Some of you out there may be avid bible readers, others may casually browse it, and some of you might be so intimidated that you haven’t started because you just don’t know where to begin. If you fall into one of these categories, I want to introduce you today to a really cool new tool to help you, no matter which category you’re in – YouVersion. There are a variety of ways to go about reading the Bible, and YouVersion.com offers 21 plans to choose from in order to help you. You can read the Bible through chronologically, a combination of Old and New Testament readings each day, or a variety of other methods.

I also think YouVersion represents the future of online Bible apps in the sense that it involves and encourages community interaction. As you study, you can make notes and share them with others in a social networking feature they include on the site. But the coolest part of the site is that they have spent a lot of time developing versions to all you to access YouVersion on your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Java, and/or Mobile Web.

I came across YouVersion recently and here is how simple it is for me to read it on my iPhone:

So I invite you to check out YouVersion.com. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it.

Related posts:

1. Handle Information Overload: Diigo
2. Connect through Text: Part I

One of the main goals that we would like to accomplish on New Media Ministry is to provide youth ministers with some new tools and resources so that they can in turn get to work in implementing these into their ministry. Chris Faddis wrote two weeks ago about the importance of connecting through text messaging, and I hope that many of you have given a shot at trying text messaging in your ministry. If not, read the post and try out the service for free that we recommended.

I wrote a review of a cool product last week called YooStar. YooStar is basically a video kit that allows you to superimpose yourself in the place of some of your favorite characters in videos. This is a great product for creating hype and promotion in your ministry.

I wanted to take a quick look today at a few ways that you can and need to begin utilizing video in your ministries. You might be a little intimidated to try and get involved in ministry because you think cameras are real expensive and editing takes a lot of knowledge, etc. But times and technologies are changing. We’ll cover this later on down the road.

Getting Started

If you’re in ministry of any kind, one of the things I’m almost certain you struggle with at every event is getting people settled and transitioned from gathering and hanging out to getting your event started. In our church, we begin every youth night with dinner. Transitioning from the kids eating and chatting with their friends to actually getting the night going is one of the hardest parts of the night.

Videos are great for filling in this void and easing the transition. Create a short 5-10 minute video skit of something that is loosely tied to your theme for the night. Make it funny and engaging and you’ll have no trouble grabbing the attention of your teens.

Creating Hype

Last week I wrote about Creating Hype in Your Ministry. Utilizing video in your hype strategies can be very beneficial. Teens are going to watch videos, plain and simple. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, your website. Get it out there and promote it, and teens will probably come to the event. Read the article to learn more.

This is a video our very own Chris Faddis did for our youth group a few weeks ago to promote our semester event.

Recap

Nick wrote recently about the Youth Group Shirt and the importance of having a tshirt for a retreat or big event that you’re putting on. I think the same is true of a recap video. If you go on a weekend retreat, take a camcorder of some sort along with you and piece together some rough clips of a variety of events from that weekend. It doesn’t have to look like the sequel to Avatar, but presenting the option for a teen to remember the experience they had at that event can be a powerful tool to use in helping to prevent what I like to call the Retreat High – where you come back from a retreat or event feeling better and more committed than ever, but a week later you’re back to your normal ways. Giving teens the ability to watch a quick 5 minute video with some footage from that weekend can be very helpful in their individual journey.

Here is a video from a summer retreat that we put together for our teens:

Teaching Tools

Video is the up and coming medium of communication I think in youth ministry. Ever notice how a handful of teens seem to tune you out while someone might be giving a testimony or delivering a message? It’s inevitable that you’re not going to be able to capture the attention of all your teens. Video gives the audience something different to focus on. After listening to the same person over and over for years, they’re going to get tired and bored of you. Sorry to break the bad news. But video keeps minds engaged because they can tell a story much better than you can sometimes because you can only describe an event, place or a person, but a video can actually show them.

So i encourage you to give video a shot in your ministry. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for some more resources helping you with video including products I think you’ll want to take a look at.

Related posts:

1. Creating Hype for Your Ministry
2. Youth Ministry Fun with Yoostar Entertainment System
3. Introducing: Audio/Video/Production Blogs!

I have been in ministry for twelve years now. Most of that time has been spent working in parish youth ministry. One of the best things about parish ministry is the long term investment in people’s lives. Getting to know not only teens, but families and watching them grow. It is amazing how time and presence can lead to some incredibly life-giving relationships. I still am in touch with so many of these teens and families from over the years, and while I wish I would have been a little better at keeping in touch with more of those beautiful people that I’ve encountered I am ever grateful for those who I have been able to keep in touch with.

