"Working Together to Make Church Better"
Born on Purpose... Listen to Rev. Joe Cala as He Speaks January 2012
"Many Churches Are Still Playing The Atari 2600 And Thinking That it is The Greatest Thing Ever While the World is Hypnotized to Their xBox 360's and Their xBox 360 Kinect's."
Would You Rather Have This?
Or Would You Rather Have This?
Take Hold of The World of Technology
Many churches today are still behind the times when it comes to technology, social media, digital marketing and cutting edge ideas. I've seen many churches continue in trying to mirror one another based off of the success or failures that they achieve or avoid, only to duplicate archaic, antiquated and old traditions to try and reach this 2012, e-minded, technologically savvy and online connected generation.
In other words, many churches are still playing the Atari 2600 and thinking that it is the greatest thing ever while the world is hypnotized to their xBox 360's and their xBox 360 Kinect's. Churches are playing Pong, while the world is playing Modern Warfare. There is a gap between the two.
Jesus said "follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Fishermen do more than just take a pole, put some line on it and attach a some chicken to the end to catch another fish. There are different types of bait for different types of fish. True fishermen skillfully fish. They don't rely on luck and chance. They prepare themselves with the right gear and equipment and go to the spots where the fish are and fish for them. How silly would it be to cast your line into the woods and expect to catch fish? You will never catch fish in the woods. Now you may have the right pole, the right line, even the right bait but if you are not where the fish are you will not catch the fish, period!
So how will you as a church bridge the gap to help be more in touch with the people who are sitting in your congregation and visiting your church?
Take The Time To Educate Yourself
To educate oneself is to develop and train through instruction, schooling, teaching and the impartation of knowledge.
According to the Washington Post as of October of 2011, "There are now more wireless devices being used in the United States than there are people, and Americans have doubled the amount of Internet data traffic they generate on smartphones, according to the trade group CTIA." So what does all of this mean? This means that people are in love with technology and they have embraced it to assist them in how they live their lives.
As churches it is important to embrace technology and use it as a tool to reach our communities and influence them with the good news of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. Too many churches have avoided it, yet millions of people who sit in our congregations are hooked in and even surfing the web, updating their status' and checkin in while they are listening to you preach a message.
From an article found on CNNtech.com, as of July of 2011, "According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That's still a lot of money, but it's less than what Steve Jobs has lying around. Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of June, according to its last earnings report. Unlike the U.S. government, which is scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debt, Apple takes in more money than it spends."
According to the NY Daily News as of October of 2011, "Apple's $81.5 billion bank account is bigger than U.S. government's, according to reports."
In 4 months Apple added almost $5 billon into there bank account. How did they do that? Through selling you and I technology! This article is being composed on a wireless Apple product. You may even be reading this on a wireless device. People carry a phone, tablets or iPads that can connect to their social media groups, the Internet, FaceTime to one another, Skype to anyone around the world, text people and talk all at the same time.
Here's an example of how technology has affected our lives. I was in Walmart shopping for a gift for my daughters and found one that was being sold at Toys R Us for $30.00 cheaper. It was the same exact item. So I didn't leave the store and drive all the way to the other store to buy it for $30.00 less. Five years ago I probably would have had to in order to get it for that price. However, I took out my smartphone, found my barcode scanner app, tuned it on, scanned the barcode, selected web search and pulled up the same item on google to see if it was advertised for less somewhere else. I found it on the Toys R Us website and brought it to the register, showed it to the attendant from my phone and they honored the price right there. This is how people live now. If we don't know something we take out our wireless device, whether it be a tablet, iPad, laptop or cell phone and we "Google it!"
Think about this interesting fact. People are connected to the Internet more now than ever before and about 50% of churches in America today STILL DO NOT have a website. What is going on? With the numbers differing depending on whose research you find, the average number of people who search for a church on the Internet first before any other kind of search is tried is between 60-85%. So even if it's on the low side of 60%, that means that if you have 100 people come to your church, 60 out of the 100 found you online first before they sat in your congregation. Since this is true we should focus on maximizing our presence on the web so people can find us. How do you do that?
- By first registering our church information, name, address, phone numbers, website, etc. on Google Places, bing and any other search engines. Most importantly Google places since Google is used more than most other search engines on average.
- Next by owning a domain name. Example: www.churchsync.com.
You can purchase a domain name by doing a search on google. Type in "buy a domain name" and you will find tons of results and pages to buy one from.
- After you own your name you now have to create your site.
You can have someone do this for you or explore the option of managing it yourself.
Take the time to research different companies who will host and manage your content for you. Again there are many to choose from so please price shop and do your homework before signing up with someone. If you are able to do it yourself, make it effective with relative content and be sure you're able to optimize it properly so you will show up in good rankings when searched for. By all means save the money and do it yourself if you can. However, make sure you set aside time to keep it fresh with new content, correct information, engaging and interactive forms, articles, properly spelled words, new pictures and new videos. This can be very time consuming but can save you some money if you're on a budget.
Next create a Facebook, Twitter and Youtube account for the church.
According to Facebook statistics, there are more than 800 million active users on Facebook. Facebook has also been translated into over 70 different languages. Over 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices. From these stats we can see that this is where the people are. This provides an ENORMOUS audience.
If you as a church are not on Facebook I have one question to ask you. "Why not?" With that much exposure and it costs you NO MONEY AT ALL, why wouldn't you want to be able to reach out and stay connected with those who are in your church through this avenue?
Once you create your page, begin to upload pictures of the building, facilities, staff and property. Do not post any names or photos of people without their written consent. Utilize the events page and try and get all those in the church who currently have a Facebook account to like the church Facebook page. Post often, and have one or two additional staff members have Administrative rights to post as well.
After you've created your church page you can now begin to suggest other friends to like you. Point your congregation to it and have them like the page. Include it in your announcements, marketing and events also.
I'm sure know one has ever done this before but YOU CAN BE THE FIRST.
While you're in the pulpit have everyone take out there cell phones, tablets or iPads and have them go to Facebook and like the church page right there in church.
Another way you can maximize your exposure is by adding onto your visitor cards a spot for Facebook, Twitter or Google+ so your first time guests can check off which ones they are on. By this you can then request them or follow them with the Church accounts.
By this time you will have plenty to do to keep busy in staying connected with the people the Lord has sent and is sending to your church. Don't be afraid of technology, rather learn about it, embrace it and use it to maximize your impact for good.
Working Together To Make Church Better,
Rev. Joe Cala