Igniting a Digital Revolution

Can you think back 20, 30, or maybe 40 years and recall when your church was drastically different than it is now? Do you remember packed pews and what seemed like hundreds of children invading the church? Do you remember when your church bus was used for more than decorating the parking lot? Over the past 40 years, church attendance in America has dropped by 50% and 3,500-4,000 churches close their doors each year (Source: Keeping God in America). Many churches are struggling, dying, or dead.

Recently, we've discussed why your church may need a digital revolution to help bring the life back. I want to offer two quick suggestions on how to go digital now. Both of these topics have already been covered in previous weeks. This is where we put it all together.

Now it's time to act.


Sermon Downloads
The easiest, by far, is adding your sermons to a digital download website. Sermon Audio, Sermon Central, and Sermon Cloud are all great options. Chances are that you already record your sermons each week. If you don't, check out this simple guide for recording your sermons. From there, it's not too difficult to upload your sermons to the internet. I already covered how to upload your sermons a few weeks ago.

It's quick, it's simple, and can nearly double your ministry. While this alone may not bring the life back to your actual church, informing your congregation about this new ministry can be exciting. Especially if you give them a monthly wrap-up letting them know in which of the various countries your church messages have been downloaded.

Service Powerpoints
This is the best way to improve your services digitally. It increases attention during the sermon, it enhances retention after the sermon, and it entertains before the service (with trivia questions or something to look at). There is no reason why you shouldn't be using Powerpoint in your services. Finances are not an excuse. Trust me, it will be the best investment your church ever made.

We've discussed setup, what to do, how to do it, and even provided you with some starter slides free for download. Using Powerpoint is guaranteed to create excitement, enhance Biblical understanding, and (probably) increase visitor returns. I say probably on the last one because I haven't been able to study it yet, but I know the first two are tried and tested guaranteed results (speaking from personal experience).


Summary
What I can reassure you about church attendance is that if your people are excited about your services they will tell other people about it. When they tell people, more people will visit. If visitors like what they see, chances are they'll return.

Will the excitement last? If you mean brimming at the top, jumping up and down excitement over Powerpoint or sermon downloads, then no. It will be exciting the first few months, and then they'll get used to it. But if you mean happiness, enjoyment, and, best of all, greater learning, then yes, the excitement will last. Did you follow all my commas in that last sentence? I'm not even sure I did, and I wrote it.

Is this even your problem solver? As I discussed in Monday's article, lack of digital technology may not be the only problem you need to work through, but it will certainly not hurt your situation. Unless you consider greater understanding of your sermons harmful. Did I mention that enough?

Bottom Line: Technology, when used properly, will boost Biblical understanding.


You can't afford to let another week slip by without beginning to act on this. I'm not telling you to have everything setup by Sunday. But at least get a plan of action started as soon as possible. Purpose to start uploading your sermons to the internet within two weeks and to have a projector within a month.

Not a pastor? Share this with your pastor, tell him you think this would be a good idea, even, dare I say it, volunteer to help set it all up for him. Your pastor has too much to do as it is, help him out and get the wheels turning today.

Read more »

We Have a Winner!

The $20 Walmart Gift Card Giveaway has ended and a winner has been chosen. There were 17 people that entered and 57 entries. Wondering how some people received more than one entry? You receive an entry for liking us on Facebook, following us on twitter, tweeting about our post, and sharing it on Facebook. Plus, each person that uses your link on Facebook gets you an extra entry.

BUT, what was amazing was that our winner only had one entry. It proves that anyone can win. If you are curious how it works, in front of me I see a list of all the entries. I push a button and the punch tab program begins scrolling up and down the page running over multiple entries. Then it stops, and a winner is chosen at random!

This is our second giveaway and our 4th winner. So who was the winner? I don't know if she would want her name posted on our website (hope that gives you a hint). She has been contacted via email and, as soon as I receive her address, I will be mailing out the $20 Walmart Gift Card.

Thank you all for participating and keep watching as we will be hosting more giveaways in the future.

What would you like to see given away next? I want to make it relevant to you. I want to make it exciting and something that you want. Please tell me in the box below. It can be anything!

Read more »

Media Tip: Pumping Life Into the Church

There is a man, let's call him Bob, who is 55 years old. Bob has lived a full life, he's seen some great times in his life and some bad times. One day, Bob was in a car accident, a pretty bad one at that. He careened off the side of the road as he fell asleep at the wheel. His car bounced off the guard rails and back into the center of the road where he was hit by an oncoming car at 60 mph. The rescue workers spent an hour prying him out his car with the "jaws of life."

They immediately put Bob on an ambulance and sent him racing toward the hospital; he was barely hanging on. As Bob was rushed into the operating room, he flat-lined. Immediately, the doctors reach for the defibrillators. He charged them up and said, "Clear!" They made a high-pitched sound and as the paddles came down, Bob's body jolted. Nothing. The doctor did it again. "Clear!" Bob's vitals reappeared. They were faint, but there.

Many churches are in Bob's position. They're lying on the operating table and they've flat-lined. They need help. They need something to bring the life back. The world we are living in is moving on and the church has stayed behind, lost in years gone by. What your church may need is a digital revolution.

This is not a guaranteed, sure-fire solution. This is no get-rich quick scheme or "become a mega church by Sunday" blog post, though I'm assure such a title would attract hundreds of readers. Your problem may be a heart problem. It may be a lack of evangelism. It may be a lost passion. Churches across the country are dead or dying and there are a multitude of issues that could be causing the problem.

