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.

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.

Chapter 16 covered by Justin Wise as part of our Group Blogging Project discussing the book Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps. If you need a quick overview to what Flickering Pixels is about, please go here.

“One thing I never heard [in church] is that media and technology matter to God.” Shane Hipps is not afraid to go there. In chapter 16 of Flickering Pixels, Hipps does in fact go there.

“Where is there?” you might wonder. In chapter 16, entitled “Media God”, Hipps declares that God loves media and even *gasp* uses it to communicate his message.

Ark of the Covenant? A medium that God uses to communicate his message. That message? “I am completely Other. I exist on a whole other level. You need to treat me as such.” Same thing with the Golden Lampstand, the Tabernacle, the Altar of Burnt Offering, and the Priestly Garments–all found in Exodus. God uses them to communicate something of himself: I am holy.

God is not afraid to use the “methods of the day” to let people know that he is there. That’s he’s around and has something to say. Hipps points this out when states that if God spills a large amount of Scriptural ink describing the media to be used in worship of him, “how much more might God be concerned with our technology in the age of the iPhone?” Dang. Bring it, Hipps.

This hit me square in the face, largely because it’s true. God does care about our technology and use of it; much in the same way he cares about how we treat people, how we spend our money and what we put into our bodies. God cares because that’s what he does. He cares.

God cares so much about you and me that he was willing to become the message himself. God could have chosen to communicate himself through any medium (read: communication agent, not witch of Endor) that he chose:

He could have tapped out an APB from heaven, declaring his goodness to a waiting world. Dropped informational leaflets from an airplane, written “God Loves You” in skywriting, bellowed smoke signals from the heights of heaven, or called you on your cell phone to say, “I love you.”

But he didn’t, did he?

He chose to become a flesh-and-blood person to communicate the message that only God could truly deliver: God wants peace with you. He loves you. God is with you.

Do you realize the sheer brilliance of this? God using the “media” of humanity to deliver his message. No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done, you know the language of humanity. You know what it is to scrape a knee, fall in love, enjoy a meal, and drool as a baby. The kicker? So does God. In the person of Jesus Christ, God knows the language of humanity, and believe me, there’s no app for that.

Hipps then rounds out Chapter 16 with a stupefying conclusion that, if I didn’t know any better, would think is a cruel joke: We are the message. That’s right: You, me, your crazy uncle, and the person who bugs you most in the world is now the medium through which God desires to communicate his love. As we live embodied and emboldened by God’s Holy Spirit through a relation with Jesus Christ, we are the message. Heavy, isn’t it?

God is a communicator, bottom line. He’s wired us up to communicate with him, with others, and with the world around us. He’s given us the tools to do so and the creativity to come up with new ways in which to translate reality. We as Christians have an even more profound charge in letting God breathe reality through us in a way that is culturally relevant; in a way that the people around us can understand. I have a feeling that with the people reading this post, there are mind-bending mediums being created through which we can more effectively communicate the message that we now, in fact, are.

I feel as though closing in prayer shall be the proper way to close this post. Join me, will you? Father of Lights, I thank you that you desire communication. You desire deliberate and creative communication. Will you make us tangible tokens of your reality? Teach us something about being the message of your love. Open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts and breathe your reality through us. We thank you, Lord, and trust you. In Jesus name, Amen!

[Image from Riot]

Chapter 15 covered by Phillip Gibb as part of our Group Blogging Project discussing the book Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps. If you need a quick overview to what Flickering Pixels is about, please go here.

Shane aptly calls this Chapter; A Mirror Dimly. Is it coincidental that he used the  mirror that Neo looked at [The Matrix}, and now refers to the fact that we look into the mirror dimly? That we don't know everything, that we may be wrong, that even he may be wrong? I think not ....

I found this chapter  if hard one to digest (I am sure that many of us have been challenged at almost every chapter so far). Halfway through reader the chapter I was hoping that it was not me that would be blogging on it. I was obviously wrong.

Why? Well the thing is that there are a few things that defy a few of my foundational beliefs, but more of that in a moment. In any case, who only reads and watches unchallenging content.

Shane is a Heretic, just like Seth spoke about in Tribes, he really pushes a few boundaries; stands up against the status quo. I keep having to remind myself that these are just his thoughts and they serve as a warning as well, besides which he admits that he does not know everything. And warns well he does, for if we let ourselves be taken for a ride then we will have the chair pulled out from under us.

