Turning our attention back to my previous 2 posts, we’ve been discussing copyrights and their effect on the church world. I’ve spent a lot of time pointing fingers at what can and cannot be legally done in regards to content. However, one thing that I have not addressed is the question that many of you might be wondering; “If I use copyrighted material on my website / in my church service… what will happen to me?” The answer, quite honestly, is probably nothing. While the penalties for copyright infringement can be unwaveringly severe, the honest truth is that most people who infringe on other people’s work are not caught, and therefore pay no consequences. However, I personally do not accept the notion that just because you probably won’t get caught, it’s ok to use intellectual property that does not belong to you. The fact is that intellectual property theft is just that… theft. No matter how good your intentions are, it’s still wrong to take what isn’t yours.

In my past articles, I’ve mentioned a few resources that you can utilize to help obtain the rights to copyrighted materials. Another such resource presented itself to me a couple weeks ago, which is the education center at Christian Copyright Solutions. In addition to the services they offer, Christian Copyright Solutions has put together an excellent resource library on many different copyright issues, specifically aimed at helping churches.

In the event that all the different resources I’ve mentioned fail to provide you with an answer on how you can gain the rights to a specific image, or piece of music, then there is one other avenue that can be explored. Simply ask the person who owns the rights to the item you wish to use. I’ve found that a lot of people are happy to allow their work to be used to help benefit the church.  By simply asking for permission, you afford the person who owns the work the chance to say yes or no, for which a fairer and more just solution is not possible.

This will conclude the discussion on copyright issues in the church. I sincerely hope that this series of posts has been educational without being accusatory. As I have mentioned before, it is not my intent to point fingers or cast dispersions upon anyone, but to educate people on issues that many have not even taken into consideration when working on the content for their website. By providing this information to the public, it is my hope that the choices you make when creating website content are not only beneficial to your church, but are morally justifiable as well.

Photo by: MikeBlogs

If you’ve been added to a “list,” you will see a link on your Twitter profile showing the number of lists you’re on next to the number of followers you have.

So far, there’s no way to remove yourself from just a list. Once you’re on, you’re stuck.  Good or bad, you’re on someone’s list and it will show up on your account to all your followers.

At first, I thought this list feature was great- a way to make groups of people I think everyone should follow. Example: I created a group for the @mediaoutreach Twitter account for our favorite tweeters. I also created one that lists faithHighway staff, if anyone is interested in following individual staff members.

Then….it hit me…BOOM! What if I got out on “THE list”- the list that no one wants to be on…like…“People who pick their noses?” or “People I don’t like.” Then what do I do? I don’t want to be on THAT list…but there’s no way to get myself off.

There’s only one way to remove yourself from a list and that is by entirely blocking a user. With that in mind, once you block a follower, then:

1. You will no longer show up in their list.
2. Your tweets won’t show up in their timeline.
3. The blocked person won’t be able to follow you
4. The blocked person won’t be able to add you to any of their lists

So, while Twitter lists are new and groovy and make it nice to organize your followers for your followers, there’s something about the inability to just opt out of being on a particular list that sends a little shiver down my spine. I might want to follow someone, but just not be on a list.

Hopefully, the guys over at Twitter are working to make this a privacy option.

In the meantime…Have you created any lists? Or what are some of your favorite lists to follow?

Photo by Ursonate

The votes are in and the winners are:

Taking Back Christmas
Mike Edmisten, Amelia Church of Christ

Kings of Christmas
Jason Gordon, Connexion Christian Ministries

Naughty or Nice?
Tony Chimento, Legacy Fellowship

Congrats to you all!  If you didn’t provide an email address, please email me at kristen.parkhurst@faithhighway.com.  We’ll follow up with you guys shortly with all the details.

Stay tuned…we’ll be having another contest soon for the New Year/New Vision series.

Churches across the country are trying to figure out how to reach people on the internet. Many have been asking us where do they even start. Today, Greg answers this first step in evaluating your social media strategy.

pic by Matt Hamm

First of all, we’d like to thank you for making Media Outreach what it is today.  We have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with each one of you and look forward to connecting with you in the future.

We greatly value your feedback and ask that you please fill out this brief 5 question survey for us.  We want to know what information you find relevant so we can continue to provide you compelling content.

Photo by WWWorks

Church Location: Boston, MA

User Profile:

• Female
• 25 to 29 years old
• Caucasian
• Area Resident for 3 to 5 years
• Attends Church 5 or more times per year

Final Grade: Our visitor ranked this as an above average site with great functionality as well as decent navigation and content.

____________________________________________________________________________________

“The ‘Events’ tab had old events from Easter. However, the newsletter which was posted did include upcoming events for the next couple of months. There was also a ‘calendar’ tab which was up to date. There was not a bookstore section, as it appears they do not have one. However, there was a section about their library and the history of it.”
Our visitor found no broken links or error messages and all the pages loaded quickly.
“The directions section was somewhat hidden. It was under the ‘info’ tab in the ‘contact us’ option. What I liked most about the site was the fact the service times were on the first page. I did not have to go looking for them which is important if I were looking to go to a church for the first time. I also liked the historical background of the church and learning about that.”
“It was very colorful and full of graphics. History was also the focal point of many of the sections on the site as the church has been in existence since the late 1800’s. I did not really like that the blue background was on all of the pages. It was nice on the first page because it caught my attention, but on pages that give history I would have rather seen a more neutral color.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What is your overall first impression of this site?

