I’ve always liked Penn Jillette. He’s my age and I’ve liked his sense of irony and wit in his stage shows and in interviews. He’s always stuck me as someone who is very intelligent and thoughtful, which is a rare combination. Usually, intelligent people are very close minded and not thoughtful.
Penn Jillete is an atheist. Even though I’m a Christian, I really respect people who are thoughtful atheists. At least they thought about something, even if the conclusion is wrong. Most people, probably 90%, have a vague belief in God, but have never really thought about it much.
This is an amazing video. Penn has some very thoughtful things to say about how much Christians must hate everyone else.
Bennie Greene, left, chairman of Media Services for Hopewell Baptist, and Ken Mull, sound technician for Hopewell Baptist, work on a recent Sunday morning to get the churches services online.
Photo contributed by Joshua Norman
MORGANTON – Much like an interactive church bulletin, local congregations are embracing the Internet to broaden the scope of ministry and stay in touch with members.
Hopewell Baptist Church uses the Web for their church calendar, prayer requests and member contacts. Josh Norman, who handles media and technology for Hopewell, said they had a test run in October for previously recorded services over the Internet.
“We record all our services and broadcast them on the Internet. We went full streaming with our Sunday morning services in November,” Norman said.
Along with offering free sermon outlines, questions may be asked and submitted to Dr. Raymond Rowland. The Web site has information about ordering a CD or tapes with messages through the Bible by Rowland. These are free and can be received by following the links on the site at www.afocusonchrist.com.
I do remember one year that I sat down and thought through some goals I had for my life. At New Years, I sat down and wrote them out and formalized them. There were only 3 or 4 and they were very specific and attainable.
During that year, I actually remembered those goals and started to make decisions based on them. Should I do this or that? This lines up with the goal and that would be a lot of fun, but doesn’t line up with the goal.
I kept track and measured myself during the year. Nothing hard core, but I was aware of exactly where I was on the quest.
What do you want to achieve?
At the end of the year, I had done really well on them all. I was shocked at how well I had done. I thought I had stumbled across a new way to make my life everything I ever wanted it to be.
I create even more goals for the next year. I had charts and graphs for the entire upcoming year. I had a manila folder. I was set. This new year was going to be great.
About 3 months into the second year, I realized that I had no idea what those detailed goals really were for each step along the way. I couldn’t remember the details. At 6 months, I had given up on all of them. Quit. Done.
At the end of the year, I hadn’t accomplished anything. I was still were I started and completely distracted by other things.
What do you want to achieve? Pick a couple goals. Make them simple. Make them measurable. Then go accomplish them.
What are your goals for the upcoming year? Leave a comment.
When I reached into my wallet to pull out my debit card to pay, I pulled out a churchinabrewery.com card as well. I laid it down and said,
Web addresses on business cards just work.
“I worshiped with these guys on Christmas Eve.”
She said she’d never heard of Church in a Brewery but that she really enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at Grace UMC. She asked to keep the card. (My vibe was that Grace is the right place for her – but I’m suspecting she might have a friend to pass the card along to who would find a great home at Sojourn.)
Business Cards with a web addresses just work. In a situation where it’d be awkward to try to start up a conversation about going to church while there are 300 other people waiting for driver’s liscneses it’s simple and gets you to the point quick.
WOW! THIS is what using the Internet is about. Here is an organization that advocates spending less money on Christmas and giving more. This is what Christmas is all about.
This is what Christmas is all about.
Now, look closely. Their web site is hosted on wordpress.com, a free hosting service. This is what I advocate you do in my Web Site Starter Kit book. Look at the domain name of the site.
This organization has a free web site that looks great, works great, and has great results.
Yes, they did lobby displays and other, more traditional marketing efforts also, but the free web site was part of it.
How did the movement generate such a massive response?
Church leadership sowed the seeds several months earlier. Beginning in October, the congregation, including children, repeatedly heard the Advent Conspiracy’s call to “spend less, give more, worship fully and love all.” Officials added a blog to the church Web site (adventconspiracy.wordpress.com) and created a lobby storyboard where churchgoers could share ideas on how to give creative gifts of time and relationship.
