The Xpiritmental Blog

Getting Real

ANDREW — Tue, 9 Feb 2010 23:04:28 +0000

One of the things that we often find ourselves encouraging our clients to do is to be true to their brand. Or in other words, to be true to themselves. It's an important reminder that we all need at times because we tend to get off track.

Our modern church culture is such that many smaller churches look to the model churches like Willow Creek, Mosaic, North Point, Mars Hill, Hillsong and LifeChurch.tv for inspiration in their activities and approaches to ministry.

But while looking to those churches for inspiration is a fine idea, you need to always be asking yourself the hard question: "Does what I'm looking at taking away from these other church communities fit who we (your church community) are?"

That can be a tough question because the answer might force you to abandon something that you personally are really attached to and excited about. But those kinds of bigger picture checks and balances will serve to keep you on track, doing things that your community will excel in because the play or the song the outreach activity or the small group structure is representative of who you are.

This is what our world needs to see. Church communities that are being real.

But to be real to those outside the church, we first have to get real with ourselves.

We Value Your Feedback

RAY — Mon, 8 Feb 2010 21:47:25 +0000

Over the course of the last year, we've made numerous additions and improvements to AdvancedMinistry. One of the most recent additions was the Secure Intranet, which has been very well received. As we press forward in 2010, we won't be slowing down any time soon when it comes to new improvements. In fact, we have a number of things already lined up for this year, some of which include:

A redesigned back-end admin panel with better statistical reporting
Conversion of most AM 2.0 templates to AM 3.0.
Addition of many new templates
A mobile browser version of AdvancedMinistry
Continued improvements to the recurring events engine
Continued improvements on the blog engine

Those are some of the major ones, with many minor additions in the works as well.

All of that said, our most important indicator for additions and improvements is your (client) feedback. We've had tons of it so far we welcome even more!

Please feel free to submit a ticket or post a comment on this blog if you have anything that you'd like us to be working on. We keep an ongoing list of client suggestions and it never hurts to add a few more (no matter how big or how small).

Introducing AM's Business Model: BarkBuilder

RAY — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 11:48:21 +0000

For years we've been getting asked by people as to whether or not we have a business version of AdvancedMinistry. Well the wait is finally over! Introducing BarkBuilder (beta), AdvancedMinistry's business platform. With BarkBuilder, entrepreneurs can now use the power behind AdvancedMinistry in their businesses!

BarkBuilder is named after Electricurrent's sister company, Bark Communications. Whereas Electricurrent (the creators of AdvancedMinistry) focus on building brands for ministries, Bark Communications focuses on building brands for businesses. Both companies employ the same group of people; it's simply two different marketing arms.

To view BarkBuilder, visit www.barkbuilder.com. From there, select an industry -- “Business Edition” will be the one you want. (We are currently in the process of forming partnerships in different industries so that we can offer specific versions of the platform to each industry, thereby enhancing the experience of each one.)

We are very excited to finally have BarkBuilder off the ground and into beta (testing) mode. Over the next few months, both AdvancedMinistry and BarkBuilder will continue to grow and expand in its service offering. Both platforms are built off of the exact same codebase, meaning that if we make a major addition to one platform, the other benefits as well! Additionally, if we find a bug in one platform, one simple fix will cover both AdvancedMinistry and BarkBuilder.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store for the upcoming year!

Flash vs. HTML 5

RAY — Wed, 3 Feb 2010 13:44:41 +0000

As a follow up to the article I posted yesterday, I read an interesting article today on CNet entitled “HTML vs. Flash: Can a turf war be avoided?” If your interested in the future of Flash and how it will affect your ministry or organization, this article is an interesting read. Here is a quote from the article:

“HTML vs. Flash has the potential to become a religious war. As long as there have been programming languages, there have been arguments about which tool is the best for getting the job done, and this issue has some extra elements that add some emotion to the mix.

There are plenty of Firefox-using open-source fans who chafe at proprietary plug-ins, and they're accustomed to making their opinions heard. Another group enjoys bashing Flash as a conduit for in-your-face online advertising. Add a little Apple iPad love-hate invective into the mix, and you've got great potential for Flash bashing...

...Indeed, it's probably wiser to take a deep breath and accept that both technologies will prevail and neither will conquer the other any time soon.”

Adobe Responds to Apple's Lack of Flash Support

RAY — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 22:43:46 +0000

For anyone that's been following the recent news of Apple's new iPad, one of the most apparent things that people noticed (besides its lack of GPS and camera) was it's inability to display Flash within websites. Apple seems to blame it on Adobe, but Adobe today released a very interesting response which can be found here.

As we move into the next five years, it will be interesting to see whether or not Flash will play a critical role in websites as we know them today. HTML 5 offers a lot of new features and technologies, but as to whether or not it's a replacement to Flash, the jury is still out.

The Narrow Gate

DEREK — Mon, 1 Feb 2010 21:59:54 +0000

Here is the third fulfilled request for an Xpiritmental wallpaper. This one was from a friend of mine and it will be interesting to talk to him and see what he thinks and if it came close to any of the ideas he may have had. This design centres on Matthew 7:13-14 where Jesus explains the difference between the wide and narrow gates and where the paths lead for those that enter them. I was about to recreate a PowerPoint slide I did last year for these verses at a larger size, but then another idea hit me. I created this large labyrinth maze as a visual for the scripture. The cool thing here is that the maze actually works, there is a solution for it. So not only will it nicely decorate your monitor but when you have some free time you can actually work on finding your way through it.

I am looking forward to comments from those that are frustrated by it and and those that are able to solve it.

Xpiritmental No. 66
The Narrow Gate
Matthew 7:13-14

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Casual Friday - Coca-Cola Happiness Machine

ANDREW — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:03:37 +0000

An Experiment

ANDREW — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:36:46 +0000

Here's a fun experiment:

Take a few minutes and walk around your office and without any set up, just ask five people: "If you were to explain who we are to someone outside the organization, what would you say?"

You might be interested to find out what each of them have to say...I know I am.

How Many Lanes is Communication?

ANDREW — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:44:02 +0000

Communication is a two-way street right? Well, maybe. But there's lots of times when communication becomes entirely one-sided. It occurs when one person really wants to communicate something but the other has no interest in hearing it. Companies with garbage products do this a lot...and fail. Lots of them use tactics of repetition (read annoyance) in order to make sales happen, but that doesn't build brand loyalty and as such, it's an unsustainable model.

So it's important to ask yourself: “is my audience interested in the message I'm sending?” If not, then what? Well, at that point, it's time to stop and take stock of what it is that your audience does value and reconsider how to approach them with your message. It will feel a lot like being responsible for both speaking and listening...and that's perfectly ok...right where a good communicator needs to be.

AdvancedMinistry Feature List

RAY — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:52:26 +0000

We get asked on fairly regular basis if we can provide a complete list of everything that AdvancedMinistry has to offer. Typically we point people to the Pricing page which gives a list of everything, however, it doesn't provide a detailed account of each module does.

As of today you can now find a complete list of features along with a screenshot of each one. Click here to view them now.

Corporate Version of AdvancedMinistry to Launch Next Week

RAY — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:09:44 +0000

For years now, we've been asked by many of our customers as to whether or not we have a corporate version of AdvancedMinistry. Our response up to this point has been, “No, unfortunately not... but maybe one day.”

Well, that day has finally arrived; the corporate version of AdvancedMinistry is finally here. The name of our new product along with its pricing model will be announced next week.

Stay tuned!

Casual Friday - Eternal Life

DEREK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:28:11 +0000

Here is another fulfilled request for an Xpiritmental reader. One of our readers suggested that we do a wallpaper for John 3:16. This is probably the most well known verse in the New Testament. It is one that had been on my mind for a while and I had to this point been avoiding doing something for this verse for that very reason. Because it is so well known I was having a hard time visualizing something that I thought would be appropriate or inspiring. So after some exploring I did something that I feel is simple and puts a lot of emphasis on the words. Then I surrounded the verse with a piercing, glorious light that could be interpreted as God's presence. The mission I gave myself going into this one was to create an image that made the word's look as important as they read. I think I was successful. I hope everyone enjoys using it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Xpiritmental No. 65
Eternal Life
John 3:16

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One Protestants Work Ethic

ANDREW — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:26:18 +0000

I can't remember if I've ever shared this before on Xpiritmental, so I'd better start today's post by explaining that I'm one of five band leaders involved in leading worship at my church. As a result, it falls to me to spend time picking sets of music that will set up the sermon and allow the congregation to respond to it through music.

I had the opportunity to lead this past weekend in church and had a really cool experience that I'd like to share with you all that really applies to what we so often talk about on this blog. To give it some context though, I'll have to let you in on some of the details of the process I take in leading worship.

The process starts about three weeks out from the actual Sunday I'm leading. The very first step is to find out who is speaking, what the topic is and get the sermon notes into my hands to help with song selection. Most often, detailed sermon notes aren't floating around for a sermon that's three weeks out, but highlight notes of the main points, Scripture references and takeaways often are. This past time though, no such notes existed and so I had a chat with our pastor and got a great idea for the direction of the set from him.

So off to work I went. Between picking a list of songs that could work for that Sunday, narrowing them down into a set that had a specific musical and lyrical flow, meeting with a friend to work out keys and maps, providing the team with the maps, charts and inspiration and then rehearsal the night before, I had easily invested 20 hours of prep before even showing up at the church for 6:30 AM last Sunday morning for rehearsal and service run-through.

That's a lot of work and planning to go into a 75-minute experience of corporate worship for a given member of our congregation...and no doubt, there's some of you asking the question: “is it necessary?”.

My simple answer to that would be: yep...and here's why: preparation leads to excellence and I believe that we are called to do all that we do to the best of our ability, for God's glory. The really cool thing though, is that time-after-time, despite all of the preparation put forward by myself and all the members of the band for a given weekend, there always seems to be a gap or two that I tend to find out after the fact that God has plans to fill.

Kinda like this:

This past weekend, as I sat in the first of two services we have in our church, and listened to our pastor preach, he ended up reading a verse that was the direct inspiration for one of the songs that we had just finished singing. Bear in mind, as I outlined above, when I selected the set and narrowed it down from about 35 potentials to the 6 songs we sang, I did not have any of the supporting Scriptures that my pastor was going to use. I was so struck at that moment with how God had directed the set selection that I turned to my friend who was in the band and said: “Can you believe that? Of all the songs I could have picked and of all the verses that our pastor could have referenced, we landed on the exact same thing.” But it's clear to me, that it wasn't “us landing on it” at all...

And then, after the service, I was speaking with our pastor and he expressed how a quote that I had read to set up the final two songs before the sermon was one that he had considered adding into his sermon but had cut for the sake of time. The really cool part of that being, that I went home after rehearsal on Saturday night, still not knowing how I would set those two songs up. I even got to the point of getting into bed thinking I'd have to think something up in the morning. But before I shut off the light, I opened a book I'd been reading off-and-on for a while but hadn't touched for 3 weeks: and as I turned the first page, that quote was right there and as soon as I read it, I knew that it was the perfect set up for the songs before the sermon. I had no idea my pastor even knew of that quote, let alone had considered using it in his sermon.

And I believe that these kinds of things are the ways in which God honors our preparation. But it's a two-fold blessing. It's not just a matter of: “if I do the work, God will do His thing” (as if it's dependant on me and my work). Nope.

