The Top 200 Church Blogs
Interested in who some of the most popular and influential voices are within the Christian blogosphere? Kent Shaffer (twitter) over at Church Relevance has posted the top 200 Christian bloggers as of April 9, 2012. Using site stats from Alexa, Google Page Rank, Google Reader Stats, and more, the list has a diverse collection of bloggers, from Al Mohler to Don Miller to Brian McLaren.
You can see if your favorite blogger is on the list here. Are there voices that you think should be on the list that are not?
See a 200% Increase in Response to Your Twitter Stream
A week ago I was reading a blog post by Michael Hyatt on his daily reading list. Scanning the list, I saw a new service mentioned – Buffer. This is a simple-to-use little app that allows you to create tweets on the fly as you read RSS feeds, your Twitter stream, or just about anything else that may enter through your web browser.
Old news, right? Well, Buffer adds a new twist in that it allows you to spread your tweets throughout the day without preplanning your release schedule. Moreover, as I read the some of the articles on Buffer’s blog, I saw how using Buffer could increase my Twitter clicks by 200 percent.
How Buffer Works
Buffer installs as an extension within Chrome. The developers also provide extensions for most other popular browsers and platforms.
When you come across something of interest and you want to add it to your Twitter stream, simply click on the Buffer extension and it opens a familiar Twitter message box.
You are given two options: Tweet now or Add to Buffer. Buffer provides the initial text and link, or you can edit the text to add your own flair. When you are finished, simply click the Add to Buffer button and a little ball bounces for a second or two before Buffer gives you a little affirmation: “Awesome! One more Tweet in your Buffer. Keep it topped up!” (Wow, I’ve never felt so good about Tweeting!)
Take a look at your Buffer, and you will see all of your Tweets lined up and ready to go.
The Killer Feature
Now, for the killer feature as far as I am concerned: the schedule.
Buffer let’s you automatically create a simple schedule, instructing the app when to send your Tweets. On Buffer’s official blog, the developers recommend Tweeting between 1-4 times per hour.
Finally, to help you measure your success and make adjustments as necessary, Buffer provides you with basic analytical statistics showing the number of retweets, clicks, and reads your Tweets are receiving.
Setting up your account is free. With the free account you can buffer a maximum of 10 tweets. Also, with a free account you are limited in your scheduling ability. In order to give the app a true test, I upgraded to the “Pro” account, which allows me to buffer up to 50 Tweets and to customize my schedule.
How does it work? We’ll find out. Currently, I have 140 followers on Twitter. I am going to use Buffer for a month and see if I can track any improvement in my clicks or in the number of followers.
What do I like so far?
- Tweet, schedule, and forget it. I love it.
- Simple interface.
- Positive “atta-boy” affirmations after each Tweet.
- Simple analytics to help track your Twitter efforts.
Are there any negatives? Sure, the price ($10 per month) seems high for what Buffer offers. (You can save a little by purchasing an annual plan.) Consider, for comparison, that HootSuite is only $5.99 per month, and it provides a broader selection of tools.
So, watch my Twitter feed and you should see a lot more activity courtesy of Buffer.
North Point Ministries Takes Video Streaming to New Level
Sunday Morning - When the Truth Hurts
A few months ago I came across a video that pokes a finger in the eye of today’s church. Produced by North Point Media (part of North Point Community church), the video is spot-on when it comes to its depiction of what has become the cliche-driven “cool” church. Churches across the country--big and small--run to conferences hosted by trend-setting churches like North Point Community Church then run home and try to copy their cool style down to the smallest detail.ConfessionI’ve been there, done that. To be honest, the mega churches hosting the conferences usually offer the disclaimer: “Don’t go home and try to do this at your church.” Then they tell you about the Resources available at an incredible “conference-only” discount that tell you how you can go home and do church the way they do church. After all, it must work because they have 10,000 people attending their church every weekend while you only have a few dozen or hundred. So, in spite of the disclaimer, we buy their resources, run home and start implementing the cool, trendy ideas we’ve just experienced. I confess--I am guilty.The Problem as I See ItAs I reflect on this movement within many Evangelical churches, I have to ask myself “why does this bother me?” After all, if a church can implement these new methods and see real, genuine growth, isn’t that a good thing? Perhaps, to a point. What bothers me, however, is that I consider authenticity to be one of the hallmarks of a healthy church. When I see churches attempting to model themselves after “successful” churches all in the name of growth, authenticity is the last thing that comes to mind. When it comes to methodology, it is too easy in 21st Century America for churches to become market-driven, growth-oriented businesses simply for the sake of numbers. Pastors cease serving their congregations as shepherds and teachers, and become ego-centric entrepreneurs who will go to any length and adopt any new idea if it will lead to growth.Again, if you sense I am being unfair with today’s pastors, remember--I’ve been there, done that. I am as guilty as any other pastor who has lost sight at times of what really matters.Question: What do you think after watching the video? Do you see where your church is becoming a cliche-driven church? Is this good or bad?
Free Clipart, Photo Websites & Copyright Issues
Photo courtesy of morgueFile.com
Teachers and writers are always on the hunt for appropriate images to enhance their instruction or articles. Clearly, the Internet has simplified this process tremendously, but at the same time the legal issues surrounding copyright and fair use have become more complicated.
Yvon Prehn over at Effective Church Communications provides a free webinar on sites that provide free clipart and stock photography. She also highlights issues surrounding copyright and provides some good links to help you use many of the resources on the Internet and still stay within the law.
Watch the free webinar and make sure to download the companion handouts with links to all of the sites Yvon references during her presentation. The webinar is less than 30 minutes long and worth your time.
NOTE: the image above is a free photo compliments of morgueFile.com. I learned about morgueFile.com while participating in Yvon’s webinar.
Protecting Your Own Material
Perhaps you are on the other side of the issue, and you are concerned about protecting your own material on the web. As Yvon points out during her webinar, you do not need to do anything to copyright your intellectual property. Simply creating it and printing it or posting it on the Internet will qualify it as copyright protected.
Still, holding the copyright to your latest masterpiece and protecting your intellectual property online are two different matters. Michael Hyatt provides eight ways you can protect your copyrighted material in today’s copy & paste world. These include:
- Understand copyright law
- Publish an official copyright notice
- Create an explicit permission policy
- Give the benefit of the doubt
- Request that they remove your post
- Demand that they take down your content
- Notify the infringer’s hosting service
- Hire an attorney and take action
What sources to you use for clipart and images (free or paid)?