The Ministry at Scale Podcast brings you the latest trends, interviews with experts and practical tips to help your ministry multiply it's impact. Brought to you by Five Q a digital agency with a kingdom impact. If you want to know how to grow your ministry in the digital space this podcast is for you.
Featuring Kendell Stellfox, Executive Director of Partnerships with Kerux GroupRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this insightful session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Kendell Stellfox—Executive Director of Partnerships at The Kerux Group—challenges ministry leaders to stop and consider not just what content they produce, but who it's for and how it's received. As demographic shifts redefine our cultural landscape, Kendell unpacks the critical need to contextualize ministry content in a way that meaningfully connects with emerging audiences—especially the growing Latino population in the U.S.Rather than simply translating English sermons or content into Spanish and calling it outreach, Kendell presents a compelling case for heart-level connection—grounded in empathy, strategy, and cultural understanding. He shares the journey of Pathway to Victory as a model: a ministry that thoughtfully reimagined its messaging for the Latino audience and experienced exponential reach and impact.For digital marketers, pastors, and ministry leaders, this session is packed with valuable insights:Why demographic shifts demand new strategies for engagementThe pitfalls of relying solely on AI for content creationHow to contextualize your message to resonate with multicultural audiencesA real-world success story of Pathway to Victory's Latino outreachTune in to hear how your ministry can multiply its kingdom impact by blending the speed and scale of AI with a deep understanding of audience culture—and walk away with a framework for reaching the next generation with relevance and compassion.Resources Mentioned in the Episode:Learn more about Pathway to VictoryLearn more about The Kerux GroupText “Kerux Group” to 777007 to receive slides and explore partnership opportunitiesConnect with Kendell Stellfox:LinkedIn: Kendell Stellfox
Featuring Kenny Jahng, Founder of AI for Church LeadersRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this practical and fast-paced session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Kenny Jahng—AI educator and founder of AI for Church Leaders—demystifies artificial intelligence for ministry teams by showing how it can help multiply content without multiplying effort. With real-world examples and contagious energy, Kenny shares five proven ways ministries can repurpose existing content using today's AI tools—making what you already have go further and work harder across platforms.Using his MIX framework (Modular, Interactive, Cross-Channel), Kenny challenges content creators to think beyond one-time posts and start building scalable systems. You'll discover how AI can take sermons, webinars, and PDFs and turn them into podcasts, social media carousels, email courses, and more—with minimal time and budget.For digital marketers, pastors, and ministry leaders, this session is packed with valuable insights:How to use Google NotebookLM to create podcast-style conversations from static contentWays to turn long-form video into snackable clips using tools like SermonShotsHow to generate AI-powered email courses from just a slide deckStrategies for transforming key quotes into visual content—at scale, using Canva and CSVsWhy now is the time to train your own “AI doppelgänger” for personalizing ministry contentTune in to this episode for a whirlwind tour through today's most practical AI tools and leave with a renewed vision of how to extend your message without overextending your team. If you're overwhelmed by AI, this session will replace that fear with inspiration and give you a concrete starting point.Resources Mentioned in the Episode:Google NotebookLM – Create podcast-like conversations from documentsSermonShots – AI video tool for generating sermon clipsCanva Bulk Create – Automate social graphics with CSVsAiForChurchLeaders.com – Kenny's training site and workshop hubConnect with Kenny Jahng:LinkedIn: Kenny Jahng
Featuring Chase Cappo, Director of Enterprise AI Division, and Brianne Shaw, Senior Product Marketing Manager, with Gloo AI Recorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this inspiring and practical session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Brianne Shaw and Chase Cappo from Gloo AI unpack the remarkable ways ministries are already using conversational AI to deepen engagement, spark gospel conversations, and meet people in their moment of need. Framed around three key questions—Is AI good or bad? What can it do? And how can my ministry use it?—this session moves quickly from theory to testimony.You'll hear powerful praise reports from ministries like Hope with God, KCBI, Answers in Genesis, and One Community Church—each showing how AI chat tools are driving real kingdom impact. From tens of thousands of gospel-centered interactions to smarter resource recommendations and emotionally attuned fundraising strategies, this isn't a conversation about the future—it's happening now.For digital marketers, pastors, and ministry leaders, this session is packed with valuable insights:Why AI chat is more effective than search bars at starting deep, gospel-centered conversationsHow ministries are using AI to surface real-time needs like anxiety, spiritual doubt, and assurance of salvation—and respond with timely resourcesCreative applications like student outreach through QR codes and real-time sermon video integrationsHow AI chat reveals hidden data trends to shape content, donor appeals, and resource creationDon't miss this podcast if you're exploring how AI fits into your ministry. You'll walk away with fresh vision, tested strategies, and encouragement to step into innovation with integrity—anchored in Scripture, human flourishing, and the Great Commission.Resources Mentioned:Hope with God AI AssistantKCBI Radio – Listener-Supported Christian StationAnswers in Genesis AI AssistantOne Community ChurchGloo AI Ministry ToolsConnect with Gloo AI Speakers:LinkedIn: Brianne ShawLinkedIn: Chase Cappo
Featuring Josh Kashorek, Five Q Recorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this insightful session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Josh Kashorek—Director of Marketing at Five Q—invites ministry marketers into the world of unified data strategy. Using the analogy of a puzzle, Josh challenges ministries to think beyond their CRMs and instead explore how disconnected data across platforms is limiting their ability to truly understand audience behavior.With humor, clarity, and deep experience in performance marketing, Josh shares how many ministries are sitting on a goldmine of underutilized insights. Drawing from a case study analyzing over 225 million data points across 3,000 tables, he uncovers surprising behavioral trends—such as how those who download multiple lead magnets are exponentially more likely to give, purchase, and engage in discipleship activities.For ministry marketers, this session offers rich takeaways:Why your CRM is just one piece of the audience puzzleHow to identify highly engaged users—and why that matters for retention and givingThe importance of asking the right strategic questions before building your data infrastructurePractical steps to break down data silos and start seeing your audience more clearlyIf your ministry team is wrestling with fragmented data, unclear user journeys, or missed opportunities for deeper engagement, this podcast is for you. Josh doesn't just highlight the challenges—he offers a roadmap forward. Whether you're just beginning to think about audience insights or you're ready to build predictive models, you'll walk away with practical steps to unify your data and multiply your impact.Resources Mentioned in The Episode:Five QMinistry Impact PlatformContent Marketing Institute 2024 BenchmarksConnect With Josh Kashorek:LinkedIn: Josh Kashorek
Featuring John Dyer, Dallas Theological SeminaryRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In a thought-provoking keynote from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, John Dyer—programmer, theologian, and Vice President at Dallas Theological Seminary—explores the complex intersection of faith, humanity, and artificial intelligence. Far from another tech how-to session, this talk lays a deeply biblical foundation for how Christian leaders can approach AI not with fear or naïveté, but with wisdom, humility, and theological clarity.Dyer walks ministry leaders through a full biblical framework—from creation to redemption—to challenge the common myth that technology is morally neutral. Instead, he argues, every tool we use shapes not only what we do, but who we become. Whether you're building marketing automations, experimenting with generative AI, or just trying to keep pace with rapid innovation, Dyer invites you to pause and ask: What kind of people and communities are we forming through this technology?For digital marketers, pastors, and ministry technologists, this session is packed with valuable insights:Why technology is not neutral—and what that means for ministry teams using AIHow the image of God shapes our understanding of creativity, responsibility, and ethical boundariesInstances where using AI enhances your mission—and when it might hinder spiritual depth or formationHow to lead your ministry into digital innovation without losing its soulTune in to this podcast for a theologically rich perspective on artificial intelligence, and walk away with a deeper conviction: our tools may be powerful, but it is God who transforms hearts. Let's steward innovation with care, clarity, and a vision rooted in the gospel.Resources Mentioned in the Episode:BestCommentaries.com – Dyer's commentary review tool used by over half a million pastors annuallyY'all Version Bible – A translation project reflecting second-person plural in ScriptureWorship.AI (Archive) – Early generative AI project from 2017Center for AI Safety – Resources on existential and ethical risks of AIPraxis Labs Redemptive Tech Framework – A gospel-centered framework for technology developmentGloo.AI – Ministry tech support organization with AI use guidanceConnect with John Dyer:LinkedIn: John DyerWebsite: j.hn
Featuring Daniel Jenkins, President, and Kristin Sukraw, Chief Storytelling Officer at StoryFind FilmsRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this engaging session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Daniel and Kristin explore the intersection of storytelling and data, offering powerful insights into how ministry leaders can use data to amplify the impact of their stories. Drawing from real-world experiences, including a heartwarming story of a young girl receiving a Braille Bible, they show how intertwining compelling data with storytelling can drive engagement, inspire action, and bring about measurable change.Integrating data into storytelling not only strengthens the narrative, but also makes it more memorable and impactful. Daniel emphasized the importance of surprising and relevant data, which captivates the audience's attention and builds trust. By utilizing Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle—ethos, pathos, and logos—they demonstrated how data adds credibility and logic to emotional appeals, creating a more persuasive call to action.For digital marketers in ministry, this session is packed with valuable takeaways:How to incorporate data seamlessly into your storytelling for maximum impactThe importance of data mapping for more effective communicationWhy data needs to be surprising and memorable to drive actionPractical steps for using data to inspire change in your audienceTune in to this podcast to learn how to craft stories that resonate deeply with your audience and motivate them to engage with your ministry. Whether you're looking to enhance your donor appeal or inspire volunteerism, you'll walk away with actionable insights on using data to strengthen your ministry's storytelling efforts.Resources Mentioned in the Session:Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-jenkins-a3a75090/Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-sukraw/StoryFind Website: https://storyfind.com/Kristin Sukraw Website: https://www.kristinsukraw.com/Lutheran Braille Workers: http://lbwloveworks.org/Learn more about Five Q Digital Marketing: https://www.fiveq.comFoundations of Storytelling – Free Training Session: https://storyfind.com/dmc2025
