Sure, I know that shouting on the street corner about End Times is not the most effective way to invite people into HIS Story.

Most of those explicit, in-your-face methods just aren’t well received, especially when you aren’t contextualizing the message for the audience. Taking an almost literal “spray and pray” approach to evangelism isn’t for me in general.

But there was one little tactic that I never really thought of as a similar “active attack” methods, but did get revealed the other day when someone came over to meet and wanted to connect to my wireless router…so in a way, here’s a confessional for two things that I have done, and I still do from time to time — to poke, prod, provoke some unwitting people to think twice when they come across these messages.

You might think of them as “Wireless Evangelism Tactics,” perhaps? You decide!

1) WiFi Evangelism

Have you ever set-up a network and named two printers on the same network like “Batman” and “Robin” or “Kenny G” and “Jimmy Hendrix” (because Kenny G is all about a smoooooth experience and Jimmy Hendrix is always jammin’!). . .having some fun with what you name your devices?

Well, for one of the routers in our building that happens to be the strongest signal and most reliable, I decided to name it something that we say all the time. . .

Of course, that means my neighbors and anyone nearby trying to find an open hotspot will be exposed to this almighty wifi signal!

2) Radio Evangelism

As someone that has rented more than my fair share of rental cars, trucks and vans when traveling or even around town, I like to turn on the radio and listen to contemporary Christian music sometimes. So it’s relatively easy to find the local CCM radio station in a given city and turn the dial to it.

The extra step I take is to just HOLD DOWN one of the radio preset buttons down till it beeps. Yup, that’s usually how you set one of the preset buttons on the radio. Simple little step so that every time I get back into the car, I can hop right to the local CCM station I was enjoying the last time.

But I realized that setting one (or two!) of those buttons just increases the chance that the next (few) customers that rent that same car will be exposed to the music “accidentally” too.

So my question is, is that so bad? Seriously?

This weekend, I’m excited about being on the top floor of 7 World Trade Center.

It has a spectacular view in a totally green building — the first to go up amongst the WTC buildings.  When you are there, you can see up, out and down all around you when you are peering out the ceiling to floor windows.

But the view that I’m more excited about is regarding the discussions and activity that’s going to be going on at Redeemer‘s Entrepreneurship Initiative 2011 Forum conference — carving out a collaborative vision for what gospel entrepreneurship looks like on a practical basis.

It is always refreshing and at the same time challenging to hear  Tim Keller share his theological vantage point and then interact with others marketplace practitioners about how we are to go about faith and work integration.

I’ve been asked to help lead a session on social media for non-profits and for-profit organizations on Saturday — so glad that Guy Richards of Abiah will be my co-pilot so that we can both share case examples of social media in action.

I’m looking forward to reviewing with the group some of my own approaches to digital engagement across the web — including the Five C’s for Social Media Success framework I’ve been developing through my client work over the last couple of years.

If there’s enough interest, I’m willing to walk through the presentation again online via a webinar. Just drop a comment here if you’d be interested in hearing what I have to share.

Email is still the killer app in terms of marketing communications tools.

While everyone is going crazy about social media, email marketing is the good old standby that works well if you know how to work it well. But which email list building service should you be using?

Constant Contact, iContact, Aweber, MailChimp all are popular and widely used. But there’s one more option that I am highlighting that non-profits and ministries in particular might want to take notice of.

Why? Because this email vendor has released a non-profit version of their commercial email marketing services and a price that is non-profit friendly — $0.00.

That’s right! A full access account that’s priced at. . .  free.

There’s only one limitation with this offer, but for the majority of ministries and service organizations that qualify of this free email service account, it won’t be a factor at all.

Here’s a video where I walk through some parts of their website including the application page so you can see what I’m talking about:

Tools That Rule Links:

• Program information
• Application

QUESTION: What email service is your organization using right now? How often do you send out emails to your list(s)? Would it be helpful to learn more about using email list building and marketing more efficiently and effectively?

I was excited at what showed up in my mailbox today.  Psychology Press sent me a copy of The Science of Giving which I’ve been wanted to read ever since I first heard about what Daniel Oppenheimer and Christopher Olivola have assembled in this text.