As a Catholic speaker it is very different. You go into a parish or event, you spend a couple hours, or maybe a day or two with a community and hopefully inspire and enliven their community. Then, you leave. Sometimes you come back, but most times you don’t.  I often felt a bit of guilt going into a community and then leaving with no way of keeping in communication. I would leave a community and feel a longing to keep in touch, to leave behind something to help them continue the journey. Some communities didn’t need that because they had vibrant ministries going on to serve the people, they just needed a little spark or spiritual boost. For some communities, they didn’t have much going on in the way of active ministry for teens or adults. Often, this was the only retreat they got. I often wondered about the teens and adults that I would meet at these events, those who came forward for prayer or wrote to me later. I often wondered how they were, where they were, and if they were still on the journey.

Entering the New Media Age

A year ago I realized that I was missing out on some incredible opportunities to minister and write (which is a long time passion of mine) through a blog. At the time I had no clue how or if it would go anywhere or if anyone would actually read my blog. I wrote a few articles here and there and enjoyed the new found medium. My traffic was of course extremely low but I was finally writing on a semi-regular basis which is something I had wanted to do for some time.

Shortly after beginning to blog I learned more about Twitter and began to utilize it. Within two weeks I was connected with a couple hundred like minded people and my blog traffic began to jump. Aside from the little ego boost that came with a blog with regular followers, the most amazing thing was how I came to see that this new found ministry was helping people and that I was able to minister to people I had never even met before. Through emails I received, direct messages via Twitter and comments on my blog people were reaching out for help, for guidance, and mostly for prayer.

Finally I was doing what I had longed for when I was traveling and speaking – I was building relationships with God’s people even if they didn’t attend my church or live in my area.

The Digital Evangelist

I realized about six months into this “digital ministry” how much impact one could have just by sharing their faith on what Pope Benedict has termed, the “digital continent”. I would post a note on Facebook with one of my blogs, or a recorded talk and I would get an email a few days later from an old high school friend sharing about where they are or thanking me for my faith, or asking me a faith question. I would write a post or post a note on twitter and get a heartfelt response from a person two thousand miles away who said it was exactly what they needed in that moment.

Recently after reading Pope Benedict’s message for World Communications Day which is May 16th, I realized what we who do this “online ministry” are, we are “Digital Evangelists”. We are like St. Paul, Timothy, Titus, Fr. Keno, and countless thousands of missionaries and evangelists who walked this earth to spread the message of the gospel. Only we don’t walk. We tweet, we blog, we Facebook, we chat, we Skype, we podcast, we Ustream, we text, we youtube, we webcast, and the list goes on.

In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Benedict writes, “Priests (and laypeople) are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

A couple of weeks ago we posted an article by Todd Lemieux, titled “Why New Media Will Make You Holier”, in which Todd points out that the new or digital media can make you Holier because it offers so many opportunities for information, community, support, encouragement, accountability, and more. Todd is absolutely correct, the new media has provided a whole new opportunity for people to connect with the Truth.

The Problem is that there still is a lot of noise out there. In fact, there is probably one hundred times more noise and false truths available online then real truth.

That’s why the Church needs to rise up and evangelize this “digital continent”. If you are in ministry, or you feel called to ministry and you are not currently involved in “digital evangelization”, then start praying about how God might use you for this great work. This work will not replace the face to face, life-long evangelization that is already going on, but it is needed to supplement it.

We need to rise up and, as Pope Benedict put it, “give a soul” to the “digital continent.”

Stay tuned over the next two weeks as I break open how to be a “digital evangelist”. I would love your ideas and feedback on how you have “walked this digital continent” as well. You can leave comments here or email me.

Related posts:

1. In the Year 2000… Ministry in the New Media Age
2. Learning How to Communicate Your Message In a Very Loud World
3. Why Should I Invest Time and Money?

Unless you have been living in a soundproof cave for the past few weeks, you are probably well aware that Wednesday was what I like to call another “Stevenote,” or an Apple product launch keynote. There has been tons of hype growing in the interwebs over the last month or so about whether or not Apple will be launching a tablet, what the features will be, pricing, availability, etc. Below, we’ve taken a  a closer look at the hype and how the rumors have resonated on Twitter, YouTube and blogs over the last 30 days. According to data provided by Sysomos, for example, Twitter users sent more than half a million messages – with an average of 6,545 tweets per hour – with both words apple and tablet in them.

Blogs

Sysomos also found almost 50,000 blogs posts. The post that resonated the most in the blogosphere, according to Sysomos’ data, was yesterday’s article on the Guardian’s Technology blog about Terry McGraw leaking information about the tablet on CNBC.