Featuring Sarah Sharp and Mike Costlow, Truth for LifeRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.When Truth For Life wanted to turn Alistair Begg's two-year devotional series into an audio experience, they faced a challenge: time constraints made it impossible for Alistair to voice hundreds of entries himself. In this Digital Ministry Conference session, Mike and Sarah share how Truth For Life tackled this problem by responsibly and creatively adopting voice-cloning technology.Rather than starting with a tech trend, they began with a ministry need—and brought in Theotech founder Chris Lim to help build a custom voice model of Alistair. You'll hear how they navigated data collection, audio model training, and ethical considerations like consent, transparency, and ownership. You'll also learn how they chose to run the model on-premises (saving costs and boosting control), built editor-friendly workflows, and thoughtfully introduced the AI-generated voice to their audience.Key Highlights for Ministry Marketers:AI Grounded in Ministry Need: This wasn't tech for tech's sake—it was solving a real bottleneck in delivering Alistair Begg's devotional content.Ethics and Transparency: From securing Alistair's consent to publicly disclosing that the content is AI-generated, Truth For Life modeled best practices.On-premise vs Cloud: Cost-effective and scalable, their on-prem deployment avoided per-word pricing models.Quality Control: Audio engineers used AI-assisted editing to fine-tune the voice output, ensuring the tone, cadence, and inflection matched listener expectations.User Feedback & Reach: Since launch, the devotional audio has been streamed over 960,000 times in 190+ countries—including Antarctica.Explore the power of responsible AI adoption in ministry and hear how Truth For Life brought the voice of Alistair Begg to hundreds of thousands—without compromising quality or trust.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeTruth For Life – Official ministry siteTruth For Life Podcast on Appletfl.org/dmc — Listen to sample audio from the voice modelTheotechChris Lim on LinkedIn
Featuring Chris Martin, Director of Content, Moody Global MediaRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025.In this compelling session from the 2025 Digital Ministry Conference, Chris Martin—veteran digital strategist and content leader at Moody Global Media—pulls back the curtain on how ministry teams can use data not just to drive vanity metrics, but to deepen real connections with their audiences.With transparency and humor, Chris recounts lessons from the infamous "pivot to video" era and how platforms like Facebook once inflated metrics by up to 900%. He uses this cautionary tale to highlight a central truth: not all data tells the truth, and not all metrics matter. Instead, ministries must learn to focus on engagement and meaningful interactions—then use that insight to draw people into deeper channels of connection, like email and direct relationships.For digital marketers and communications teams in ministry, this session is a goldmine of takeaways:Why your email open rate may matter more than your follower countHow to interpret social metrics as communication—not just performancePractical steps to shepherd your audience away from algorithmic platformsHow to avoid the trap of pleasing stakeholders instead of serving your audienceTune in to this podcast to rethink your strategy and walk away with a clearer roadmap for using data to inform content—and ultimately lead your audience into deeper ministry engagement.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeChris Martin on LinkedInTerms of Service newsletter by Chris MartinMoody Bible InstituteChris's Book: "Terms of Service: The Real Cost of Social Media"
Featuring Adam Graber, Christianity Tomorrow & Co-Host of Device & Virtue PodcastRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025How do we saturate the digital world with Scripture? In this episode of the Ministry at Scale Podcast, Adam Graber unpacks findings from groundbreaking research conducted in partnership with the British and Foreign Bible Society. With a deep understanding of digital theology and years of experience consulting ministries worldwide, Adam reveals the current state of Bible engagement across 27 “digital nations” — platforms with over 70 million monthly users — and outlines where the greatest gaps and opportunities lie.Listeners will discover which platforms are overserved or underserved by digital Bible creators, the surprising dominance of individual creators versus organizations, and what types of tools and alliances are still desperately needed. Whether you're a ministry leader, strategist, or digital content creator, this episode offers data-driven insights and a compelling challenge to rethink your role in the digital Bible ecosystem.Recommended Resources:https://adamgraber.com/Christianity Tomorrow Adam on LinkedInDevice and Virtue Podcast
Dave Raley of Imago Consulting works with nonprofit and business leaders to help them growrevenue profitably. His mission is to help nonprofits and businesses identify and understandopportunities, develop new strategies, and launch new products and initiatives.In this episode of The Ministry of Scale podcast, Chad Williams interviews Dave whoseupcoming book, The Rise of Sustainable Giving, explores how the subscription economy modelis transforming nonprofit fundraising. Raley draws parallels between the widespread adoption of subscription services (like Netflix or Spotify) and the increasing comfort with recurringdonations. He explains how organizations can tap into this trend by creating a strong recurringgiving program.Dave outlines foundational steps for nonprofits to build these programs effectively. First,nonprofits need internal focus on recurring giving—assigning someone responsible for itsgrowth. He stresses that nonprofit tech stacks, especially CRM and donation platforms, shouldsupport scalable and ongoing donor engagement. He also highlights that recurring donations,unlike one-time gifts, benefit from a well-communicated value proposition, showing donors thelong-term impact of their support. By building strong, personalized donor relationships,nonprofits can see exponential growth in recurring giving.Resources:sustainablegiving.orgDave on LinkedIn
Josh Kashorek is the Marketing Director at Five Q, a digital marketing agency focused on helping ministries reach more people online. With over 15 years of experience in digital strategy, analytics, and marketing, Josh brings valuable expertise to this topic. In this episode, Josh shares insights from Five Q's annual Ministry Benchmark Study, analyzing digital metrics across over 1,000 ministries. Here are some of the key topics covered: The Continued Importance of SEO Nearly 70% of ministries gained rankings for keywords in Google's top 100 search results this year, up from 50% last year. Josh emphasizes that SEO remains crucial for driving organic traffic, which comprises over half the traffic for many ministries. Website Speed Impacts User Engagement While ministry websites showed modest improvements in PageSpeed scores, Josh notes there is still plenty of room for optimization – especially on mobile devices. Faster websites lead to better user engagement and reduced bounce rates. Social Media Integration Trends 83% of ministries did not list any social media channels on their websites, choosing instead to drive traffic back to their owned properties. Among those promoting social, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube were the top channels utilized. Follower Growth Insights The median number of Facebook and Instagram followers grew year-over-year across ministries studied, while Twitter and YouTube follower counts shrank slightly. Realistic Posting Frequencies Despite advice to post daily, the median number of monthly posts was 16 on Facebook, 13 on Instagram, and lower on Twitter and YouTube – highlighting the content creation challenges many ministries face. The full benchmark study is available for free download, and ministries can request a personalized scorecard and strategy consultation from Five Q. Listen to the entire Ministry of Skill podcast episode for more valuable digital marketing insights and to learn how you can better evaluate and improve your online impact.
Kedron Rhodes, Director of Digital Experiences at Crowe LLP, has over 25 years of expertise in optimizing customer journeys. In this insightful episode, he shares a powerful framework for enhancing donor relationships through empathetic experiences. Here are some key topics covered: Why Cultivating Donor Empathy is Crucial Kedron emphasizes the importance of stepping outside your own perspective to truly understand how donors feel at each touchpoint. He provides examples of how changing expectations can create mismatched experiences over time. Building an Empathy Map for Your Donor Persona Kedron guides listeners through developing a relatable donor persona by mapping out their objectives, frustrations, influences, and behaviors. This lays the groundwork for evaluating the journey through their lens. Auditing the Full Donor Journey Using the persona, Kedron demonstrates how to document every interaction from initial awareness through consideration, donation, support, and even discontinuation. The goal? Identify pain points where the actual experience falls short of the donor's expectations. Prioritizing Seamless Donation Experiences Kedron stresses the importance of minimizing friction during the crucial donation process when the donor is at their "aspirational high" and most motivated to give. Never Neglecting the Discontinuation Phase While often overlooked, Kedron explains why mapping the discontinuation journey is vital for understanding departing donors and preventing negative impressions. Through hands-on activities and real-world examples, this episode equips you with a comprehensive journey-mapping approach to continually optimize your donor's experience through an empathetic lens. Listen to the full episode for all the insights, templates, and group exercises around this transformative donor-centric methodology.
Josh Kashorek is the Director of Marketing at Five Q, a platform helping organizations leverage no-code tools and automation. His creative mindset and technical skills converge in an insightful perspective on how ministries can steward AI for greater impact. In this thought-provoking episode, Josh shares: The Existential Crisis Inspiring His AI Experiments Josh opens by recounting the "minor existential crisis" sparked by a report predicting that up to 70% of work activities could be automated by 2030. As someone in marketing/communications, he wondered if his skills were becoming obsolete. This led him to dive into exploring AI capabilities hands-on. Overcoming AI Content Creation Challenges While tools like ChatGPT can generate passable content, Josh outlines key hurdles like factual inaccuracies, lack of unique voice/opinion, and generic sameness across outputs. His solution: provide contextual guardrails by inputting your ministry's real content to infuse your distinct voice and brand. A Replicable Framework for Automating Workflows Josh walks through his code-enabled workflow for rapidly generating branded social media visuals with compelling quotes from source material. What manually took 15 minutes was automated in a mind-blowing 3 seconds! He encourages ministries to analyze repeatable tasks for automation potential. Embracing Joy over Fear in Kingdom Stewardship Drawing inspiration from the Parable of the Talents, Josh challenges listeners to not cower under the "weight of stewardship" amid radical changes like AI. Instead, he cheers embracing your God-given role and responsibility with joy, trusting your ministry is part of God's plan. Whether providing a basic AI content creation demo or translating a biblical narrative, Josh casts a vision for faithfully experimenting with these emerging tools. His parting charge? Use AI as a megaphone to amplify your ministry's unique voice and mission, not replace it. Don't miss this creative thinker's perspective on facing technological disruption as a "Christitunity" to invest the Master's resources for greater Kingdom impact.
