All posts tagged Examples

The Forgotten Way, Part 2

by Tim Schraeder on 09/18/2009 in Church Communications, Examples with No comments

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video that my friend Blaine and his team at Willow Creek put together to promote Willow’s new series “The Forgotten Way.”

Today he posted the “opening credits.”

Absolutely love it.

THE FORGOTTEN WAY PT. 2 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

Park’s Summer Baptism

by Tim Schraeder on 07/28/2009 in Park with No comments

One of the highlights of the year at Park is our summer baptism.

Early on a Sunday morning in July hundreds of people gather at North Avenue Beach to witness people going public with their faith in Christ by being baptized in Lake Michigan.

It’s definitely a moving sight to see with the city skyline as a dramatic background and reminder of why we are here and the people we are called to reach.

Here’s our highlight video, courtesy of Jason Widney and some of our volunteer photographers.

Summer Baptism 2009 from Park Community Church on Vimeo.

Alpha Course Promo

by Tim Schraeder on 04/07/2009 in Church Communications, Examples with No comments

If you’ve been involved in the church world for any stretch of time you’ve more than likely heard of the Alpha Course.

Alpha began in the UK and was created by Nicky Gumble to provide a space for people to explore, discuss and discover the Christian faith in a small group atmosphere. Thousands of people around the world have participated in Alpha.
We’ve run the Alpha Course for a few years at Park and have seen many people go into the course questioning their faith or belief in God, and through the process of the course, cross the line of faith and express a personal commitment to Christ.
Alpha produces a number of promotional pieces for churches to use to promote the course that are all good, but weren’t really answering questions people in our church were asking.
Most of the Alpha created promo materials tend to center around the question, “is there more to life than this?”
Some examples of Alpha’s promo videos for churches:


Is there more to life than this? Alpha Cinema Video from Winston Tjong-Ayong on Vimeo.


Is there more to life? Alpha course from Winston Tjong-Ayong on Vimeo.

The challenge for us was that wasn’t a question people were asking. People who were taking Alpha at Park were asking tougher questions, centered on some harder ideas and thoughts, other than just the, “is this all there is?” question.
When I met with the Alpha coordinator about promoting our next round of the course at Park we agreed we needed to do something different.
We needed something that looked and felt more like Park, our people, and our context. We didn’t want to re-use the same stuff we had been using, and at the same time we didn’t think we wanted to use someone’s testimony who had taken the course before. (Stories are great, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I think we can over-use them.)
More than saying “here’s a place to explore your faith,” we found we wanted to change the tone and say, “this is a place where you can come with your questions and find the answer…”
With some inspiration from a church in the UK, we compiled a list of common questions that people asked over the past few sessions of the course. Then Jason Widney, our Media Arts Director, and Kirby, an actress who attends Park, took the idea and made something that I think is incredibly compelling. But don’t take my word, see for yourself:


Got Questions? We’ve Got a Place For You to Find the Answers. from Park Community Church on Vimeo.

Moral of the story: Context, context, context. Answer questions people are really asking. When your’re communicating, use a language and voice that’s reflective of the people you’re reaching. Be creative! Don’t pre-package stuff… be original (or at least take your own spin on something that’s already out there). And don’t be afraid to re-invent the wheel if you need to. Just because something is good doesn’t mean it can’t be better.

Communications Revolution part 4 :: TheCommon.org

by Tim Schraeder on 02/13/2009 in Examples, Park, Social Media, Web & Email with 3 Comments


It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about our “Communications Revolution” at Park.

If you are a newer reader, I’ve been blogging about how we’ve changed the way we communicate at Park: using texting, updating our logo, and moving to doing a monthly program instead of a weekly.

Today I want to talk to you about how we’re changing the way we do volunteering, as well as connecting our church community to one another.

Last spring I went to visit Mars Hill Bible Church with some friends. It happened to be the day they were talking about a new initiative some developers in their church had created called TheCommon.org.

Like any church (especially one that is large), they were struggling with how to connect people to volunteer opportunities, as well as how to manage requests people were making for classified-type requests: people needing household items, rides, help around the house, needs for clothing, etc.

Mars Hill began emailing out a list of ways for people could get involved and volunteer, as well as needs that had been expressed by people in their community, but it wasn’t working.

Then TheCommon.org came into reality.

Thecommonlogosmall

What it’s not…

  • A Christian social networking site
  • ‘Craigslist’ for churches
  • Another annoying idea

What it is…

  • A tool to connect people with needs to people with abilities
  • A means to flatten communication… meaning that we don’t have to go through a heirarchy or a process… people do this on their own and staff and volunteers simply moderate to make sure everything is above board.
  • A way for people within your church community to express a need

How it works…

  • People register in-person at your church… yeah, in person. They can pre-register from home, but they have to show up in-person and show a photo ID to verify themselves for use of TheCommon.org. It might sound crazy, but it’s a simple step for safety to ensure people are who they say they are and that they actually attend your church.
  • Users create a profile listing their abilities (i.e. “I can paint…”, “I want to help with tutoring opportunities..”, “I can give someone a ride…”).
  • Needs and opportunities are posted by church staff, partner ministries, or other users, and are categorized (i.e. “We need someone to paint..”, “Kids need tutoring…”, “I need a ride to O’Hare…”)
  • TheCommon.org then notifies users who have abilities that match a need and let’s them know there’s an opportunity for them to get involved.
  • If they are interested, they join and are put into direct contact with one another to make the need or project happen.

It’s really that simple.

How It’s Worked for Us (Already)
Common1

We launched TheCommon.org last Sunday. Ben Gott, one of the co-creators of TheCommon and one of the brains behind The Brilliance blog was here to help introduce it to our church.

It may be a bit premature to blog about it (I was going to wait), but we’ve already had a cool story emerge from it:

  • A single mom joined TheCommon.org on Sunday morning.
  • On Sunday night she posted a need saying she was having challenges getting ready for her first baby.
  • On Monday I saw the need and let our Family Ministry Assistant know about it.
  • She reached out to some of Moms Groups about the need.
  • Turns out one of the Moms Groups meets 2 blocks away from where the mom lives and meets on her day off.
  • They’ve already reached out to her and between all of them will help her to get everything she needs.
  • All because we created a space to let her voice be heard.

We’ve also had a guy who needed a wrench to fix his sink find one, but that story isn’t as cool!

So far…

  • We have close to 600 people on TheCommon.org
  • We’ve reached out and trained six of our Partner Ministries (ministries in the city we support and send volunteers to) on how to use TheCommon, so they are posting needs and connecting with people in our church community who can help.
  • We have 60 active projects people can get involved in.
  • Close to 100 people have already committed to volunteering on the projects.
  • And we’ve only had this up and running for six days.

There’s a lot more I could say about it, but at a very simple level, we know TheCommon.org is going to revolutionize the way we do volunteering, the way we communicate needs and opportunities, and will help our “big” church feel “smaller” as people have a way to interact with one another and express a need and reach out for help.

I’m a fan. And for our context, this is a perfect way to get the job done effiicently.

If you’re curious about learning more, feel free to shoot me an email or read more about TheCommon.org on their website.

← Older Entries