Rather, while I do believe that God honors our hard work and effort to give Him our best, the biggest blessing is the comfort that His blessing brings. Because, no matter how hard I work and how many hours I put into a worship set, I know that He is going to see His name glorified and will accomplish His purposes in the experience.

And I see that same principal applying in the work that you all do. As you work to fulfill the calling that God has given you, you are called to do so to the best of your ability, not accepting mediocrity because our God deserves our very best. But at the same time, be comforted in the knowledge that because of, and even at times in spite of all your hard work, God will see His plans come to fruition.

That's not an excuse not to try, but as a fallible human trying to lead and serve others, it's sure a comforting truth.

Say Hello to Your New Secure Intranet

RAY — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:26:15 +0000

AdvancedMinistry is pleased to announce the official launch a new component available to all of its Orange, Red, Blue and Purple Suite users – a secure (password-protected) intranet at no additional cost.

What this means is that you can now setup an intranet for your ministry that enables you to create as many secure areas as you like. For example, you could have a secure area for Worship Arts Ministry, Children's Ministry, Men's Ministry and so on.

In order for people to access those secure areas, you can set them up with their own username and password. For every user that you create, you can either grant them full access to the intranet or simply give them access to certain areas (i.e Children's Ministry); it's completely up to you. Additionally, you have full control over whether or not the user has the ability to post files and messages to each area.

Here is a breakdown of the maximum number of users provided for each AdvancedMinistry Suite. (Note that the number of secure areas is “unlimited” in all available suites.)

Orange Suite customers – 10 users
Red Suite customers – 50 users
Blue Suite customers – 500 users
Purple Suite customers – Unlimited users

Regarding the amount of file space for your intranet, it is directly tied to the amount of file space available in your suite. For a complete listing and comparison table, click here.

Below are a few screen shots of the new component. To begin, login to your account and click on “Account Management” (on the right hand side of the screen), followed by “Secure Intranet”. Enjoy!

Xpiritmental #64: Gentleness

DEREK — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:49:55 +0000

The first week back after the break I put out a message calling for requests for Xpiritmental wallpaper ideas. I received three responses; I was hoping for a few more but it's a start. :)

The first request I have fulfilled was Philippians 4:5. It was fun doing this and I appreciate the input. I hope you all enjoy it!

Xpiritmental No. 64
Gentleness
Philippians 4:5

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G-Mail, G-Talk, G-Documents. What happens if it's G-Gone?

RAY — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:04:52 +0000

Don't get me wrong... I love Google. They have changed the face of the Internet in so many ways; some for the better and some for the worse – mostly for the better in my opinion. But personally speaking, I have a serious concern with putting all of my eggs in one basket. And with the latest cyber-attack to the Google infrastructure, it's got me thinking again.

About three years ago I asked many of my peers the following question (paraphrased):

“So let me get this straight... Google has all of your email correspondance for the last X number of years; they have most of your private documents through their Google Documents sharing application; they have all of your instant messaging conversations for the last X number of years through Google Talk; they know what you've been looking for and where you're going through Google Maps (and now Google Latitude); they have all of your website statistics through Google Analytics; and they have your entire search history for as long as you've been on Google. That's more data than any world government. Does that make you even a little nervous?”

Now I'm not saying, “Get up and move your files from Google.” All I'm implying is that when considering the digital strategy for yourself or your organization, it would be reckless not to evaluate all of your options. Consider the consequences if your data is breached – and when I mean “breached”, I mean copied or stolen. Most companies have a good backup plan in place in case your data gets hacked or if a hard drive fails – I'm not talking about that. I'm referring to the personal confidentiality of your data – things like contacts, social security numbers, private conversations, financial information, etc. If someone got a hold of that, would you be at risk? Additionally, if that service (i.e. Google) went offline for 1-2 weeks (or more), would that hinder your organization?

At the end of the day, I completely recognize that the Lord is in absolute control; He holds us in His hands. And regardless of where we put our data – we can't live in fear. At the same time, I don't think it's a bad idea to have a data strategy; ask yourself questions like:

- Do I have a backup plan if Google goes down?

- Do the files that I'm uploading contain any personal data that could cause harm to myself or another person? (Measure the risk factor.)

Once again, I'm not trying to generate fear by posting this; I'm simply trying to get you thinking in terms of a strategic data plan that covers as many angles as possible.

Casual Friday - BBC Style

ANDREW — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:18:19 +0000

For Haiti: A Desktop to Inspire Help, Love & Prayer

DEREK — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:39:21 +0000

Last night I was at home after grocery shopping with my wife and we we're putting away what we bought from the store. While we we're doing so the radio was on and there was a steady dose of news coming in regarding the earthquake that occurred on January 12th in Haiti. At that moment I had a heavy heart thinking of all the people that had lost so much and there I am in my warm, dry house surrounded by an abundance of food and my family. It's a stark contrast that really got to me at that moment. So I started thinking about what can I do to help in any way possible.

Today I designed an Xpiritmental desktop for Haiti to inspire help, love and prayer for the nation and the people there struggling through this difficult time. At the heart of this image is the principle that we all have a responsibility to participate some way in helping a nation that has been nearly destroyed in a matter of minutes. Through prayer, giving or travelling to the area to help, it is up to us to be God's hands on earth to help a nation up from ruins. It's times like this that God's love can shine the brightest.

It's easy to be comfortable in our lives and be consumed with everything that we have going on. As believers we have to realize that we are going to be called to give account with what we did and equally as important, what we didn't do. Let this wallpaper provide an incentive for you and others to all play a positive part in this situation. No matter how big or small.

Xpiritmental No. 63
For Haiti
Psalm 10:12

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Haitian Relief

ANDREW — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:06:02 +0000

I just finished viewing some pictures out of Haiti that have really set the tone for my afternoon and made it clear to me what today's blog post should be all about.

As the Haitian Prime Minister reports that the death toll could easily be on the scale of hundreds of thousands of people, all I can think to do is provide links to a few organizations that we have relationships with (either corporately or as individuals) where your donations would be most welcome:

Compassion International
World Relief
World Vision

Responsible Spending: Office & Productivity Suites

RAY — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:55:55 +0000

Over the last year or so, I've spent a great deal of time looking for better ways to be more efficient with the dollars that we spend on software – both in our company and at the local church that I attend. In my research I've found that there are many ways that ministries and businesses could be saving a great deal of money just by properly researching the software that they are purchasing (or not purchasing).

Long story short, I wanted to share with you one of my findings that I believe may be helpful to your ministry; it comes in the area of Office & Productivity Suites.

Our company and church have been using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) for as long as I can remember. I estimate that in the last 10 years, our company has spent in the range of $30,000 purchasing new and upgraded versions of Microsoft Office. About a year ago, we investigated the possibility of moving to OpenOffice, a free open-source software suite that generally speaking, does all of the same things as Microsoft Office. I am pleased to announce that not only have we switched to OpenOffice, most of us like it better the Microsoft Office. It's still able to open all of your old Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents (and save them in that format), and in our opinion runs a lot faster and smoother than Microsoft Office.

So if you're in the mood to try something different and don't mind getting it for free, OpenOffice could be the start of something good for you and your ministry. :)

What Lifts You Up?

DEREK — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:12:35 +0000

As one of the designers of the Xpiritmental desktops I am curious to know what lifts you up and encourages you. If you have particular verses or anything else that’s appropriate that you would like to see incorporated into desktop backgrounds, we'd love to receive them and see what we can do.

It brings me great joy to design the wallpapers knowing thousands of people download them. Many people spend most of their days on their computers and the visuals can provide as inspiration and motivation in your daily endeavors. Coming into 2010 we're looking for some ideas to keep the library growing. So get us your ideas by adding a comment to this post and we’ll see what we can do!

A Canadian 'Party in the USA'

ANDREW — Fri, 8 Jan 2010 14:50:18 +0000

A few of us here at the office are either familiar with, or friends with, a guy named Mike Tompkins. Mike's a pretty talented guy in the areas of sound production and beat boxing. So today, for our Casual Friday, we present Mike's latest offering…a remake of "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. The catch being that every sound you hear was made by Mike's mouth, voice and a tambourine.

Pretty cool…and funny.

Shine on Me

RAY — Thu, 7 Jan 2010 16:39:32 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #62 entitled, Shine on Me, inspired by John 12:46 and lyrics by Sara Groves.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more desktops.

Xpiritmental No. 62
Shine on Me
John 12:46

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Compete with Grace

ANDREW — Wed, 6 Jan 2010 15:43:55 +0000

I'm not sure how many of our American friends found themselves glued to their televisions last night as the U.S. and Canadian Jr. Hockey teams squared off in the final of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, but I can tell you that up here in Canada, there were lots of people who were fixated on the big game.

Canada was vying for a record sixth straight gold medal, but were unable to deliver as the Americans took them to overtime and scored in sudden death to end the game and win this year's tournament.

What inevitably comes out of a loss like that for any sports team is that the losing team can take comfort in having played competitively and hold their heads high for playing in a gracious and sportsmanlike manner that represents their club or country well and we all nod our heads dismissively recognizing it as both a basic truth and a classic sports cliche.

But in many cases, that accepted truism doesn't seem to want to stick in a ministry or a non-profit context.

What seems to happen instead is that although sportsmanlike competition is construed as a positive and possible thing in sport, it's not possible in a ministry or non-profit context. Somehow, as soon as competition is mentioned in those circles, the only thing that gets envisioned is the kind of competition that's dirty, low-brow and mean-spirited.

But the reality is that especially in these tighter economic times, for churches, ministries and non-profits to function, they absolutely must realize that they are not only in competition for a piece of a financial pie that has and will likely continue to get smaller over the next while (as far as personal philanthropy is concerned), but that they are in competition with a growing number of ministries and non-profits who are vying for those same dollars. Additionally, in an advertising saturated culture that moves at an unbelievable pace these days, it's critical to realize that you are even in competition for people's attention.

To ignore these truths is to neglect the condition of the current market and it sets you up for failure.

Embrace the concept that you are in fact, in competition, and then compete.

But while you're doing that, regardless of whether you find yourself winning or losing, just make sure that you compete in a way that at the end of the day, we can all say that you battled hard and you did it with grace and quality.

Insider Preview

RAY — Tue, 5 Jan 2010 23:44:09 +0000

As we head into the first part of 2010, we just thought we'd whet your appetite with a few things that we're going to be launching within the next few weeks:

1. For everyone on the Ray of Hope template, we will be converting it to AM 3.0. This means that you will now have full control over all of your template colors, fonts, column sizes, backgrounds, etc.

2. Similarly, for everyone on the Ultimate Love template, we will be converting that one to 3.0 as well. (More templates will be converted in the near future as well.)

3. We will be launching the ability for every ministry to have their own secure intranet to share files and communicate with one another.

Stay tuned for further updates!

New Year's Resolution

DEREK — Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:26:05 +0000

Many people look at January 1st as a fresh start. Many of those people make themselves a promise that they intend to see through for that entire year in an effort to better themselves. Sadly most of those promises are abandoned by Valentine’s day.

The point of this post is two-fold. First I want to share what my New Year’s resolution is for this year and secondly make an appeal for you to share your resolutions. I think there is value in sharing your resolution with someone else as it creates accountability. It’s easy to stop doing something or give up if no one else knew you were doing it in the first place.

This year I am quitting the fast food scene. No more burger joints, tacos or greasy chicken. For me fast food is a bit of a vice as I find it easy to eat that kind of food often. But as a guy going into my 30s and as a new parent I want to ensure I am being responsible to my family and the body God gave me.

