September Webcast: 7 Principles for Effective Communications :: MinistryCOM
Terrell Sanders of MinistryCOM was kind enough to invite me to join him in a webcast where we discussed 7 Principles for Effective Communications.
Whether you are new to church communications, or a seasoned veteran, these principles will help you plan and prioritize better. They can also help you educate your leadership (and staff) on some fundamental concepts of church communications.
Check out the video after the jump!
What The Church Can Learn From Canabalt
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you might have noticed me tumbling to my death or being blown into a fine mist every now and then. The source of my destruction is a very simple game called Canabalt. In a nut shell, Canabalt is a game where the goal is to jump from roof top to roof top for as long as possible before dying. Only one button is used to jump. That’s it.
It’s a simple game with simple mechanics, simple graphics, and a killer soundtrack. And, like most things I come across, I believe the church can learn a few things from Canabalt and its developers.
1. It doesn’t have to take 7 months to execute a good idea.
Canabalt was created in seven days! I’ll let someone else talk about how important building the right team, communicating effectively, and managing milestones is to pulling something like this off, but if you aren’t starting with a good idea, you may just be spinning your wheels.
I once attended a film production weekend workshop where the speaker, an eccentric character, told a story about how he had all these people telling him about their screenplays. He’d hear stuff like,
“I’m a screenwriter! I’ve been working on my screenplay for four years and I’m almost to the third act!”
His response to this was something along the lines of,
“Four years! Whatever you’ve been doing for the last four years, it hasn’t been writing.”
He went on to say that if you have a good story, three weeks of solid writing should get the job done.
Think about that the next time you’re dreaming up new ways to implement technology in your ministry or working on the new church web site design.
2. Simple is good.
When Canabalt was built for the Kyles’ Experimental Gameplay Project, the theme for that month was “bare minimum.” In an interview the games’s creator, Adam Atomic, says he had just finished revisiting Super Mario Brothers for the NES and realized that,
“You pretty much hold right and B, and hit A at the right time to hop obstacles.”
The game he came up with took the best things from Super Mario Brothers and condensed it into an easy to pick-up-and-play game. Brilliant! But what can the curch take away from this?
Take a walk through your church’s bulletin. Is it simple? Does it clearly communicate what the intent of the church is? Do the events and programs promoted in the bulletin coincide with that intent or is it just a bunch of fluff and stuff to keep your church members busy?
When I’m playing Super Mario, like Adam, I’m enjoying my run the most when I ignore the Goombas and Koopas, pay no attention to the power-ups, and simply run for my life towards the flag at the end, getting there as fast as possible. Chew on that metaphor for a minute!
3. You don’t need a huge budget to do things well.
One of Canabalt’s best features is its sound design. In the previously linked to interview, it is mentioned that many of these sound effects were recorded on the built-in mic of a laptop! Amazing!
You may not have the best equipment or the biggest budget, but with a little resourcefulness and know-how, you can still do it well.
4. Don’t betray your mission.
The creator of Canabalt says,
“…it makes a lot of sense to start with something simple, purify it, then figure out how you can expand on it within your time limits and budget without betraying it or messing it up.”
I couldn’t agree more. We often heap so many features, ideas, words, images, etc. into what we are working on that we lose sight of the original goal.
5. Observe, adjust and repeat for maximum awesome.
Canabalt takes advantage of something called “procedurally generated content.” In a nut shell, the game is constantly monitoring how you are playing the game and then adjusts the game so that the next obstacle provides the best balance of fun and challenge. Genius!
By constantly observing, adjusting and repeating the process, we could maximize our effectiveness in and outside the church.
How effectively does your communications team handle incoming projects? Get feedback from your team and those who work with them. Adjust. Observe. Get more feedback! Do the same for all communication vehicles, small groups, visitor relations (great source of feedback there), anywhere!
By the way, go play Canabalt. It’s a good time.
Google Voice - A New Tool for Ministry : Church Tech Matters
Greg offers a good overview of Google Voice and offers some great suggestions for use in ministry. The SMS features have me wondering if we still need to use Textmate around HHBC for stuff like inclimate notifications.
I should also note that Google now has a handy tool to let you grab a more customized number (I wonder is 555-HHBC is available).
One thing I’ve heard before that this article does not mention is that a Google Voice number could be used for a Pastor on Call number and then create settings that coordinate with the POC rotation so that the number forwards to the pastor’s mobile phone. Anybody doing that?
Do churches really need their own iPhone apps?
