No letters after my name. Free to be me.

It’s Official! Facebook Is For Pastors!

Chances are if you spend time online, you have a Facebook account. If you don’t know what Facebook is, then get your head around these stats:

1. More than 70 million users use Facebook
2. Facebook is the 6th most trafficked website in the world
3. Number one photo sharing application online
4. 14 million photo’s uploaded each day
5. More than 2 million people are on Facebook at any given time

Facebook is a social networking site where users have the opportunity to connect to people they know and share whatever they like. Sounds like the online world loves Facebook. So the question beckons, where do we need to be as a Church to reach this world?

Apart from manning our pews on the weekends, we need to be where the people are. And Facebook is one of those places. Chris Forbes, founder of Ministry Marketing Coach, has released a 31 page free eBook on the subject called, “Facebook For Pastors - How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the internet.” This eBook covers the following topics:

• How to make the most of your profile information
• Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
• All about groups, messages, poking, etc
• Brand Your Ministry
• Meet prospects for your church
• Learn more about the members in your church
• Fine tune your communication skills
• Testimonies from Pastors who use Facebook
• and much more!

Download it for free here! I wanted to post it here to get the word out.  I will read it in due course and pass it onto my Pastor for his consideration.  Would you pass it onto yours?

Church Multimedia Resources

If you don”t visit churchrelevance.com, you should. Kent Shaffer runs a great blog on “training people to reach other more effectively.” I link my posts to his site more than any other blog and today he has provided another great post.

Many medium to large churches can afford or have the talent pool to create custom made graphics and video resources. For the rest of us, we need to rely on the God given talent of others and the generosity placed in their hearts to share what they have.

Church Relevance has a great post here, outlining free Christian and non-christian sites as well as linking to some Christian sites where you need to pay for resources.

Here’s my rant though, why would these large churches charge for their content when they are raking in the money? Call me cynical but when I see much smaller churches and ministries given stuff out for free, it makes these large & charging churches look like parasites. Anyway, I have told myself not to be so critical so I’ll go and scream in a room with egg carton insulation.

My favorites listed at churchrelevance.com include:

creativemyk.com is a new and growing site offering a image related resources. Be sure to check it out and visit often as new stuff is being added all the time.

LifeChurch.tv This is a Church I really like in regards to it’s philosophy of sharing materials. They have a tonne of material ready to go for you to use in your church or small group setting.

But my new discovery via churchrelevance.com is a ministry called Muddy River Media. This website rocks and, after registering, provides a bunch of material available for free download. They host their previews on YouTube and here is a taste of what’s available:

Medical Science: I couldn’t resist this one as I make a living flogging products for bleeding disorders:

Vine & Branches: One of my favourite topics in the Bible.

Worship Background: Those of us in the media ministry know how hard it is to spice things up. Well have a look at what this site does to spice up things for free!

I really enjoy the growing move within Christianity to share resources. After all, we are one body. When’s the last time your heart said to your leg, “Hi dude. I’m gonna charge you $2.00/liter of blood I supply to you!”

C’mon Christians! Spread the love and talent around!

A Dilemma Of Epic Proportions

Tomorrow night is a movie night for my wife and I and I can’t decide which movie we are going to snuggle up in bed and watch. I have a choice between two - “AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem” and “No Country For Old Men” - both of which are new release videos here in Australia today and tomorrow.

I know both films are questionable in their content - especially in their violence but I’ve been watching violent movies all my life and the last time I had a fight with someone was in fifth grade as I defended my title of “toughest boy in primary school”.

I checked out both trailers on YouTube:

Alien vs Predator - Reqiuem

No Country For Old Men

My wife and I are huge fans of the Alien series. On Mothers Day a few years back, I bought my wife one of those magnified mirrors with lighting around it so that girls can do their thing.  She took one look at it and asked if I had kept the receipt. When I asked her what she wanted, she replied, “The Alien Series on DVD” - all four of them!  Since then the Alien vs Predator movies have come out and “Requiem” is the 2nd movie.

But looking at the trailer above and checking the IMBD rating (5.1/10) I can tell this once masterful series has been reducing to a teenage flick where teens are popped off one at a time until some heroic good looking babe blasts the crap out of the bad guys.

But it’s the legacy of Aliens and Predator which lures us towards this film.  My wife cherishes (and I mean literally cherishes the Alien race) - bizarre I know but she is Spanish born in France :)   And I reckon that Predator is a dude with cool weapons - until he takes off his mask and looks like play-doh with sharp bones.

No Country For Old Men, on the other hand has a huge 8.5/10 rating at IMBD and I have heard great things about this movie.  The trailer looks a bit slow and the whole concept of a serial killer is a little grim to say the least.  But I like good cinema and being drawn into a story.

So there’s my dilemma.  Anyone watched any of these and give me a review?  Without giving the story away!  I bet you’re glad you’ve read this post now huh?  Like, a massive exaggeration of a title to discuss something so minuscule

Next Time You Fail…

We all have those days when all seems to go wrong. To not get out of bed at all would have been a far better option on that particular day. I know I fit into this category.

And that’s why I had a big smile on my face as I browsed through the The FAIL Blog. The concept of this blog is simple and brilliantly funny and uplifting to those having a crappy day.

The author gets people to send in funny photo’s and he slaps the word “FAIL” on it to depict how this photo shows the many failures of this world. Below are six examples that I found hilarious. Visit The FAIL Blog for more…

With the cow one, I’m not being rude - just totally sympathetic

Second Ever Sermon

In case you’re wondering, I’m not going to post every sermon I do on my blog. What’s the point huh? This is not a platform to elevate what I do. Rather I want to use this opportunity to get feedback - pro and con - on what I shared on Sunday.

I am new to this art - and I do mean that with all my heart - preaching is a form of art. It’s a tough gig and unless you’ve done it yourself, you have no idea how intense it is to prepare, organise and deliver a sermon.

While studying, you get bombarded by vast amounts of views and ways of tackling a text. You see things from a million perspectives and your mind explodes with all the thinking it takes to connect the dots. Then to organise this into a single channel of thought and to communicate it clearly and in a way which engages your audience, is a challenge.

So this is my second attempt at it. We are in a series called Kingdom Come - which is an expository on the Sermon On The Mount. My text was Mat 5:27-30 and it had to do with the topic of adultery. I’d love for you to listen to it and give me honest feedback - good or bad.

The slides to the message are here and below is the audio and video links used in the presentation.

Constance Video

Noelle Video

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Cousins

On Friday, 18th April, my little nephew Luke was born. We visited my sister in hospital to check out the little man and were taken back by his little charm. Luke managed to get my wife all clucky for another baby.

Yeah - but no thanks. We have two awesome kids we love and cherish and they mean the world to my wife and I.

Here are two pic’s from the day:

I thank my wife for making me a dad - something I wanted to be since I was 18.  Together we made some awesome kids.  And with our growing clan of cousins, 6 and counting, the next generation is shaping up as an interesting bunch to take over our generation.