The idea is to be aware what media is about and to adapt in order to use it effectively. Do you remember backward masking? Or even the that images of popcorn and coke being flashed up in cinemas before the interval break. The strategy of advertising agencies to aim at children in an effort to get into their parents' wallets. These are all examples of having the chair pulled out from under you. Maybe knowing does not stop it but it certainly helps. It is clear that media nowadays affects us subconsciously, subliminally if you will. Without us know it we become victims of clever advertising campaigns that use all manner of media to convince us of a need we never had originally - a kind of flanking attack.

So how you counter this? Shane basically says that we need to adapt and to renew our methods and our media. Using the parallel that Jesus gave of old and new wine skins. Imagine displaying video content to people from the Middle Ages or having a Priest from that time speak to your congregation. The effect would be interesting but most likely a serious culture shock. Maybe in 10 years time our current methods and media will be lost on the generation of that time.

As I see it media and methods  in churches are being adapted to be more relevant and engaging to the people that they are aiming at. We do that at our church, you probably do it at yours.

What I have trouble with is the concept that the message changes with the change of media. Granted; it might, but in the case of the Word of God - should it? I mean nothing should be added or removed. Yet, we have become more sophisticated, more aware and more dependent on technology, so yes; much has changed. We find ourselves in a different context than 1000 or 100 years ago. So what is relevant to us now is different, but surely the redemptive plan of God has remained the same.

Shane finishes off with the idea and possibility that he could be wrong, that we do not have all the information. Well, we will always see into the mirror dimly as the Apostle Paul says - until Jesus returns.  And quite possibly we see even more dimly as we skim over information quicker and quicker as it become too much to dig deep into - a reversal of sorts.

I think the strong message here is to always be careful; don't assume that as a church - even a strong tech-savy and relevant church - that you know it all or even that you need to try every new thing to reach your target group.

Are you considering the possible consequences or are you standing on the chair that will be pulled out from under you?

[Image from Camil_T]

This is definitely a great thing for bloggers because having any type of media (images, video, etc) is a consistently used strategy for making blog posts look better.

Now that Google has given the advanced option of searching for Creative Commons-usage images, you can find that right image for your blog post faster!

As you can see, all you have to do is go into advanced image options and select the drop-down at the bottom.

Make sure you double-check the license on the images though if you start using this a lot; Google doesn’t guarantee the accuracy of the return.

w00t!

What other services do you use to find images for your posts?

[HT: TechCrunch]

This is Part 5 of the 5 Part Tech Series on “Blogger Basics.” Find the rest of the series here.

Blogger, you need images on your posts. Trust me. It just “works” better.

But, only put images up on your blog that don’t take forever to load. What this means, then, is that you need to do a little homework on image compression.

It almost doesn’t matter if it’s a .gif, a .jpg, a .png, or a .whatever… it just needs to a good size relative to it’s use. A logo, for example, shouldn’t be 100k+. But, a strategic featured image for a post might be.

Get it? Keeping your site load time is just as important as the image itself, so a good balance is required. If you want more information, check this out.

[Image from Splorp]

Starting out in any social network can be daunting; an immediate feeling of being “left behind” or “out of it” can instantly creep up on you. In fact, I know of enough people who haven’t joined a number of social media outlets just because they feel like they’re already behind.

That’s too bad, and for the most part, they’re wrong, although they are “behind” but only in the number of friends, which doesn’t really mean much.

That’s why it real “meatspace” friends matter, and should continue to matter. Take Michael Hyatt’s (@MichaelHyatt) example of promoting a new book by Andy Andrews, The Noticer.

Michael shared in an interview how Twitter could be easily leveraged for business:

A book we have on The New York Times bestseller list is Andy Andrews’ new book, The Noticer.

I started Twittering as soon as I read the manuscript. People asked me where they could get that, and I said it’s not out yet.

By the week we published it, just by using social media, we were able to get it in the top 200 on Amazon (to No. 28 of all book sales). This is a guy who has no traditional media platform. He’s not on TV. He’s not on the radio.

Wow. It pays (and works) to have friends in the Twitterverse.

Just remember to not forget your real networks that already exist; they can be leveraged effectively before you even join. And it doesn’t take that much to get the groundswell going.

Sometimes you just need a good image with your blog post. Sometimes you need some “design inspiration.” Sometimes you need a tad bit of color.

Let me share with you a great color coordinating search engine called Chromatik.com!

It’s pretty self-explanatory, so instead of me just spouting off how cool it is, go try it.

The biggest concern, of course, is whether you can use these on your site, so make sure to either attribute correctly or just watch out for copyright!