“My first impression was that it was very colorful. It had a large flower and a verse on the opening page. There was also a small photo of what appeared to be an old decorative church ceiling which conveyed this was a historical church.”

What would make this site better?

“I feel more photos of the church would make this site better. A photo of the front of the church would be great because it is in downtown Boston, so a photo would make it easier to locate if someone was walking by. Also, it was nice that they provided sermons on the site, but the most recent was 3 months ago. It would be better if it were more up to date.”

Would you visit this church based on the site?

“Probably.”

faithHighway Tips for improvement…
…from a design expert:

“These colors look a little dated.  Also, there are at least four fonts on the homepage – this is a big no-no.  For a more professional and polished look, keep it to three fonts or less per page.”

…from a programming expert:

“You’re prompted to download a Real Audio plugin as soon as you get to the site, which will make most people leave. In addition, Real Audio doesn’t normally work on Apple computers or on the Safari browser.”

…from a web outreach expert:

“Having your sermons as .ram files requires users to have additional software that is no longer installed as standard to listen to sermons. By upgrading to MP3 formats with a flash sermon player, you can prevent users from needing additional software or plug-ins to listen online.”

Photo by JacobBotter

Have you started your Christmas sermon series planning yet?  If not, now is the time!  We are doing a contest for FREE custom designed sermon series graphics.  To win, send us your Christmas sermon title by 5pm on November 8th.

Details:

1. Comment on this blog with your Christmas message title.  Post your name, church name, Twitter handle (if you have one) and email address with your entry.
2. Three lucky entrants will win FREE custom graphics, with the option of one revision to the initial design.
3. Increase your chances to win by tweeting your sermon series title. Be sure to mention @mediaoutreach and #sscontest on your Twitter entry.
4. Winner will be announced on the blog and through Twitter on November 9th.

We are excited to see the great ideas start flowing.  Good luck!

CNN.com recently reported that more and more kids are getting on social networks.  Their socialization went from playing in the yard with the next door neighbor to chatting online and playing virtual games with mystery “friends” from all over the world. The concern in question is if all this online socializing will have lasting negative affects on children. Will face to face communication become extinct as kids mature and prefer online dialogue?

What will the future of children be with social networks becoming such a rampant way of communicating?

Below are some stats from the article that are worth pointing out:

• Facebook and Myspace require users to be at least 13 years old, but have no way of verifying this.
• Parents approve of their kids lying about their ages to get on a social network
• However parents are still concerned about their child’s privacy online
• 38% of  teens ages 12 to14 said they had an online profile of some sort
• 61% of teens aged 12 to 17  said they use social-networking to message their friends
• 42% said they use this way of communication every day

What are your thoughts?

Photo by 10ch

Today Greg talks about the pros/cons of using Vimeo and Youtube. We highlight your rights as a video uploader, time to convert files as well as branding your pages in these environments.

pic by ln??

What we love the most about his amazing blog, is how he caters his content to leadership and the church.  As pastors stretch themselves in their role as church leader, business manager, spouse, parent and counselor (and much more), all sorts of issues arise. Todd has content to cover practical solutions for engaging culture, church models and strategy and technology.

But, as a former pastor, Todd understands the wide depth of topics that need be covered for his audience.  He also has posts to cover church conflict, ministry transition, family balance and facility management.

He was kind enough to spend a few moments answering some questions about himself.  Learn more about him below.

Tell us three interesting things about you, that your blog subscribers may not even know.

• I’m actually a pretty classic introvert.
• I was a worship pastor for 15 years.
• My favorite vacation spot is NYC.  My wife and I try to make a couple weekend trips there each year to relax and unwind.

When and why did you start blogging?

“Wow… I started blogging around 2002 as an extension of a church staffing website that I owned and the MondayMorningInsight weekly email newsletter that I published.  It seems to be the next logical step.  Of course, all this was new back then.  There were very few of us blogging; and none of us were sure what we were doing!  ”

What are your favorite three posts?

“You know… I really don’t have favorites that stick out to me.  Someone once told me that MondayMorningInsight was the perfect combination:  1/2 Bible and 1/2 National Enquirer.  I’ve always liked that.  I try to balance great pieces on church leadership along with some of the more controversial, silly, and outrageous things that happen in church leadership.  Some things make me laugh; others make me upset… but I think it’s important as church leaders that we have a good understanding of what’s going on in our world.  It makes a difference in how we relate, and how we lead.  (And… we need to, at the same time, stop taking ourselves so seriously!)”

With a blog that covers leadership, the church and technology, etc., what are you most passionate about?

“I am most passionate about pastors staying in the race.  Many times I’ll cover scandal and falls from grace… but I do so because I want to dig inside what happened so that we can all learn from it.  Pastors need to guard themselves against sin; but it seems that many do not.  I’m hoping that by telling the stories (both good and bad) from other pastors and leaders it will motivate, encourage, and scare us to death to make sure we’re pure and can finish the race honorably and with grace.”

What is your biggest pet peeve when visiting a website (or church website)?

“My personal pet peeve is when content is not updated.  It shows that your website is dated and totally non-relevant to the needs of the users.  Content is king; and it has to be current. “

If you are in leadership and are searching for valuable articles to encourage, entertain and stretch you, visit his blog and follow him on Twitter @toddrhoades.