YouTube

In the last 30 days, YouTube users also posted over 5,391 YouTube videos that used the words Apple and tablet. The most popular one was a roundup of tablet rumors from TechnoBuffalo that currently has about 700,000 views.

Sentiment

Overall, the blogosphere’s reaction to the Apple tablet rumors has been extremely positive. Over 81% of all the tweets and blog posts in the past 30 days were positive about the tablet.

What Does This Mean?

Whether it’s a trip to see the summer blockbuster at the movie theater, a Super Bowl party, a youth group trip or even just a youth night, people more times than not respond to the hype not only with extreme interest, but also with their checkbooks. Plus, when you take into consideration the ever-stretched under-funded budgets of youth ministry, hype more times than not costs little to nothing, but can often times have a greater return than any type of true marketing.

Hype is a form of buzz marketing. Hyping a product, service, event, etc. pre-launch creates buzz which also creates curiosity and expectations. Hopefully your followers can write things on Facebook, send out Tweets, talk about it to their friends, and even more. Before you know it the word gets out to multiple people all hearing how great this product, service, event, etc. is, or is expected to be. This gets them excited and they can hardly wait to experience it.

With hype can also come backlash, it often over-inflates expectations. For example if you as a youth minister tell your teens about this great breakfast place you found around town. Over time, you keep telling them it was the best place you had ever been to and that you wanted to organize a group to go and experience its deliciousness. You are in effect building hype and a preconceived notion in your teens minds of this wonderful place that was going to be unlike anything they had ever experienced. Well, often more times than not after you take your group, some of them are going to be let down. It’s not that this place wasn’t any good, it just didn’t meet the expectations that they had set in their own mind based on your hype.

Creating Hype in Your Ministry

So how can I create hype in my ministry? Well, luckily for you, new technologies are changing the way that we can hype products, services, events, etc. and how we can connect with those to whom we minister. From running promotions on Facebook, holding a photo contest or something on Flickr, releasing videos on Youtube, to more, the possibilities are endless.

Whatever you do to create hype around your product service or event, remember and utilize these keys:

• Leak small details
• Give sneak-peaks
• Create marketing pieces that are still vague, yet help promote your event such as a logo to be used on downloadable Wallpapers and Icons, etc.

The overall key to generating hype is to give small bits of information over a period of time. You want to “wet their chops” per say and keep them coming back for more. You want them to yearn to know what it is. The emphasis needs to be on releasing details about whatever it is you’re hyping over time.

Related posts:

1. Utilize Video in Your Ministry
2. Connect through Text: Part I
3. Connect Thru Text: Part II

Here’s an excerpt from that article:

Utilizing Texting for Ministry

So, as a person involved in ministry at the parish level, or even on a national level – how do you take advantage of this technology and leverage it to help as you evangelize those in your ministry?

Streamline using a service

If you want to get serious about communicating effectively with people involved in your ministry then you need to look at options that will help you be efficient. There are numerous options out there for “text messaging services” or “broadcast SMS services”. These are online services that you can subscribe to to send out your text messages to groups – whether its ten people or 10,000 people all at one time. This is by far the best way to maximize your reach and streamline your messaging.

What we recommend

As I mentioned in that post I have tried out a few of the services available for “group SMS”, or “broadcast text” and I have found what I think is the best bang for the buck.

It is a small company based out of Seattle called, Tatango, run by CEO Derek Johnson, who is more connected to his customers than any CEO I’ve ever heard of.  So far I have found Tatango to be a clean, efficient and easy service and to be honest they have proven to have one of the best customer service approaches I have ever seen.

True SMS to SMS

One of the major benefits of Tatango is that it is a true SMS to SMS service. Many other services out there use an email to SMS platform which creates problems in that many messages will not get to the contact and according one source could be violating certain carriers terms of service. Utilizing a true SMS platform means your contacts will get their text and it can reply to that text which will then go straight to your phone.

Get Started for Free

Tatango is a very user friendly and clean customer interface and makes it easy to set up and use. You can set up your own Tatango account in about 2 minutes flat and there is even a “try it for free” option which allows you a 30-Day trial.

Tatango is a monthly pay as you go service too, so lets say you pay for it for one month and realize you just don’t use it enough – no harm, no foul. Simply cancel at anytime. Or, let’s say you just need it for a specific purpose – like perhaps you have a major event coming up or you want to offer a “lent devotional text message” to your blog subscribers and you only need it for that time frame, simple – sign up, and cancel when you’re done.

Create Groups

Once you have set up your account you will be prompted to create a group. You can create as many groups as you’d like. Let’s say you are a youth minister and you want a group for middle school, for high school, and for parents. It’s as simple as clicking the “create group” icon and putting a group name in. Be sure to keep your group name short as that will take up some of your 160 characters in each Text message. Or, let’s say you want to use this service for several ministries in your parish, you can simply set up a group for each ministry that will use the service and assign people as the group contact.