Do you feel like you're doing everything right, but it's just not working? Is your church a perfectly healthy, living, breathing church as far as God is concerned, yet your struggling to get folks through the doors? Your problem may be that you've missed the digital revolution. The technology age is upon us, and churches need to embrace it.


I've discovered three reasons why every church needs to go digital.

1. Attract More People
If your church would go digital you'd attract more people. Just to make myself perfectly clear, we're not talking about compromising with the world. We're not talking about bringing in rocks bands ("affectionately" termed a worship band) or taking off the coat and tie, and preaching in jeans and a polo.

We're talking about using Powerpoint, utilizing social media, and embracing advertising (we'll talk about this more next week). I think that the two main reasons visitors don't come to church is they either don't know about your church or they think your church is boring. Is the latter attitude the right one? No, but it's the day we are living in.

You can't get more people if you aren't telling them that you exist. Hands down, advertising is the best way to do that. But let's not spoil the fun for next week.

2. Keep More People
The people that come won't stay if they think you're boring. Recently, a friend of mine approached me about his church which was struggling. I asked him if they had a media ministry or incorporated any digital aspects, and he said no. I encouraged him to help his pastor go digital and run a 4 week trial. If there wasn't a buzz of excitement among the church members (or if they actually complained), if a visitor hadn't returned, or if a single comment about the new improvements hadn't been made, then they could go back to "normal."

I encourage you to do the same thing that I suggested to him. Most churches have a projector around somewhere (and if you don't they're cheap enough). If you start using Powerpoint I believe you'll create interest. Let me remind you, this could only be considered a viable solution if you are a perfectly healthy church, but are just struggling with attendance. This isn't an overnight fix, but I believe it to be a solution.


3. Reach More People
Without doubt this is the most important aspect of going digital. Attracting and keeping more people means more people hear and live the Word of God. Your reach is increased on the home front and in your church building.

However, it doesn't stop there. If you will fully embrace the digital age, the sky is the limit. Through social media, websites, and sermon audio downloads, you can double or triple your reach (and could potentially go much, much further).

If you click the link above about sermon audio, you'll read a short testimonial I gave about Murray River Baptist Church. They are a church of about 60 people and, because of audio sermon downloads, they receive just as many downloads each week. Not only did 60 people hear the sermon in person, but 60 more heard it by mp3 download all over the world.

Your website can also be a valuable tool in giving prayer requests, posting missionary prayer letters, providing live stream of your services, and sharing the gospel.


If your church is hanging by a thread and you need something to bring the life back, going digital might be your solution. Your church needs this and Media Missions is here to help. Check out the Media Tips tab for ideas about what to do next, and the Tutorials and Setup Guide tabs will actually walk you through how to do it.

Don't wait. Get started today. Do you have questions about what to do? If we don't have the answers on this site, we'd be happy to answer them right now and provide you with an in-depth tutorial in the near future. We're here for you. We want to help your church. Let us know what we can do.

Read more »

From the Experts: The Contemporary Debate

If ever there were to be a post this week that gets close to touching on the music debate, it would be this one. I scoured the net looking for great music articles to share with you, but the ones I found more or less supported the contemporary/christian rock movement to the extent where they could care less about compromising their Biblical standards.

When I did manage to find one from a conservative fellow, it was almost too conservative. I know that the Bible says, "I would thou wert cold or hot," but come on, we aren't talking doctrine here. In the media tip this week I listed a few Biblical principles to follow. The Bible isn't dogmatic about music, and so neither am I, but I do insist that it honor and uplift God every single time.

Without further ado, this week's articles:

4 Reasons Christians Don't Take Musical Conservatives Seriously by Benjamin Everson
Written by a conservative for conservatives, this article breaks down popular arguments and examines the basic problem. Many times musical conservatives build themselves up as a being the authority on what is right or wrong with music. Instead, we ought let the Bible be the guiding factor.

Review
This article is written from a very realistic and humorous approach and is a great read. I've got all praise and nothing bad to say about this article. Some of the headings seem kind of vague, but after you read his content, it becomes apparently clear as to what he means. This is a must read. If you read none of these other articles, read this one. Do you want to read more about Ben Everson? Check out some of his other articles.


Are Our Hymns Becoming Stupider? by Ben Myers
I'd call this another must read. This article examines what makes a hymn bad and why the songs that have come out in the last 50 years are better than the ones from 100-200 years ago.

Review
The article begins a little harsh. There is certainly no tact to be seen. Even in the title, he is quite bold. I think it's a little harsh to be calling most all hymns from the 19th century stupid. He does draw attention to the fact that there are a few great hymns (hymns like Amazing Grace and O For a Thousand Tongues) that stir your spirit and bring joy to your soul.

I certainly agree, though, that some of the more recent songs like How Deep the Father's Love For Us are infinitely better than the songs I listed the other day. May this be a challenge to any would be song writer out there. We need good hymns and spiritual songs. Will you commit to to serving God in this way?


Why Hymns? by Paul Lusher
Have you ever wondered why we sing hymns? What is the benefit or what good is it? This article will answer that question. It also...pushes them a little too far.

Review
I wasn't planning on this being a long review, for a review shouldn't be longer than the article itself, and this is a pretty short one. I really enjoy how highly the author values music. I agree with him that the only thing that deserves higher praise than our song is the Word of God itself. However, saying "no other musical form can replace the singing of hymns in the church" seems a little bold. Does not the Scripture instruct us to sing to ourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs? Just the same, where does Scripture say that we must only sing hymns? Who created the hymn book? It wasn't God. Who wrote the hymns themselves? It wasn't the prophets or apostles. That's my 2 cents.