Josh Burnett is the founder of Church.tech, an AI-powered platform helping churches streamline operations and engage people more effectively. Drawing from his background in ministry and entrepreneurship, Josh brings a unique perspective on leveraging technology for greater kingdom impact. In this insightful episode, he shares:How AI Transcribes, Summarizes and Generates Discussion ContentOne of Church.tech's core features is the ability to upload sermon videos and instantly generate transcripts, summaries, discussion questions and more using advanced AI models. Josh walks through a live demo showing how churches can quickly create robust small group materials and content resources from their weekly messages.The Power of Unified Messaging Across MinistriesJosh describes the vision of enabling churches to develop a synchronized discipleship strategy with unified teaching flowing from the pulpit all the way down to kids' ministry. AI-generated age-appropriate lessons and parent guides ensure families are receiving the same biblical truths packaged for every age level.Practical Applications for Sermon Illustrations and VisualsThe platform's "Playground" feature allows pastors to interact with the AI by asking it to generate compelling illustrations, social media post ideas, decoration themes and more - all aligned with the main sermon concept. Josh shares how this creative capacity stretches the imaginative potential.Upcoming AI Innovations on the RoadmapLooking ahead, Josh previews several groundbreaking products in development at Church.tech including an "ethical AI co-pilot" for augmenting sermon writing, a social media automation tool trained on a church's voice, and workflow features to streamline operations.Whether exploring the live product demo or dreaming about future AI capabilities, this episode highlights the powerful ways Church.tech is empowering ministries to increase efficiency and impact through intelligent technology.Don't miss Josh's passion for helping churches spend less time on logistics and more time making disciples! Listen to the full episode for a glimpse of the AI-powered future awaiting the church.
Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, helping organizations innovate to grow their impact. He draws from over a decade of experience leading a digital team at a major nonprofit agency. Dave is also the author of the Weekly Wave Report on innovation trends and co-host of the Purpose and Profit podcast. In this insightful episode, Dave shares:Why an "Outside Mindset" is Critical for InnovationDave emphasizes the importance of looking beyond your expertise to see problems differently. He shares how his narrow perspective as a fundraiser initially blinded him to insights from the subscription economy that ultimately unlocked innovative recurring giving models.How the Six "Working Genius" Types Drive Breakthrough IdeasDrawing from Patrick Lencioni's framework, Dave explains the six distinct genius types needed for innovation - from wonder and invention to galvanizing action and tenacious implementation. Understanding these types can reduce unnecessary judgment and guilt while maximizing your team's collective strengths.Why Crises Are Catalysts for TransformationConventional wisdom says innovation happens in good times. Dave flips the script, arguing that crisis is "the mother of innovation." He challenges listeners to seize current disruptions as "Christitunities" to pioneer solutions.Leveraging Your Unique Context for ImpactTrue innovation means operating at the powerful intersection of your God-given identity and circumstances. Dave outlines how pivotal innovators like Martin Luther capitalized on their natural resources and skills within a specific historical context.This engaging episode provides a rich framework for leading innovation grounded in clear purpose, diverse collaboration, and practical wisdom from the past and present. Don't miss Dave's inspirational charge that you were created to innovate!
Corey Alderin is the founder of Sermon Shots, a platform that helps churches transform their full sermons into popular short-form video content for Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. In this hands-on workshop, Corey shares his expertise on leveraging AI to create thumb-stopping, engaging clips that reach people where they are consuming content. Why Vertical Video Content Matters Now More Than Ever Corey highlights the seismic shift happening in social media, where follower count doesn't determine who sees your content. The AI algorithms analyze each video's content and match it with the right audience members most likely to engage. This unlocks massive reach potential even for ministries with small followings. 5 Keys to Creating Viral-Worthy Vertical Clips 1. Captions - With most viewing on mute, having captions is crucial 2. Keep It Brief - Shorter videos perform better to sustain engagement 3. Grab Attention Early - Use a provocative hook in the first 2-5 seconds 4. Leverage Music - Adding the right music can invoke desired emotions 5. Highlight Faces - Close-up shots of faces are proven attention drivers Walk-Through: Turning a Sermon into Multiple Engaging Clips In the live demo, Corey shows exactly how the Sermon Shots platform utilizes AI to streamline the clip creation process: 1. Upload your long-form video content 2. Select from pre-built appealing designs and styles 3. Let the AI suggest top moments or identify them by keyword 4. Fine-tune clips with text, branding, zooming, music and more 5. Preview clips on each platform to optimize appearance 6. Download ready-to-post video clips in a fraction of the normal time The Power of AI to Multiply Your Content's ReachWhat used to take hours can now be done rapidly thanks to AI capabilities like speech-to-text, facial detection, and identifying engaging moments. This allows ministries to repurpose one sermon into a stream of natively formatted videos perfectly suited for each social platform. Corey's innovative approach combines AI's efficiency with human curation to create ultra-engaging content that expands your ministry's reach and impact like never before. For a first-hand look at this game-changing process, listen to Corey's full instructive workshop now!
Arnie Cole is a social scientist and researcher at Back to the Bible, who has studied the spiritual lives of over 1.5 million people over the past 20 years. In this insightful episode, he challenges ministries to truly understand the spiritual state of the people they serve in order to help move them closer to Jesus.The Importance of Asking "How Are You Doing Spiritually?"Through examples from his own family's equestrian ministry, Arnie highlights how children are remarkably open about their spiritual struggles, but something happens as they become adults and stop sharing. He argues it is critical for ministries to directly ask people how they are doing spiritually.Introducing the Personalized Engagement Prioritization ModelArnie presents a 25-dimensional model that identifies 17 trillion potential spiritual data points for where a person could be in their walk. The methodology includes:1. The "Death Question" to assess their salvation2. Their level of Bible engagement, which predicts spiritual trajectory3. Prioritizing people into 4 categories: Need for Evangelism, Discipleship, Activation, or Mature BelieverMeasuring Spiritual Transformation and Discipleship ImpactThe critical metric is whether people are engaging the Bible regularly, which research shows leads to transformed lives. Arnie also emphasizes the need to measure if people are actively discipling others.Addressing the "Hard Issues" People FaceThe model accounts for the real spiritual struggles people face like anger, anxiety, pornography use, gender identity issues, and more. Arnie laments that many ministries are unwilling to even ask about these "hard" areas people need help with.A Free Resource to Increase Ministry EffectivenessArnie's team offers ministries a free scientific study and impact assessment to truly understand the spiritual state of the people they serve. The goal is to equip ministries to more effectively help people find and follow Jesus.This is a powerful framework for personalizing ministry engagement in a way that leads to real spiritual transformation. To learn more about implementing this model, be sure to listen to Arnie's full engaging and eye-opening presentation!
Andrew Rogers is the co-founder of BibleChat.ai, an innovative app that uses AI to help people engage more deeply with the Bible. With over 75,000 downloads and users in 188 countries, BibleChat has been pioneering the use of artificial intelligence for Christian ministry. In this insightful episode, Andrew shares:The Alarming Decline of Biblical LiteracyAndrew highlights shocking statistics like 26 million Americans stopping Bible reading since COVID and only a third being able to name the four gospel books. This Biblical illiteracy crisis represents both a huge problem and massive opportunity.Introducing Faith Assistant - AI for MinistriesTo tackle this issue, Andrew introduced Faith Assistant - BibleChat's new product that brings AI capabilities to churches, ministries and Christian media. It understands each organization's unique teachings to provide personalized, spiritually enriching experiences.Surfacing Your Ministry's Content with AIBy indexing sermon libraries, ebooks, articles and more, Faith Assistant surfaces the perfect content to answer user questions and needs. It remembers context, provides summaries, and can even auto-generate customized Bible studies.Real Examples from Partners Like KCBI RadioAndrew showcased powerful use cases from partners like KCBI radio, Concordia Lutheran Church, and Pastor Richard Ellis. From Finding relevant sermons to answering theological questions in a denominationally appropriate way, the applications are endless.Shaping AI to Spread the GospelAndrew's passion shines through as he describes this innovative approach to shaping AI technology to increase biblical engagement and ultimately further the Great Commission in powerful new ways. This episode is packed with insights, real-world examples, and an inspiring vision for how AI can be leveraged for kingdom impact. To hear Andrew's full presentation and vision, be sure to listen to the entire Ministry of Scale podcast!
Jeff Kliewer is the founder of ViewSpark. He has worked in fundraising for over 30 years and brings much experience to this episode. Jeff has taken his experience with fundraising and, through ViewSpark, has put a powerful way to connect with your donors right at your fingertips. In this episode, Jeff shares a variety of topics, including:Why Customer Feedback is Critical for InnovationJeff shares how ViewSpark customers started using the product in ways he had never imagined and how those experiences have helped shape their product development.How Real-time Information MattersIt is one thing to tell your donors what their funds are doing to make the world a better place. It is an entirely different thing to show them firsthand. Jeff shares stories about rescue missions in Maui using ViewSpark to give real-time impact updates.Showing Impact Means Being AuthenticMinistry work can be messy, yet we often feel like everything we produce must be polished and shiny. But donors want to see the impact they are having firsthand. Jeff shares a story of how one customer shared a video during a massive snowstorm about the need to help their homeless neighbors living in that very storm. Simple and real wins over polished messaging every time. Why Video and Text is a Winning CombinationAs a digital communicator, you know how hard it is to get your message seen and heard. Jeff shares tremendous response rates made possible by the video and text message combination. He also shares why these rates get amplified when you send the content your recipients have been waiting to watch.This episode is full of powerful stories and practical tips on how to better serve your donors with authentic, timely video updates from the field.