NOTE: It is important that your group name is something that is identifiable by your contacts as this is what identifies who is sending the message and you want them to not assume that this is a junk text. So pick a name that they will recognize.

Each group you set up will get it’s own keyword that people can use to register for your text’s, but you also can set up specific keywords for your groups (see more on this below).

Adding Contacts is Easy

Once you’ve created your group you’re now ready to add your contacts so that you can begin sending messages. There are three ways to do this.

Using the Import Tool

The import tool allows you to manually enter contacts. If you have your group already set up in a spreadsheet or other database, you can also simply copy their information and enter it. What I did was to put the name of the person and the cell phone number right next to each other in a spreadsheet and then copied the columns and pasted them right into the import box, it was as simple as that. You will be give a prompt asking you to ensure that you obtained this information legally and also a chance to confirm the information before it is saved.  (The import tool is not available in the free-trial version.)

Keyword Sign-Up

The most attractive piece of the group SMS service is the opportunity to set up a custom “keyword” that your contacts can use to sign up for text updates from you. Depending on which plan you purchase – you will have a certain number of customizable keywords. This is in addition to the generic keyword that you get for free with each group. You will want to pick keywords that are easy to remember and to let people know. We made our keywords, “LIFETEEN” for our high school Life Teen group, and LEOEDGE for our middle school EDGE group. Then you simply give your teens the number to text “68398″ is our number and have them text your keyword. This automatically subscribes them to your messages.

IDEA: One of the things I like best about this feature is the ability to run little contests to get them to sign up. So to kick off our EDGE group and get the kids signed up, at the beginning of a night I said, text LEOEDGE to 68398 to win a gift card (or cd, you name the prize). Then I go to my office during the night, look at the numbers that registered and pick one at random. That kid wins.

You also can post this keyword info in your parish bulletin to let people know how to get information, which is a great way to reach people who perhaps have not gotten involved quite yet.

Web Link

You will also have the option of embedding a logo on your webpage that invites people to join your group, or you can paste the URL link into emails or web posts that invites people to sign up. This feature is a great one because it allows people to not only register their info, but actually gives them a chance to enter their name – which the keyword feature does not allow.

I have added this link to all of my outgoing email blasts as well.

Manage your group easily

Once you have some contacts uploaded you are ready to begin sending our information, inspiration, or whatever you desire to use this service for. In the ‘Overview’ Section of your group page you’ll be able to see your subscribers and who joined or left the group, etc. You can then click on contacts to see more detailed info and even to send a text to one individual.

You are also able to create subgroups within each group. For instance if you have teens that are in a leadership role or a bible study group within the larger group, you could set that up as a sub-group which would allow for an easy communication tool with your group.

Start Sending

Sending your message is very easy. Simply click, ’send message’, enter your text, and click send. You are limited to 160 characters (including your group name) when sending group SMS, and the send tool will show you how much room you have left.

There is also a feature to send a message directly from your phone. “Send your group message to the phone number provided by Tatango, starting the body of the message with the # symbol.  Have more then one group? Follow the instructions above and Tatango will send you a message prompting you to select which group you would like to send your message to.”

It is such a simple process and so easy that I don’t know why I wasn’t using group SMS in my ministry much sooner! It is so easy now to get the word out about a last minute event or a schedule change or cancellation.

Great Customer Support

Tatango does a great job with customer support. CEO, Derek Johnson recently revamped the department, hiring a community manager who has the duty of connecting with every single one of their groups and responding to all customer needs quickly. They are quick to respond and very attentive to your needs.

In fact just last week I was getting a failure error on the site repeatedly, the error message said they were aware of the problem, but just to be sure I sent a support ticket. I had a response within five minutes telling me that the engineer was working on the problem and it would be back up soon. I also noticed a post from the CEO on twitter that night, “it’s 11pm and everyone is still at work.” They made sure the issue was dealt with before they could go home.

If you don’t believe me, send them a message. You will be given not only a phone number to reach them at but the cell phone of the person you are in contact with. In fact, even the CEO of the company will give you his cell phone number.

Pricing

Tatango offers four different pricing structures, which will allow you to enter a cost you can afford and of course you can easily upgrade as you feel like your need grows. We started with the basic plan and have upgraded to expand our use to other areas.

We are excited that Tatango has offered NewMediaMinistry.com a very special discount code to share with our readers. Click here to take advantage of a 25% off coupon – this is only good for the next 30 days so hurry! The coupon code is: L84V3QKK – you can enter it at check out.