Bible Guide to Christian Music by Somebody
Just so you know, I support this guy's conclusions, not the way he presents it. He's got all his information right, but he's a confrontational, in-your-face kind of guy that gives Christians a bad name. If a name isn't written with it, how do I know it's a guy? I just can't see a woman saying the things he does, I give you more credit than that ladies. You know how to be tactful in your communication. Sometimes us guys are just dumb and we don't think first (ask my wife).

I'm probably going to get myself in trouble here, but I only read this article for like 5-10 minutes. You need about 2 hours. It's long. Really long. From what I saw I stand by what I said above, but he could say something heretical later on that I didn't read and I just want you to know I don't support it if it is (I know that's lame to say, but maybe you'll feel like reading it if you like the confrontational stuff).


Why is Our Worship Music Conservative? by Robert Hammond
This article is primarily just a doctrinal statement on music. It's by no means all inclusive, but if you want some Bible verses to give sound principles to your music and my short synopsis was not long enough for you, then check this out. It contains a principle, Bible verse, and implications for each thought. I'll not write a review for this because it doesn't really need one.


What's your opinion about the whole issue? I would like to know where you stand. I would also like to know if you've learned anything helpful about the issue that you use when talking to people about it. Let me know in the box below.

Read more »

How the Hymns Were Written

Do you know how those solid hymns of the faith were written? Do you know what situations caused the writer to pen those mighty words? The hymns are just songs to us, but did you know they were often the fruit of suffering or great joy? Most hymns are loaded with history.

You can research that history in various books or online. I want to share some of that history with you. I've picked some of the most touching stories to share with you. There are countless more, this is just a selection. I didn't write these short stories, the sources have been given a link to the originating page.


It is Well With My Soul (Bible Study Charts)
Horatio Spafford decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England. And, not only did they need the rest -- DL Moody needed the help. He was traveling around Britain on one of his great evangelistic campaigns. Horatio and Anna planned to join Moody in late 1873. And so, the Spaffords traveled to New York in November, from where they were to catch the French steamer 'Ville de Havre' across the Atlantic.

Yet just before they set sail, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go as planned. He would follow on later. With this decided, Anna and her four daughters sailed East to Europe while Spafford returned West to Chicago. Just nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales. It read: "Saved alone."

Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. Bertha Spafford (the fifth daughter of Horatio and Anna born later) explained that during her father's voyage, the captain of the ship had called him to the bridge. "A careful reckoning has been made", he said, "and I believe we are now passing the place where the de Havre was wrecked. The water is three miles deep." Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics of his great hymn.

The words which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26. They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that 'It is well." And Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was.


Amazing Grace (Workers for Jesus)
During the first 30 years of his life, Newton was certainly a miserable, unhappy, and mean person--in other words, "a wretch." As a child he was rebellious and constantly in trouble. As a young man he used profanity, drank excessively, and went through periods of violent, angry behavior.
When Newton was in his early twenties, he became involved in the slave trade: living in Africa, hunting down slaves, and managing a "slave factory" (where the unfortunate captives were held for sale). Later he was the captain of a slave ship which made three voyages from Great Britain to Africa (where he loaded a cargo of slaves) and finally to America to sell them.

Three years earlier, Newton had acknowledged God for the first time. The ship on which he was serving, traveling in the Atlantic Ocean to England, was caught in a terrible storm off the coast of Newfoundland. As they fought the winds and rain, Newton asked God for help ("Lord, have mercy upon us!"), something he had not done since childhood.

Miraculously, the storm ended; and the ship managed to reach Ireland safely. There, as Newton later wrote: "...I began to know that there is a God who hears every prayer." Despite this experience, Newton continued to work at buying and selling slaves.

"I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home."

It wasn't until later in life that Newton became ashamed of his activities in buying and selling slaves. He believed that the death of his wife and his daughter's illness were part of a punishment.

Eventually he became convinced that slavery was unlawful and morally wrong. He spent a lot of time arguing for its abolition (putting an end to it) in England, convincing a lot of important people in London that he was right.

Newton died at the age of 82, twelve years before slavery was outlawed in his country.


Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (Bible Study Charts)
The idea for this song came from Anthony Showalter, principal of the Southern Normal Music Institute in Dalton, Georgia.  Showalter, a Presbyterian elder, was a well-known advocate of gospel music.  He published over 130 music books with combined sales of two million copies, and he became known through the South for his singing schools in local churches.

Showalter took a personal interest in his students and enjoyed keeping up with them as the years passed. One evening in 1887, he was leading a singing school in a local church in Hartselle, Alabama. After dismissing the class for the evening, he gathered his materials and returned to his boardinghouse.

Two letters had arrived, both from former pupils.  Each of the young men was heartbroken, having just lost his wife. Professor Showalter went to the Bible, looking for a verse to comfort them.  He selected Deuteronomy 33:27 - "The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms..."

As he pondered that verse, these words came to mind:

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;

Leaning, Leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

He scribbled replies to his bereaved friends, then, reaching for another piece of paper, he wrote his friend, hymnist Elisha Hoffman. "Here is the chorus for a good hymn from Deuteronomy 33:27,"  his letter said, "but I can't come up with any verses."  Hoffman wrote 3 stanzas and sent them back. Showalter set it all to music, and ever since, these words have sheered us in adversity.

What have I to dread, what have I fear, leaning on the everlasting arms.

I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms. 

I know this was a long post. And if you read it all, congratulations! I hope you were encouraged and touched by some great hymns and their heart-wrenching stories. Share these with your congregation. Use them as sermon illustrations. Or just read them in your service for the sake of reading them. Let's educate our folk on why we sing the songs we do and what circumstances caused their penning.