Why am I interested in this book? Because raising money so important to any ministry, cause-related or non-profit organization.

Learning why people give, how people give, when people give, etc is critical to fundraising success — especially since success in fund raising has no direct connection in the actual efficiency or urgency of need that the organization is focused upon.

Here’s one important difference between this book’s content and what’s out there already on the topic:

Our understanding of charitable giving is based primarily upon the intuitions of fundraisers or correlational data which cannot establish causal relationships. By contrast, the chapters in this book study charity using experimental methods in which the variables of interest are experimentally manipulated. As a result, it becomes possible to identify the causal factors that underlie giving, and to design effective intervention programs that can help increase the likelihood and amount that people contribute to a cause.

In 2007, charities raised over $300 BILLION.  But the two editors think that if attention was paid to the science of the giving process and action, they could do much much much better.  Worthy causes need to pay attention to some of the learnings found in this preliminary text on the matter.

As I go through this book’s 14 studies you’ll be hearing more from me about what jumps out at me and some of what I’m learning about the science behind the decision making process of giving. . .

The Science of Giving: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Charity

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Psychology Press; 1 edition (October 21, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1848728859
• ISBN-13: 978-1848728851
• Top 100 book in Amazon’s Philanthropy & Charity category

QR codes are those 2D square black and white bar codes that are popping up in different places.  First they were used in manufacturing and UPS started using them for tracking of packages before they were embraced by the retail & marketing community.

Now you’ll find them on posters, brochures, and stickers. . . These days, they are popping up in printed materials of various church communications.  You probably have seen one — since over 50% of the population supposedly has seen or knows what a QR code is at this point.

The big question is are we at the tipping point yet for QR code adoption? Or is this just a passing fad?

Are the ones using QR codes right now trying to force geeky hipness into daily routines while there is still some notable friction in using them?

Well, according to a couple of recent studies, it isn’t so clear.  Here’s two specific data points that might make you think again about QR codes:

Less than 1/3 of people have actually scanned in a QR code.  28%.  Yup, that’s it.  That’s not a huge percentage of people.

And if you look at the actual usage patterns of people who do scan QR codes, the data is not in favor of this hip tech trend amongst communicators to use it.  After all the native cell phone camera applications don’t recognize QR codes yet.  You have to proactively download a QR code reader, launch it and then scan the code.  This can take a couple of minutes and in all that time, you have no idea what you’ll find once the QR code is decoded by your app.  Is it a promo code?  A website?  A call to action?  Just another big fat advertisement?

The other practical downside is that you have to remember — while QR codes are small, they are usually placed in what is typically considered valuable real estate on the actual marketing collateral piece.  Is it worth utilizing such precious space for something that most people who see it won’t actually use?

That said, it really depends on the audience whether or not it is useful.  In a way, the church community is one place where adoption could be successful if you are intentional about both promotion of QR codes as well as what is delivered to the audience once it is scanned.   Because the church assembles on a regular basis, and there’s recurring publications (like the bulletin!) that are published, QR codes do lend itself to this type of environment where once you expose and train people to use it once, the chances of long-term adoption are high.

Paul Steinbrueck over at OurChurch.com suggestions 10 different ways for ministries to integrate QR codes into their communications practices.  One of my favorites from the list is #3 – where you use QR codes to link to media offerings that delve deeper into the subject of the sermon, or offer sermon notes or recordings for on-demand playback.  The other one worth considering is integrating them into event invitations so that they are easily passed along and the landing page has details, maps, directions for the event you are promoting.

QUESTION: Have you EVER scanned a QR code?  When was the last time you actually spotted one?

Whether you are in a ministry situation where you are a solo pastor, team-based ministry or non-profit organization, there’s one thing everyone surely shares in common: tons of stuff to do on your plate.

Overworked, burned out ministry leaders are everywhere. You can see them a mile away – they are ineffective, impersonal, rough on the edges and just plain old not fun to be around.

One of the key success factors for a vibrant personal ministry is not taught in seminary: Adapting your own personal workflow so that you become more productive over and over again.

