remember to attach/insert it).

So for example, if you wanted to email me from your cellphone to my email address, you’d type my email address in the “to:” field…  TO:neil@sundaysoftware.com  It really is that simple.

Since I often send photos from my cellphone to my laptop, I have created a contact in my cellphone’s directory named “Email Neil” -and put neil@sundaysoftware.com as the email address, –leaving the phone number field blank. The cellphone software, sees that the phone number field is empty and uses the email address. Nice.

www.sundaysoftware.com

Here’s how to send Email from your computer to a cellphone number:

(They will receive it as a text message on their computer)

You just need to know the following:

1) the person’s cell number
2) the specific email address of their cell service provider (such as “txt.att.net”)

Then…
In your email program you create a ‘new’ email, and in the “To:” line, type the person’s cell phone number, –followed by their cellphone provider’s specific email address. If like me, you need to forward an email to your own cellphone, you just click ‘forward’ on that email and type in your own cellphone number, -followed by your cellphone provider’s email address.

So for example, if you wanted to send me an email from your computer to my cellphone, you’d send an email to 6145278776 @txt.att.net  (because I use ATT)

_________________________________

Below is a list of the email ”gateway” addresses for different carriers. 

I’ve listed the top three most popular first. Note: if you’re sending a Simple Text Message (”txt” or “SMS”), the address is slightly different on some cell carriers than if you’re sending a “Multimedia Message” (MMS) which would include a photo, for example.

Note: do not include the ‘bracket’ [ ] in the email address.

AT&T
Text (SMS): [the 10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net
Multimedia Text Msg (MMS): [the 10-digit phone number]@mms.att.net
Example: 2225557777@mms.att.net

(I’m not really sure you need to include the txt. or mms.  anymore with ATT. I usually don’t and their servers seem to know exactly how to handle my email coming into the phone. Might be true for the other services too. Try it out.)

Verizon
Text: [10-digit phone number]@vtext.com
MMS: [10-digit phone number]@vzwpix.com
Example: 2534567890@vtext.com

Alltel
Text: [10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com
Example: 1234567890@message.alltel.com

Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel)
Text: [10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com
MMS: [10-digit phone number]@pm.sprint.com
Example: 1234567890@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Boost Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com
Example: 5234567890@myboostmobile.com

Nextel (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com
Example: 2534567890@messaging.nextel.com

T-Mobile [10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net
Example: 1234567890@tmomail.net

Virgin Mobile USA
[10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com
Example: 1234567890@vmobl.com ]]> http://sundayresources.net/neil/2009/06/11/how-to-send-email-to-your-cellphone/feed/ 1 http://sundayresources.net/neil/2009/06/11/how-to-send-email-to-your-cellphone/