Can you think of some other great hymn stories? Let us know about them. Do you have a favorite song you'd like me to research the story behind? Ask about it and I'll do my best to find information on it for you. Just leave your comments in the box below.

Read more »

Songs that Shouldn't Be Sung Part 2

This post is a continuation of Conservative Songs that Shouldn't Be Sung. If you haven't read that post yet, read it first. I've studied out some of these songs at the request of some readers, and I've also left out some that were mentioned by others yesterday. You'll want to check out what has or has not been discussed already.

6. We've a Story to Tell to the Nations.
A reader left a comment about this song in yesterday's post and I really wanted to research it a bit more and share with you what I learned. This is the worst kind of song. That's because it's tricky. It reminds me of the verse in Jude where the false teachers have "crept in unawares." A lot of people don't understand the theology behind a song like this. In a way, that's a good thing. It means they won't ever take the song the wrong way. But at the same time, it can influence your thinking to wrong doctrine.

This song is very strongly Post-Millennial. Right now you're saying, "What's that?" Post-Millennialism is the belief that we are currently in the 1,000 year time period mentioned in the Bible. Or rather that the thousand year time period will happen and people will live through it without a rapture ever taking place. While I don't believe that (it's a much debated topic among good men), it's the next part that has me screaming, "Heresy!" They believe that society will essentially become more and more good as Satan and his forces gradually become more and more defeated.

"How will they be defeated?," you ask. Why, by us witnessing and sharing the gospel. Yes this is the belief that evangelism will usher in the kingdom of God by making society more and more like Christ. That's a wonderful thought, but anyone who believes this has got their head stuck in the mud (yes, like an ostrich). I'm doing everything I can to get the word out about Christ yet society, from my perspective anyway, keeps getting worse and worse (Scientific laws of entropy anyone?). Does anyone else notice this too? Or am I the only one? (I'm being facetious if you can't tell).

My point? Don't sing it. It's subliminally teaching your congregation about bad doctrine.

7. Here I Am, Lord I'm talking about the version that has "I, the Lord of sea and sky" in the lyrics. I actually really like this song; the tune anyway. But as someone suggested to me, it's really kind of backward. It focuses completely on self, like I've Got a Mansion. What's worse is that it actually has you singing as God in the first person. I never thought about that when I sang it, but then again isn't that what I've been saying all along? We never think about the songs we sing. To place yourself in the place of God seems bad and prideful doesn't it? I suppose the rationale is to see it from God's perspective, which there is nothing wrong with trying to understand something from God's perspective. As a matter of fact if we had God's perspective of sin we'd think twice about some of the sins we blatantly commit.


8. On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand.
This is another reader suggestion. The whole premise of the song is that you are toiling through life and you stand at the banks of Jordan. Jordan was known to overflow in the rainy season and badly so, but soon you will cross Jordan and enter into rest, a.k.a. Heaven. The only problem is that Canaan Rest is a symbol of the peace that you find through God in this life. It's me accepting Christ as my Savior and now being at peace with God, having my sins atoned for (at-one-ment). Heavenly rest is the rest that the song has in mind. It is God's rest. It's the rest He took at the end of the Creation week and it's the rest that awaits for us one day.

The problem is that he didn't know the difference between Canaan rest and God's rest. He also didn't think that one through very clearly because Israel didn't have rest immediately upon entering the land. They had to clear it first, and then they didn't really ever do that, Hebrews says they never really got the rest they were supposed to have because of disobedience and unbelief.

If I take that approach then we're never really going to get the rest because Israel never got their rest either. Do you catch my train of thought? Did the guy intend to be Biblical? Probably. Did he succeed? No.

EDIT: Based on a conversation in the comments below I would like to clarify my comments. My problem with the song is merely the fact that the song has instilled a misconception in the minds of the our church members. Because of this song people relate crossing the Jordan with going into Heaven. When you couple this thought with Scripture it can create confusion. It is my opinion that we should avoid songs that create confusion.


9. Honey in the Rock If you ask my wife, she'd tell you that #1 on her list is Honey in the Rock, #2 on her list is Honey in the rock, and #3 on her list is Honey in the Rock. Now I don't know that I'd say the song is THAT bad. In fact, I have fun singing it randomly just to hear her go "No!" and watch her cover her ears. I did this last night at Wal-Mart and she started beating me with her purse all the while I'm laughing like crazy.
But truthfully, it's just an annoying song. There is a Bible verse to support the title of the song (Ps. 81:16). It references Christ being our Rock (which is very Biblical) and our joy can be found in Him. It actually seems quite encouraging looking at the lyrics, but the tune is just so obnoxious. It's on my "not like" list, but I can't call it unbiblical so I pegged it down toward the bottom despite my wife's feelings.

The only objection that I have for it is if the congregation loathes the song, then it's not accomplishing it's purpose of focusing our hearts on God, thus shouldn't be sung.


10. Good Christian Men Rejoice.
I'm probably stretching it with this song. The first line of this song probably wasn't written first. The second two verses are just fine. However, the first line, which actually talks about the day of Jesus' birth, instructs Christian men to rejoice because Jesus is born and is currently, at that particular moment in time, in the manger.

The problem is that "they were first called Christians at Antioch" a couple of decades after Christ's birth. If your argument is that Christians alive now are encouraged to rejoice, then you've got a time element disagreement. Christians now rejoice because Christ is born right now and in the manger. It doesn't make much sense.

