All posts in Chicago

So What’s Your Story?

by Tim Schraeder on 05/11/2009 in Chicago, Church Communications, Park, Personal with 1 Comment

It would be hypocritical for me to say I don’t think there needs to be “another conference” for people to attend… (I’m part of the brains behind the newly-announced Cultivate Conference)… but that aside, I think that what we don’t need is “just another conference” but a NEW kind of conference. A new idea, a new thought… something radically different and unique.

I’m thrilled to let you guys be some of the first to know about a new conference that’s being put on by Ben Arment (of Catalyst fame)… called Story, taking place in Chicago October 28-29… and yes, Cultivate will be happening at Park the day before on October 27.

Here’s a quick rundown on STORY…

STORY is a first-of-its-kind experience for communicators of the Gospel – the greatest story ever told. It will be held on Wednesday, October 28 at the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois. Speakers include Donald Miller, Nancy Beach, Dave Gibbons, Ed Young, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay and Mike Foster. A day of workshops will follow on October 29 at nearby Orchard Valley Community Church, featuring illustrators, designers, scholars, authors and communications experts. Register for the conference and enter to win 2 free trips to the Kilns – CS Lewis’ home in Oxford, England – at www.StoryChicago.com.

So, not only am I totally excited for this conference, I’m also humbled to have been asked to be a part of it. Me and my friend Matt Knisely (Twitter addict, Emmy-award winning, visual storyteller extraordinaire) will be tag-teaming a workshop together for the 2nd day of Story. More details on that soon.

Seriously, there’s no shortage of good conferences for you to check out, but I think Story is going to do something significant and for all you church communications people, Cultivate the day before will round out the whole week making it something you DO NOT want to miss.

Visit the Story website for details and stay tuned for more details about Cultivate coming soon!

Stop Traffick

by Tim Schraeder on 05/04/2009 in Chicago, Church Communications, Examples, Park with No comments

Stop Traffick from Park Community Church on Vimeo.

I’m so excited about this.

Park has a ministry called The Just Life, which is completely ran by volunteers who are passionate about living out Micah 6:8 which says to “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before our God.”

Social justice is “in” right now – everyone is talking about it, but it’s long since been God’s heart, to free those who are oppressed and to right that which is wrong.

A team from The Just Life started an anti-human trafficking task force to address trafficking that’s happening here in Chicago, mainly in the form of forced labor.

The team, TraffickFree, has done an incredible job of creating grassroots momentum around their ministry and has organized an entire anti-human trafficking week which will hit the streets of Chicago and create awareness from May 16-21.

The thing that is so awesome about all of this is that it’s all be run by volunteers… the ideas, the branding and graphics, their website, media, EVERYTHING.

I know as church communications people we oftentimes like to have control over everything, but I’m a firm believer that if you let people run with something (with the right tools in hand) they can create something incredible. (And something you’d never be able to on your own.)

I’m so excited and proud of this team and expectant for what will happen as a result of their efforts.

Learn more about StopTraffick by visiting their website.

Go Into the (Online) World…

by Tim Schraeder on 04/09/2009 in Chicago, Church Communications, Social Media, Web & Email with No comments

The Great Commission.

At the end of the day, no matter what capacity you serve in the Church or in ministry, that is why we do what we do.

The “world” as we know it has changed.

We no longer need to go to the world to reach the world.

Well, of course we still need people “going” – that’s a no-brainer. BUT, our world is getting smaller and our ability to go to the world is as easy as a click of a mouse.

All that being said I heard two things today that helped give me some perspective:

Facebook is bigger than all but four the countries in the world. It just passed 200 million users… (via @michaelhyatt
32% of the influential churches in America are on Facebook (via @toddrhoades) …

So… here’s my take on all this.

32% isn’t a big number.

In fact, I think it’s way too small.

I recently talked with a friend whose church blocks employees from going to Facebook. I nearly wept. Seriously?

We have an unprecedented opportunity to expand our reach through the different networks that social media opens up to us.

And, social media is exploding.

I’ve talked a bit about how Park uses Twitter, but since today’s theme is Facebook, I wanted to take a second to talk about how we’re leveraging Facebook. We’re not experts and have a long way to go, but we’re getting there.

We’ve been using Facebook at Park for awhile – first through groups and more recently with Pages.

There are quite a few Park Facebook Groups, and through them, although there is some overlap, we’re connected to close to 2,000 people.

And more recently, we started our Facebook Page back in November and are just crossed over 850 “fans.”

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant about using Facebook, I wasn’t sure if people would utilize it as a means to connect with us, but the more we’re putting out there, the more people are engaging.

And the thing about Facebook that is so exciting to me is that as our people participate and RSVP to Events we post, or comment on photos or videos we post, their friends (who we may have never had the chance to connect with before) are now seeing that “Joe” is attending our Easter services, or that “Jane” commented on a video we posted. And there is a seed planted.

Bottom line: we’ve got to be out there.

We’ve got to be where people are at. We’ve got make our content more accessible to them in a platform they already use and not try and create our own.

Be it Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or whatever…we need to GO to where they are online!

While some churches have varying demographics, at the end of the day, as the world interacts and communicates more and more online, the church needs to be present online, or we’ll risk becoming irrelevant.

And churches that are making the moves and strides to be more present online are the ones that are going to become most effective at reaching people in the future.

If your church blocks Facebook or other social media, have the tough convo, say what needs to be said… there’s a whole world out there (online) that needs you there!

If your church continues to avoid being online it will run the risk of going offline.

Go into the online world… and proclaim the message of the Gospel!