During this talk given at the Digital Ministry Conference in 2022, Aly Hammond & Chip Johnston from Virtuous provide 8 responsive mindsets that ministries and organizations can utilize to solve some of the big problems that many non profits are facing today. Personal For All How do we treat all donors the way we treat major donors? This doesn't mean you'll have the capacity to take all your donors to dinner, but it does mean you can send every donor a personal thank you email, call and text. If you have hundreds of thousands of people in your database of donors, you can followup with all your donors in a highly personalized way based on what they've done. Innovate, Experiment and Embrace Failure It's important to try new things and get really comfortable with failing. Focus on Trust Relationships thrive on trust and accountability. Donors have rightful expectations that whoever they're donating to will do what they say they will do. Jennifer McCrea from the Generosity Network puts it like this: “Resources will tend to flow naturally towards you when you focus on the most important aspect of the fundraising process: creating human connections”. Donors tend to continue giving when they feel connected with and have confidence in the organization they are involved with. Value Motivational Insights Over Behavior It's incredibly important to understand somebody's intent. What's their connection? Why are they giving? What's their motivation for giving? The first thing to find out is “why”. Listen so you can understand the intentions of your donors so you can serve them in the most effective way possible. Breaking Down Silos Combining your people, platforms and processes to work in harmony together will help build deep, authentic donor relationships at scale. Be Abundantly Thankful Generosity breeds generosity. Don't lose sight of the sacrifice that your donors are making with their time and money. Rather than treating donors like an ATM, lead with gratitude and provide highly personal and meaningful experiences. Design Plans, Adapt, Stay Curious Write out your plans in pencil. Be willing to fail and learn from your failures. “Some organizations will thrive from this increased chaos, some will be unprepared and some will merely fight it and lose.” as Seth Godin put it. View Generosity Beyond the Transaction There are often so many transactions, it's hard to see beyond it. Ask questions like: What was the mindset behind that donation? Why did it take place? Take steps to focus on personalization in order to best serve donors based on who they are as a whole. To listen to the entire talk, listen to episode #74 of the Ministry at Scale Podcast.
Anthony Elliot is a senior software developer at Five Q. On today's episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast, Anthony joins Chad to talk about conversion tracking and why it's so important. For many people unfamiliar with conversion tracking, there's one big question: what are conversions? As Anthony put it, it has similarities to a spiritual conversion. Much like how a spiritual conversion involves a person on a journey through life interacting with something that causes a change, a conversion on a website happens when a user comes to a site and interacts with the site in some way. This could include signing up for an email list, engaging with articles, posting on social media or even donating. Conversions are important because they provide data in order to more effectively use advertising in ways that actually work. You can start testing and optimizing based on how you know people interact with your online presence. In order to track conversions, you need to know the journey that a user takes. Asking questions such as these can help you to understand how people interact with your site: What are they doing on your site? How long are they on each page? Are they a recurring donor? The process to set up conversion tracking can be done many ways, but the way that Anthony and the 5Q team have done it successfully is to set up Google analytics to track conversions. It can be a daunting task to begin understanding this process, but Anthony gave an example about how it works. If you wanted to track donations, for example, you can create a “thank you” page that users are taken to when they donate. You can set up google analytics to track how many people visit that specific url each day, thus tracking the number of people who donated in any given day. Another way to track this is to link your Google ads account to Google analytics in order to capture which ads are most successful and which ads need adjustment. To learn more tips about conversion tracking and how to do it well, listen the the entirety of episode #74 of the Ministry at Scale Podcast.
In this session from the Digital Ministry Conference, Pete Marra, the Vice President of Innovation at the Colson Center discusses how to get started with risk mitigation for your ministry. Your Ministry is Like the Three Little Pigs In the story of the three little pigs, each pig picked different materials to build their house, one used straw, another used sticks and the last pig used bricks. When the Big Bad Wolf stopped by and began huffing and puffing the results were often disastrous for the little pigs. Your ministry is likely built on straw, sticks or bricks as well, though it is most likely a combination of materials and risk assessments will help you identify the areas your ministry is being held together by straw. Building Resilience Through and N+1 Mindset N+1 comes from network administration. It stands for Node plus 1 which means you have your main node (server, channel, means of communication etc.) plus an alternate or backup in case something happens to the main node. When thinking about this in your ministry you need to think beyond just your data, you need to think about N+1 in terms of people, processes, and technology. The 4 A's of Risk Mitigation Assessment - What is it that you are going to measure to assess the risk score of your ministry. This will be based on probability and impact. Alignment - This is about bringing agreement across your team as to what your risk is and how you will handle it. Assignment - This is where you decide who will head up your risk mitigation plan. Action - This is where you put your plan into action and start building resilience into your ministry. Resilience Doesn't Have to Be Expensive One simple way to ensure you don't lose your data is to download it from the cloud and store it offline somewhere. For example you could get a backup of your email list. Bottom line Pete, wants to make sure that the biggest takeaway you have from his talk is to get started, anything you put in place is better than having nothing in place to mitigate risk. Pete shares many more practical ideas so be sure to listen to the full episode, but whatever you do, get started now.
John Cobb is the Vice President at Ligonier ministries. He started looking into Web3, Blockchain and the Metaverse simply as a way to understand what they are and how they could impact ministries going forward. What he found is that there are three main buckets he thinks ministries should be considering. The three categories are community, content and censorship. Community When he first began he discovered NFTs since he has an interest in art and photography but found that it goes beyond the art, NFTs can also be used to build community and show membership in a specific community. When building a community one thing that is important is owning the community so that it is not fully dependent on a platform that you don't control. Many people think of this in terms of collecting email addresses or other contact information so you can still reach them if the platform goes away. Blockchain and decentralization take this one step further by allowing the platform for communication to be secure and resilient. Content When it comes to content there is the possibility of censorship and deplatforming coming in America, but there are many places around the world where censorship is already in place, and there is a real risk for those who spread the Gospel in those areas. Blockchain in particular could provide a secure way to distribute content digitally. Censorship This topic dovetails nicely with the other categories. Making the world virtual (as in Web3), decentralized and secure (via blockchain and NFTs) enables you to build security and resilience within your systems. This is also a way to future proof your digital ministry. This is a high level overview of the types of things you should be thinking about for your ministry. John takes some time to answer specific questions and dive into details, so if you have questions you'll want to listen to the full episode.