EDIT: Read the comments below. I have rescinded my issues with this song. Plus, even if it did have some grammatical issues, that doesn't mean we shouldn't sing it. I probably shouldn't have put this on the list to begin with. I'll leave it here as a learning experience for someone who's interested.


I know there plenty more we could probably list, but we'll stop it here. I hope you haven't been discouraged by these posts. It's not my intention to discourage you because you can't trust the songs you sing, but instead to be like the Bereans in the New Testament and look in the Scriptures to see whether these songs line up. Plus, throwing out 10 songs when you've got a hymnal of 600 really isn't that bad now is it?

Just like last time, if you have any more songs to suggest that shouldn't be sung I would love to hear about it. Or maybe you think I listed a song that shouldn't be on the list. Let me know. Leave a comment in the box.

I'd also like to run a Questions and Answers article about music tomorrow. If you have questions, tell me about them on my Facebook page.

Read more »

Conservative Songs That Shouldn't Be Sung

Do you have any songs that just irk you? I mean, they really rub you the wrong way. I'm not talking about songs that you don't like because they're not your style or "flavor." I'm talking about songs that just sound unbiblical or that stretch the truth. I've got a few of them.

Now let me make something abundantly clear from the beginning. I am a conservative, I'm proud to be a conservative, and have no desire to be otherwise. However, I'm also not a hyper-conservative or anyone that believes "Hymns and nothing but." As a matter of fact, I'd strongly disagree with that approach. I align myself with the Bible, "Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

Again, lest I sound like I'm about to start debating contemporary vs. traditional or classical vs. rock, I'm not. I'm missionary and a designer, not a musician or a student of music theory. If you are interested in those types of discussions, I've got some really great articles planned for this week's From the Experts on Friday. They are qualified to answer those discussions and I hope you'll look forward to reading them.

In an effort to help you music guys out there, I want to highlight a few songs that I believe to be unbiblical or have little spiritual value. Is not the goal of our song service to promote a worship of God? Is it not to remove our thoughts of ourselves and focus our hearts and minds Godward? How can songs that disagree with Biblical principles do this? They can't. So why do we sing these songs in church?

Here's my list of songs that I don't think are worth singing.

1. I've Got a Mansion.
This is #1 on my list. If there is a song that I can't stand it's I've Got a Mansion. There is so much wrong with this song. First, the focus is on me. Me, me, me. "I've got a mansion," "I'm satisfied," and "I want a gold one, that's silver lined."

The type of mansion people think of when they hear this song.

Secondly, it's awfully self-centered. It essentially says, "You know what. God, I can deal with what you've given me here on this earth, but boy you better have something good for me in heaven. I want a gold crown that's silver lined!" When you get to heaven the last thing you'll be thinking about is what types of crowns you should get or how big your "mansion" should be. You're going to fall on your face and cry "Holy!"

Speaking of mansions. Did you know that the Greek word translated mansion really has the idea of an "apartment?" That doesn't mean the translation is wrong. That word just means something different today. But the original penman's (of the Scripture reference about Christ preparing a mansion for us) culture was different than our own. In that day, a son would take on the family business which was often run out of the home or a near by building. In order to best help out with the business, the father would build an appendage to his house so that his wife and family could live close by. That's what God is going to do for us; keep us close to Himself.

Is the song wrong for using the word mansion? No, because technically it's in the Bible, but the interpretation of that word is horrendously misapplied.

2. The Eastern Gate.
This song poses a series of questions. How do they know it will be morning? Do they actually plan on meeting someone there? Plus this song seems to show evidences of a belief in salvation by works or at least a loss of salvation. "Then be ready, faithful pilgrim, lest with you it be too late?" If you are a faithful pilgrim, then there is no too late for you. That's it for my comments. You can see I was really passionate about I've Got a Mansion. It's about 3 times longer than the rest of these will likely be. But The Eastern Gate seems pretty unbiblical to me.

3. There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit.
There's a chance a lot of you won't know this song. But it's about the most worthless song in the history of Christendom. How does this prepare my heart for God? "There's a sweet spirit in this place. There are sweet expressions on each face." Okay? If you just want to sing songs, that's great, but we're supposed to be worshiping God, which this song does not.

4. We Three Kings of Orient Are.

This song is just unbiblical. It's unbiblical in that sort of oblivious sense. The author probably didn't intend to write an unbiblical song, but he did. It's like the assumption that everyone has that Noah's ark looked like a bath tub and had giraffe heads poking out of the ceiling. We (as Christians) are "great" for assuming that because there were three gifts, then there were three men. That's just a bad assumption. Can I prove there were more than three men? No, but can you prove there were only three? Certainly not.

And how do you know that they were kings? The Bible never calls them kings. They were called Magi. They were most likely astronomers or scientists. They watched the stars. How else would they have seen Christ's star? People assume they were kings because someone told them they were in a Sunday School lesson when they were kids. After all, those gifts are mighty precious to be given by anyone but a king, right? (Notice my sarcasm).

5. Bring Them In.
There's nothing theologically wrong with this song, it's just kind of awkward. At least it's awkward when you consider this scenario. You've been trying to convince your unsaved relative to come to church with you. He hates church and wants nothing to do with it, but he loves you. It's your birthday (or some other special occasion) and you convince him to come with you. He's already uncomfortable and already thinks Christians are arrogant. Then the music director asks you to turn to Bring Them In and you start singing "Bring them in from the fields of sin."  What a great impression that has on our unsaved visitors. Certainly they feel loved, I'm sure. They'll just be dying to come back after that one.


I've got 5 more songs I could list, and probably will list tomorrow or the next day. But I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for you.