So there you have it. Is anyone else brave enough to share their resolution? Does anyone have any success stories from resolutions they stuck to? We would love to hear them. Who knows, your story could help someone else. Maybe there is something you can resolve for this year that will directly benefit the ministry or church you work for and in that directly impact God’s kingdom.

Not all resolutions have to do with quitting smoking or losing weight. Open your mind and your heart to something that God may be asking you to do this year and see where you are after 365 days of obedience to that item. Leave a comment on this post and we hope you’re successful with this year’s new start.

Going Dark Again

ANDREW — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:22:57 +0000

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the office
Not an employee was present...well, except me.

But I'm heading out in a few minutes and at that point, our offices will be officially closed for the holidays.

As such, we're going to take a break from the blogging world and barring any unforeseen circumstances, things will go quiet on the Xpiritmental blog front until January 4.

However, even though the blog will be quiet, if you’re an AdvancedMinistry user with a support issue, know that we're still here for you. Just continue to use the support system as usual and although we’ll be away from the office, we will be monitoring our support system for any critical issues. Non-critical issues will be tended to when we return to normal business.

Similarly, for clients of Electricurrent, if you have any major issues, please contact us using our online form as someone will be monitoring it for critical issues as well.

Have a blessed Christmas and a most excellent New Year celebration!

2009 Recap and Holiday Hours

RAY — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:01:24 +0000

After the roller coaster ride of last year, 2009 has seen the world economy begin to turn around. And while many have been adversely affected, some of which have had to close their doors, we are so thankful to have been in a position to not only maintain our current staff, but to grow to be able to better serve our clients needs. For the team here at Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry, 2009 held a number of important events:

Our family grew

2009 marked a year of growth as we added two programmers, Julie Exel and Walter Bax to our team. Our extended family also grew as Derek and Stephanie welcomed Lawson into the world on August 2nd, and Julie and Andrew welcomed Hailey Lynn to their family on November 13th.

The students

This past year, we've taken on a new opportunity by playing host to a few co-op students as they experienced a placement with us. Paul Mawdsley from South Secondary School joined us first and was with us from January til June, and we currently have Peter Argall from Banting Secondary School with us until end of January.

Our Marathon man

Our Creative Director, Hugh Pindur once again completed the Chicago Marathon. But this time around he shaved almost two hours off his time, coming in at a very impressive 3:19:34. Next up in 2010, he is shooting for entry into the Boston Marathon. No more M&Ms and cookies in the afternoon for Hugh.

But at this time we not only think of all memorable moments that we've experienced in 2009, we also engage the truth that we live in a time and place of great privilege while many across the world and even in our own backyard, don't even have enough to eat let alone a job to go to. And so, as we did last year, in lieu of holiday gifts, Electricurrent is once again making a donation to World Relief that will help to make a real difference in the lives of impoverished individuals across the world.((

As we all take time to reflect on this past year and spend time with our families this holiday season, we wish you all a great holiday season.((As in past years, our offices will be closed during the holidays. We will be shutting down at noon on Thursday, December 24th and returning Monday, January 4th.( For those of you on AdvancedMinistry, the AdvancedMinistry team will continue to respond to support tickets throughout the holidays. Please understand though that there may be a longer-than-expected wait time in receiving a response.

From the entire team here at Electricurrent and AdvancedMinistry, we wish you and your family Merry Christmas! To God be all glory.

An Early Christmas Gift

ANDREW — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:25:23 +0000

This is pretty cool.

Yesterday, we got an early Christmas gift in the form of a box that was delivered via courier. I opened it to find some Davey Awards inside.

Turns out we have been honored for the following work:

Category: Religion/Spirituality
Client: CAM International
Project: Organizational Website
URL: http://www.caminternational.org

Category: Religion/Spirituality
Client: Biola University - 100th Anniversary
Project: Centennial Celebration Website
URL: http://100.biola.edu

For those who don't know, the Davey Awards are run by the same organization as the Webby Awards (dubbed the Oscars of the Internet). The only difference being that the Davey's are specifically for smaller budget agencies who have billings of US $25 million or less.

That still puts us in some very esteemed company, as there are many smaller agencies who are doing work for major corporate accounts and many larger agencies have taken to creating mini-branches that are distinctly branded but are technically still part of the larger agency, they just have smaller billings. So for us to win recognition by the Davey Awards is a real honor and a great note to end the year on.

Here's hoping for more of the same in 2010!

Attention Deficit

BRIAN — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:45:10 +0000

I have been blessed with 3 children who have Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) and am learning so many valuable lessons through them.

Because of this, I tend to be ultra-sensitive to this type of behavior in the people around me including the ministries we serve and don’t serve. There are so many roads I could go down to explain why this behavior is at the very least a waste of resources and at its worst, destructive, but I am not here to complain.

Rather, my hope is to encourage those that fall into this trap to take toll of their communications efforts and do the right thing. Plan, understand and stay focused.

If you are working with freelancers, make sure they understand your brand and the way you want to communicate that brand. If you have the privilege of working with a professional communications firm, listen, learn and don’t let pride get in the way. If you have the extreme privilege of having in-house creative capabilities, encourage them to hold fast and flex their creative muscle within the brand parameters and be willing to truly listen to and consider their suggestions.

I guess that’s why I encourage anyone who will listen to let the brand drive everything. It’s the only path to honest consistency.

Casual Friday - The Lion & The Lamb

RAY — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:35:02 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #61 entitled, The Lion & The Lamb, inspired by Isaiah 11:6 / 65:25.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers. Have a great weekend... Christmas is only a few days away!

Xpiritmental No. 61
The Lion & The Lamb
Isaiah 11:6 / 65:25

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The Journey from Windows to Apple: Part 3

RAY — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:40:50 +0000

Well it’s been a long time coming, but the third installment of my journey from Windows to Apple is finally here. I can’t say it’s been an easy road by any means, but it has been enjoyable.

The last time I made an entry was on April 7; at that point I had owned my new Mac for about a month and things were moving along fairly smoothly.

It has now been over 8 months and I have to say that I’m still impressed as a whole. Let me summarize my experiences in bullet points and if you have any further questions, feel free to comment at the bottom of this (rather lengthy) post. So here we go:

1. I’m still loving Spaces, the Apple tool that enables you create as many virtual desktops as you want and scroll between them all. On my machine I run 3 monitors (2 + my laptop) and have 6 virtual spaces. (Monitor 1 hooks up through my miniport adapter; Monitor 2 hooks up through a USB-DVI device that I bought from Gefen.) Essentially I am running a total of 18 screens (6 virtual desktops multiplied by 3 monitors)… kind of overkill I know, but you’d be shocked at how many I use. On one virtual space I run my mail, iTunes and Adium (an instant messaging client that ties all of your IM accounts together, i.e. Google, Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, etc.). On the second virtual space I run Photoshop (and all of it’s tab groups on separate monitors). On the third virtual space I run Yummy FTP and multiple instances of Finder. On the fourth virtual space I run Dreamweaver, Firefox and Safari (for beta testing). On the fifth virtual space I run OpenOffice (for documents, spreadsheets, etc.). Finally on the sixth virtual space I run Parallels (for testing sites in Internet Explorer on Windows) along with Remote Desktop (for accessing outside servers). Wow, it sounds like I need to add some more spaces for Flash, Premiere, etc. :)

2. I reboot my laptop about once every two weeks – seriously. I go to work and open my laptop. I leave for the day and close my laptop. Later that night, I open my laptop… and so on. I never log on, log off, etc. And the thing that blows my mind is – as soon as I open the computer, it’s ready to go. There’s no waiting for the operating system to load – it’s just there. No lag time.

3. Originally I had purchased Microsoft Office for Mac. I have to say that it was a mistake. I purchased it because I wanted some familiarity in my desktop applications (since I use Word and Excel multiple times per day). But on Mac (even on my laptop with 8GB of RAM), it is SO slow. I could open up a Word doc and go have a coffee before it opens. About three months ago I decided to give OpenOffice a try – a free open source product that has all of the same (general) features as Microsoft Office. Let me say – it is amazing. It’s fast, smooth and runs way better than Word and Excel on Mac. Their presentation software (that mimics PowerPoint) is great as well. I’ve had no problem opening up any MS Office files either. Now I know many of you Mac-heads out there might be saying, “Why didn’t you go with iWork”? Two reasons: 1. Although it’s inexpensive, it still costs money, and 2. I needed compatibility between Mac and Windows. OpenOffice is free and fulfills both of those requirements.

4. With the release of Snow Leopard comes Microsoft Exchange support. I almost had an emotional breakdown at the thought of switching from MS Outlook (in Parallels), but after some convincing from my friend Brandon Cotter, I decided to make the switch to Apple Mail. There were some major things that I needed to have in place before hand -- well one actually. It’s a program made by Lokiware called Mail Attachments Iconizer and it literally saves Apple Mail from disaster when it comes to sending and receiving attachments, particularly with people on Windows machines. I won’t go into detail but if you’re on Apple Mail (or thinking about switching to Apple Mail), it’s an absolute “must have”. Last time I checked the product was $15. Since switching to Apple Mail, my experience has been pleasant. Apple mail opens pretty much instantaneously (unlike Outlook, which sometimes enables you to go grab coffee #2 after you’ve just finished opening Word). The one decision I did make early on in using Apple Mail was to compose messages in plain text rather than HTML format. It’s not as fancy as it once was (i.e. signatures), but it simplifies things tremendously. I figure that if Mac is about “simplifying”, then I can give up HTML-formatted signatures.

5. One of my main concerns (which should be one of your main concerns as well) is backing up data. Apple’s program called “Time Machine” could possibly be the best backup application I’ve ever seen. You literally plug in an external drive (i.e. a 1TB Lacie drive) and it asks you, “Would you like to use this drive as a Time Machine backup?” You say, “Yes”, and the rest goes on behind the scenes. Every hour (or how ever often you want) it backs up any files that were changed (in the background). I have it plugged in all the time and I haven’t found that it slows my computer down any. Three months down the road if you realize that you accidently deleted or overwrote a file, all you have to do is click on Time Machine and your machine brings up a screen that looks like outer space. From there, there is a slider bar that enables you to scroll back to any date and browse your hard drive ON THAT DATE. I’m not kidding. You can literally browse your hard drive (through the backup device) like it was three months ago and recover any file you want. It’s brilliant!

6. Now some bad news -- Macs still crash. They (Apple computers) were made by humans (not robots), and as we all know, humans are not perfect. The Apple operating system does a good job in recovering from most crashes, but nevertheless, there have been a number of occasions when I’ve had to do the old “hold the power button down for 5 seconds” trick and wait for the machine to come back to life. Remember though – I am a power-user (as per point #1)… I am hard on my machine and still don’t appreciate the fact that I have to wait for an application to load. :) I find most of my problems come when I have Firefox open. I love Firefox and it’s still my favorite browser (because of its wide variety of add-ons), but Safari is much faster overall.

7. I also help out at our church in various ministries, particularly in the audio, video and technical areas. Recently, our church expanded and built a new youth wing that required its own A/V equipment, projection system, etc. Being familiar with Song Show Plus (a Windows application), the simple thing would have been to stick with that for our projection/worship needs. However, I decided it was time to venture out on a limb and instead we purchased an IMac and ProPresenter, a Mac application that does the same thing (generally speaking). I’m pretty sure that I can speak on behalf of the entire team in saying that ProPresenter has been way better at meeting our needs than Song Show Plus ever was. And once again, it’s fast and simple.