Marketing Communications can be a critical part of your ministry. It ensures your message is presented effectively, all of your resources are consistent so you can stand out in a sea of other organizations and that your materials are engaging your audience. In this episode we speak with Cheryl Brunkow, the Marketing & Communications director at Bethany International, and she shares her five C's for building an effective communications strategy. The five C's for effective communications are clear, clean, concise, consistent and creative. Be sure to listen to the full episode as Cheryl gives very practical advice on why these are important and how to implement them within your organization. Clear It's critical that people can understand your messaging if they are going to get excited about the mission of your organization. All too often in ministry we design things around our own personal experiences which require a significant amount of explaining for others to understand. When you're creating your messaging make sure it will be meaningful to your audience. Clean Reviewing for things such as typos, or grammar and spelling errors, will go a long way in showing that you value quality, and are a professional organization. Taking the time to make sure all of your resources and materials are clean will go a long way toward building credibility with your audience. Concise It takes time to build the right messaging, but If you can not clearly communicate what you're about in a very concise way, then your message is going to get lost, and likely misinterpreted. Consistent There are a lot of moving parts in any organization and keeping consistency in your branding and messaging throughout all departments and channels is important for building your brand identity. Your audience wants to know that your whole team is working toward the same mission and vision rather than a collection of individuals doing their own thing. Creative The world around us is filled with amazing creative and engaging things that pull our attention in a lot of different directions. As ministries we need to be on the same level as the secular world in terms of both quality and creativity. Designing creative materials and experiences will not only get people's attention but it will also keep them engaged over the long term. This summary is just scratching the surface of what Cheryl shares in the podcast, so whether you are in the middle of rebranding, building a new communications department, or just need to breathe new energy into your communications you won't want to miss this episode. Resources: Bethany International The Poisonwood Bible Less Chaos, Less Noise by Ken Meyers Creativity Inc. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Podcast
Shae Bynes is the Chief Fire Igniter and founder of the Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur movement. On this episode of the Ministry at Scale Podcast, Chad sits down with Shae to talk about what a kingdom culture looks like and how to focus on using a kingdom approach to business. In 2009, God told Shae to quit her corporate job at IBM. She originally started out as a software engineer and had continued to work her way up in the company, but she knew it was God telling her to move on because it wasn't in her plans. Less than a year later, she quit her job at IBM with little guidance on what to do next but continued to trust in God's faithfulness along the way. After some time, she got connected to a woman who would eventually become her cofounder of Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur. She knew that it was a God-given friendship and since then, she has worked to help others take a kingdom approach to business. What does a kingdom approach look like? Shae breaks it down into 5 categories. The first piece is identity, which the other 4 pieces are built upon. You need to be able to trust that you can hear God's voice and allow him express Himself through you. It's very much a discipleship process as you learn to build an identity based on how God sees you. The next is assignment. What's your assignment? Does it match up with God's assignment for you and your business? Financial ROI is important, but we also need to focus on eternal ROI. The next is assets. We have an unlimited God that we are in partnership with. What does it look like to operate out of Heaven's economy? It's not about operating for provision, but rather from provision. The next is culture. How does your kingdom culture affect your company, self, and your business ecosystem along with all the people that you touch with what you do in business? The final part is operations. When we take a look at marketing or any other aspect of a business, we need to be asking what we can learn from Jesus. How can we avoid the ways of the world when it comes to marketing or staffing or any other part of our business? The whole point of all these is to help people align with the King of Kings to let God influence the world around us through our work and through our businesses. To learn more from Shae Bynes about how she uses social media and how she focuses on efficiency in her work, listen to the entirety of this episode Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://kingdomdrivenentrepreneur.com (https://kingdomdrivenentrepreneur.com) https://kingdomdrivenentrepreneur.com/graceovergrind (Grace and Grind by Shea Bynes) https://www.johnthecatalyst.com/books/a-catalyst-for-change (A Catalyst for Change by John Bost)
During his time at Bott Radio Network, the director of marketing Sam Rinearson came to speak at the Digital Ministry Conference in 2022. He taught how to personalize your user's experience in a way to build connection and to increase your number of divine appointments every day. Personalization is defined as “the process of tailoring a message or an experience to each individual which speaks directly to their needs, interests, and concerns.” In today's day and age, we've come to expect personalization. On Netflix, we expect to be told what to watch based on our watch history. All throughout the tech industry, we expect someone else to know what we want. Sam breaks data down into two categories: readily available data and actively collected data. Readily available data collection can only tell you what has already happened such as Google analytics and Mailchimp. Actively collected data is the information you can get from your current users. Sam has had success collecting this type of actively data with surveys and questionnaires. He tends to go straight to analytics, but has learned that sometimes data collection is as simple as going straight to users to ask simple questions. Of the data that you acquire, you have to be able to sort through what's useful to you and what's not. It can be helpful to first ask “What do I want to know?” then go and find the data that answers your question, rather than going to the data first without having a clear idea of what you're looking for. Data tagging is an important aspect of personalization as well. Within the audio world, audio transcription is something that Sam highly recommends people to do if they don't already do it. It's useful for categorizing content and for helping people find exactly what they're looking for. According to Sam, you're not going to be able to make good connections with users if you don't have good tagging To learn more from Sam about the power of personalizing your user's experiences, listen to this entire episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://journity.com (Journity) https://finneymedia.com (Finney Media) https://bottradionetwork.com (Bott Radio Network) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgM21wKToxA (This talk on YouTube)
Ken Coleman is America's Career Coach, the #1 national bestselling author of The Proximity Principle and From Paycheck to Purpose, and host of The Ken Coleman Show. Ken helps people discover what they were born to do and provides practical steps to make their dream job a reality. During this talk given at the Digital Ministry Conference in the spring of 2022, Ken spoke about the 6 rules of employee engagement and gave lots of practical tips about how to ensure employees feel valued, cared for, and passionate about their work. The Purpose Rule: Your people should be using what they do best to do work they love to produce results that matter to them. This rule can be broken down into three parts. First, “using what they do best” talks about talent, then “work they love” deals with passion. Third, “matter to them” is about mission. According to this first rule, talent, love and mission are all an integral part of discovering purpose in the workplace. The Expectation Rule: Your people will know what to do, how to do it, and how their results will be measured. After you show people how to do it, the most important step in this rule is that people know how results will be measured. People want to know if they're winning or losing. Stop coddling them. The Relationship Rule: Your people must feel cared for by their leader and connected to their team. There are two simple questions that can be used to build relationships in the workplace: How are you doing? How can I help you win in your role? If these questions are asked genuinely and with intentionality, it can help people to feel cared for and valued by their leader. The Recognition Rule: Your people must be recognized publicly and privately for their attitude, effort and contribution. Private recognition deals with the one-on-one part of a relationship. Public acknowledgement of people's achievements and successes is what happens in front of the rest of the team. One way that public recognition is done at Ramsey Solutions is during leadership meetings, they will do popcorn shout-outs as a way to encourage one another and point out the areas where they see others winning. The Growth Rule: Your people must be challenged to learn new skills and step into new roles. This rule is not about promotion, it's about giving people an opportunity to progress. If you don't give people a ladder, they'll leave and advance their life on their own The Crusade Rule: Your people must see how their work is part of a cause greater than themselves. This is one of the most important rules and ties closely with the first rule. When people can see the value of their work, they can understand the bigger picture. To learn more about each of these rules of employee engagement, listen to the entirety of episode #68 of the ministry at scale podcast.
Chris Martin is the content marketing editor at Moody Publishers. From his talk at the 2022 Digital Ministry Conference, Chris shares some practical tips for maximizing your reach using social media. Just a few years ago, it wasn't uncommon to reach a high percentage of your followers on social media with just a single post. Reaching 50% of your followers was not unheard of. Today, however, the average organic Facebook post reaches about 5% of followers. The best way to use Meta is to free yourself from Meta. If we learn to use social media as a means to an end, it will have less of a hold on how we reach our audiences. One practical way to do this is to focus on driving your audience to email lists or other forms of intimate off-social media communication. If social media is the front porch of our ministry or nonprofit, we need to invite users through the front porch into the living room; a more inviting place where we can engage more effectively. When creating content for social, we also need to also consider the fact that going viral is not always as great as it seems. “Can you help us go viral?” That's one of the most common questions that social media managers get. According to Chris, it's not as great as it sounds. It seems like the most common way to go viral today is to do something that makes a lot of people mad. In many cases, going viral could lead to controversy in a way that you did not intent. Rather than focusing on trying to go viral, the best way to use social media to maximize your reach is to just make good content. In order to do this, Chris outlines three steps: Isolate your audience. Investigate their needs. Identify the gifts God has given you to steward for the good of his kingdom. To learn more about how to take practical steps in order to isolate, investigate and identify, listen to the entirety of episode #67 of the ministry at scale podcast. Resources: https://www.termsofservice.social (Terms of service book)
