JC is ONLINE

I know I don’t post alot of my production stuff, but I thought this might help someone. The following video is week 1 of a set of 8 week Basketball Devotions for 1st and 2nd graders. We had a volunteer draw some pictures of key parts of the story. I scanned those pictures in and used some simple keyframe animations to help “illustrate” the story. I used Motion 3 for this project but the keyframes could have been done in another video editing program just as easy. Anyway, this was a year ago and gives you a great alternative to professional illustrations!


View on Vimeo.

Now usually I’ll give you my own personal insights but I really want you to go check out this post by Kem Meyer. And if you don’t already subscribe to her and you are loving this Marketing Series, then you would be hurting your growth in this area if you didn’t subscribe to her blog.

Now she goes very corporate to give you a picture of what the Identity Crisis looks like with brands. However, when you look at your church, can you say that all aspects from Communication to Assimilation to Environment to Content to Message are all unified in their apparent purpose?

If they aren’t then what does that communicate to prospective “shareholders”? What are you leaving out of the loop when it comes to the heart, core, nucleus of what you do? By leaving that thing out does it communicate something different than the message you intend for people to receive?

I’ll give you an example for #kidmin that most of us probably never think about. Preschool-check in. What value do our preschoolers get from checking in to a desk where they can’t see the attendants and they have nothing to occupy their attention?

Where is an area that you think the church might not be considering when trying to communicate the heart, core, and nucleus of what they are about?

Orange Wedges on Black, originally uploaded by S_Freer.

I’m pretty excited about them to say the least. Can you figure out what’s going on?

Maybe you don’t feel like you can totally take on the brunt of change in your ministry and the way they market themselves? Would you like a very easy and practical way to get started without having to just totally destroy any bridge you might have by asking for a total overhaul? Or would you just like to get your feet wet a little bit? Or are you just ready to get past the overly utilized, yet classic infomercial introductory question time?

Then the SWOT analysis is for you!!!

But seriously a great place to start is a SWOT. Contrary to what you might think this has nothing to do with slapping anyone’s wrists or destroying insects, but instead has everything to do with gaining a little focus for your ministry.

Simple Overview Time!

SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Ask yourself some questions about each of these.

Strengths:

• What would the community say are the strengths of our ministry?
• What assets do we possess? (financial, property, key relationships, or maybe just awesome people)?
• What needs are we meeting in the community?
• We are incredible at…

Weaknesses

• What would the community say are some weaknesses that are present?
• Do we have any liabilities?
• Are there some needs that are obvious that we are not meeting?
• We are pretty much bad at…

Opportunities

• Are there trends in your community that you can support, be a part of, or contribute to?
• Are there needs in the community that we can meet that no one else is?
• What opportunities are there in the community that align with out strengths?
• We could really do…

Threats

• Any community trends that could hinder your impact?
• Long Term Plans?
• What is the plan after this leadership is gone?
• We could do this, but…

Again this is a pretty basic SWOT. But it’s a great place to start the process and gives you some nice ideas with where to go from where you are now!

Hope this helps you out. Have you ever been a part of a SWOT analysis? Give me some details, let me know what the process was like.

day 131 - 11/26/08 - making a list, originally uploaded by Hildog!.

I consistently have trouble with making a Christmas wish list. Like every year all the time. But I have some definite interests that I pursue throughout the year. So if you’re like me I have an idea for you.

I love books and I love to read. So one of the things that I do is when I am browsing through the bookstore is take pictures of the books that I am interested in. Then I bring my phone and the pics and make a wish list on amazon. I send it in an email for people to check out:
Here’s mine for this year thus far:

My Wish List

It’s just something that I do year round and it helps point people to what I want without having to take alot of extra time and stress to think about it.

How bout you? How do you get around the wish list crazy time of the year? How do you tell people what you want? How do you figure it out.