There’s so much more I could go on about, but let me summarize with a couple of things.

First of all, people always ask me, “So do you think I should buy a Mac or PC”? My response is this: I own a copy of Windows 7 as well and I have to say that in my opinion, it’s a pretty amazing operating system. Microsoft has done a good job in moving in the right direction. Ultimately I still think that Apple’s Snow Leopard is a better operating system by about “20%”. It’s a little smoother, a little simpler and really easy to get attached to very quickly. At the end of the day, if you have the money then I would say “go Mac” but I have to be honest with you – dollar for dollar, it’s not a comparable operating system. It’s way cheaper to buy a good Windows 7 laptop from HP or Dell laptop with (generally speaking) the same hardware in it vs. a Macbook or Macbook Pro. Understand that when you buy an Apple, you ARE paying for the “Apple experience” (and they know it). If you are a business and want the best product (not necessarily for the money), then Apple is the way to go. Ultimately though (and I’m starting to believe it), being on an Apple DOES indeed feel like I am being more productive. It feels like I get things done a little faster. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But the overall user experience has convinced me (and many others) that I am getting more work done with less stress. Regardless of whether its true or not can be submitted to the TV show, Myth Busters – they can figure it out.

And now for my second and final summary point – today we switched our entire company over to Apple. It was a surprise actually – we stuck everyone in a room and told them not to come out for a few minutes (while we unloaded the car)… then we introduced them to their new computers. All of our old Dell computers will be donated to our local church / used for other purposes. I believe it was a good decision for our company; whether it’s the best decision for every company is another story. But for all of the people in our company that were on PCs, the journey from Windows to Apple will now begin… again.

Xpiritmental to AdvancedMinistry: Part 2

RAY — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:31:29 +0000

For those of you that requested we convert our newer Xpiritmental desktops into Powerpoint backgrounds, the wait is now over. Twenty-six new PowePoint backgrounds were released this afternoon, making it seemless to integrate them into sermons and worship slides. You can preview most of them here, or download them by logging into your account and clicking on Download Materials > PowerPoint Slides.

For Every Action There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction

BRIAN — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:21:14 +0000

Newton said it best and we try to remember this very simple law of physics when putting into practice some of the strategies we have been hired to execute for our clients.

For example, just recently the environmental movement experienced a heavy blow when emails from some of the very scientists trying to prove the human role in environmental degradation were uncovered as revealing their doubts on what they where communicating to the general public.

Their action – hiding important information. The opposite reaction – loss of credibility.

Once again, not rocket science, and yet, by our actions we seem to think there are no consequences. When dealing with your brand, why do marketers, advertisers and brand builders not realize that inconsistencies in their brand presentation hurts the brand.

Is it really just not thought about, or are we so arrogant that we think our brand is strong enough to withstand our whimsical approach to communicating our organizations values? Either answer is bad and will damage the brand you should care so much about.

Here's some positive reinforcement: I went to McDonald's the other day with my 10-year old daughter and a bunch of her friends during a grand opening (I had no idea until I walked through the doors :-(). Although it was crazy, I did have an opportunity to sit down and talk with Ronald McDonald himself. I had no idea, but did you realize that McDonald's has hired one guy to be Ronald? He flies all over the world representing McDonald's at special events including the summer Olympics in Beijing and upcoming winter Olympics in British Columbia, Canada.

Consistency is one of the cornerstones of this incredibly successful company. Wouldn't you love to be able to put up a sign that says “billions served”?

Others

ANDREW — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:54:16 +0000

Recently, I logged on to Facebook to get an update on what was going on in my live feed and as I scrolled through the list, it struck me that I have developed some distinct patterns as to how I peruse that feed.

On any given day, that feed might present around two to three hundred posts to me and I really don't have time or desire to read each one individually. So, without even realizing it, what I've started to do is to perform triage on the posts as I scroll through the list. I realized that within a split second, my brain evaluates whether or not I wanted to read a post based on who was posting and what the post looked like (length, graphics associated, etc...), without ever reading a word of the post proper.

Furthermore, what has also happened over time as I've performed the above-mentioned triage, is that I've begun to categorize people as either those that post things that bring value to me or those that regularly say stuff that don't bring any value to me or that I can't contribute to...and for those in the latter group, I nearly always skip over them.

The reason I tell you this is to provide a really clear example of what happens with the messages we send.

When we as an audience are bombarded with information...and we are all the time...our minds find ways to perform triage on those messages so that the unrelated and inapplicable ones get discarded in favor of spending the time and brain power to digest those that might be of value to us.

So my question to you as a ministry or non-profit is, as you consider using or are already using properties like Facebook and Twitter, or taking up blogging, do you stop to think about whether or not what you are about to communicate is really and truly of value to your audience?

Often, the reality is that the messages that get communicated by organizations are more about the organization than they are about the audience. This is a sure-fire way to find yourself pouring more-and-more time into an unsuccessful online strategy. Bring value to those people that you are reaching out to. Provide offerings that motivate and enliven them and then continue to add value to it.

The thing you do, whether it be running a church or feeding starving children (and anything in between), isn't all about you. It's about who you serve and in a lot of cases, who helps you to serve them. I suppose we all like to think that those two perspectives are synonymous, but in reality, often they are not and the only way to make them mean the same thing is to actively work to be all about others.

Getting that in perspective will totally change how you communicate and what messages you send as a ministry or non-profit...and the happy by-product will be that you will undoubtedly be more successful at what you do.

Casual Friday - Best Christmas Decorations

RAY — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:24:27 +0000

We received this email a couple of days ago with the subject line, "Best Christmas Decorations". Be sure to read the commentary underneath the picture as well. Have a great weekend!

“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”

Two New Features

RAY — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:35:37 +0000

As of today, AdvancedMinistry users that are using 3.0 templates have two more features in their toolbox.

The first item is one of our most requested items – the ability to increase the font size in one's navigation. That is now possible (under the Navigation tab in the 3.0 editor).

The second new item is an added bonus. For those users that would like to put background images behind the text in home page and secondary page columns, you can now do so. This is very useful for applying slight gradient effects and patterns to columns (as was introduced in some of our later AM 2.0 templates). This new feature can be found under the Layout tab in the 3.0 editor.

Enjoy!

New AdvancedMinistry Template: Midnight Clear

RAY — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 21:49:29 +0000

By popular demand, we have converted our latest Xpiritmental desktop to a new AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template entitled "Midnight Clear" (view preview).

As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable including the ability to change the number of columns, colors, fonts, etc. If you would like to use a simplified version of your home page, edit your template, click the Layout Tab and choose "Show All Columns (Simplified Home Page)". Resource files for the new template can be found in the "Download Materials" menu under "Template Resource Files".

To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.

AdvancedMinistry Expands to Support All Languages

RAY — Tue, 8 Dec 2009 16:43:02 +0000

For those AdvancedMinistry customers that were having problems using their native character sets, we are pleased to announce that all of our AM 3.0 template modules are now compatible with non-Latin character sets (i.e. Chinese, Korean, Greek, etc.)!

Before when you entered (and saved) an incompatible character, it would just come up as a question mark (“?”). With the new expansion, that is no longer the case.

Additionally, for those users who wish to use non-Flash supported characters in your homepage and secondary page headers, you can now select “Standard HTML Font” under the “Title Fonts” tab in your AM 3.0 Template Editor.

12 New PowerPoint Slides

RAY — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 16:50:14 +0000

AdvancedMinistry is pleased to present 12 new PowerPoint slides (with more on the way). You can download them by logging into your account and clicking on Download Materials followed by PowerPoint Slides.

Casual Friday - Miraculous

RAY — Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:48:18 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #60 entitled, Miraculous, inspired by Matthew 1 and Luke 2.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers. Have a great weekend!

Xpiritmental No. 60
Miraculous
Matthew 1 & Luke 2

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The Glorious Morning

RAY — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 13:49:49 +0000

As promised in our post from yesterday, we are pleased to present the latest AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template entitled "The Glorious Morning" (view preview).

Countdown to Christmas

RAY — Wed, 2 Dec 2009 20:45:37 +0000

Well it's that time of year again... only 24 more days until Christmas! To get you in the Christmas spirit, we thought we'd revitalize a couple of desktop wallpapers from last year -- "The Glorious Morning" and "Randorf". We're actually going to be turning The Glorious Morning into an AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template in the near future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, download the desktops, below.

Xpiritmental No. 29
The Glorious Morning
The meaning of Christmas.

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Xpiritmental No. 29
Randorf
Reindeer have feelings too.

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AM 3.0 Resource Files Now Available

RAY — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 21:38:44 +0000

Have you ever wanted the ability to make some minor tweaks or changes to some of our AM 3.0 template banners and backgrounds? As of today, you can! Resource downloads for all of our AM 3.0 templates are now available for Green, Orange, Red, Blue and Purple Suite users.

For example, if you wanted to make a change to some of the verses on the graffiti wall of the “Be Encouraged” template that we launched last week, it’s now possible.

Resource downloads contain a variety of design files -- some include JPEG images, while others include Adobe Photoshop PSD files.

As we continue to launch more AM 3.0 templates, resource downloads will be made available simultaneously. To download resource files, login and click on "Download Materials". You will then see a link called "Template Resource Files".

Note: To edit PSD files you will need to have Adobe Photoshop (or another piece software that can open PSD files). If you don't own Adobe Photoshop (and don't want to pay the high price tag), you might Google following software: Adobe Photoshop Elements, GIMP, Paint Shop Pro or Photopaint.

Have fun!

Conquering the Giant

DEREK — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:10:26 +0000

Everyday many of us go to work and face a giant that has been causing us headaches for months or years. Worse yet many of us realize that the giant is supposed to be working for us making our jobs easier. The tragedy is that we have the ability to do something about the situation but don’t for a variety of reasons. What is this metaphorical giant I speak of? Computer programs/software.

You may be asking yourself why I am referring to computer programs as a giant. For many people trying to operate inside a program on their computer is an intimidating, stressful and frustrating experience. My intent with this post is to show you that you are in control and have the power to change those negative time-draining experiences into triumphant confidence building experiences.

Firstly, know that you can’t break your computer by working in any of your programs like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop. One of the first fears you need to conquer is the fear of pressing buttons. When you open a program and see all the buttons and tools realize they are there to serve you in your day to day tasks. If you do something and don’t like the results you can simply undo your error or start over. I will give you the advice that if you are going to experiment with tools you’re not familiar with to work in a test file, not an important document you’ve spent a lot of time in. At the very least, save a copy.

Also, over the years software has gotten a lot better at assisting the user through tutorials that come with the software and help files. Should you have the misfortune of a pop-up window appearing telling you something did not work, don’t get frustrated. Learn from that and try again.

Now I can hear a few of you out there murmuring that an old dog can’t be taught new tricks. Well to that I say nonsense because you’re not an old dog. However if an old dog could use Google and read tutorials or watch videos, he could learn new tricks. Like the Bible says, seek and you will find. So go to work every day knowing your computer can work for you, and that you don’t have to work for your computer.

As a suggestion, instead of taking three hours to do your typical routine of spinning your tires in the mud or taking the scenic route to do your daily tasks, spend one or two hours learning something new and then maybe what normally takes you three hours will only take you one hour. After that investment you’ll save yourself two hours every day. That is a huge return on your investment. A site that you might be interested in is Lynda.com – it’s a pretty elaborate tutorial site on virtually every piece of software that I’ve ever come across.