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about iPhone apps. I’m addicted to them. On a weekly basis I download a handful of “lite” or demo apps, mostly games, and on occasion I will spend a couple of bucks on an app that I am sure will change my productivity for the better.
Like most technologies that I encounter, I have pondered how a local church could make use of a custom, native iPhone app for their church body and prospective visitors. Here are some ideas:
The Web Scraper
The first iPhone app I could think of was one that would aggregate all the information that a prospective visitor and/or current attender would need on the go. This app would collect it’s data from the church website and then display it in the app. Such data could include:
- Directions/Maps
- Service times
- Events calendar
- Church news
- Sermon audio/video
While this sounds cool and it would be neat to see your church logo in the iTunes store, I’m not convinced that a native app is the way to go. First, all the information above could be accessed via a mobile website and the iPhone happens to have a very capable browser. With the increasing ubiquity of open wi-fi networks and AT&Ts 3G network, getting to the website should not be a problem. If you’ve got someone in your church who can provide an app like this for cheap or free, you might as well give it a shot. Otherwise, consider creating a mobile website or use something like MoFuse to instantly create a mobile site alongside your current website. There are companies out there willing to make iPhone apps for you that will provide this kind of functionality, but be prepared to spend.
The Church Channel App
TED (of the TED Talks) has an app for the iPhone that I downloaded and really want to use. But I never have. Here’s what it does:
- Let’s you search content based on categories or tags
- Allows you to bookmark content (make a favorites list)
- Allows you to listen or watch content in the app
That sounds cool until you realize that bookmarking content does not download the content to the iPhone for later viewing or listening. Not a problem if you are on an iPhone with a data connection. But if you have an iPod Touch or would rather not use your data plan or are out of coverage, you’re out of luck.
If it did allow for downloading of content, then we’d have a winner. But we’d also have a branded version of iTunes (the iPhone version) that limits the user to only your content. Why bother. Just make sure your podcast is listed in iTunes and you’re good to go.
Hey man! Why so negative? I came here for innovative ideas!
Okay, so all I’ve done so far is tell you why your church does not need an iPhone app. I stand by that. Stop reinventing the wheel and use the tools that everybody else is already using. I do have a couple of ideas that would dominate on the iPhone.
The Mobile Campus
Yeah, it’s what you think it is. Church on the go. Imagine an iPhone app that smashes the streaming video and community features of an internet campus into your iPhone. Now, no matter where you are (airport, hotel, bus, bathroom, etc.) you don’t have to miss church. It’s on your phone!
Just like internet campuses are not for every church, this app wouldn’t be either. But for some churches, it could work. I would not be surprised if somebody was already working on it.
So cool…here’s another!
The Sunday Service Mobile Mashup of Awesome
I have no idea what you would call this. But stick with me for a moment! Imagine going to church on Sunday. You get seated, bust out your iPod Touch or iPhone and launch your church’s app.
- A screen shows up with your church’s logo and you are asked to sign in.
- After signing in you are presented with a list of other attenders who are signed in and present. You see your buddies listed and maybe a couple of new people. You read their profile and then find them to introduce yourself in meat-space. Oh, I’m getting so excited!
- Worship starts. Because you can’t see the screen so well, you bring up the lyrics, streamed live of course, on your device in big, white on black, letters.
- After worship is done, announcements are made. You’re ready for them because there is a list of the announcements on your app with the option to freaking add it to your calendar, email a friend about it, RSVP, whatever! …sorry.
- The offering is taken up. But you pass the basket on and do it with the app and your PayPal account.
- The sermon starts. You get all the notes, of course, with the option to add your own. Bible verses are there, too.
- You get a message on the app that you’re needed in the nursery to calm down your kid. You take care of it and then get seated again.
- The pastor asks for some sort of participation or feedback from the audience much like the texting game. The app facilitates this with some sort of function. I don’t know what, but it’s rad.
- The sermon closes. You send a prayer request to the prayer team and head to the buffet.
That’s just a few of the ideas I could see in this kind of app. I could see this going farther and integrating with ChMS software to provide functionality with small groups, church directories, attendance, child check in, etc.
Would it change and challenge how church is done? Yes. But so did video screens and microphones.
Conclusion
So does your church need it’s own iPhone app? Probably not. A mobile website and your podcast in iTunes will do. However, if internet campuses and merging cutting edge technology into your church experience is something that would produce real fruit, then get on it! I know there are some smart developers in the church. Don’t be scared, now!
Have your own ideas? Want to debate an idea? Did I offend you? Post a comment. We’ll chat. At the very least I’ll know somebody out there is reading:-)
