A picture that's worth 4 words

Note: names and places have been hidden to protect the incredibly guilty.

In my last post...and others before it...I said that your church Facebook page should look like your church. And I talked mostly about content and how the content of your page should be a microcosm of what your church really does.

This should also go for pictures.

A few weeks ago was invited to "like" the church facebook page for a local church. I clicked on their page to check it out. The first thing I saw was their banner picture at the top of the page. It was beautiful: a sunset scene over a picturesque mountain lake.

There was one problem: this church is in Indiana. This actual scene doesn't exist anywhere within a thousand miles of this church.


It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes a picture is worth 4 words: "that's not your church."

Please don't use stock photos. Its so easy to get good photos of your own stuff, there's no excuse.

Let me show you three pictures that are a dead giveaway that this picture doesn't belong to your church.

1. The perfectly diverse group of young people




I want diversity. I love diversity. But don't advertise your church as diverse if it's not. I won't meet any of these people at your church. This is not your youth group. Your youth group is full of awkward white kids with pimples. And that's ok. If you want to work towards racial diversity do it in real life, not with stock photos.

2. The ridiculously beautiful scenery




I'm pretty sure that has to be the hill from the sermon on the mount. One problem: that happened in the Middle East, not the Midwest. This is not where your church is. The scenery around your church is strip malls and cornfields.

3. The unbelievably perfect Jesus picture




Yes, people should encounter Jesus at your church. But at no time in history did the above picture actually happen. Jesus didn't hang on a perfect cross with perfect lighting and pose for iconic pictures. And he probably wasn't white, because that would have freaked out absolutely everybody around him who also was not white.

Ok, so what pictures should you use?

1. Your people. Ask them first. Most people are totally cool with it.

2. Your place. Take a picture of your sanctuary. Your people are really proud of it.

3. Your events. Is something big happening? Are the kids everywhere? Are your people serving? Snap a pic.

Doing a church Facebook page right

I've noticed a growing trend where churches finally have understood the importance of having a church Facebook page, but have no idea what to put on it.

While I firmly believe that your personal Facebook page is a much better tool for reaching people, your church Facebook page will also play an important role. we've even found that for some, this is the first place they discover our church. Here's a list of 4 things you need to know to do your church Facebook page right.

1. This is not just for youth.




Our statistics show that women between the ages of 25-54 make up almost 50% of all of our page's likes. I've seen this to be pretty common across the board. So don't gear your page towards the youth. If they ARE posting on there a lot, give them their own page. Because...


2. Your church Facebook page should look like your church

If the Facebook page only contains info on the youth group, or some other group, you're doing it wrong. Your page should be a microcosm of what your church actually does. If I get on and only see info about the quilting committee, that's all I'll think your church does. One certain way to fix that...


3. Have several page managers.

People post what's important to them. So if the youth leader or the quilting committee chairwoman are the only managers of your Facebook page, that's all you'll see. Make the heads of different ministries managers and allow them to post as the church. This will provide a nice diverse range of info on the page.


4. Your Facebook page matters to your web page

A referral is when someone finds a link for your website on another page and clicks on it. Statistics show that for church web pages, over 50% of referrals come from their Facebook page. Have your link for your web page everywhere. As long as your web page is good. Don't send them there if it stinks. Your web page should have the more permanent information about your church, but it must also be updated and fresh. I don't want to see past advent stuff in March. It makes it seem as if your church is behind.

Pastoring My Twitter Community

Being a pastor on Twitter has a couple of very important things in common with being a pastor in my community. 1) Christian love is of the utmost importance. 2) It still takes boldness and faith to reach out to others

Let me tell you a story. Yesterday morning, as is my custom, I checked my Twitter feed just to see what was going on. I follow a lot of different people, including athletes. One of the athletes I follow is Chris Spielman. If you don't know who he is, I'm not sure why we're friends, but he was a great linebacker for the Buckeyes, as well as in the pros, and is an incredible man of faith.

I saw a retweet from him from a guy asking him to let others know about a website where they can donate to help raise money for his son who is in the hospital with stage 4 cancer.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link and read the short story about this boy, 1 of 6 siblings, who two weeks ago was diagnosed with neuroplastoma. He's only 2. I noticed that in the original tweet, this man had his location service turned on, which shows a map of where he tweeted from. He was only a couple of miles from my church.

I decided to reach out, and I sent a tweet to this guy letting him know that I was about to head to the children's hospital where his son was for another visit, and could I visit him.

He replied quickly and asked if I had left yet, because he needed a ride. In trying to pay for his son's medical care, he had lost his job and his car and had no way of getting to him. So I went and picked him up. What ensued was a 20 minute car ride of sharing and ministry.

His son was surrounded by family in his room, and so I left them to themselves, making my own visit, and praying for the family.

Later, I gave him and the boy's mother and one of his brothers a ride back home. We talked about church, about parenting, about struggles that we go through.

They thanked me as we pulled into their driveway and they exited the car.

I pulled out and said my own prayer of thanks. Thank you God for allowing our paths to cross. Thank you Chris Spielman for the retweet that brought us together. Thank you Twitter for allowing us new ways to connect. Thank you Jesus for never ceasing to amaze me in how your work in our lives.

Two new must have iPad apps for church people

I just found two new apps I wanted to share with people who work in churches.

The first is for pastors and is called "Sermon Design for Preachers." can you guess what this app does?





I forget how much it is (maybe $5) but its worth it. Does everything that Notability does, but also categorizes your sermons for you by both title and scripture automatically. You can audio record and time your sermons while you preach and insert them in outline or manuscript form. It's pretty sweet. Apparently, they're looking to attach a Bible app to it to import scripture from. Hopefully YouVersion.

The second app is for worship leaders and is called OnSong.





Also around $5, but this thing is legit. If you are a worship leader and have an iPad, you need to have this. Connects with your Rockin' with the Cross account to import songs, amongst other sites. Allows you to edit, add notes, transpose, and even creates slides for you for the songs. IT MAKES THE SLIDES PEOPLE. And you can share this stuff with your whole band. Great, great app.

If you find any other good ones, let me know.