Prior to the pandemic, one pastor suggested that “not having a church website is like not having a front door to your church building. And it’s hard to welcome people to worship if you...

Leveraging technology innovations for online engagement can be enticing. Exciting new apps and social media platforms can feel like you’ve hit on the “next big thing” – “must-haves” to reach an increasingly connected audience...

by Stephen Trout Do you long to reach people with the evangel (good news) of Jesus, and see them come to new life in Him?  If so (and we hope you do!), you must...

“Crisis,” Clint Rogers notes, “tends to create community engagement with little effort.” Consider just two examples from recent memory: In the days following 9/11, thousands streamed into churches to process life’s fragility and ultimate...

I know an ardent skeptic of Christianity who likes to wear a t-shirt with the following slogan: Thoughts and Prayers Don’t Work. Maybe you’ve seen different versions with a similar sentiment: Thoughts and Prayers...

  Trust (noun): Assured reliance on the character, ability, or truth of someone or something. – Webster’s Dictionary Character and competence – they’re the building blocks of trust. Ultimately it’s not the strength of...

Our culture loves authenticity. You can see it in the marketplace: from the classic Coca-Cola ‘It’s the Real Thing’ campaign, to ‘organically grown foods with no additives’ to distressed, “vintage” products and ripped jeans...

Your ministry’s website is just one form of communication among many, but an especially strategic one in today’s connected world. What should you include on your site? We propose that the answer touches the...

I know what you’re thinking. “What does ministry have to do with a ‘brand?’ (Images of cattle and hot-irons come to mind, but we don’t really want to do that to lost sheep, do...

Emotions are a Gift by Stephen Trout “Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on reality. Listening to our emotions ushers us into reality. And reality is where we meet God. . . ....