Do you have any more songs that have bad theology? Ones that honestly and truly should not really be sung because there's no Biblical evidence to support it or it obviously teaches something anti-Bible? How about some that provide no spiritual value and aren't worth singing because they don't really praise God? I'd love to hear what you think about all this. Leave a comment in the box below.

If you find this article as interesting as I do or are as passionate about this topic, will you share this with your friends?

This post has a second part. Keeping reading Songs That Shouldn't Be Sung Part 2.

Read more »

$20 Walmart Gift Card Giveaway

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
So I decided to end the other giveaway early. Despite it being a popularly read post, not many of you seemed interested in a poster. The winners have been contacted and will receive their free posters shortly. Though not related to Media in anyway, I decided to just go the safe route for this next giveaway and it will be a $20 Walmart Gift Card. If you are interested in me giving away more FREE things in the future, please participate. Who doesn't like free stuff right?

There are no strings attached, no trojan viruses that will come and conquer your computer, and no obligations. This is a promotional tool designed with the purpose of you sharing this blog with other people. After all, you obviously like this blog, why wouldn't other people too? I don't know all of your friends, nor do I know your friends' friends, but if you share this on Facebook and Twitter then they'll learn about this site. This contest ends Sunday, May 28th at a Midnight.

Help Media Missions spread the word and assist churches in their media ministries. All you have to do is enter the contest, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (or both), and then share it and tweet about it so your friends can find their way here. The more friends that you get to click on your link, the greater number of entries you receive and the greater chance you have of winning.

Read more »

Media Tip: The Ins and Outs of Church Music

Have you ever gotten into a hot debate with someone about how the church should run their music program? Well that's...NOT what this media tip is about. Instead, this is about how you can improve your current music program. Church music is a big deal because it sets the tone for the entire service. Bad church music makes for a bad service. Media is about communication and music is a communication tool. So here are 10 tips for your church music ministry.


1. Biblical Principles about Music.
Music should be God-centered, not man centered. Music that focuses on you and me and our life is misdirected. Music ought glorify and uplift God. Music is spiritual in nature and affects our emotions and inner being. Songs must be Biblical and based on Scripture. Any song that directly violates a teaching in Scripture is wrong, even if it is performed by a Christian artist or sung in church. Music ought be focused on the melody, not the rhythm, which is worldly.
(Exodus 32:17-18, I Samuel 16:23,
Psalm 95:1, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16-17)

2. Get Involved. Music is a great way to get involved in the service. Every week your pastor makes some sort of announcement begging people to get involved. He wants nothing more than to see you serve Christ in your local church. His whole goal is to see you develop as a Christian in your walk with God. You would knock his socks off if you came up to him and said, "Pastor, what can I do to get involved?"

Church music is one of those ways that you can get involved. Join the choir, sing a solo, sing a duet, sing in a quartet! Do you play piano? Ask if you can play a congregational song. Not up to that level yet? Ask to play an offertory. Do something! My church has a mini-orchestra. Do you play another instrument besides piano? Ask your pastor if you can sit next to the choir and play that instrument, even if you don't have an orchestra already.

3. Have a Song of the Month. Does your church sing the same songs over and over again? You probably have a hymnal with over 500 songs in it (800 if you have Living Hymns) and only sing about 100 of the songs. I know a rather larger church that only sings about 40 of the songs and it drives people bonkers! Why not pick one song a month to learn and sing it every service so that you get to know it. My friend's church does this and he says it's great.

4. Sing Songs Not in the Hymnal.
Your hymnal isn't a Bible. It's okay to sing songs that aren't in the hymnal. How can you sing them if they aren't in the hymnal, you ask? Well if everyone knows it, it shouldn't be a problem. However, this is one of the many uses of Powerpoint that your church can employ. Sing songs like Sanctuary, In Christ Alone, and As the Deer. In some cases, you could invite the congregation to open their Bible to Matthew 6:33 and sing Seek ye First. I'll bet you'll have some folks that didn't even know those songs were in the Bible!

5. Vary the Order of Service. People get tired of the same old, same old. This doesn't mean you should preach first and sing later (though, you could do that if you were having a singspiration and the sermon was merely a devotional). If you only sing the first and the last, sing all the verses. If you normally sing all the verses, only sing a couple (you're people might thank you. Sometimes song services can get overwhelming with so many verses). Sing 2 songs instead of 3 or 3 instead of 2. Changing it up a little bit will add variety (and keep some of the critics at bay!).

6. Have Special Music. I would say more than half of the churches out there already do this, so this might be a moot point. But I know a few churches that never have special music. Now it may be because they don't have anyone to do the special music. But my guess is they just haven't asked. As much as is possible, have special music at every service. My church is so packed with special music that we have to issue a monthly song schedule just to keep all our ducks in a row. This goes back to the getting involved point.

7. Powerpoint for Special Music. I already mentioned using Powerpoint with your songs, but here is another use, also mentioned in the same article. Say Joe is playing a song for the offertory and you have heard that song before, but you can't think of the song title. Instead of it eating you up the whole service, the title is wonderfully displayed on the screen and you can sit there and enjoy rather than be tormented. At least, I hope I'm not the only one who is bothered something like that.

8. Invite Special Singing/Peforming Groups. Groups like Proclaim Ministry Teams and the Academy of Arts (Excuse their website design. It's pretty bad, but they really do have great drama teams, I've seen one personally and vouch for their talent) make for great special services. I don't know how many of these types of things there are, but call around and see what you can find. Most Christian colleges like Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones University, and West Coast Baptist College send out these special singing groups every summer. Call them up to book a team for your church next year.