This is the correct use of a church web site! When things change, it’s much easier to check the computer in the den to see if the church service is still on or not than to drive down there in the snow to find locked doors.
My dad lives in Portland. He said it’s been snowing, melting, freezing, and snowing more. It’s really slippery. This is why I live near Los Angeles, a half mile from the beach. It will never snow at my house. Never.
Church web sites should contain current information about everything that is happening at the church. Special events information is at the very core of why you want a church web site. What time was that meeting again?
Please use care and discretion in problematic travel conditions. God wants you healthy and happy and so do we.
The Portland First Church of the Nazarene and the Portland Christian Center canceled their Christmas Eve candlelight services because of the weather. So did the Portland Foursquare Church , Hinson Baptist Church, and New Song Community Church.
Portland’s First United Methodist Church scaled back to a single service at 7 p.m. with carols, a children’s story and informal communion in the chapel. The church’s Web site expressed what many in the religious community are thinking: “Please use care and discretion in problematic travel conditions. God wants you healthy and happy and so do we.”
Find out how my site beat Wikipedia in Google. Even if you don't know anything about any of this web stuff, you can learn how to improve the ranking of your web site in the search engines.
This book is targeted at the very beginner, people who are not savvy about the web or the Internet. It explains it all, from the very basic, so you won't feel like you're in over your head.
The world has changed. The Internet is becoming a normal part of everyday life for a majority of people. With every new change in technology, comes the rise and fall of businesses as they try to adapt, from railroads to airplanes, from buggies to cars, from radio to TV, from vinyl records to CDs to MP3s.
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Comments
Ken commented on How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Blog:
Thanks for the push, just what I needed. I've been suffering from paralysis by analysis. I'm trying to get a blog started but keep putting it off for one reason or another. I'm doing it today!
Karen commented on How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Blog:
Hey Conrad,
I just found your blog via Third Tribe, and downloaded your AWESOME Seo book. I've been wanting to learn about it, and am overwhelmed with all of the info out there for my non-technically inclined self.
I completely agree with this post about blogging... I've fallen in love with it since starting last year.
Jill Brock commented on New Promotion Page for Free SEO Book:
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. "The Care and Feeding of SEOs" is wonderful. It all seemed like Greek to me until now. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I don't speak Greek. I'm a neophyte at this so was feeling totally overwelmed but now feel empowered. P.S. Love the
Ed Roach commented on The Secret To Selling Stuff Online (How To Avoid The Crash And Burn):
"...keep your head down and move forward." is great advice. I've been blogging almost four years now and the first year was the most frustrating. But since then, I've picked up numerous opportunities and strengthened my expert profile. Everything in your article is spot on from my perspective.
Thanks for sharing.
AcesLucky commented on The Most Amazing Wordpress theme – Headway 1.5:
Okay, after having written what I did about version 1.5.6, I downloaded their "legacy" version (1.1). It's a piece of cake to work with! I've been very productive and admit I haven't needed to consult any documentation or view any tutorials (yet)! And that says a lot.
I like the functionality even though there is a
AcesLucky commented on The Most Amazing Wordpress theme – Headway 1.5:
You might be an affiliate so this might not show, but...
I recently purchased Headway 1.5.6 and let me tell you, I have had great frustration trying to figure things out.
The documentation assumes you already know the previous version and all the video tutorials are for the older versions and this version's visual editor doesn't resemble
Deborah Leon commented on How do I get more readers for my blog?:
Thanks Conrad...still trying to figure this question out. I love the concept, what can I give as a gift each time. Great perspective. What would you want to know about Sea Glass? Fair Winds and Calm Seas.
Andrew commented on The Most Amazing Wordpress theme – Headway 1.5:
Hey Conrad,
I checked out the headway site and then read a few reviews (one of them yours). The promo vid they have made 'says' a lot of the things it can do but only demonstrates the VERY basic stuff.
Do you know of any great sites that have been built with headway?
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