I hold weekly online office hours on Wednesday afternoons. A set-aside time where I open up the virtual doors of my office and say, “Come, child. Let us discuss the matters of life.”

Anything is fair game, but mostly we end up talking about blogging, social media and velociraptors. Yes, velociraptors.

At any rate, a question came through from a reader who asked,

Do you have any PRO TIPS for branding a church plant?

I liked the question because I don’t think enough church planters think this through before they start. Frankly, I don’t blame them for not putting design and branding at the top of the list. With Bibles, budgets and buildings to be worried about, design slowly sifts to the bottom of the list.

Although it may not be on the top of mind, it should be. In the words of my high school football coach, “You look good, you play good!”

Branding is easier now than ever before. And for the most part, it’s free or low-cost. We’ll be talking more about this topic at the BeDeviant Social Media Summit, but here’s how I answered the question:

First, get specific. If I were to start a church tomorrow (I’m not), I’d find out as much as possible about the city that I’m planting in. I’d build off of something unique about that city. For instance, here in Des Moines we have the Gateway Park downtown. One of my friends, Paul, planted a church downtown and named it, you guessed it, The Gateway Church (http://TheGatewayChurch.com). This tells people, “Hey, we care about this city. We’re here to stay.”

Second, I’d invest in killer design. One of my undergrad communication professors said, “Presentation is half the battle.” I’ve never forgotten it. If your church brand is aesthetically pleasing, the better the chances are that people will come and visit. This works on a subconscious level mostly. Good design cannot be overstated. It’s a must.

Finally, use that awesome branding and invest in a good website. There are simple solutions for church plants (http://CloverSites.com) that take the hassle out of having a good web presence. Get your location, times, staff, and about page rocking and then send everyone you meet to the site. Get cards printed up with your site on it. Put it in your email signature. Grab a Twitter page with your URL (e.g. XYZChurch.com = @XYZChurch). Do the same for a Facebook page. Get a web presence started immediately and push your community there. Chances are you won’t have a building right away, so let the online sphere serve as your collective “gathering space.”

Hope that helps!

What would you add? What churches have you seen with a great brand that extends across multiple platforms (i.e. website, Twitter, Facebook, blog, etc.)?

When stereo sound was first introduced to radio, people had no idea what to do with it. Previously, everything had been broadcast in mono which provided only one channel to push music through. Stereo now provided to separate channels.

“How does this work?”

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We’ve all seen them. Maybe you even have one. Or maybe you’re like me and someone else has one that you want.

I’m talking about a stale Twitter account.

Twitter pages with the last update coming some time between “Don’t taze me bro!” and George W. Bush’s last day in office.

What usually happens is that people sign up for Twitter at the suggestion of a friend or colleague (or Ashton Kutcher), update a few times “I’m going to eat a sandwich – LOL!”, fail to get the point of Twitter, and then never touch it again. Nothing’s worse, in my opinion. People who started out with good intentions but got bored before the fun could start.

This  leads to Twitter accounts with cobwebs all over them. Twitter pages with the generic avatar still staring back at you. Twitter pages that, most likely, will never be touched again.

If you’ve been wanting to dust off your Twitter presence and breath some life back into it, here are three steps you can take to rejuvenate your account.

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I’m so excited to announce to you: The BeDeviant Social Media Summit.

This has been a long-time coming and it feels good to finally announce it to all of you. Here are the basics:
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Martin Luther changed the course of human history by leveraging technology to spread God’s Word. He used moveable type to get Scripture into the hands of all people–not just the professional clergy of the day. It led to the Protestant Reformation that, I think it’s safe to say, we’re still feeling the effects of today.

In my opinion, we’re about to enter into a period of history in the church that’s going to make Luther’s reformation look like tea party. Welcome to the flattened world.