Here is one method that I find very helpful when coaching others that are seeking a way out from the overwhelming demands put on them(selves) in their vocational roles: Read the rest of this entry »

In this time of crisis for the people of Japan, due to the March 2011 8.9 scale earthquake, tsunami, fear of a nuclear meltdown event and more, prayers are being offered up for the country.

But as Japan continues to be one of the most “Christ-less” countries today, Tim Keller points out that Christian brothers and sisters around the world might see a greater need beyond the physical and natural destruction that has happened in Japan just this week.

Check out this short video as Dr. Keller mentions some of the factors one may not immediately think about regarding bringing the Church to the country of Japan:

He makes a great case for the strategic influence of Tokyo, but also points out the spiritual need in Tokyo and the country. 

Here is another video from a church planting group (Mustard Seed) that helps further paint the picture of that neediness Keller speaks about:

Spring is in the air! After over 70 inches of snowfall around here this winter, I’m ready for spring.

Even though there’s still melting snow in our driveway, it’s time to get busy with spring time activities — including some spring cleaning.

So today, I decided to clean house a bit…online. And the first place to attack was one of my Twitter accounts. There are many different strategies for who to follow or followback. But one rule that’s probably agreeable to most is to remove people from your follow list that are inactive or MIA from Twitter.

I personally like UnTweeps.com since it lets you filter your Twitter Follow list for people who haven’t sent out a tweet in ____ days.

If you really want to be conservative, you can try something like 180 days (no activity in 6 months kind of makes them as good as any other non-user, right?). But I go for the 30 day threshhold and see how many come up.

In one fell swoop you can chop off dozens and dozens if not hundreds and hundreds of inactive twitter accounts from your follow list. While some people might want to hang on to everyone on their list, this actually does help your twitter friend ratio of following to follower ratio which is used by some measurement apps out there.

AHHHH….that feels better.

TOOLS THAT RULE:  UnTweeps.com

Everyone pretty much knows how stinky-winky the NIV Bible can be because of copyright issues.  Yuck.

It’s not like the King James version, whose text we can use freely anywhere, whenever we want. Nope, the using the NIV means you’re up against all the commercial interests of the entity behind that very popular translation.

So can you imagine my excitement to hear that for a limited time only – during a specific 400 hours to be exact – I’ll be able to download the entire NIV legitimately to my iPhone this coming weekend.

Yup, YouVersion has done it again to provide great value, accessibility and practicality by striking the deal.

Here’s the details to get the New International Version of the Holy Bible to go with you wherever, whenever you want on your iPhone. . .

. . .a special 400-hour promotion made possible through a partnership with Biblica and Zondervan. Exclusively through the Bible App™ you’ll be able to download the New International Version (NIV) using an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Android device…absolutely free. Downloading the NIV means you’ll be able to read it anytime, anywhere—even when you can’t connect to your service provider or the Internet, and after the 400 hour promotion is over. This special offer only lasts for a limited time, starting THIS SATURDAY, February 12, at 8:00 PM Eastern and ending at 12:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 1, marking the first availability of the NIV update in print.

All you have to do is go into the YouVersion HOLY BIBLE APP and follow these three steps:

QUESTION: What Bible have you been relying upon on your iPhone, Droid or smartphone?  And will you be downloading this free NIV Bible during this next week?

This week, I shared about the John 3:16 television commercial that is being banned from the Superbowl this year.  It promotes the website, www.LookupJohn316.com.

Now, another religious commercial has been banned from television as well for Superbowl Sunday.  But this time, perhaps there’s more rationale for this one?

Doritos filmed a tv spot that has a Catholic priest passing out Doritos and Pepsi as communion elements for the Eucharist sacrament.

Catholic groups got the ban after an outcry about the mockery of the Roman Catholic Church.  One interesting fact is that the actor playing the priest is actually a “practicing Catholic” supposedly and the one that came up with the script himself.

Of course, this invokes discussions about transubstantiation and how Doritos is being inconsiderate of the sacramental theology behind the Catholic sacramental tradition.  But if it were a protestant ministry being featured, would it make the commercial any more or less acceptable?

Here’s the actual TV spot that was banned and a fluffy conversation by the talking heads during this news segment:

QUESTION: Was it the right decision to ban this commercial? What does it say about God’s sense of humor as remarked in the video segment?