In closing my challenge to you is to spend one hour every week for a year learning something new about the program you spend the most time in and at the end of the year you will have completed 52 hours of training and have many new tools at your disposal to make your life easier. The giant is down for the count, you are victorious!

Prayer for The Sanctuary Fellowship

RAY — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:01:07 +0000

Hi everyone,

Please join us in praying for the church and family of Pastor Thomas Young (Lead Pastor at the Sanctuary Fellowship in Sugar Land, TX), who tragically died this weekend. As of this morning, here is the note that has been posted on their website:

As many of you reading this already know, last night Pastor Thomas was called to go home to be with his heavenly father. Erin and the children are physically ok and we ask that you fervently lift them up in prayer and surround them with love from our church family. We are grieved in this whole process. Many leaders from the Sanctuary Fellowship have been working hard since late Friday to minister to Erin and the children. Pastors and churches from across the country are calling, sending people to minister, and offering every kind of help possible. We are eternally grateful and count our Father faithful for all of it.

We're asking you to be patient with your desire for information as we respect the family's need for time to grieve. Please do not contact Erin or the children at this time, per their request.

Details will be shared on Sunday AM in the 10:15 service. Know that we feel it is best to do this in person with our church with as many people as possible. We will post those details on the website Sunday after worship, and as additional information is made public it will be posted there as well.

Our service on Sunday AM will be dedicated to prayer and healing through biblical grieving as we rest in the hope of Jesus.

Serving an amazing God with you-

Pastors Joe and Jimmy

-----

UPDATE (at 12:45 today):

Church Family-

What a precious time of worship we had this AM. We are so amazingly blessed to have each other as a church family.

As we shared with you this morning:

-A marital dispute arose between Thomas and Erin.

-Thomas made a bad choice in how he sought to settle it, and during the dispute, took his own life.

-He was life-flighted to the hospital but did not survive long.

-Erin and the three kids are with friends, family, and church leadership, loving and supporting each other.

-No funeral service has been set at this time; we will update the website as those details come available.

There will be a time for our church family to be together for prayer and support tonight from 6-8pm at River Pointe Church's main worship center. It will be a come and go time for loving on and supporting each other. As a church we appreciate the kind words of support we’ve received from friends and family around the country. We ask that those reading this would stand with us as we grieve and suffer by praying for us and giving the family the privacy they need during this time.

Our God is with us and we trust in His incredible sovereignty.

The Past is Prologue-

The Sanctuary Staff and Leadership

Winter Majesty

RAY — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:33:49 +0000

"For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the earth'..." Job 37:6

We are pleased to announce a new AdvancedMinistry template entitled "Winter Majesty" (view preview), insipred by the Xpiritmental desktop wallpaper that we posted yesterday.

As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable including the ability to change the number of columns, colors, fonts, etc. If you would like to use a simplified version of your home page, edit your template, click the Layout Tab and choose "Show All Columns (Simplified Home Page)". You can do that with ANY AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template. Here is a preview of this week's template in a simplified format. To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.

Casual Friday - Want to Fly?

DEREK — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:31:35 +0000

Give Thanks to the Lord

RAY — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:03:53 +0000

Psalm 138

"I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.

All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
for great is the glory of the LORD.
For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Download "Beautiful November" Desktop

Xpiritmental #59: Fall on Earth

RAY — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:54:49 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #59 entitled, Fall on Earth, inspired by Job 37:6. Additionally, we will be incorporating this design into an AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template in the coming days -- stay tuned.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 59
Fall on Earth
Job 37:6

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Got Windows 7 Yet? Windows 8 is Coming!

RAY — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:38:33 +0000

Just when you thought you were catching up with Microsoft’s latest operating system blitz, PC World is reporting that Windows 8 is due to be released in 2012.

Now I recognize that the Windows 7 release has been A LOT smoother than the launch of Windows Vista, but news like this leaves me wondering how churches and ministries can keep up – both from a financial standpoint and a computer maintenance standpoint?

I know quite a few churches that still run Windows 98, let alone 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 7. As a ministry professional, how does your church deal with the launch of operating systems and software (whether it be Mac or PC)? Do you even bother to keep up? We’re interested in hearing your feedback.

New Web Template Looks to Encourage Youth

RAY — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:01:59 +0000

In response to email and blog feedback that we received last week regarding the latest Xpiritmental desktop, we have converted it to a new AdvancedMinistry web template (view preview)! The new template, "Be Encouraged" looks to tackle some of the hard realities faced by youth in today's world. Our hope is that teens who visit this website (template) would be drawn in by its visual elements and encouraged through its scripture references (as noted on the wall with graffiti).

As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable including the ability to change the number of columns, colors, fonts, etc. If you would like an enhanced version of your home page, edit your template, click the Layout Tab and choose "Show All Columns (Enhanced Home Page)". You can do that with ANY AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template. Here is a preview of this week's template in an enhanced format. To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.

Casual Friday - Be Encouraged

RAY — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:11:23 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #58 entitled, Be Encouraged, inspired by 1 Peter 5:10.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 58
Be Encouraged
1 Peter 5:10

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New AdvancedMinistry Template: Harvest

RAY — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:52:03 +0000

We are pleased to announce a new AdvancedMinistry template entitled "Harvest" (view preview).

All AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable including the ability to change the number of columns, colors, fonts, etc. Additionally, if you would like a simplified version of your home page, edit your template, click the Layout Tab and choose "Hide All Columns (Simple Home Page)". You can do that with ANY AdvancedMinistry 3.0 template. For example, here is a preview of this week's template in a simplified format.

We also appreciate all of the feedback that came in last week regarding recommendations for future templates. This new template (Harvest) is based on feedback that we received -- keep it coming! If you have something in mind, submit a comment to this blog post or create a support ticket in your account.

(To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.)

Plan to Succeed

ANDREW — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:13:30 +0000

A few years back, we did a company retreat where the whole team met up in a little town north of here and enjoyed a weekend at a great little resort.

And although there was time for rest and relaxation, we also spent a portion of the Saturday in a session with a gentleman named John from an organization called Eagle's Flight. Having done some research on our organization and the challenges we faced at the time, John led our team through a game which, although a lot of fun, led us to a point of discovery about an area that we needed to grow in, that being planning.

I remember John telling us that in terms of the percentage of project time and effort, planning should take 25-50% of the project. Since then, I've even read some authors who advocate the range to be 35-55% WOW! That's a lot of time.

But you know what...John and the other authors I've read are right.

Since that retreat, we have worked to integrate better execution of planning in all of our projects and although we are by no means perfect at it, when it's done right, the improved planning has taught us that it leaves all parties in a better place at the end of the project.

Proper planning ensures that we know what the client requires. It also ensures that the client has detailed documentation that outlines exactly what the deliverable will look and act like. It makes everyone think twice when a new feature is requested mid-project and hopefully keeps those instances of scope change to a minimum in the first place because of the foresight that planning brings to the project.

And yet, in nearly every project we do, we run up against a general sense out there that speed is the metric by which a projects success is measured. Of course, timelines need to be reasonable, and often they surround important opportunities for the organization we're working with so getting the project done in order to meet those deadlines is important. However, project timelines aren't helped by short-changing the planning process. If the right planning isn't executed, the project will either end up late or won't meet up to your expectations, or both.

So today, I wanted to take the time to combat the belief that undermines the importance of planning. Planning should be a significant portion of your project time and needs to be respected and understood for the benefits that it brings. Don't start a big project like a website one month before it's due and expect results. Good results take time and as such, that time needs to be taken into consideration.

AM Makes File Transfer Easy Through FTP

RAY — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:56:54 +0000

Uploading files to your AdvancedMinistry website has always been pretty straightforward, but as of today users now have the option to use FTP as well!

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the simplest and most secure way to exchange files over the Internet. For more information on FTP and FTP software, read our knowledgebase article.

To get your ministry’s FTP information, login to your AdvancedMinistry website and click on File Manager. From there, you will see everything you need.

Enjoy!

Update Your AM Site From a Mobile Device

RAY — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:49:54 +0000

I was at a Jr. High retreat a few weeks ago and got into an interesting discussion with a friend of mine – a youth pastor at a local church. The conversation went like this:

Friend: I love AdvancedMinistry… it’s enabled me to do more than I ever wanted on the web… but… (I always love it when someone says “but”)… if I could make one recommendation it would be to allow people to make updates from their mobile devices (in his case, a Blackberry).

Ray: Give me an example of what you’d like to accomplish?

Friend: While I’m up here on this retreat, I’d love to update all of the parents as to what’s going on. For example, ‘We arrived safely… We’re having a great time… Session tonight was fantastic, etc.’

Ray: No problem. Ever heard of Twitter?

Friend: Yeah, but isn’t Twitter about telling everyone your life story on a minute-by-minute basis? I don’t have time for that!

Ray: Didn’t you just tell me that you want to update your parents on pretty much a minute-by-minute basis?

Friend: Yeah, but I don’t want to do that through Twitter; then everyone has to have a Twitter account to follow me… I just want make announcements on our website.

Ray: Perfect. Here’s what we’re going to do. Step 1… Sign up for a Twitter account online. It takes about 30 seconds.

Friend: Didn’t I just say that I didn’t want everyone to need a Twitter account to receive updates?

Ray: No one is every going to know you use Twitter… just bear with me. :)

Friend: OK. <laughing>

<We proceeded to sign him up for a Twitter account>

Ray: Next we are going to login to your AdvancedMinistry website and enable Twitter updates.

Friend: OK, sounds good. I’ve seen that before and it looks pretty easy. But once again, I don’t want people to see “Twitter Updates”.

Ray: No problem. We’re going to rename it to “Youth Retreat Updates”. No one will ever know you are using Twitter.

Friend: Ahhhhh… I’m starting to see where you’re going with this!

<We quickly logged into his AdvancedMinistry website and enabled Twitter updates to show on his front page. We renamed “Twitter Updates” to “Retreat Updates”.>

Ray: Next, we’re going to download a mobile app for your Blackberry… there’s tons of free ones out there… just pick one.

Ray: OK, so update your status.

Friend: You’re kidding me, right? It’s that easy?

Ray: Yep. :)

<Friend updates his status through UberTwitter to say “Arrived safely at retreat.” Immediately we refreshed his website, and there it was – “Retreat Updates: Arrived safely at retreat”.>

Friend: Oh my goodness.

Hopefully you can see some application here for your church or ministry. Whether you’re a missionary that wants to give updates on the road, or a youth leader looking to give updates on a retreat, this technology gives you that ability. Enjoy!

Casual Friday - Twitter Will Kill You

ANDREW — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:41:54 +0000

Journey to Africa

RAY — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:05:09 +0000

We are pleased to announce two new AM 3.0 templates entitled "Journey to Africa" (view preview) and "Savannah" (view preview). As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable.

Our Creative Team would also be interested in hearing your comments in regard to what sort of templates you'd like to see into the future. If you have something in mind, submit a comment to this blog post.

(To change your template at any time, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.)

Remembering

ANDREW — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:58:48 +0000

It being Remembrance Day today, my thoughts go to my Mom.

My Mom grew up in Holland during the war. She was around 6 years old when she was sent away from her family by train all by herself to live with a farming family in the rural north of the country where conditions were safer – away from the bombing and most intense battles of urban areas.