I want to invite all the deviants in the house to join me tomorrow for the M2 Live Webinar where I’ll be the featured presenter. I’ll be sharing some thoughts on how the web is flattening the church and what that means for those of us in ministry. We’ll be looking at:

• How human communication is changing as a result of the emergence of the social web.
• What those changes mean for the way churches communicate.
• What a typical church member will look like in 10-15 years
• Practical take-aways that you can implement immediately for your ministry.
• And a Q&A session at the end to tie-up any loose ends!

I’d love for you to join me. The event is being held by the amazing M2 Live ministry and will be moderated by Sean McAtee and Matt Carlisle. These guys have been great to work with and I’m really looking forward to the experience.

If you want to get a feel for what these webinars are like, you can check out the archives from past presenters such as Tony Steward, DJ Chuang, and John Saddington. Otherwise join me tomorrow for the M2 Live Webinar from 10:30-11:30 am CST.

SOLID.

At the advice of a friend, I just started reading Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. He’s taking a social media and ministry class at Luther Seminary and this was one of the books assigned.

His teacher knows what she’s doing.

I’m two chapters in and Shirky has already grabbed my long-haul attention. The basic premise of his book is that the world is changing. We know this already, don’t we? More specifically, he suggests that the world is changing (drastically) because human communication is changing via the social Web.

He asks a question at the end of chapter one that I’m still thinking about:
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Here’s the thing: Most of us know, in some form, that the social web has implications for how ministry is done in the 21st century. Some may even say that understanding social media is important enough to spend time and resources on. Ministry resources, even.

• What if there was a gathering that focused exclusively on understanding the social web in order to be better ministers?
• What if you could spend a day learning, discussing, imagining the possibilities for your church and the social web?
• What if you could have some of your questions about social media answered in a clear, concise manner? In a way that didn’t make you feel like a dope. In a way that honored you.

Would you want to go that event? Would you want to be a part of helping build that experience? Would you be interested?

No, seriously. I’m really asking. I’m feeling more and more the need to make the social web accessible for all people, not just the ones who currently “get it.”

The social web is flattening everything. I feel like people should have an understanding of what that means and the implications for ministry. One of the first steps I want to take to make this happen is planning a summit. A social media summit. But I don’t want to put my hand to the plow if people aren’t interested.

That leaves me with two questions:

1. Would you be interested in coming to an event like this?
2. Would you be interested in help making this event happen?

Let me know. Either in the comments below, via Twitter, or email. I’m serious. I think it’s time for this to happen already. Who’s with me?

Cuddling. Yeah, cuddling. Did you know that using social networks produce the same chemical in your brain as “spooning”?

Sometimes referred to as the “cuddle” chemical, oxytocin — a hormone produced in the brain — stimulates feelings of trust and security, reduces anxiety levels and may even produce positive sexual side effects. It sounds like a miracle drug, so how does one get their hands on it? Perhaps, simply by tweeting.

Weird, but true.

ChurchCrunch recently did a post that features a short video from Chris Brogan. Chris asks the question, “Are you connecting [on the social web] just to connect, or do you have a purpose?” In other words, it’s really easy to mindlessly shuffle from social network to social network, getting the “high” of connection with no real purpose.

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Your church should have a Facebook fan page. If they don’t already have one, you should start it. Yes, you. (As the saying goes, “If not you, who? If not now, when?”)

You’ve probably heard the stats by now, but just in case you haven’t:

• More than 400 million active users
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• Average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

As you can see, there are a lot of people using Facebook. People near. People far. People who live in your city or town and may not have heard about your church.

You really should change that. Like, now. The good thing is that it’s easy. Real easy.
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When I presented at Faith Lift earlier this month on the digital pastorate, I met two types of people:

1. Those who were overwhelmed with what I was presenting.
2. Those who were eating it up.

While the second group is important, the first group matters most to me. Digital ministry can be absolutely paralyzing. “Where do I start? How do I maintain my efforts? Who do I get permission from?” One of my goals is to make digital ministry less debiliating and more invigorating. Make it accessible to all.

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