9. Pay Attention to Song Order. Specifically, I mean in regards to meaning and thought flow. You may want to coordinate with the pastor on what his sermon is about. If he is preaching on Jesus you may want to sing "Near the Cross" or "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Place your more upbeat songs at the beginning of the service to get focus energized. Then put the slower, more contemplative songs right before the sermon so that it gets everyone's mind focused on God and ready to hear from God's Word.

Another potential thought in this area, if you can, is not having two slow songs in a row, or two fast songs. If you use a variety of hymnal and non-hymnal songs, you may actually want to put them back-to-back so that people don't have to keep turning in their book and then putting them away again.

10. Focus on the Words. This is more or less just a general principle that everyone should apply to every service. Does your brain shut off during singing? Have you ever caught yourself just singing the song not even thinking? I do it all the time and I trust you do too (Don't pretend you don't!). It defeats the purpose of the song service if all you do is regurgitate the words. The purpose of music is to focus our heart and mind on God and His goodness.

The next time you find yourself falling into that pattern (and you will very soon), stop and listen. Listen to the words, pay attention to them, and focus on them. Meditate on what it means for Heaven to come down and glory filling your soul. Is it just a song or does it mean something to you? Heaven, that is Christ, came to earth in human form and died on the cross for our sins, that through faith in Christ we might have eternal life and glory fills our soul.

Is that not a wonderful thought!? How can you contain your burst of excitement when you think about the goodness and love of God?! Yet our faces are flat, our voice boring and monotone, and our spirit not the least bit uplifted.

UPDATE

11. Song Suggestions. Based upon the conversation in the comments below I thought it good to add this tip to the list. Do you have a favorite song to sing at church? Maybe you love Victory in Jesus, but the problem is the church only sings the first and the last verses, but the verse that means the most to you is number 3. You could suggest to your music pastor what songs you would like to hear that way you, as a part of the body of Christ, are more engaged in praising God through song.

For the music pastor, my suggestion would be to have a song-leading hymnal if you do not already have one. Have one hymnal that is reserved for your song-leading. In it, you can write down all the notes you see fit to record. Maybe you'll circle all the songs the church knows. That way you can pick one they don't know every now and again. Maybe you'll star the song that the dear old lady in your church loves to hear. Anything other important song information can be written there for your recall.


Do you have anything to add to this? I'd love to hear your tips and different ideas that your church does to spruce up the music ministry. Leave a comment in the box below.

Read more »

Media Missions joins Twitter

I've just recently started a Twitter account. Facebook primarily exists to give major updates, however, our Twitter page will feature the more moment by moment events.

For instance, just a moment ago I posted a preview of this week's media tip on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter to find out what it is.

Read more »

From the Experts: The Design Process

From the Experts is a brand new series I'll be running each week. I've already told you that each week has a theme. Each tip, inspiration, and tutorial is always (as best as I can) focused on the same topic to bring you a greater understanding of working with that topic. From the Experts will do the same thing. It will bring you articles around the net that are...from the experts.

Here are a couple of articles that I found through my searching. I thought they were good enough to share with you, though I don't necessarily 100% agree with everything they say. I'll add my own mini-review with each link.

Creating Effective Visual Presentations by Andrew Jones (Ministry127.com)
Teaser
"Nothing can be more powerful or distracting than a presentation. One author estimates that over thirty million PowerPoint presentations are made every day. I’m sure you have attended your fair share of them. But I wonder how many were truly captivating, motivating, or convincing?"

Review
Point #2 is a really great point. The busier the slide (i.e. more design elements that are visible) the more distracted the audience will be. Simple and plain, yet well designed is better than flashy, cool, and busy, but don't confuse that with ugly and boring.

Don't let Point #5 discourage you. He is writing with the professional presenter in mind. Think executive office with a $1 million deal on the line. For your church, you simply need two presentations. The first is just a queue of slides with announcements for people to look at before church. The second is during the service. Elements of this presentation are Songs, Scripture reference, Sermon Title, and three to four slides for Sermon Points. You likely prepared a sermon outline when you studied. Take the main point you want to make and turn it into a slide. You were planning on making the point anyway, the slide is just there to make it painfully obvious that it is your point and to keep in the front of their minds the entire time you are talking about it.


Where Do You Get Those Ideas by Jeremy Lofgren (Ministry127.com)
Summary
Jeremy answers a common question with some helpful insights regarding the creative process. There is no magical formula, but there are beneficial steps you can take to improve your designs.

Review
This is a great article. Make sure that you read this. It will answer a lot of questions about designing for churches. Point #3, Studying the work of others, is exactly the motive behind our Design Inspiration link. There is no better source for your own artwork than looking at the art of others. Like the article says, evaluating why you like it is the best way to help you make something truly unique, however it is acceptable to "steal" if you are in a pinch. 

There is a very famous Art/Design quote that goes something like: "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."  I don't know who said it and I'm sure it's been attributed to every famous artist you can think of, but it IS acceptable to copy in our field. So long as it's not the exact thing word for word and copyrighted. If it's a free resource, like from Ministry127.com, then feel free to use it directly as is.



Now you might have read both of these articles or only one of them and you're already saying, "This is too much!!! I can't do it all!!" I've got one final article for you and it will address that feeling. Check it out:

Is It Worth It? by Michael Moyer (MediaMinistryBlog.com)
Summary/Review
This article is also a must read. It features many testimonials from church Graphic Designers who thought about giving up but when their work was done, the blessings that people received far outweighed the time and energy it took to produce. It's a great encouragement, don't skip this article.


