Media Outreach

Check out my interview with Pastor Rick Isbell at New Church Memphis, TN.

1.  Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

Our most recent history, which has kind of been the reason we re-launched the website, is because we are two old churches that merged into one new church.  The original churches were 55 and 84 years old.  We combined our ministries, resources, and all of that good stuff into one campus, and then we used the second campus to launch an African American church called Holy Calling Fellowship.  The merge happened three years ago, and then we planted Holy Calling two years ago.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

Since we launched our new website, we’ve already seen greatly increased traffic.  We have really tried to highlight the site during our worship services, which has allowed us to teach people how to use the tools that are there – like the prayer wall.  Back in January, we did a survey called Transformational Church, which is a church-wide survey that all of our members filled out, and then 25 of our members went to a retreat to analyze the results.  Through this, one of the most important things we found out is that we didn’t know what the community wanted us to pray about.  We tried to come up with ideas for how to fix that, but none of them seemed practical on an ongoing basis – until we found the prayer wall.  We felt like the prayer wall was our ticket to quickly get prayer needs out in our community, so this was the number one drawing for us to build the new site.  Just the other day, we did a demo in our worship service so our members could see how it works and how easy it is.  I showed them how their prayer requests instantly come to my cell phone and proved it right there in service.  It really created a good buzz and excitement.  It’s real time stuff – which is great because in the past, they would submit a prayer request and it wouldn’t appear in the prayer bulletin until a week later!

Now that the site’s up and running, in addition to the prayer wall, we also use it to announce events through the calendar and to post our newsletters and media.  The e-vite tool has been fun for our folks, too.

3. How has the use of technology helped you reach out to the community?

Our main goal with the site is to utilize it to pray for our community.  When you go to the home page, one of our rotating flash images points to the prayer wall as well as one of the hot buttons and a nav bar option – so there are three options for them to hit “prayer.”  We do this purposefully because we want to be able to reach out to our community and know what to pray for.  Also, just this last week, we went to Sam’s and got a box of blank business cards and made up several hundred cards that have the e-invite graphic on them with a big caption that says, “We want to pray for you.”  We gave each member three business cards and asked them to give them away to people in the community – whether it’s a waitress or a mailman or whoever it might be.  It’s not a magical number, but instead of giving them a big stack that they’ll throw in the back of their car, three seems to be doable.  We hope we’ll be able to really drive people to the prayer wall and make a difference in people’s lives.

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Check out my interview with Pastor Rick Isbell at New Church Memphis, TN.

1.  Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

Our most recent history, which has kind of been the reason we re-launched the website, is because we are two old churches that merged into one new church.  The original churches were 55 and 84 years old.  We combined our ministries, resources, and all of that good stuff into one campus, and then we used the second campus to launch an African American church called Holy Calling Fellowship.  The merge happened three years ago, and then we planted Holy Calling two years ago.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

Since we launched our new website, we’ve already seen greatly increased traffic.  We have really tried to highlight the site during our worship services, which has allowed us to teach people how to use the tools that are there – like the prayer wall.  Back in January, we did a survey called Transformational Church, which is a church-wide survey that all of our members filled out, and then 25 of our members went to a retreat to analyze the results.  Through this, one of the most important things we found out is that we didn’t know what the community wanted us to pray about.  We tried to come up with ideas for how to fix that, but none of them seemed practical on an ongoing basis – until we found the prayer wall.  We felt like the prayer wall was our ticket to quickly get prayer needs out in our community, so this was the number one drawing for us to build the new site.  Just the other day, we did a demo in our worship service so our members could see how it works and how easy it is.  I showed them how their prayer requests instantly come to my cell phone and proved it right there in service.  It really created a good buzz and excitement.  It’s real time stuff – which is great because in the past, they would submit a prayer request and it wouldn’t appear in the prayer bulletin until a week later!

Now that the site’s up and running, in addition to the prayer wall, we also use it to announce events through the calendar and to post our newsletters and media.  The e-vite tool has been fun for our folks, too.

3. How has the use of technology helped you reach out to the community?

Our main goal with the site is to utilize it to pray for our community.  When you go to the home page, one of our rotating flash images points to the prayer wall as well as one of the hot buttons and a nav bar option – so there are three options for them to hit “prayer.”  We do this purposefully because we want to be able to reach out to our community and know what to pray for.  Also, just this last week, we went to Sam’s and got a box of blank business cards and made up several hundred cards that have the e-invite graphic on them with a big caption that says, “We want to pray for you.”  We gave each member three business cards and asked them to give them away to people in the community – whether it’s a waitress or a mailman or whoever it might be.  It’s not a magical number, but instead of giving them a big stack that they’ll throw in the back of their car, three seems to be doable.  We hope we’ll be able to really drive people to the prayer wall and make a difference in people’s lives.

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Check out the my interview with Pastor Sandy at Community Christian Fellowship.

Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

The church is about 80 years old and was originally Independent Baptist but began to move away from that style of worship 10 years ago. When I was called as Senior Pastor 8 years ago, they were already in the process of making a change and I was all for it. We decided on non-denominational and have incorporated our Mission Statement into our bylaws. We are one of the few non-denominational churches with contemporary worship in our area.

How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

To my knowledge, it’s having a link to our Facebook page that is increasing member involvement the most. People are posting the link to our website to their friends’ pages and asking them to check us out online. They’re finding out about upcoming events on our Facebook page and then commenting about what fun they had afterward. I don’t think anyone should use Facebook as an alternative to a website, but they are great when used to together.

How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?

We do not look at our website as a little ‘something’ we do on the side. It is absolutely a part of our ministry. Everything we do in church is reflected on our site, and it is working 24/7 when we’re not.

How has the use of technology helped your ministry change lives?

There are two big ways that I know of. First, having the sermons online has helped me to make a personal connection with people through the website. We have new people join our church in that last few months who specifically came because they had been listening online and felt comfortable visiting in person. Because they already felt a connection, they were eager to introduce themselves to me, allowing me to interact with them and help them get plugged in. I actually didn’t realize the potential to reach more people through having my sermons online until I experienced the results. Second, I have noticed that some young newlyweds who are new the area have gotten really connected to their small group through Facebook. Facebook has provided a place for them to interact throughout the week, joke around, and create comradery. I am really glad we decided to put the link to our Facebook page on our homepage.

Learn more about Community Christian Fellowship.

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Check out the my interview with Pastor Sandy at Community Christian Fellowship.

Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

The church is about 80 years old and was originally Independent Baptist but began to move away from that style of worship 10 years ago. When I was called as Senior Pastor 8 years ago, they were already in the process of making a change and I was all for it. We decided on non-denominational and have incorporated our Mission Statement into our bylaws. We are one of the few non-denominational churches with contemporary worship in our area.

How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

To my knowledge, it’s having a link to our Facebook page that is increasing member involvement the most. People are posting the link to our website to their friends’ pages and asking them to check us out online. They’re finding out about upcoming events on our Facebook page and then commenting about what fun they had afterward. I don’t think anyone should use Facebook as an alternative to a website, but they are great when used to together.

How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?

We do not look at our website as a little ‘something’ we do on the side. It is absolutely a part of our ministry. Everything we do in church is reflected on our site, and it is working 24/7 when we’re not.

How has the use of technology helped your ministry change lives?

There are two big ways that I know of. First, having the sermons online has helped me to make a personal connection with people through the website. We have new people join our church in that last few months who specifically came because they had been listening online and felt comfortable visiting in person. Because they already felt a connection, they were eager to introduce themselves to me, allowing me to interact with them and help them get plugged in. I actually didn’t realize the potential to reach more people through having my sermons online until I experienced the results. Second, I have noticed that some young newlyweds who are new the area have gotten really connected to their small group through Facebook. Facebook has provided a place for them to interact throughout the week, joke around, and create comradery. I am really glad we decided to put the link to our Facebook page on our homepage.

Learn more about Community Christian Fellowship.

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This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Betty Robertson, the Communications Director for a fantastic church just up the road from us in Round Rock, TX! The church has numerous sites with faithHighway, and they have seen some amazing results with their outreach efforts in and around their community.

1. Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

The church, First United Methodist Church of Round Rock, has been in existence since 1879, and been at its current location since 1983. Betty Robertson, the Communications Director for the church and its ministries, has been a member since 1993, and has served on staff at the church since 2004. Betty’s role is diverse–she works with all of the church’s websites, any printing projects, graphics creation, etc.

2. How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?

The church still sends out monthly printed newsletters to the church’s members, in order to have a physical presence in their homes, but they also use Facebook, Twitter, websites, online sign-ups, in-sanctuary screens for announcements/song lyrics, and a printed bulletin. Their use of technology has not only altered the way they “do” church, but it has helped guide their marketing and outreach focus within the church as well.

3. How are you using media to communicate your message?

The website(s) and mobile site is the main way the church conveys information about events, but Facebook and Twitter are also very prevalent with a small segment of the church’s congregation. Currently, Betty is looking at even newer methods of communication, including using QR codes for specific links to their online content. Having sermons online and some handbell choir videos available through their streaming media center has made it easy for the church’s members and those interested in the church to get a feel for what a traditional Sunday is like.

4. What kind of advice would you offer a new/starting church for their growth potential?

Betty says that is absolutely imperative for churches to have a website! Additionally, churches should look to have a presence in social media, in order to “maintain the brand” of the church, pastor(s), and message, and keep up-to-date with their people and community. FUMC-RR is just getting into online bible studies as well–they have a group on Facebook for the members of the online course to download the materials and watch the videos.

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