We hope you’ll give group SMS a try. We obviously like Tatango a lot, but if you find another option that fits your needs better, by all means give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

Oh, and don’t forget to join our NewMedia SMS Group by texting “NEWMEDIA” to 68398. We’ll be sending out special announcements, and invitations to special online events like our upcoming Ustream broadcast.

Related posts:

1. Connect through Text: Part I
2. Creating Hype for Your Ministry
3. Raise Money via Texting

If you’ve been following our new site for the last few weeks, you’re well aware that we’ve shared some great articles and resources with you (at least we think we have!). But, being in that we’ve all been involved in ministry in some way shape or form, we are all well aware of what you’re first reaction is – It sounds great, but I would rather spend my small budget in a better way.

Well, I’m here to tell you today why New Media needs to be one of the top items in your budget.

It’s Not Just a Fad

The biggest hesitation that I’ve run into both socially and professionally with my own clients’ hesitation to invest time or money is that they see things like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Youtube, etc. as a fad. In their minds, as soon as they finally spend the money and finally get around to launching, everyone will have moved on to the next greatest thing. If you’re one of these people, I invite you to check out the following video. This video is put together with facts and data from Summer of 2009, but the numbers are astonishing. Simply put, you can probably be safe just doubling each number to find current data.

So Why Invest?

Hopefully, this video will help you realize that some of the social media facts and figures that are presented in here are hard to ignore. But you still might be asking yourself a few questions, especially given the current economic climate. Even though things are looking a little less gloomy, many of you are operating on budgets that are still crunched from the past year.

The folks over at MinistryBestPractices.com have come up with 3 ROI Quality Goals and Objectives for churches and ministries investing in Social Media. They identified three main reasons for you to invest in Social Media which we’ll expand upon.

Communication

One of the two main foundations of Social Media s the fact that it allows people to communicate. It provides simple foundations and tools for you to use to get your message out as well as the message of your ministry.

If you’re one of those people that says, “my church already has communication methods – we communicate via Sunday morning platform, bulletins, mailings, phone calls, emails, face-to-face conversations, television, radio etc…” I would challenge your argument with these few reasons due to the fact that Social Media has some unique benefits all it’s own in effectively communicating:

• It’s Easy and Effortless – it doesn’t take much money or manpower to implement or use it.
• It’s Ubiquitous – since it is so available and pervasive it isn’t hard for people to miss the message.
• It’s Variety – social media takes many different forms, words, audio and image.
• It’s Viral – the beauty of social media is that your message can expand well beyond it’s intended audience – therefore exposing and introducing new people to your cause and community.

Connection

I would venture to say that the biggest reason to use Social Media is connection: connecting with other people, other resources, etc. Social Media is all about sharing and connecting. In the same way you try to create a community-like environment in your own ministry, Social Media is another tool to use in your effort to connect your community.

Unlike some methods of communication, like bulletins, mailings, emails, etc, which most often pushes information in a “one-way” direction, connecting must create a conversation. Will Social Media create conversation within the community? Are people able to talk to you the minister/ministry team leader? Can they talk to one another? I think if you’re involved with ministry, then you will be able to answer yes to every one of these questions. Also, these are other key elements that play a major role in connecting in your ministry via Social Media:

• Contribute – can others contribute in helpful and meaningful ways to the conversation? Are they even able to shape the conversation?
• Collaborate -  does your social media allow the benefits from the collective hive of experience, skills and knowledge from your community?

Call to Action

The final goal of Social Media activity must prompt people to do something; it can’t be passive. You have to connect with someone or something, initiate some sort of conversation, and then have some result come out of those efforts Some of these calls to action might include:

• Go -  are you asking someone to go and serve others in some way?
• Give -  are you asking someone to give either of their time or financially to the cause?
• Pray – are you calling people to act in concerted and persevering prayer?
• Mobilize – are you asking people to spread the message of the cause to their friends and networks?

Conclusion

Hopefully some of you that are sitting on the fence about whether or not to start are helped by this article. If you’re one of those people that say “Hey, I want to start but have no idea where?”, I would recommend getting onto Facebook right now. If you want to get a little ambitious, get on Twitter. Run your ministry efforts there first while following our Where Do I Start? series to learn how to get your ministry website off the ground and up and running. Once we show you how to get a website, we’ll continue that series with a lot of cool other tools to intergrate to help you grow your online ministry.

As always, if you have any questions or hesitations, give us a shout – leave a comment below, contact us individually, send us a message on Facebook or send us a Tweet. We’re here to help you grow your ministry.