She can remember occupying soldiers raiding the farmhouse she was living in looking for hidden Jews and as a result joining the family she was staying with as they rushed out of the farmhouse and ran through fields of haystacks as bullets flew right past her head.

She can remember becoming so sick and malnourished that she almost died but for the work of brave Red Cross workers.

And so today, as I think about the sacrifice of so many and what it means to me in particular, I think of my Mom. I think of the fact that but for the sacrifice of so many, and by God's good graces, my Mom might not be here today, living in Canada, in freedom...I might not be here today, living in Canada, in freedom.

What an amazing gift...

What an amazing responsibility...

All Things To All People

ANDREW — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:46:30 +0000

Seth Godin had a great post last week called "Everyone is clueless". The post was all about how trying to appeal to an audience of "everyone" isn't a useful or even attainable goal.

This truth is applicable in all forms of marketing and communications but the one particular communications medium that came to my mind today was websites and specifically home page.

It's common to see websites with a home page that has so much going on that you can't make out what the site and the company or organization behind it are all about. And for those people that do know what the organization is all about and come to the site with a clear purpose, home pages can be so cluttered that they don't actually serve anyone in getting to the content they want.

So be strategic about your home page. It's a portal...keep it as such. Don't just think about all the messages you want to send to your site's visitors, think about who is visiting and then orient the site and related messaging towards those audiences. Often this is going to require triage on the content of the home page - you'll need to decide what elements most require immediate attention and then focus on those messages.

Being all things to all people just isn't going to work.

The Best Defense Really is a Good Offense

ANDREW — Mon, 9 Nov 2009 16:59:25 +0000

In the context of athletics, everyone has heard the old adage: “the best defense is a good offense”. But there's also truth in this in terms of marketing communications. While there will always be times when a defense needs to be mounted and the brand needs to be protected, if you constantly find yourself in a reactionary situation, you never have the opportunity to set the direction of your brand.

Earlier this year, Domino's Pizza found themselves in a reactionary position when two employees video taped themselves doing some absolutely disgusting things to food that was about to go out on delivery (if you haven't seen the video, you should probably just take my word for it – it's pretty gross). The video got posted to YouTube and from there it soon became national and even international news as the video went viral.

In response, Domino's President, Patrick Doyle recorded and posted this video to YouTube.

What a great example of how to deal with a problem like this. Not only did they do the smart thing by responding on the same medium that the original video appeared, I love the way he ended the script: “...as we work to regain your trust”.

That video, and the final statement in particular, tell me that Domino's is dealing with the situation and moving on to repair and even improve their brand impression.

But the best part of it all is the subtle fact that Domino's was already on YouTube long before this video surfaced. In a proactive move, Domino's created an online account with YouTube and began publishing videos to their YouTube channel back in November of 2007. This is the kind of proactive move that allowed them to respond quickly and effectively to what was undoubtedly a major brand hit for them.

In other words, the proactive and forward-thinking move to create a presence and build relational equity on the web led to a situation where Domino's could leverage that equity to give a positive context to a really negative situation in the same medium that the brand hit came from.

So the question I'd pose to you today is, what will you do when your brand is challenged online or on some other medium? To just sit back and wait until you HAVE TO respond is defensive-mindedness at it's best.

Get on the offensive and invest in the future of your brand. You're defense will thank you for it.

Casual Friday - We Remember

RAY — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:40:53 +0000

As we approach November 11, the day that is observed as Veteran’s Day (US) and Remembrance Day (Canada), we wanted to share a couple of desktop wallpapers with you.

The first one entitled “Greater Love” is inspired by John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” The second one is titled “We Remember”, recalling the sacrifice that was made.

Download the new desktops below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 56
Greater Love
John 15:13

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Xpiritmental No. 57
We Remember
The Sacrifice Made

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Also, in case you missed the wallpaper we created last year for this occasion, we have provided it below.

Xpiritmental No. 27
Lest We Forget
For those who died for our freedom

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Freedom: A New AdvancedMinistry Template

RAY — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:05:03 +0000

We are pleased to announce a new AM 3.0 template called "Freedom" (view preview). As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable, but with the addition of this template we also introduce a new feature that enables you to choose between a Simplified version of your home page and an Enchanced version of your home page. Essentially, the Simplified version removes all copy from your home page (as shown below), whereas the Enhanced version turns your copy back on. To toggle between the two modes in your AM 3.0 editor, look under the Layout tab (Home Page View > Show/Hide All Columns).

(To change your template, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.)

AdvancedMinistry Media Player: Embed Your Videos

RAY — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 23:20:31 +0000

As an extension of our recent AMP (AdvancedMinistry Media Player) announcement from a couple of weeks ago, we are pleased to announce that you can now embed Flash Video and MP3 files directly into your website!

Up to this point, the only way to embed videos within content of your website was to use programs like YouTube or Vimeo. With the new AdvancedMinistry Media Player, you can now do the same thing without many of the limitations of YouTube.

Here are a few key features:

1. You don’t have to upload files twice. Simply upload it once to your media player and embed the file as many times as you like throughout your AdvancedMinistry website.

2. There are no video limitations like YouTube or Vimeo. You are not limited to the length of a video or the file size of a video. File size is completely determined by how much space you have in your Suite. In theory, you could upload a 2GB HD movie. It’s really up to you.

3. You can make the player as small as 100px wide or as large as 1200px wide.

4. You can choose between 4:3 (standard) and 16:9 (widescreen) formats, depending on how you shoot your video.

5. The new player is compatible with all AM 2.0 and 3.0 templates.

For a complete list of instructions on how to embed the player into your AdvancedMinistry website, click here.

To see a demo of the player in action, click here.

What Is Driving You?

BRIAN — Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:24:50 +0000

It’s been my experience that most organizations don’t consciously consider their brand as a major driver when making decisions in any area of the organization. Some organizations have leaders that encapsulate the brand (are the brand) and therefore naturally lead people down the road of brand-oriented decision making.

But what happens to those organizations that don’t have that type of leadership? What if the founder/strong leader has moved on and left others to figure things out? What then?

Those that are left must first discover for themselves what the brand represents. This is not found in the boardroom, but in the hearts and minds of those who interact with your organization. Once you have uncovered your brand identity, allow it to influence all decisions, not just communication decisions.

During the discovery process you are sure to uncover characteristics which were not on the radar. Understand that this is your brand and if it’s not what you had in mind or don’t want it to be, strong, strategic measures will have to be taken. Make those changes first (change from within) and then communicate second.

A Win For Hyundai

ANDREW — Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:38:23 +0000

It's more than safe to say that people are leery of the worlds of marketing and advertising.

So for every campaign a company or organization runs, the one thing that has to be considered is that the audience has been trained to rip that pitch to shreds looking for truth and honestly in the advertising. In fact, it's gotten to the point that many audiences so distrust advertising in general, that no ad has a chance with them.

Enter the video above.

While this is a pretty basic foray into brand building in the online world and the video feels a bit contrived/staged, I think this act of generosity on the part of Hyundai still works. I say that because the actual event of the guy getting his car run over was a fairly well publicized event so we know that's true, and it's clear that regardless of the fact that the video feels very contrived and the act of giving the car away itself is set up to be a brand builder, at the end of the day, the guy that had his car run over ends up with a brand new car and that is (as one of my friends would say), pretty fantastic.

Fantastic enough to call this a win for Hyundai.

On a related note, this is a cool example of the kind of thing I was talking about in my post yesterday. The quality of this video isn't great and even the fonts used to outline what happened in the original parking job gone awry are really amateurish. But the quality of what's happening from a customer care perspective outshines all that and makes it, well...something beautiful. Could the video have been a bit more polished and well thought-out? Yes. But too much polish in this instance would have actually damaged the "real world" feel of it.

Something Beautiful

ANDREW — Mon, 2 Nov 2009 15:58:33 +0000

Last night I had the privilege of seeing a NeedToBreathe concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Being a tour based on the recent release of their album The Outsiders, this (Christian) rock-style band from South Carolina got on stage in a bar in a University town and sang a number of songs from their new record that contain both the challenges and the hope of the Gospel in them.

Musically speaking, their live performance remained true to their sound as they did an excellent job of maintaining consistency with the recording as all the songs were played as you’d hear them on the disc.

Being a vocalist myself, I was especially impressed with the lead singer’s voice. I had seen some YouTube videos of the bands live performances earlier in the week so I already had a sense of the fact that they could take the music they had recorded and perform it live as it is on the CD without having to rely on tracked vocals.

The most impactful moment of the night was at the very end of the night, after a long set of high quality musicianship with no breaks, the whole band unplugged every instrument, stepped away from the mics, asked the audience to be really quiet and then proceeded to perform a song called “Something Beautiful”, completely acoustic.

So what does this have to do with marketing and communications?

Well, as I sit at my desk this afternoon (admittedly somewhat groggy after a very late night), one of the few things that’s clear in my mind is that I’m struck by the truth that we don’t always have to be “plugged in” to do “Something Beautiful”.

In one of his posts on this blog last week, Brian outlined that quality is one of the four pillars of branding. But let’s be clear about the fact that quality doesn’t always translate directly to bells-and-whistles. Sometimes, the best choice is to strip all the gloss away - to show that the quality you seek to communicate - comes from a base that is in and of itself based on quality…based on something beautiful.

Loads of bands that hit the top 10 these days couldn’t afford to unplug like NeedToBreathe can…our experience tells us that on a similar level, lots of ministry and non-profit organizations can’t afford to “unplug” either.
So the question for you today is: When all the polish and glitz is removed, does your brand come through as something beautiful or does it reflect an organization that has tried to gloss over all its imperfections? If the latter is the case, you start to get into issues with one of the other pillars of branding…honesty.

Let’s all aim to create organizations that are at heart something beautiful and then strategically communicate them in ways that do that beauty justice.

Two New AdvancedMinistry Templates

ANDREW — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:16:12 +0000

We are pleased to announce two new AM 3.0 templates entitled "We Believe" (view preview) and "Color and Shape" (view preview). As usual, all AM 3.0 templates are fully customizable.

(To change your template, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.)

Casual Friday - The Harvest Has Come

RAY — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:54:58 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #55 entitled, The Harvest Has Come, inspired by Mark 4:29.

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 55
The Harvest Has Come
Mark 4:29

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Four Pillars of Branding - Part 5 (Wrap-Up)

ANDREW — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:33:27 +0000

One of our in-house brand-gurus, Brian Klassen, shares his experience in branding and applies it to ministries via a 5-part series called: The Four Pillars of Branding.

So, the four pillars of effective brand development are Honesty, Quality, Consistency and Frequency. If you leave one of these out of the mix, you run the risk of being ineffective as a communicator.

Christ was a great example of each one of these characteristics. He knew what He was sent to do and never pretended to be anything else. His whole life reflected quality (never sinning, created the best wine, total healing of the sick, communicating to people where they were at, …) Because He knew what He needed to accomplish, He was disciplined and focused on putting all His energy towards accomplishing that task. Last but not least, He repeated his message over and over again for maximum effect.

As ministries, entrusted with the message of eternal life, we need to make every effort to be effective communicators. I believe that when we do that, God is more than willing to come along side and bless it.

Four Pillars of Branding - Part 4 (Frequency)

ANDREW — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:28:00 +0000

One of our in-house brand-gurus, Brian Klassen, shares his experience in branding and applies it to ministries via a 5-part series called: The Four Pillars of Branding.