Tabitha Kapic is the Director of Innovation at the Chalmers center. In this talk from the 2022 Digital Ministry Conference in Nashville, she talks about design thinking and how teams can be better at innovation. Be the solution What if teams started asking the question "What do people need?" rather than "What can I give people?" Get uncomfortable Design thinking can be uncomfortable if you're not used to it. Tabitha uses drawing in the creative innovation process with the Chalmers center and many times, teams don't feel comfortable drawing out their ideas but in her experience it can be a very effective tool. Be Emotional You've got to be emotional and relatable when using design thinking. Emotion is a shortcut to innovation. Be asset based Use what you already have. Be fast and cheap for as long as you can until you're ready for a big investment. You don't have to build the perfect thing before you're ready to launch. It's ok to learn and grow as you go. Get out there Design thinking is active. Do testing, get out there, talk to people, and be ok with getting uncomfortable. Design to the edges Who do you need to listen to? Are there people that you aren't designing for that you should be? Be ready to design to the edges. Find extreme users at both ends of your target market and design for them and everybody else that falls in the space between. Limit yourself Gather together with your team and turn off your computer. Many times, giving yourself limitations can really stretch your design thinking and help your creativity. To learn more about using design thinking to innovate better, listen to the full episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast, we hear a talk given by Chad Williams from the 2022 Digital Ministry Conference held in Nashville. Chad is the founder and CEO of Five Q and gave this talk on the opening night of the conference based on the theme of the conference: Embrace the Race. Chad used the story of his son Josiah's high school running career to teach about some deeper principles. Since Josiah started cross country his freshmen year, he grew to love the sport and really wanted to push himself to improve and become a better athlete. One year he ran 1,000 miles in just one year as a part of his own personal training and through determination and perseverance, Josiah completed his goal even when it meant running outside in below freezing temperatures. He put in the effort to accomplish the goal which is a large part in what it means to “embrace the race”. Another aspect of embracing the race is having a character of integrity to do the right thing even when no one is watching. In Josiah's case, when his coach would tell the team where they would be running for that day, many of the other runners would take shortcuts so they wouldn't have to run so far. Even though the coach would have never known, Josiah still chose to run the assigned route and even began leading others to do the same. The third part of embracing the race involves measuring success by God's standards rather than by the world's standards. Throughout his entire running career in high school, Josiah wanted to make it to state. He worked hard, put in the effort, did the training and pushed himself to do his best, but in the end he was seconds away from achieving a fast enough qualifying time. Although the world might view that as a failure, Josiah character and leadership abilities grew during his running career to a point where he eventually became student body president at Moody Bible Institute. He achieved success in much more important areas than a state qualification. To hear more about embracing the race, listen to the entirety of episode #65 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
Heather Heuman got her start in the digital marketing space 22 years ago. After working as a special education teacher, she switched career paths and began work at a digital marketing firm. After beginning a business of her own, she began to grow that business using her digital marketing experience and started helping other businesses do the same. For the past 7 years she has been helping businesses grow using social media with her digital marketing firm called Sweet Tea Social Marketing. In this interview, Heather shares about how you can do social media well and how can you use it to assist your business or clients. Heather uses the acronym S.O.C.I.A.L. to help her clients grow their businesses and organizations. Strong Foundation Who are you, who do you help, and what do you do? These are the foundational questions to ask when synthesizing your organization's core beliefs. Think about it like this: if you were brought onto your local news station representing your business, what's the one thing that will be listed on the screen underneath your organization's name? In five words or less, it should explain who you are and what you do. If this strong foundation is not clear, it makes everything else on social media much more difficult. Optimize Relationships Relationship building can really make businesses stand out. Reaching out and making connections, even digitally, is a great way to build relationships on social media and connect with people in your industry. Many people think of social media as a feed curated for themselves, but it can be a great way to cultivate relationships and make connections. Choose the Right Platforms Spreading out your content across many social media platforms is usually not the best strategy. While it's important to not put all your eggs in one basket, it's best to identify which platforms you get the most engagement on and focus your time and energy on those platforms that are working. It's more valuable to emphasize quality content on fewer platforms, than to publish mediocre content on many platforms. Pick your top two platforms and spend 80% of your time on those platforms, spending your remaining time on the other platforms. Influential Content You need to be adding content that adds value to the conversation. It's important to be adding your genuine thoughts on things as well. Don't share sensationalized content for the sake of getting engagement and attention, but don't be afraid to add your opinion and thoughts into your messaging. If you want to amplify what your organization thinks and stands for, you need to add something personal rather than simply following the crowd and sharing what everyone else is sharing. Automation and Smart Systems Rather than trying to figure out what to post day by day, scheduling out your posts can save time and energy. It's also important to be interacting with commentors or posting extra content on top of the scheduled posts so it doesn't seem like the business is completely hands off. Work smarter, not harder, and don't complicate things that don't need to be made more difficult. This may mean sitting down and scheduling out a bunch of posts for the following month or setting aside some time to film 5 pieces of content at once, and schedule them all out for the future. Just remember that organic content is equally as important as scheduled and automated content. Legacy and Kingdom Impact If you can focus on communicating in a way that will help humanity or work to make the planet a better place, it can create more passion for what you are doing among your team. If you are not a faith-based organization, are you creating a legacy? If you are a faith-based organization, is your social media presence having a Kingdom impact? To hear more in-depth information from Heather about how you can use social media, check out the full interview on episode #62 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
For several years, Rick Boxx worked as a bank executive. After he was called to follow the Lord, his business practices began to change for the better. One instance of this was when he bid on a foreclosed house before finding out it was going to be worth much less than he initially thought. He was given the opportunity to change the agreement that he signed but knew it would have been wrong and from that moment on, the people he worked with knew where Rick stood on moral issues. As time went on, he wanted to find a way to combine his love for business and his love for Jesus in a way that could help others do business according to biblical principles. Rick wanted to follow the will of the Lord and be obedient to His calling. One year he had two radio executives contact him separately and ask if he wanted to do a radio show on integrity in the workplace. Having no experience in radio, he began writing 90 days' worth of content at the advice of the executives. He figured that since he was writing them, he might as well send it out in an email to a handful of people. Eventually, he was getting emails from people in Spanish and Portuguese about his writings even though he sent out his emails in English. He eventually found out that his emails were picked up by an international company, translated into 8 languages, and were sent to over 1 million different people. After completing 90 days of writing for his potential radio show, he discovered that both executives had resigned, and the radio show would not end up working out without a large fee. Eventually, someone else reached out and offered to host his show for free. Since that time, he has learned how many different forms one piece of content can take. From reading plans on the YouVersion bible app to a podcast to daily 1-minute snippets on radio stations across the country, one piece of content can be used in a variety of different ways. Rick and his team have been able to reach an international audience as well. One man in France had been reading Rick's daily emails for 10 years and was able to take those emails to his business and share them with other leaders in order to spark a dialogue about the Bible. He has seen a lot of growth and change in his life from these daily emails and God has been faithful to change people's lives through the daily emails because of Rick's obedience and diligence to God's calling. To learn more about Rick and his ministry, listen to the entirety of episode #60 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast, we hear a talk from Josh Kashorek of 5Q. Josh gave this talk at the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference and shared about the impact that metrics can have in ministry. If we look at the story of when Jesus fed 5,000 people with only 5 loaves of bread 2 fish, we see that even with a small amount of food, Jesus clearly accomplished a miracle. If the small quantity of loaves and fish were not given, there would be a good chance we would miss the miracle that Jesus performed. Using metrics in our own ministries, how can we ensure we are not missing the miracles that God is doing? There are two questions to consider when sorting through data. What is your mission? What does it look like when that mission is accomplished? It's easy to look at metrics as simply a list of numbers and stats such as the number of donations received in a month, or how people have visited a website. However, Josh encourages ministries to take those metrics and try to answer the question, “How can we know we're accomplishing our mission?” For the Bowery in New York, whose goal is transforming poverty and hopelessness to hope, 429,000 meals served, and 104,000 nights of shelter is their indicator of keeping accomplishing their mission. For GotQuestions.com, whose mission is to answer questions about the Bible, 670,000 Bible questions answered is the metric that shows the accomplishment of their mission. The context of a ministry's overall goal and mission should drive the way that it engages with its audience. To learn more about the impact of metrics in your ministry, listen to the entirety of episode #59 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
Learn, Grow, Go. This is TJ Tison's motto when it comes to helping faith-based organizations develop a culture of learning. Growing up, she always loved learning and has since found a way to help institute learning management systems for nonprofit organizations. To do this, TJ and her team use the E5 system: Engage, Establish, Equip, Empower, Expand At the core of almost every type of non-profit is learning and when it comes to faith-based ministries, that usually comes down to some kind of disciple making. The question is now “how do you multiply?” rather than “how do you add?” and that's where the power of digital comes into play. TJ mentioned that she views the paradigm shift from COVID as a beautiful thing, because ministries can reach a much larger group of people. The key is to shift how we use digital tools God has given us to use them more effectively. It's also critical that we don't lose the community aspect that comes with in-person communication. Another way that TJ encourages learning and growth within her organization is by implementing a rule that if a few people go to a conference or seminar, they are required to teach some of what they know to the rest of the team. This way, they are sure to listen well enough that they could teach on the subject, and the rest of the team can benefit from some practical knowledge as well. TJ is also an author, and her book Killing Wonder Woman is written to combat societal expectations, and to help set weary women free through Jesus to win at work and soar in faith. To hear more about TJ Tison and her passion for learning, listen to the entirety of episode #58 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast, we hear a talk from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference from Ben Martin of 5Q. He shares about the Google Ads grant for nonprofits and how ministries can use this to increase engagement and clicks to their website. The Google ads grant gives the ability to run up to $10,000 in Google search ads for free. It's part of Google For Nonprofits and it's a great resource for driving new users to a website. Anyone who qualifies for Google for nonprofits can have access to the free ads and it allows ministries to run text ads within Google search results. These ads are prompted by keywords. With search ads, you input your budget, add your content, define your keywords, and then wait. It's a unique type of advertising because it requires waiting to see if the content is relevant, if your keywords are being searched, and if your landing page is relevant to your keywords. For these reasons, it's important to watch your impression and engagement results so you can see if any content or keywords need to be edited or changed. There are a lot of rules and requirements for your keywords as well. Some of these rules state that it's necessary to have at least a 5% clickthrough rate, keywords that are relevant to your website and non-plagiarized content. How is that going to help increase awareness? These ads are more than likely going to be shown to people who are not already familiar with your content or ministry. The people that will find your ads are searching for a topic and want to find content that aligns with your ministry intent. If able to fully utilize all $10,000 of free ads each month, that could mean between 50,000 and 161,000 clicks per year. For more information about the Google ads grand, listen to this full episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://digitalministryconference.com (Digital Ministry Conference) https://fiveq.com/adsgrant (Five Q's Ads Grant Guide) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aErjfNnhDnc (Video of this session)