Related posts:

1. Raise Money via Texting
2. Learning How to Communicate Your Message In a Very Loud World
3. Becoming a “Digital Evangelist”

Text Messaging

Every where you look people are text messaging. In fact, Americans on average send 357 text messages per month versus 204 cell phone calls. Those numbers are higher when the cell phone user gets younger. 72% of Americans have a paid for text messaging package on their cell phone which equates to 203 million people. Almost 60% of cell phone users who are 13 years old + are considered regular text message users. In another study 42% of teens indicated that they could text message blindfolded. The same study also revealed that a majority of teens preferred text to talking on the phone because it allows them to multi-task.

There is no doubt that text messaging is the communications wave of the future. Any parent can tell you that if they call their teen, they are more likely to get a text message back then an answer or return call.

It is not all that different for adults. While adults are less likely to have a drawn out conversation through text, many would say they would prefer to respond to simple phone calls through text or email.

Do a little case study of your own.

• Pick five adults and five teens, call each of them and leave a message asking for a return call.
• Then pick five more teens and five more adults and text them the same message asking for a response.
• Record the times you called or text messaged, and then record their response time.

I’d love to hear what response times you got. My guess would be that you will get a response at least ten times faster through text and that at least a few of the “phone call group” would text back rather then call you.

I have learned as a youth minister that I am waisting my time to call a bunch of teens to invite them to something or get the word out about an event, and even just to chat. My time is much better spent sending them a quick text or a message on facebook.

Utilizing Texting for Ministry

So, as a person involved in ministry at the parish level, or even on a national level – how do you take advantage of this technology and leverage it to help as you evangelize those in your ministry?

Use your own phone?

Sure you could use your own phone, but that means you either have to add members manually each time you text or you have to keep everyone in your ministry as a contact in your cell phone. Some do this and they are fine with it. This will work best if you have a good smartphone or a phone that can categorize your contacts in an efficient way. Still though, depending on your phone it can get mundane trying to send out your message. You also have to watch out for sending limits, some phone carriers limit the number of texts that can be sent at one time.

Streamline using a service

If you want to get serious about communicating effectively with people involved in your ministry then you need to look at options that will help you be efficient. There are numerous options out there for “text messaging services” or “broadcast SMS services”. These are online services that you can subscribe to to send out your text messages to groups – whether its ten people or 10,000 people all at one time. This is by far the best way to maximize your reach and streamline your messaging. Using a service such as this will allow you to not only communicate with those already in your reach but to expand. If you are finding that texting has worked great with your teens, what if you took this to your parish as an idea to do for the entire community?

Using a service will allow you to effectively connect with groups large or small and give you an easy way to allow people to subscribe to your updates.

Ideas for Utilizing Text in Ministry

There are no doubt numerous ways to utilize text messaging as an evangelization tool. Here are a few ideas to get your mind rolling:

• As a fast and easy way to update your community about upcoming events, or last minute changes.
• Start a prayer chain that allows community members to text their requests which can then be forwarded to the prayer chain in an instant.
• Remind parishioners about a special collection, or a Holy day of Obligation, or a parish fundraiser.
• Remind your teens about upcoming youth group events, or invite them out to a spontaneous dinner.
• Share scripture quotes or inspiring messages on a regular basis to help your community grow closer to Christ.
• Start a text service sharing inspiring quotes from great writers. People can subscribe to your service and you can set a regular schedule for sending them out.
• Send prayer reminders to attendees on a retreat the week after to help them keep going in their journey and remind them of the great weekend.
• Run contests or games using text messaging with your youth group. You can do a “fastest texter” contest on a bus trip, or a text only trivia game. (If you are using a service this is very easy and a great way to get them used to using your customized number that you will receive from your SMS service)
• Use your personalized number as your contact for teens instead of your personal phone. Many Diocese and Churches have made it a policy that youth ministers and volunteers are not allowed to use personal cell phones to contact youth due to their safe environment policies. If you are using a service you would be able to use the number you are given as a way for teens to text you while keeping in the policies of your church.

Who do we recommend?

Okay, so of course now you’re probably Googling “broadcast SMS” to find a good service and you are probably overwhelmed by the choices and the prices. We have done the research and have found what we think is the best SMS service for your ministry buck.

TATANGO

No, I didn’t just stutter, it is called Tatango, and it is a very easy to use Broadcast SMS interface that I personally use in my ministry. In my next post I am going to walk you through Tatango and show you why I think it is such a great service. In the meantime, if you don’t feel like waiting you can check it out for yourself. There are no contracts and you can try it out for free if you’d like or pay for one month and cancel if you do not like it. Or come back tomorrow to read more before you buy. (You can read part II here)

The guys here at www.newmediaministry.com have secured a 15% discount just for our readers. Click here to sign up and simply enter the code “L84OTQCK” at check out to receive your discount.