Have you ever heard the saying, “My father used to tell me ……”? Do you ever wonder, "why do I remember that so clearly?" Well, I would venture to guess that frequency played a role in it.

In the business of communications, frequency (how often you tell someone the same/similar message) is an often overlooked component. I have also heard all the reasons and excuses for not executing on this idea, but at the end of the day, if you are not repeating your message/story, you are not being as effective as you could be.

Here are just a couple reasons.

We just don’t have the budget.
It’s such good creative that we only have to show people once.
We don’t want to bore our audience with the same thing over and over again.

Proper planning should allow for frequency. If it means cutting in another area so you can build frequency – do it. No matter how good your execution is, one time is usually not enough because we are being inundated with thousands of messages every day. And last but not least, you will become bored of it much faster than your audience. Fight what we call boardroom boredom and tell the message over and over again.

Your brand will love you for it.

Four Pillars of Branding - Part 3 (Consistency)

BRIAN — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:45:01 +0000

One of our in-house brand-gurus, Brian Klassen, shares his experience in branding and applies it to ministries via a 5-part series called: The Four Pillars of Branding.

As a ministry brand management company (sorry about the “B” word), you would expect us to say something profound and deep about how churches and ministries need to step it up in this area. Well, I’ll save that for another time (that is - the deep and profound part).

Consistency is one of the four pillars of a strong brand/image. This is not rocket science, yet so many creative providers and ministry directors want to create something “different” just for the sake of being different yet, there is so much room for creativity within the parameters of who you are.

Dig deep into the richness of your character and communicate that through creative consistency. It may be colours, it may be the tone of your words, it may be timing, it may be the medium you use, it may be a certain style of visual or it may be via a specific type face.

Don’t confuse those who want to listen to you. Don’t cloud the gates of credibility. Allow your audience to totally understand who you are through creative consistency.

Your brand will thank you.

Four Pillars of Branding - Part 2 (Quality)

BRIAN — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:25:03 +0000

One of our in-house brand-gurus, Brian Klassen, shares his experience in branding and applies it to ministries via a 5-part series called: The Four Pillars of Branding.

I love our clients. That may sound crazy...but I do. I think a big reason for this is their passion for quality.

Many years ago when Electricurrent was started, we realized the incredible lack of quality communications amongst churches and other ministries. Now, before you start writing in and telling me about the great things you are doing, I do realize that there are those doing some really great stuff as well. I’m just talking about the majority.

I realize that one’s definition of quality may also differ, but that’s no excuse for producing second-rate materials. A general rule of thumb is, those who are the judge of what is good and bad should have good taste and understanding, not an impressive name on the door.

So what am I really getting at here? Well, Electricurrent is not the only place you can go for quality communications and strategic advice. And while we would love to explore working with anyone reading this blog, at the end of the day, there are so many great groups out there including some individuals who are in your church or organization.

The bigger truth is that we want to see you all striving for a greater level of quality and realizing His blessings on your ministry. Not only will you realize the blessings, the people you engage to help you generate those quality communications will be blessed as they are using the gifts God has given them.

Four Pillars of Branding - Part 1 (Honesty)

BRIAN — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:55:57 +0000

One of our in-house brand-gurus, Brian Klassen, shares his experience in branding and applies it to ministries via a 5-part series called: The Four Pillars of Branding.

It’s been said that the new currency today in communications is honesty...I say it should have been this all along within the ministry sector.

Now, I’m not talking about out-and-out lying. I’m talking about being true to your brand/who you are. Electricurrent’s belief is that God made each ministry unique and special. He created your church or ministry to accomplish a certain task(s) in order to more effectively reach those who need Him.

The problem is that many of the churches and ministries out there don’t have a clear understanding of their calling and therefore, the representation of that calling via communications is all over the board (a reflection of their understanding).

Your brand/who you are should drive all such efforts. My advice would be to find someone within your ministry who has a good grasp on your brand and its direction (and understands what your audiences think of you), make that person the brand champion and give them the power to make decisions in regards to communicating the brand.

It just makes sense.

Casual Friday - Product Passion

ANDREW — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:58:45 +0000

"Pushing" the Gospel

ANDREW — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:18:12 +0000

I just read an excellent article by a gentleman who has been in the marketing world for 20 years now. The article was a list of 10 things he wishes he knew before he started in marketing. Following is a quote from that article:

"Push" marketing is broken, because the customer is in control. Thanks to the Internet and Google, with just a few clicks, the customer can find hundreds of choices. And with social media sites to engage them, consumers have broken away from the old media that once held them captive. Anything you do to get their attention must add value in terms of what matters to them. Which usually means their jobs or personal needs, and not directly your products. Prospects will consider you less intrusive when you show them how to solve their problems. Even before the Internet, push marketing was dying, but Internet search engines have shoved it into the grave.

For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Wikipedia offers a couple of definitions for Push Marketing:

A push strategy in marketing is used when there has been a development or improvement on a new product which is unknown to the consumer. As there is no consumer demand in the product launch, the product and the information are "pushed" to the consumer by distribution and promotion. An example of this is a perfume product. Women do not request to smell a fragrance they never smelled before; it is simply "pushed" to them, through the advertisement. Due to the information asymmetry the producer tries by signaling to reduce the information gap between the consumer and the product. This is reached by promotion or other services like personal dialog.

Another meaning of the push strategy in marketing can be found in the communication between seller and buyer. In dependence of the used medium, the communication can be either interactive or non-interactive. For example, if the seller makes his promotion by television or radio, it's not possible for the buyer to interact with. On the other hand, if the communication is made by phone or internet, the buyer has possibilities to interact with the seller. In the first case information is just "pushed" toward the buyer, while in the second case it is possible for the buyer to demand the needed information according to his requirements.

...camp out there and make sure you understand those definitions and maybe even go back and re-read the first quote before you carry on reading...

What I love about the author's point in the section I copied above, is that he really captures the concept of the shift in thinking that the new marketing requires and I'm pretty convinced that at base, the truths about communication that he raises with a business context in mind, also apply to ministries – especially in the area of evangelism.

Perhaps instead of us “pushing” the message of Jesus Christ to the world, we should be doing some more listening and thinking about what other perspectives are out there. Starting from that vantage point, we would have a much better chance of communicating clearly. Of course, at the end of the day, everyone's needs are the same and the Gospel message doesn't change. But if we don't understand how others are thinking, then we won't have a hope in communicating with them on a level that makes sense.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite songs called Belief by John Mayer. The lyrics go like this:

Is there anyone who ever remembers
changing their mind from the paint on a sign?,
Is there anyone who really recalls
ever breaking rank at all
for something someone yelled real loud one time?
Oh, everyone believes
in how they think it oughta be
Oh, everyone believes
and they're not going easily

Belief is a beautiful armor
but makes for the heaviest sword
like punching underwater
you never can hit who you're trying for
Some lead the exhibition
and some have to know they tried
it's the chemical weapon
for the war that's raging on inside
Oh, everyone believes
from emptiness to everything
Oh, everyone believes
and no one's going quietly

We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
Belief can, belief can
What puts a folded flag inside his mother's hand?
Belief can, belief can

Are we thinking about how to engage people that are in this mindset? Are we ready to stop “pushing” the gospel and start learning about the people we're reaching out to? It's the first step to communicating clearly and getting over the barriers that exist with the brand of “The Church” today.

Welcome: Promise Keepers Canada

CRAIG — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:20:14 +0000

We're pleased to announce our partnership with Promise Keepers Canada in which we'll be working together towards the design and development of their new website!

Promise Keepers Canada's mission is to: "ignite and equip men to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ - resulting in familes, churches, workplaces, communities and nations impacted by the grace of God through the lives of men."

Thousands have been touched through Promise Keepers resources, seminars and special conferences. The goal of the new website is to help Promise Keepers reach even more men across the nation.

Blog Action Day - Follow-Up

ANDREW — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:31:29 +0000

Last week Thursday we participated in Blog Action Day - a day where bloggers across the world set down their day-to-day topics and focused in on the issue of Climate Change.

In contributing to this event, we joined with bloggers from 155 countries across six continents in reaching an estimated audience of 17.9 million people.

In the words of Robin Beck, Lead Organizer of Blog Action Day:

[We] change[d] the conversation and showed the power of the web to connect people across the world who despite their varied backgrounds have one shared desire: to make a difference. According to blogpulse, we increased the number of posts about climate change on a given day by 500%, and CNN wrote a great article covering the excitement and diversity of today's event across the web and around the world.

Blog Action Day is a wonderful example of the power of social media and a great way to get involved in issues we all grapple with in today's world. If you weren't involved this year, think about joining in on Oct 15, 2010 and be a part of this web-wide and world-wide voice!

AdvancedMinistry Media Player (AMP) Brings Podcasting

RAY — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:19:27 +0000

We are pleased to announce the official launch of AMP, AdvancedMinistry’s new media player!

AMP presents your users with an intuitive visual interface and provides a central resource for all of your media files.

Additionally, with the launch of AMP, we have opened up Podcasting to all Orange, Red, Blue and Purple Suite users. Using AMP, you can take any one of your media categories and make it “Podcast-enabled”. So in theory, you could have a separate Podcast for every ministry in your church!

For complete instructions on how to use AMP in relation to your media files, click here. At this point, the visual player is only available to users using AM 3.0 templates, however, the new Podcasting features are accessible on all templates.

AdvancedMinistry Cuts Price of Purple Suite by 33%

RAY — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:15:28 +0000

As time marches on, we are always looking for ways to assist our customers in any way possible. Today we’re pleased to announce some assistance in the form of cost-savings.

For those of you who use our Purple Suite (the highest package we offer), we are pleased to announce that we have dropped the monthly price from $149.50 to $99.50! We’re able to do this because we recently renegotiated our hosting agreement, meaning that we’re not getting charged as much for bandwidth.

So instead of putting the money in our wallets, we’d rather see you benefit from it. The new price will take effect on your next billing renewal. Enjoy!

Casual Friday - Feel Good Story

ANDREW — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:54:31 +0000

Blog Action Day - Climate Change

CRAIG — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:37:14 +0000

This year’s Blog Action Day is dedicated to the topic of climate change. This topic has generated numerous debates, and also some conflicts, even among Christians. Scientists on one side say one thing, while scientists on the other side dispute in return.

So since we’re not scientists, which side do we choose? Let’s look at one variable alone: Trees.

What we can agree on is that trees provide oxygen through the process of photosynthesis.

The middle section of this link (scroll down on the page - you can ignore the rest of it if you want) outlines the rate of which we both lose and replant our forests. A positive difference represents an increase in CO2 absorption. A negative difference represents desertification (aka: Garden of Eden’s climate vs. present day Iraq).

Part of my motivation in looking at trees/forests alone is in the knowledge that the church which I attend is not judicious in its recycling and actually contributes to deforestation by wasting paper on bulletin inserts. Or to put it differently, how it could save the beauty of what we’ve been given. I wonder the impression that leaves with a non-believer.

What does your church or ministry do in the efforts of being stewards of creation?
Would a believer showing care for the environment impact a non-believer?
Could the principles in the stewardship of our finances carry over into our respect of what God has given us through our natural surroundings?

For additional information, you can check out NASA’s site on climate change.

