This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

The Book of Proverbs speaks a lot about wisdom. One of those Proverbs has guided me since I was about 19 years old. I spent the first 18-or-so years of my life acting like I knew everything I needed to know. If anyone knew I had listened to my parents, my reputation would be shot– you understand.

After a few weeks away from home at college, it clicked. As I started realizing my call into ministry, my dad helped me focus it. Conversations of how I could and should be involved in ministry took place, as well as conversations about how my generation and his generation could combine our efforts. Since those conversations, I’ve never missed an opportunity to soak up some wisdom from him.

For over 30 years he’s been involved in ministry; church planter, associate pastor, senior pastor, district leader, and now regional leader. In addition to leading the Southeast Region of Open Bible Churches, he’s getting his Doctorate in Organizational Leadership, he advises pastors across several denominations for church revitalization, and is almost finished writing a book.

In case that isn’t enough, he’s very recently started a blog. This is continuing in our dynamic scheme to be Kingdom–Minded. To disciple people via the web. To leverage technology for Christ, and let my dad’s years of experience become viral. It’s killing the two proverbial ministry birds with one stone.

Our relationship over the years portrays not only mentoring, but reverse-mentoring as well.  For years, he’s been able to mentor me, but I haven’t had very many opportunities to mentor him.  I helped him set up his blog, answered a few questions, and he took off with it– I have to say, I’m really very proud of him!

After all these years, Dad’s helped me put a lot of things in my life in perspective. If I reach half of the lives my father has reached for Christ thus far, I’ll live a great life story!  It’s not about him passing the ministry baton to me.  It’s about him blessing the ministry baton I already have, and both of us running the race together.

Take some time to reverse mentor someone who has helped shape your life to what it is today.  Run the race with them.  I hope you can see what I have seen, and enjoy the new perspective!

[Image from Ariel]

Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

I love my job.

I feel like I’m “in my element.” I can’t hardly believe I get paid for having s much fun as I have. I’ve learned so much in the almost 20 months I’ve been at Cornerstone.

You know, it’s crazy how much you learn when you have to learn it for a project! I’ve been stretched, and I’ve not always come through for the desired project, but I’ve learned.

I recently heard someone say about their job, “I love it and I’m just really comfortable here.” Now, for most of you, that’s a single piece of a whole conversation of a well-meaning employee. For me however, it sparked this whole “battle of definitions” in my head. I think that someone can be comfortable, and not in their element- but I don’t think you can be in your element, and stay comfortable.

If you’re truly in your element, you desire to be better, to learn, to try new things. You’re not afraid to go out on a limb, to fail, and you can’t stand it when people shoot down an idea before they realize that it is indeed possible. You push the limits and when you fail, you correct your calibrations and push some more. As you push, you learn things you never thought you’d need to know. Your horizons expand. You fly higher. Doors open for you. Things start to click…

Comfortable, although nice to have in a job setting- will be your career end. I encourage you, don’t be a “good enough” achiever. Dream big and push! Come up with ideas and share them with you boss(es). Even if you are shot down, they see that you have the company’s interest in mind, that it’s more to you than 8 hours of Solitaire.

I think that you create your own promotions. Even if it’s just a temp-job for you, excel where you’re at. You will not be disappointed. In today’s market, you cannot afford to blend in.

Remember, whatever you do…do it with Excellence!

[Image from StuckinCustoms]

This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

This step could very easily be step #3, because it’s hard to invest in something like a $2,500 Mac when there’s no one to run it.

Regardless, it’s obviously an important step to starting and especially maintaining your media department.

The “Media Director” position is not exactly a justifiable paid position for most young or new churches. To me, it should be one of the first paid positions.

When you’re starting a business, you have to advertise to get the word out. You may not be filming your church service with 5 HD cameras and $80,000 video switcher– but you still need a person that tells your story to the public.

Onechurch in Winston-Salem, NC is a church plant that is experiencing this right now. Sam Mahlstadt, co-leader of Onechurch asks;

“How do you go about managing attention to creative media
when you don’t have a creative media director?
Without a person on our team designated to design and production,
how do we use what we have to produce quality media?”