UPDATE: A fellow youth minister asked me if this Tatango thing was legit, he is concerned with entering his teens information and then suddenly they start getting spammed. This is a very valid concern. I can assure you that Tatango does not give out your list. I also can assure you that your text will be professional looking and your subscribers will be impressed. To prove it to you I’d like you to text NEWMEDIA to 68398 and wait for my reply text. Or you can click this link below, enter your info and I’ll text you back to show you how it looks.

Related posts:

1. Connect Thru Text: Part II
2. Raise Money via Texting
3. Learning How to Communicate Your Message In a Very Loud World

Here’s the good news: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses as a minister. I know that when I was directly involved in youth ministry and as I am still involved in young adult ministry, there are things I am great at and excited to do, and there are other things I shy away from at all costs. Need a poster designed? I’d love to! You want me to give a talk? I’ll respectfully pass, thank you. I think it’s a safe bet however, to say that for most of us, we hope and pray for volunteers and people with skill sets that help offset our weaknesses. For many of us, this means finding people who can create exciting things – whether they are dynamic talks, powerful worship, or well-made artwork and multimedia.

It has taken me several years to learn and grow in my abilities as a designer. It stemmed from a love for the arts and pop culture. Beyond that, it was a labor of love – learning Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. and really, how to be relevant and up to date in my artwork. To say I am anywhere near completed in my studies or development as a designer would be foolish and shortsighted, but I do want to provide any insights, help, suggestions, or connections possible in the pursuit of helping the greater Church reach her goals.

So for now, consider me your newest volunteer. That guy that shows up to help who happens to know how to create promotional ads and posters. That guy who is willing to offer advice on printing your next conference or retreat shirts. That guy who can help point you in the right direction, offer his services, or simply be another eye in the design and development process.

Over the next several posts we’ll take a look at the use of artwork in ministry: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Much like Matt will do when reviewing ministry websites, we’ll look at artwork and its use for the promotion of events or the communication of ideas/beliefs. Art has outlasted the ages and continues to evoke emotions and feelings in those that participate in it. We’ll explore how your ministry can utilize art and design to evoke emotions and feelings from your congregation and how relevant design can communicate a sense of understanding and trust to your audience.

Over the next several months, I will begin to incorporate tutorials to my blog. We’ll learn how to use brushes in Photoshop or vector images in Illustrator. We’ll learn about gradients, textures, and colors. We’ll learn how to edit previously created images in our work to create recognizable, but fresh concepts. And I’ll post links and suggestions to some of my favorite fonts and font sites. I need your help though. What would you like to learn? Give me some ideas and we’ll move forward together in learning and developing our design aesthetics.

Related posts:

1. Why Design Matters: Designing with a Purpose (And With Very Little Budget) for the Sake of Your Ministry
2. The Youth Group Shirt

Well yeah, how about it?

In the year 2000…

10 Years ago, I was in my second Parish youth ministry post at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tempe, AZ. It was my first post as Director of YM and my second full time job in youth ministry. At the time I was “cutting edge”:

• I purchased $300 database software that helped me manage my teens information and contact them in what seemed like cool ways. Email was the best way to get the word out to teens.
• I was online – using AIM constantly. Teens would contact me all the time to chat – many of those conversations turned into some serious discussions which turned into phone calls or face to face time, praying together.
• I created cool fliers weekly to get the word out.
• Relational ministry was the way to go. Hanging out with teens, taking them to eat, having drop in times at the parish center or office.

In the year 2000 relational ministry and reaching out to teens was not easy, but it was simple. In my previous youth ministry job I ran the Life House at St. Timothy’s – the birthplace of LIFE TEEN. We saw anywhere from 10 – 30 teens a night during the week and anywhere from 30 up to 100 on Friday nights. We did simple things, prayer group, movie nights, “Taco Tuesdays”, game nights, ice blocking, “Blitz” tournaments – you name it.

Doing outreach was simple too. Our parish had a great relationship with the biggest high school in town which was across the street – it also happened to be my Alma Mater, so it was easy to walk on campus. They knew me by first name and I had free reign of the school. Our Youth Minister (my boss) Paul George and I would walk onto campus almost weekly. We’d hand out fliers to teens, invite them to our Life Nights, and check in on teens we hadn’t seen in awhile. It was easy for us to make contact with anywhere from 25-50 teens a visit and at least make our presence known to many more. The school had an open campus policy too, so inviting teens out to lunch was easy and our weekly “Pizza Lunch” on Wednesday’s was great as 50-60 teens would walk over to have lunch and hang out at the Church.