On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast we hear from Natchi Lazarus. Natchi is the co-founder and chief consultant of Open Minds Agency and works with churches and nonprofits, teaching them how to use social media to grow their impact. Many years ago, Natchi had a life-changing experience walking down the street. He saw a series of three individuals, each sharing something of value, but nobody stopped to listen. Nobody acknowledged the street preacher, enjoyed the melodies of the musician or listened to the pitch of the salesman. Natchi believes that the Holy Spirit told him that the ears of this generation are already occupied. Most people had their earbuds in while walking down the street that day and Natchi realized that in order to share the gospel message more effectively, churches and ministries needed to get into the digital space. When Natchi begins working with different churches and ministries to reach people for the gospel, he believes it needs to begin with a shift in mindset. It's important to think about your audience as a singular person. Although you may want to reach a large group of people when individuals are on their phones they are by themselves. Once you can shift your mindset to think of your audience as a large group of individuals, Natchi believes you can minister more effectively. He's also come up with the acronym S.P.I.R.I.T. to serve as a framework for ministries in the digital space. It stands for structuring, packaging, integrating, releasing, igniting, and tracking. Structuring involves giving a foundation and shape to your digital ministry such as God did to Adam's body as He created man. Packaging has to do with presentation and how messaging and formatting are put together. For example, what formats do videos require, where is it shown, and how long should it be? Integrating addresses the need for each church or ministry as a whole to work together and think about the extended audience. Integration of your brand and voice needs to be cohesive and consistent throughout each department of the church or ministry. Releasing is all about distribution. How is your content spread? It's important to think about how, when, and where content is released. Igniting is a key factor in expanding your reach. It can be extremely useful to get technical and light your content on fire by using promotion to give your content an extra push. Tracking is where you continually look at the data and measure metrics so you can learn what works and what doesn't work. It's not exciting, but it's a vital part of this digital framework. To learn more from Natchi Lazarus, check out the entirety of episode #56 of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://www.natchilazarus.com/ https://www.instagram.com/natchilazarus/ (Natchi's Instagram) https://www.amazon.com/Connected-Church-Communication-Nonprofits-Individuals-ebook/dp/B06W9DWP2X (The Connected Church)
Many people have good intentions when it comes to downloading and consuming the content that you provide, but many times they never get around to it. In this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference, Laura Hatcher explains how she and her team at Love Worth Finding have been able to increase their engagement up to 300%. Love Worth Finding is a legacy ministry that uses the teachings of the late pastor Adrian Rogers. In order to increase engagement and help people find and consume content, the team at Love Worth Finding began using bite-sized email challenges to encourage people to make a difference in their own lives. The content that comes from the email challenges is provided day to day and helps to build trust with the users. Before implementing email challenges, Love Worth Finding saw 450 PDF downloads per month. Once the email challenges began, the team saw engagement increase up to 2,200 downloads per month. Simply by changing the format of how content was shared, they were able to increase their engagement by over 300%. If you and your team are wanting to implement email challenges, where is the best place to begin? Laura suggests starting small. Once you start to figure it out, then you can start to create larger or longer challenges. You will begin to see the number of subscribers grow and ultimately it will provide valuable content for your subscribers and will provide an easy way for them to consume it. To hear more advice on using email challenges to increase engagement, listen to the full episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://lwf.org (Love Worth Finding Ministries)
In this episode, we bring to you another session from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference. Jan-Willem Bosman explains the strategy of Jesus.net. Through the use of personalization, their goal is to lead people to the center of the Gospel and help them grow in their spiritual journey. In the commercial world, personalization is already happening. On Netflix, for example, your suggested movies will most likely differ from your spouse's suggested movies. The team at Jesus.net wanted to take that idea of personalization and apply it to the Gospel to help people right where they're at. The first step is finding a good methodology. How do you know where people are in their spiritual walk? Jan-Willem and his team created a survey to solve this problem. When people visit Jesus.net they can fill out the survey and it will put them in one of five stages of a spiritual journey. In the second step to personalization, you need to create a match between content and the needs of the people. To make that happen you need to create an algorithm. One main purpose of this algorithm is to guide people through the content in order to help them grow in their walk with Jesus. The ultimate goal is to bring people one step closer to Jesus every day. Finally, you need to come up with a plan to identify what the best technology is to get these things done. Jan-Willem really believes that this is a revolution in internet evangelism and discipleship. With all the data that is collected, you can see the impact that it has had. The team at Jesus.net has been able to see many people grow in their walk with Jesus, in their spiritual activity, church involvement, and in the fruits of the spirit. As they continue to grow the platform, they hope to help people know God, grow in Jesus, and share their faith easily. For more information from Jan-Willem, you can listen to the entirety of episode #54 of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://jesus.net (Jesus.net) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHpBw4HCScU (Session Video)
In this episode, we bring to you another session from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference. This session is from Mike Sukraw, the owner of Reliant Studios in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mike shares about the impact of video storytelling and tips for how you can find great interviewees that meet the goals of your ministry or organization. One question that Mike and his team like to ask their clients is “What if you could take each of your donors or potential donors to the front lines of what you do?”. What if they could spend a day with a homeless teen or with a mother in a part of the world where there's Christian persecution? A well-told story through video is the best way to bring the front lines to your audience. Although aspects of high-quality production value are important and can certainly add meaning to a video, the story is one of the most important aspects. To begin finding your story for the video, go to the ends of the earth that will best connect to your audience's hearts. When crafting your video strategy, the first things to figure out are your goals and your audience. What do you want the video to accomplish and who do you want to target with it? The next step is conducting pre-interviews. These are key in telling a successful story. The purpose of these is to use broad strokes, to look for the big stories, and look for people that would be the best fit for the goals of the organization and target audience. It also gives a chance to screen for potential stage fright in interviewees. Some helpful questions for pre-interviews are: What's your story? How does your story impact you emotionally? What is something you want people to know about your story? How did the organization help? What would it have been like if the organization or ministry had not been there? Good candidates should be relatable, willing to show emotion, and transparent. They should also have unique story details that serve the goals of the video in an authentic way After you have outlined the story and are ready to conduct the interview, there are a few steps you can take to ensure a productive interview time. First, make sure to work on yourself. Make sure your heart is in the right place and you care about the person. You should also be aware of your nonverbal communication in order to help them feel relaxed. Engage your facial expressions and show you are listening and attentive. Additionally, don't be afraid to ask the same question multiple times to get deeper and deeper responses each time. First, you should get the surface-level answer, then the emotional answer, then the “how did this impact you?” answer. For more details and insight on crafting a messaging strategy, conducting preinterviews, and utilizing helpful interview techniques that serve to create connection, invite emotion, and encourage vulnerability, check out the full episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast.
This episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast features a talk from Bobby Lewis from Love Worth Finding Ministries. He shares about the process of shifting to a legacy ministry and how he and his team shifted the way they provide content. In 2005, Love Worth Finding ministries became a legacy ministry. It had been a media publishing ministry from the teachings of pastor Adrian Rogers. After he went to be with the Lord, the ministry had to figure out what to do next. They didn't know how long the ministry would last without their founder, but they did realize that people were still receiving value from the ministry. Ultimately their goal was to bring people to Christ and mature them in the faith and they could still do this through their archive of the past 50 years of digital content. Bobby and his team recognized the need to be active rather than passive in the ministry and work to find a way to provide content to those in need of it. They understood what an incredible legacy they held and recognized they had an ability to cater content to people where they need it most. They began creating a sequence that helps understand where people are in their spiritual walk and based on those answers can provide the most impactful content. Through a series of testing over a year and a half, Bobby and his team came up with four words to describe parts of a spiritual walk: searching, struggling, growing, and mature. They mapped each of those spiritual stages to a website location that can recommend a place for people to go to receive content based on where they say they are in their spiritual journey. They have been energized by the ability to use past legacy content and are planning on ways to take what they've learned and apply it to other aspects of ministry. To hear more about creating impact in a legacy ministry, listen to episode #52 of the Ministry at Scale podcast. Resources: https://lwf.org (Love Worth Finding Ministries) https://journity.com (Journity)
In this episode, we bring to you another session from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference. Brent Wilson, with Five Q, explains the importance of website speed and performance and how it can improve the online experience for your customers and users. According to Brent, website performance is mostly about speed. This involves the initial load time of the page, important information, and interactive elements. User perception is an important factor in website speed as well because a user might perceive faster loading times than are happening if done correctly. They'll also be more likely to put up with slower load times if they have a good user experience. Why is website speed important? Because the users are important and their experience matters. If they experience slow load times, they are more likely to leave the website. Every customer who leaves a website out of frustration because of poor website performance is another customer lost. There's not much time to wait either. Users make their first judgments of a website within the first two seconds. The longer a site takes to give a user useful content, the more likely they are to leave. So, you only have a few seconds to keep a customer based on first impressions. Users aren't the only ones that matter either. For the last few years, Google has said that faster sites will rank higher than slower sites. Some tips for creating a faster site and a better user experience: Use servers that are geographically close to your users Use good coding behind the scenes Incorporate optimized images onto your website Do what you can to reduce third party scripts if possible You can also ask yourself “Does the website feel fast?”. This will help give you an idea of what the user experience is like and can help identify parts of your website that need adjustments. For more tips on improving website speed, listen to the full episode with Brent Wilson.