This is a great, and very practical question. It’s also a hard one to give a general answer to as everyone’s situation is different. However, let’s talk about some solutions you may try.

Read more after the jump…

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This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird. Read Step 1 here.

Taking inventory of your equipment, and personnel is a great next step to starting or growing your media department.

Take notes on what you have to work with:

• How many computers, cameras, or external hard drives do you have?
• What software do you have on those computers?
• What can software do you know how to use or what software can your volunteers/personnel use?
• Do you have digital cameras; if so, how many?

I would break all these categories (video cams, computer, still cams) into a chart that lets you know the quantity, quality (be realistic), and estimated cost of each item.

Another great thing to think about is whether this department be a valued source to your church’s outreach. If yes, consider feeding some of the funds from your missions department to your media department. We should be helping people over seas and advancing the Kingdom in other countries, but don’t forget that we are responsible to our neighbors too.

In fact, if you’re a young church, these are the people that will ultimately make up your congregation. If you’re trying to grow your media department, this will give you a great nest egg for possibilities down the line.

This is why talking about the vision of the church and this department is so vital, because it helps to make the hard decisions.

I know redistributing funds is not always an easy decision, so you could try to raise funds for your media dept. through various events or you could do this.

Also, if you remember, we wrote down the estimated cost of all our items. Maybe it’s time to consider selling some of the items that don’t align with said vision of the church. It’s also possible you could sell out-dated items on ebay or craigslist.

Hey, a extra $15.00 here and $30.00 there can add up!

Inventory your things, sell what you don’t need, and do what you can to find creative ways to raise capitol strictly for this department.  Do what you can to create a “working model” for your new media department.

[Image from Jekert]

This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

Every church, big or small, young or old, has the ability to start or grow an existing media department. That’s a pretty bold statement, huh? Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s true, and in the next few posts, I’m going to give you practical steps to actually do it!

As the church, we’ve been commanded to “Go into all the world” to spread the Gospel.  Your marketing is part of this cause.  Whether you’re trying to get your sermons out there to help people that normally would not darken the doors of a church, or trying to get people to come to a special event– you will use print, video, and/or web media to do it.

Step 1: Focus

Decide your focus.

This is especially important before you start a new (or refocus) your church media department, because it will determine what equipment/software you’ll pursue. Also, it will help keep you “on course” when debating equipment, software, or marketing ideas in the future.

There might be a great idea, but if it’s not conducive to your focus– it needs to be dropped.  Also, it will help you make hard purchasing decisions regarding the equipment/software in the future.  “Computer A” may be more expensive than “Computer B,” but “Computer B” has what you need to fulfill the vision of your media department.  We’ll talk later about the possibilities for raising funds for this new venture later.

Take a time-out, talk with your pastor about his or her vision for the church. This will help guide your focus. Ask questions like;

• “Will this department be a valued source of our outreach?”
• “Where are we now, and where do we want to be?”
  and
• “Is this ministry specifically for our community, or will we put an equal amount of effort on the global stage?”

These types of questions will guide your focus.  Narrowing your focus can substantially stretch your dollars, as well as your impact.  The rest of the steps we talk about later are meaningless unless you find your focus! Well, what are you waiting for!?

[Image from Margolove]

This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

I sent out a tweet a couple months ago asking people; “What’s the newest, coolest, somewhat useful website you’ve found in the last month or so?” Ryan Brancheau, fellow media director and Twitter friend, told me about this site, Animoto.  Have you seen it?

It’s a site that produces photo montages (Picture slide show with music) for you! These montages are generally used in wedding ceremonies and receptions, graduation parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and even funerals. With Animoto, you just upload the photos, select music from their library, or upload a song from your computer and whiz, bam, boom….there ya go! Animoto takes just a few short minutes and makes you a very cool montage!