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Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web. As of the time that this post was submitted, there were 8,849 blogs publishing content on the subject of climate change to an audience of over twelve-and-a-half million readers. There is still time for you to sign up and take part in Blog Action Day - go to www.blogactionday.com to sign up and then write a post on this year's topic of Climate Change.

Is the Medium the Message?

ANDREW — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:53:24 +0000

This video has me thinking about something that I've already been doing some thinking about in the past. People quote the famous line of Marshall McLuhan, "the medium is the message", with ease these days. But is McLuhan correct? If not, then I have to think that the conclusions that Shane Hipps arrives at aren't accurate.

There are bigger truths at play here as well, but I'd love to hear what any of you think.

Announcements!

ANDREW — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:06:21 +0000

As I sit here about to write a post that highlights the achievement of our in-house long-distance runner, I also realized that I have dropped the ball big time in not mentioning another big announcement that happened to one of our team members a few months back. So, today is a day of announcements.

First off, to get us all caught up, back on Aug 2 at around 1 PM, Derek Gyssels and his wife Steph were blessed to bring a 5-pound, 11-ounce healthy baby boy into the world. They named him Lawson. Mother and son did just fine and they have both been at home, not getting much sleep for a number of weeks now :) Congratulations Derek & Steph!

Secondly, congratulations to our Creative Director, Hugh Pindur, who once again tackled the Chicago Marathon as he did last year. However, this year, he did so in a significantly more rapid pace with a time of 3 hours, 19 minutes and 34 seconds. Congrats Hugh on the great run!

Happy Thanksgiving! Canadian Style

ANDREW — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:38:48 +0000

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada so just a heads up that we're not going to be in the office today. To all of our Canadian friends, we hope you have a really excellent weekend and find many things to be thankful for!

Casual Friday - Favorite Bible Verse

ANDREW — Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:33:03 +0000

New Spam Policy Implemented

RAY — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:41:22 +0000

One of the things that we’ve been hearing a lot from our users lately is, “Is there a way that I can limit the amount of spam that I get to my inbox?” The answer is of course, yes, however today we have implemented a new policy that should make the lives of our users a lot easier.

First, let me quickly review the old model: When a spam message is received, its Subject Line is prefixed with “[SPAM]”. If you wanted to filter out your spam, you would do one of two things:

Create a rule in your webmail that takes any messages with “[SPAM]” in the prefix and deletes them, or
Create a rule in your mail client (i.e. Outlook) that takes any items with “[SPAM]” in the prefix and moves them into your Trash Can.

The advantage of this model is that you can filter through your Trash Can in the case that you feel you missed a message because of a false-positive spam catch (which is about 0.01% of the time). The obvious disadvantages to this model are:

Unless you choose to delete your spam at the server level, there is the possibility of a) having to download a ridiculous amount of messages, and b) viruses hitting your computer because spam is not “totally blocked”.
In the case that you haven’t setup any rules on the server or in your mail client, you have to filter through all of your spam mail, just to find your regular email.
If you forward mail to another account (i.e. gmail.com, bell.ca, hotmail.com, etc.), the spam gets forwarded as well, which frankly ticks them off (the ISP that you’re forwarding it to).

Recently, because of this practice we were blacklisted from a few servers and are now left trying to convince them that we are not a spam house! :)

So let me introduce you to the new model: From now on when we receive a message with an extremely high probability of spam, we will delete it. It will never make it to your inbox! Any mail that our system classifies as Bulk Mail will be prefixed with “[BULK]” and relayed to you. Additionally, any mail that “could” be spam (but probably isn’t) will still be forwarded to you as usual.

Here are the protocols we are using:

We employ CommTouch and iPSwitch for our Premium Spam filter.
We verify mail against two blacklists: SpamHaus and SpamCop

If all of our protocols approve the message, we let the mail through.

In the case that you do not receive an email from a person that you were expecting it from, here are the steps to take:

Have them contact the company (ISP) that they send email through to verify that they are not on any blacklists, particularly SpamCop and SpamHaus. If you’re not convinced, you can check out their SMTP server for yourself at the SpamCop/SpamHaus websites.
As a last resort, submit a ticket to our Support Desk and we will check our network logs to find out where/why the message was blocked.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We believe that this is the right solution going forward and is in the best interest of all our users.

God bless!

New Women's Ministry and Youth Templates

RAY — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 13:03:54 +0000

We are pleased to announce two new AdvancedMinistry 3.0 web templates. The first one entitled, “All Things New” (view preview) has been designed with women’s ministry in mind. The second template entitled "Youth Movement" (view preview) is pretty self-explanatory. :)

As usual, all AdvancedMinistry 3.0 templates are built so that you can easily customize your colors, layout, fonts, etc. to suit your ministry.

Enjoy!

Communicating Powerfully

ANDREW — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:15:01 +0000

It's one thing to communicate something powerful, but it's another altogether to communicate it powerfully.

I love this video because it's such an excellent example of what good communications look like. They don't have to be flashy...they can just be a guy, standing in a room.

And to be honest, I don't really agree with all elements of the poem, but that actually makes this an even better example of quality communications. The manner in which he communicates the message is so powerful that even though I don't agree with some of the message, I am riveted throughout and left thinking about it after.

That is successful communication.

You ministries and non-profits already have a powerful message. So do it justice and go communicate it powerfully!

Measuring Social Media

ANDREW — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 17:25:50 +0000

This is an awesome article about measuring the value of your social media endeavors.

If you don't know her and don't really understand the value of social media, K.D. Paine is a great person to follow on her blog. She provides amazing insights into the measurement of social media campaigns.

Great Quotes - Volume 5

ANDREW — Mon, 5 Oct 2009 17:21:18 +0000

"Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be."

- Caterina Fake

Check out the full blog post here.

Casual Friday - Join the rEVOLution

ANDREW — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 13:34:54 +0000

New AM 3.0 Site Templates Arrive!

RAY — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 12:26:26 +0000

We are pleased to announce that AM 3.0 templates are finally here! Now, on top of creating and customizing your own AM template, you can now choose one of our predesigned AM 3.0 templates and tailor it to suit your needs.

Two new templates were launched today – Our Great God (which integrates a number of Xpiritmental backgrounds through Flash) (view preview) and Jesus is the Reason (view preview). Stay tuned for more template options, which will be plentiful in the coming days, weeks and months!

(To change your template, login to your AdvancedMinistry account and select “Choose My Template”.)

The Latest AdvancedMinistry 3.0 Updates

RAY — Thu, 1 Oct 2009 15:40:27 +0000

I wanted to take the opportunity to announce a few AdvancedMinistry updates that took place this week, particularly to the AM 3.0 Custom Template Manager:

You can now specify a different height for secondary page banners.
You can now choose a different background image for secondary pages.
The ability to preview ANY one of your beta templates (not just your active one) has now been added.
When saving options in the 3.0 Custom Template Manager, the page no longer needs to reload. All data is seamlessly stored to the server in about 1/10 of the time that it used to take.

Enjoy!

Xpiritmental #54: Sin That So Easily Entangles

RAY — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:46:29 +0000

We are pleased to announce Xpiritmental wallpaper #54 entitled, Sin That So Easily Entangles, inspired by Hebrews 12:1 and 1 Timothy 6:11. If you look carefully, the web is actually made up of sins. 1 Timothy 6:11 instructs us, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness."

Download the new wallpaper below or visit the Xpiritmental Archives for more wallpapers.

Xpiritmental No. 54
Sin That So Easily Entangles
Hebrews 12:1 / 1 Timothy 6:11

Download Wallpaper:
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Win-Win-Win-Win

ANDREW — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:31:01 +0000

I love the magazine Fast Company so you might see me reference it from time-to-time – today being one of those times.

Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco was interviewed in a past issue and some of the comments he made really caught my attention.

“Wall Street grumbles that Costco cares more about its customers and employees that its shareholders; it pays an average of $17 an hour and covers 90% of heath-insurance costs for both full-timers and part-timers.”

I love that quote because it speaks of a corporate culture that “gets it”. If you treat your employees well, they will serve you well and they will serve your customers well which, after all, is the goal isn't it? But I think we lose site of this in ministry and non-profit contexts sometimes. Sadly, there are organizational cultures out there where the attitude is that since they are doing such noble work, it's ok to over-work and under-appreciate the employees.

The far-reaching implications of this kind of culture for a ministry or non-profit is that donations dry up, volunteers are no where to be found, people get burned-out and the very needs your organization exists to address don't get met.

And at the end of the day, it becomes an issue of bad branding and that can be incredibly difficult to repair.

Oh, and I should probably mention that despite being so focused on employee and customer care, Costco's revenues grew in the past five years by 70% and its stock doubled.

Costco might be a for-profit entity, but the principle applies regardless. Do your employees, the people you serve, your brand and your bottom line a favor – it's a win-win-win-win.

Creative Solutions

ANDREW — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:22:08 +0000

A number of weeks ago, our design team came up with a few creative desktops for the Xpiritmental community. One of those desktops was an absolutely amazing image called “Thy Kingdom Come”. You can view it here.

As soon as that desktop was posted, I set it as my background and as I was doing so, I remember thinking to myself, those guys are really going to have to come up with something amazing to knock this off my desktop over the next few months. A few weeks later, to my surprise, it happened that a new desktop really caught my imagination and impressed me enough to switch over to it.

The desktop I'm referring to is called “rooted and built up” (seen above) and it's based on the verse, Colossians 2:7.

What I like about this image is that it's a different and creative approach to the design problem. As evidenced by the work you can see on Xpiritmental, our design team has a firm grasp on the art of creating an environment and visually communicating a concept through things like stock photography. But what you might not appreciate about the “rooted and built up” desktop is that it was developed entirely out of paper textures.

From an artistic perspective, this concept works to communicate being rooted and built up by using a tree and earth image. But the creativity in it extends not only to the visual communication, it went even further to the medium that was used to generate the image – paper.

Think about that for a second...and if you do, it might just strike you as it does me, how perfect a paper texture is to further augment this image. The image concept seeks to communicate a number of elements of nature, things that are tangible and real. In particular, it communicates the idea of being rooted and built up via a tree. What medium is better to communicate that concept than something as tangible and real as a paper texture? Not to mention the obvious fact that paper is a product of trees...

I love this kind of creativity and I hope that it inspires all of you as you think about how your ministry communicates itself through it's imagery. Being too literal with your messaging can often hurt your brand more than it helps. So strive to find those levels of creativity that will lend depth and breadth to the messaging.

Casual Friday - The Anti-Depression Video

ANDREW — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:32:35 +0000

By posting this, I'm not indicating that anyone around here is having a down day. What I am thinking though, is that everyone can use a good smile/laugh and I'm pretty sure this will do it for you. Enjoy! And Happy Casual Friday!

AdvancedMinistry Template Manager Simplified

RAY — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:28:29 +0000

Over the last week or so, we’ve been working on making the functionality on the “Choose My Template” page of AdvancedMinistry a little easier. We are pleased to announce that those changes are now complete and we think you will be pleasantly surprised.

For those of you that are familiar with AM 3.0 templates and/or the beta feature of AdvancedMinistry, you will notice that you no longer have to go to a separate page to manage your custom sites. (Note: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “beta site”, we are simply referring to a testing environment where you can work on a new website design/layout in the background, without affecting your live website.)

Everything can be managed in one easy control panel. Additionally, you can now use a 3.0 template as your live website, and have another 3.0 site as your beta website. To see the new changes, login to your account and select “Choose My Template”. A screenshot is listed below: