Winter 2013
The theme for Winter 2013 is “New Media Trends.”
It's worse than you think...
According to a May 2013, PewInternet survey on American adults use of the Internet, most individuals prefer to go online to take care of various tasks in their lives such as banking (61 percent), getting news (78 percent), and communicating with friends (88 percent). Yet online giving, despite recent growth, remains behind as only 50 percent of adults go online to make a donation to a charity. Worse still is that online giving typically makes up ...
Deeper engagement in an instant world
Early predictions of virtual reality (VR) promised high-tech suits with headgear designed to digitally simulate the “real world” and let us stroll the streets of Paris from the comfort of our living rooms. Alas, I never got my VR helmet.
Today, virtual reality takes the form of people who are physically present in one location, but mentally (and often emotionally) somewhere else. Instead of being trans...
What's your video strategy?
Video is everywhere. According to YouTube’s own statistics, more than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month, and over 6 billion hours of video are watched on their site every month. And by the way, that is up 50 percent from last year.
Last night, I visited Kickstarter’s site. On it, people get to read text, look at pictures, and yes, watch videos about projects they might be interested in...
It's one shift you can't afford to miss!
If you’ve been around CLA circles for long, Bobb Biehl is a name you’ll recognize. It’s no exaggeration to say Bobb’s a genius — a thoughtful leader who has mentored and influenced countless ministry leaders over nearly four decades.
So why talk about Bobb at the beginning of an article on creating a successful mobile digital strategy? Because one of Bobb’s favorite sayings forms the ...
The key trends that will impact ministries
As we look to the various trends that will impact Christian nonprofits in the coming months, one that is critical to understand is related to giving. With donations being the lifeblood of Christian nonprofits, it’s important to understand the state of play and what could affect giving as we move forward.
There are three trends that I see bubbling to the surface that are especially important to understand:<...
As Director of Marketing for the National Christian Foundation (NCF), Pearlina Simmons knows a thing or two about the role technology plays in the nonprofit sector. Since it was co-founded in 1982 by Larry Burkett and Terry Parker, NCF has been helping donors give — and give wisely — to multiply their impact and glorify God. As technology has grown and changed, so too has NCF as they help givers and organizations best use technology to further the kingdom of God. Here, Simmons ...
Being strategic about online giving
We live in a day and age when relationships have changed from “How are you?” to a “like” on Facebook. Our retail stores are being put out of business by stay-at-home moms selling hundreds of thousands of dollars in Guess jeans and Fossil watches.
The other day I walked into Boscov’s at our local mall and could sense the impact of their competitive struggle with eBay, Amazon, Craigslist,...
Spreading the fragrance of Christ
I went into internet Evangelism in the early 1990s. Interestingly, at about that time, I heard a quote by one European pastor who said the gospel should only be preached in church buildings by ordained ministers of the gospel.
That perspective is unbiblical since Scripture calls us to spread the fragrance of Christ by all possible means. We’re to preach on hillsides, in boats, in marketplaces, in synagogues and by the h...
Digital technology is changing how we all do ministry
In February, research and advisory firm, Forrester Research (forrester.com) released its “Mobile Trends for Marketers” and “Interactive Marketing Predictions” for 2013. These studies show more clearly than ever just how much Christian ministries must rapidly embrace technological change in order to reach their perpetually connected audiences.
Connec...
Dr. David Bourgeois on strategies an best practices in a post-website world
What prompted you to write Ministry in the Digital Age?
I finished my Ph.D. dissertation in 2006, and took time off the following summer to focus on how ministries are using technology. I found that no one was really doing research in this area, so my thinking was to do research on what’s actually working. I spent the next two or three years wor...