This is a great resources to anyone interested in using this feature for any of the said events, but also will work great for ministries! Take pictures of that outreach coming up, and make a rad follow-up video to show the church. Get together some pictures of Pastor So-and-So through the last 12 years of his ministry and make a cool “going away” video for him, something he can take and show his family.  A new feature they just added is the ability to also add short 3-5 second video clips with the photos too!

You can do a 30 second version for free, which is great for sermon series bumpers.  Or for $3, you can make a full length video. You can download it, share it, embed it, post it, and even request a DVD be mailed to you.

And if you thought all of that was really cool… they offer free “pro” accounts for non-profits.

Here’s a sample of how we used Animoto after a huge marriage series at our church.  Now wait, I have to confess something.  Although you can add text to your videos in Animoto, I downloaded the hi-res version of the video (with my free non-profit “pro” account) and added the text in Final Cut Studio.

Here it is:

Easy as pie.

Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

One of my favorite authors is Erwin McManus. I love his writing and it was because of him, in part, that I started in ministry.

I had a lot of dreams and desires in my heart from God, but after reading his book, The Barbarian Way, I had enough courage to actually DO it. I once wrote about how God uses different people to accomplish His plan. Erwin is one of those people.  He has a passion for inspiring people, and I was just one of his victims.

In his book, Soul Cravings, Erwin makes a quote that I love, and have thought about frequently. It goes like this; “Your dreams fuel your future.” I had never looked at it that way. Right away I was proactive in my gifts, and calling. I volunteered to do even the smallest of things that would help my accomplish my dreams, and in turn, build my future.

That quote changed my life, but as I ponder it, I feel like it needs to be expanded.

Continue reading »

Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

A ministry tool is any way used to present, dramatize, or speak a message about Jesus. Growing up in ministry, I’ve seen a lot of ministry tools.

Tools used for the technical things, tools for dramas, and tools that inspire people to live their lives for Christ. I’ve also found it easy to become annoyed or be critical of tools that are seemingly over-used. As I ponder about different ministry tools, and even prepare to use some that are not new at all, I’m trying to be careful of the “Ministry Tool Balance.”

Read more after the jump…

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This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

In ministry, this is my mantra; “The message is sacred, but the methods are not.”

We go out of our way to find the best way possible to reach people. I didn’t say “the newest, craziest, most ‘techy,’ outlandish, or scandalous, way.”

I said the “best” way.

When I write/speak about leveraging technology for Christ, I try to be very careful to make it clear that to use cool or fancy technology just for the sake of using it, is missing the point. If you can’t tie what you’re doing to the message …it’s just clutter.

Sometimes our creative team has to scrap ideas that are cool. We made a decision a long time ago that our creative elements are not the message – they are there to support it. So as painful as it is-things get scrapped, or put in “the archive” for future thought.

A great example of how your media doesn’t have to be the most advanced to reach people, is our wooden cross (pic above).

This 10 ft. cross is covered from top to bottom, as well as the arms, with pieces of paper. Each of these pieces have five names on it of people that our members are praying will find Christ this year. In almost every area, the stacks are at least four layers thick. A specific prayer team is committed to pray for the names on this cross, and several of the names have indeed found Christ this year!

One of the oldest pieces of media in our history, paper, stapled to a wooden cross. This symbol has touched lives, and held our members accountable to the people who’s names they’ve written down.  The Message of the Cross can stand on it’s own – God doesn’t need us to make it cooler or more attractive. It’s not for His sake we do these things, it’s for our sake. Sometimes we need visual reminders of what God’s done for us. I also think it’s part of our job to create an atmosphere where a person can allow God to speak to his/her heart.

Old media. Old symbol. Powerful Message. Lives touched.

This is a Guest Post by Nate Beaird.

Some church media directors are fantastic web designers.  I am not one of those church media directors.  However, I’m creative and I know what I like, and what I don’t like.  I like clean looks and I don’t like long loading waits.

After deciding what we wanted and what I wasn’t going to bring to the new site, I tried something a little different with our new site.

The idea for our site is to be a “station” for information, not a “warehouse.” This allows us to stay easy-to-navigate and utilize other third party resources instead of trying to “reinvent the wheel.”

Here are some of our thoughts:

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