Being Christ to the teens and being present in their world was simple and it was effective. Building relationships was as simple as being present, being available, and being attentive. The ministry opportunities came pretty easy.

It’s 2010 and my how things have changed.

Here we are in the year 2010, can you believe it? Do you remember the buzz about the “NEW MILLENIUM”. Wow, it has been ten years since the “Y2K” fears. A lot has changed since then, not the least of which is ministry – especially youth ministry.

1. The abuse scandal rocked our Church in more ways then one. The things we did in ministry ten years ago may never happen again. Even the Life House that I ran – the same house that I went to when I was high school – had to be shut down in the wake of that scandal. The Diocese no longer saw it as safe.
2. Our “outreach” is watched with much more scrutiny. Youth Ministers have to take more and more precautions and many activities are not even allowed anymore. “Relational ministry” is almost void in many Diocese as new restrictions and safety precautions prevent much of the “relationship” of ministry anymore.
3. Campus Ministry is not as simple as it once was. Many schools have limited the ability for youth ministers to be on campus, plus more and more schools are going back to closed campus models and teens are no longer free to leave. Not to mention that there are so many choices of magnet schools, charter schools, career programs and the like that it seems our teens are more spread out between schools these days and it is hard to pick which school has the most concentration of your teens. (Personally I would have to visit four different schools to connect with 50 teens like I once could at one high school.)
4. Teens communicate in whole new ways these days. It is near impossible to get a teen to read their email, let alone answer the phone. I have on many occasions called a teen only to get their voicemail followed by a text thirty seconds later, “Sup?” Relational ministry is difficult to navigate because earning a teens trust is much harder. There are so many layers of devices and technology to get through.

New Technology = New Opportunity.

With new technology there always seems to be a period of worry/fear/skepticism – followed by acceptance/modification/effective utilization. The time has come to stop worrying about new media and start effectively using it. Even Pope Benedict has stressed the importance of utilizing new media to evangelize modern culture. As youth ministers it is time to take advantage of the opportunity offered by social networking, blogging, and text messaging. Your message and your information can now reach teens and families in an instant. You can now be present, available, and attentive in several different ways at the click of a button. With one simple 160 character message you can now invite any number of teens to an event, out to lunch, or to Mass in just a couple of minutes – and get a response instantly.

Ministry to youth in this next decade is not as easy as it was only a decade ago, but it still can be effective. It is imperative that we as youth ministers effectively utilize the social media resources available to us in order to evangelize our youth. Do we still need to do those lunches with teens, visit campuses (when we can), and have those face to face conversations? OF COURSE! But our effectiveness in those situations will be maximized greatly by our use of new media resources.

Welcome to the year 2010 – welcome to www.newmediaministry.com. Take a look around and be sure to come back as we have much more to offer you in the coming weeks.

Chime In: How are you utilizing social media to reach out to your teens?

Related posts:

1. Guest Post: Why New Media Will Make You Holier
2. Friday Showcase: Catholic Youth Ministry
3. Utilize Video in Your Ministry

And that’s the REAL issue – staying competitive in your approach considering the vast amount of media intake the average person consumes on a daily basis. Here are a few statistics from a recent study at Ball State University:

• About 30 percent of the observed waking day was spent with media as the sole activity versus 20.8 percent for work activity, while an additional 39 percent of the day was spent with media while involved in some other activity.
• While television is still by far the dominant medium in terms of the time average Americans spend daily with media at 240.9 minutes, the computer has emerged as the second most significant media device at about 120 minutes.
• About 30 percent of all media time is spent exposed to more than one medium at a time
• Use of the Web, e-mail and phones is substantially higher on Fridays than any other day of the week.

Your audience of teens, young adults, and (yes even parents) are inundated daily by media. Television, the Internet, and cell phones dictate the schedules, experiences, and thought processes of the people of God. Look at the statistics! 69 percent of the day is spent involved in some type of media and at least 2 hours a day is spent on the Internet. Whether or not we like to admit it, it is essential to “live in the world, but not of it.” As of 2010, this means learning how to talk to your audience through mediums that they’re using 70 percent of the time.

Here at New Media Ministry, our goal is to shed some light on the ever-growing and ever-changing world of digital media and how it can be utilized to spread the Gospel and teachings of the Church. We will be breaking open Social Media networking, the use of web applications like WordPress, and the need for good design aesthetics in order to promote ministry and new opportunities.

We look forward to getting to know you and we are excited to share in the journey of NewMediaMinistry.com. Come back soon!

Related posts:

1. Why Should I Invest Time and Money?
2. Connect through Text: Part I
3. Creating Hype for Your Ministry