In this episode, we hear from Brad Davies of Salem Cultivate. Brad gave this talk at our 2021 Digital Ministry Conference and shared about how AB testing can significantly increase conversion rates, even as much as 1,000%. To start with an example of what AB testing is, read each piece of copy and decide which is better: Version A Turn your financial parenting trouble spots into a positive learning experience and request your copy of raising money-smart kids with your gift of $25 or more. OR Version B Invest in the future of the next generation. This time-tested book is one of the best resources to train your children to manage money wisely. Find out how you can get your copy when you support this broadcast ministry. In the real scenario when AB testing was used on these two pieces of copy, version B had a 508% increase in responses. If you thought that version A would be more effective, you're not alone. Our gut is not always right. This is where the power of AB testing becomes useful. It allows you to learn more about your audience and what is important to them. In the case above, the audience cared less for other parents in version A and cared more about the wellbeing of the kids in version B. Hot Takes About AB Testing You want a learning more than a lift. More important than getting a winner is the ability to learn more about what your audience wants. If you don't learn anything, you won't get much out of testing If you don't document test results, don't even bother testing. By sitting down with the testing data, you can process and interpret the results to apply them in the future. Start at the top of the funnel. Start by trying to reach as many people as possible. For example, ministries may want to start by trying to get as many emails from people as they can. You learn more when you get it wrong. Sometimes the best way to learn is to have the results of a test completely miss what you thought would happen. Processing those unexpected results can help you to change your thinking and make the necessary adjustments. Brad knows the significance of AB testing from experience. He and his team began testing where once people completed a survey, they could get access to a certain piece of content. One test gave a .43% conversion rate, another gave a .85% conversion rate. From there, Brad and his team knew they were on to something. From there, they took that knowledge and kept testing. They tested changing the imagery and title and began to find effective ways of increasing email acquisitions. Through their testing, they found that survey acquisition is the best way to get email addresses and the team eventually found a way to have over a 5% conversion rate. Listen to the full podcast to learn more about how Brad and his team achieved a 10x increase in responses. Resources: https://journity.com/ (Journity) https://app.winstonknows.com/home (Winston Knows) https://www.nextafter.com/research/ (NextAfter Library)
In this episode, we hear from Jason Thacker of the ERLC (Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission). Jason gave this talk at our 2021 Digital Ministry Conference and shared the importance of prioritizing ethics over engagement. The digital age has offered much innovation, development, and promises about a better future. Although a lot of good has come from this new era of technology, there has also been a lot of unintended harm done especially when considering misinformation and polarization in the name of engagement on social media. Technology can shape a large part of our worldview toward a particular end or goal, so it is important that we as marketers, content strategists, and ministry leaders steward technology wisely. Large tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter are collecting data on their users to gather insights. How this data is used can be good but can also be dangerous. They are powerful tools for disciple-making and impacting and informing people, but they can also be used by bad actors to manipulate people and spread misinformation. Ultimately, we need to remember that the end goal of these large tech companies is profits. The most important thing we can do as ministry leaders is to slow down and ask some important questions about how our presence online will affect others. These types of ethical questions are essential to ask as we consider how to use technology for growth and engagement in an ethical way: How was this data captured in the first place? What are some of the things we need to be aware of as we use these services? How is the data being used to influence the behavior of people in the real world? Not only “can we?”, but “should we?”. We also need to be aware that while divisive content gets more engagement and exposure, it's important to consider how content will be received by people. The loving thing to do is slow down, be mindful of your goals and purposes and identify your motivations by asking questions such as: Are the messages we are creating intent on stirring outrage on a particular issue or topic? Are we representing those with whom we disagree in the best possible light? Are we seeking to edify others? Are we trying to sensationalize a moment? While we may lose a percentage of engagement by being more thoughtful about what we post, we can know that we are championing the dignity of our fellow image-bearers as we ask questions like “can we?” and “should we?”. Resources: https://erlc.com/ (ERLC.com) https://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-Surrender-Technology-Neil-Postman/dp/0679745408 (Book: Technopoly) https://fiveq.com/scorecard (Ministry Benchmark Scorecard)
In this episode, we bring to you another session from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference. This session is from Tabitha Kapic, the Director of Innovation at the Chalmers Center. Tabitha shares with us practical ways to bring innovation into your ministry. Hasn't Everything Been Done? How Can I Innovate? While innovation can be big things, like landing people on the moon, but it doesn't have to be. In many cases innovation that impacts our everyday lives can be just as powerful. For example, we landed someone on the moon, before the innovation of adding wheels to suitcases. While it doesn't get as much coverage you have probably used a suitcase with wheels, but never been to the moon. What Do Frogs Have To Do With Innovation? Tabitha shares a story about a time she was on a family hike. They encountered some other hikers coming out of a cave, carrying a frog. When she asked about it, the hikers said they found this frog and it was in the cave, and they thought they would “rescue” the frog by bringing it out where it was warmer. When Tabitha's family got into the cave they found many of these same frogs, it was actually their natural habitat. The well-meaning family brought the frog out of its natural environment because they thought it would be more comfortable. When trying to drive innovation, it's critical to listen to the people you are serving, because it's more important to understand them, than it is to design toward your perspective. So when you start getting into innovation it will feel uncomfortable for you at first, but remember the frog! Listen, Make, Test The Chalmers Center uses “Listen, Make, Test” as their model for innovation. This is a cycle rather than a linear path. Be sure to listen to the full episode to get practical tips and tools on how to tackle each step. Things like brainstorming with constraints, rapid prototyping, and designing to the edges. Resources: https://chalmers.org (The Chalmers Center)
Episode 47 is a special Digital Ministry Conference episode, where we share some of the top sessions from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference. In this session, we hear from Misty Phillip, Founder of Spark Media. Podcasting is a powerful way to share your knowledge and connect with new audiences, and yet many are too intimidated to get started, and even more get started but never really get their podcast off the ground, there are over 1.9 million dead podcasts out there. Misty Phillip has developed the Spark community to help you get started and keep going with your podcast. In this session, she shares her 5 tips to grow your impact through podcasting. Why is podcasting important? Podcasts have become the new pulpit. There are currently 2.6 million podcasts with roughly 1 million of them that were created during the 2020 pandemic. Not only is podcasting seeing a meteoric rise in popularity, but with the increased need for digital connectedness churches and Christians are finding podcasts to be their go-to medium for staying connected, evangelism, and discipleship. Not only has the number of podcast creators grown but there is a significant number of listeners, 68 million people in the united states alone listen to multiple podcasts weekly. What are the 5 Steps to Grow your impact with podcasting? Step one is to start with why you want to create a podcast in the first place. If you don't know who the podcast is for, and how it will add value to your audience then you are likely to get lost in the noise. Step two is to know your who. Once you have your “why” it's critical to know the pain points of your audience and how to effectively navigate those pain points you can really be of service to them. With you “why” and “who” nailed down you can jump into the five steps for building impact with your podcast. 1. Name and brand your show. 2. Decide on a show format. 3. Take time recording, editing, and producing your show. 4. Publish your show! 5. Promote your show. Be sure to listen to the full episode because Misty dives into each of these steps in detail to give you everything you need to know to get started and drive impact. Resources: https://www.sparkmedia.ventures (Sparkmedia.ventures) https://fiveq.com/scorecard (Ministry Benchmark Scorecard)
In this episode, we speak with Mike Henry Sr, the founder of Follower of One. Mike shares his story of God's faithfulness throughout the years, even when Mike didn't realize it, and how that lead him to start Follower of One, with the goal of helping every Christian view their job as a mission field. Mike reminds us that no matter where God places us, we work for him, and can bring glory to Him through our vocation. Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear what the five activities to keep you focused as a missionary at your job are, and how they can impact your life. You'll also learn what a “Marketplace Mission Trip” is and how you can be part of one. Resources: https://followerofone.org/ (Follower of One) https://followerofone.org/marketplace-mission-trips/ (Marketplace Mission Trips) https://fiveq.com/scorecard (Ministry Benchmark Scorecard)
This is a special episode of the ministry at scale podcast, where we highlight some of the best sessions from the Digital Ministry Conference. In this session, Natchi Lazarus, co-founder of Open Minds Agency, shares how to cut through the clutter in a noisy social media space. Why Focus on Social Media This session on social media is specifically about creating awareness for your ministry. When it comes to the ability to reach an audience there are few if any places you can reach a larger audience than social media. 57% of the world is currently on social media that includes 500 million new users between 2020 and 2021. Where to Engage On Social Media While there are 100s of possible channels and it may seem daunting to know where to engage. However, there has been a big consolidation among the largest users, Natchi shares data that shows, if reach is your main concern, you can access 97% of all social media users just through engaging on one or two of the largest social media platforms. How do I cut through the noise? We are experiencing content shock at the moment where the creation of content continues to skyrocket, but we don't have extra hours in the day, which creates a phenomenon where people don't have the ability to consume all of the content that is being created. Natchi encourages that there is still hope for our content to be seen, and he shares three essential steps to getting heard. Listen to the full episode to learn what those steps are, and how you can grow your impact. We'll be sharing the best sessions from the Digital Ministry Conference over the next few weeks so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Resources: https://www.natchilazarus.com (Natchi's Website) https://fiveq.com/scorecard (Benchmark Scorecard)
In this special Digital Ministry Conference episode, you'll hear Chad's keynote speech entitled building a legacy. Chad discusses why it's important to realize that legacies are not just something that happen when you die, they are built by consistent intentional living every day. Listen to the full episode to hear the exercises that Chad gives to help you think through your personal legacy, and the eternal impact you are building within your ministry. We'll be releasing all the sessions from the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference right here over the next few weeks to be sure to subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. Resources: https://fiveq.com/scorecard (Ministry Scorecard) https://fiveq.com/2021benchmarks (Ministry Benchmark Study) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCToxnaZX3eitlnI-erV6RPw (Digital Ministry Conference Replay on YouTube)
In episode 43 we speak with Jim and Martha Brangenberg, the founders of iwork4Him ministries. Their story begins as 13-year-olds, they both attended the same youth conference and committed their lives to Christian ministry, even though they hadn't met each other yet. While they maintained their commitment to full-time ministry, they both felt called to entrepreneurial endeavors and struggled to figure out how to live their commitment to full-time ministry and live out their talents. Through God's providence, they met a woman who worked in Christian radio who encouraged them to put their message of workplace ministry on the radio. Since then, they have done over 2,000 podcast episodes, written three books, and partnered with 1000s of workplace ministries to help Christians live out their faith in the workplace. Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear Jim and Martha share their knowledge about workplace ministry, retirement, discipleship and so much more. Resources: iWork4Him.com https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/strengthsfinder.aspx (Strengthfinder)
In Episode 42 we speak with our very own Ben Martin. Ben is the Senior Digital Strategist at Five Q. He got his start in radio, then has transitioned to internet marketing, With experience ranging from international ministries, schools, and broadcast, Ben brings a ton of experience in digital marketing, and managing the Google Ads Grant, which is what we discuss today. Ben shares, a wide range of tips and tricks for effectively using the Google Ads Grant in your ministry including how to decide if you are going to manage your account yourself or use a 3rd party, how to get started, and even what to do if your account does get suspended. Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear all of his insights before you get started with your Google Ads Grant Account. Resources: http://fiveq.com/adsgrant (Google Ads Grant Guide) Digital Ministry Conference
In episode 41 we speak with Adrian Reid, the founder of Victory Gardens of the Caribbean. Adrian is an entrepreneur at heart and has started several ministries. Adrian has long had a passion both for entrepreneurship and for the church. For a long time, he wondered if the two passions were compatible, or if he was alone in his calling. Listen as he shares how God has empowered him to use both to create new ministries and to encourage others like him. Resources: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Intention-Devern-F-Fromke/dp/0936595027 (Ultimate Intention by Devern Fromke) https://www.facebook.com/victorygardenscaribbean (Contact Adrian via his Victory Gardens Facebook page)