 

Read more »

User Feedback

Here at Media Missions, I'm always trying to improve by making everything more relevant to you, the reader. I strive to make content that is helpful and interesting. But I don't want to just provide good content, I want to provide it at the right time of day that benefits you.

To help me do this, I've installed a poll widget to the right of this article. Will you take a brief moment and answer when you'd most like to see content appear on the site? Your opinion matters.

Read more »

Tutorial: How to Make a Powerpoint

This is a simple guide designed to teach you how to make a Powerpoint. It is by no means detailed or technical and I am in no way an expert on Powerpoint. Again, I cannot over emphasize the importance of using Powerpoint in your services. It will increase attention and memory retention, it helps with those who didn't hear what you said, and it will boost the excitement of your church. I have given you all the instructions that you need to get this setup in your church. I strongly encourage you to start using Powerpoint as soon as you are able. The biggest obstacle for doing this is not knowing how to make a Powerpoint in the first place. Well here it is:

Step 1: Purchase Powerpoint
Chances are you already have Powerpoint. If you have Microsoft Office, then you have Powerpoint. You'll have to look around. Check your applications folder. Almost every one uses Microsoft Word. Find Word and then look in that area for Powerpoint. If you don't have Powerpoint, then you need to purchase it. The cheapest way is purchase Powerpoint individually, and if you don't already have Word, then you probably haven't needed it so far meaning it would be fine to buy Powerpoint alone.

However, it's only beneficial to do this if you can qualify for the Academic purchase. Academic Super Store is selling Powerpoint here for $50 (and that seems to only be a special price, if you are reading this months or years after it's publish date, this price will likely be much different). Otherwise, buying Powerpoint alone from Microsoft will cost you $140, that's $20 MORE than purchasing the full Office Suite which comes with Excel and Word. Don't ask me why they do that. It seems counter productive to me. Who will pay more money for less software? That's a bad marketing plan right there. You can purchase the full Office suite from Microsoft for $120.

Step 2: Setup Your Presentation
Begin by opening Powerpoint. The locations of palettes and appearances of menus may be slightly different for you than what you see here because I'm operating on an older version of Powerpoint as well as Mac computer. Everything should be in relatively the same place, though. You don't need to do this first step, but if you don't and you are following these directions to a "T" (including using my slides) then things will look a little different. Go to File > Page Setup, and change the document size to 12 x 8. This is the size of my slides.

 

Next, let's get familiar with the screen that you see once you open a new presentation. Your slides are located in the upper left hand corner. Currently, we only have one slide, we'll add a few in a minute. If you click where it says, "Click to add title," then you can type in your own information on this blank white slide. 

Now let's add a few slides. Go to Insert > New Slide and do that a couple of times. Now you have a few slides. Notice that I now have 4, this tutorial won't need that many, but you will want A LOT more for your church presentation.

 

But white is dreadfully boring for a Powerpoint, so let's change the background. For my screen, I have a palette called the Formatting Palette off to the right. In there is an option for slide designs. If I click on one of them, the background will change. These are default slides Powerpoint gives you, and you could technically use these in your service and never purchase or download any other slides (they'll just look plain). If you don't have this palette, keep reading, we'll get there.

To change the background without the Formatting Palette go to Format > Slide Design and the options will be listed for you.

Now we want to insert our own custom slides. To do that, download some here. Then go to Insert > Picture > From File. Find where you saved the files (Make sure you unzip them first), select the Welcome slide and press OK. 

Your screen should look like this. 

Next, move to the second slide by clicking on it in the upper left hand corner and add the Sermon Title slide.

If you added the Sermon Title slide, you'll need to add your Scripture passage. To do that, we need to add text. This step will show you how to add text anywhere on any slide, not just for this slide. If you have the formatting palette visible, go over to it and click on the item shown in the picture below.

This is a text box. To get there without the Formatting Palette, go to Insert > Text Box. Now click and drag where you want the text box to go. The place created for it on this slide is right below the line.

Now before you go typing away, there's a few formatting issues we need to take care of. We need to center the text and turn the color of the font to white (the default is black which won't look good on our dark blue background). Go back to the handy Formatting Palette (by the way, to turn this on go to View > Formatting Palette) and select the Font option. Click the color box and change it to white. Then change the size of the font to 36.

Next select the Alignment option. Click the "Center" alignment button. Now you're ready to type. If you still don't have the Formatting Palette out or can't find any of this, you can edit it all by going to Format > Font.

 

Type in your Scripture. Your screen should now look like this (almost).

Now just keep adding slides and typing in all your information until you have everything done. To see what you Powerpoint presentation currently looks like, go to Slide Show > View Show. Now we want to add some Custom Animations to spice up your slide transitions. Be careful here, some of the can look tacky. We want our presentations to be sharp and eye catching, not boring or tacky. Go to Slide Show > Custom Animation for this.

To add an animation, click on the picture slide and start browsing the animation gallery. A preview is included when you click on each one so that you can see what it will look like.

Once you have chosen one, you can adjust the speed of the animation if it is too slow or too fast. Do this by selecting the speed option and changing the seconds it takes to complete.

Now click OK. At this point, you know everything you need to know about setting up a Powerpoint presentation. If you have questions or don't understand a particular step, feel free to leave a comment below and I will answer your question as soon as possible. If something is unclear, you can also leave a comment and I will edit the tutorial to make it more understandable.

Step 3: Share It With Your Friends

Did you find this tutorial helpful? Someone else probably would too, share it on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the buttons below.

Read more »

20 Great Church Powerpoint Slide Ideas

This week's set of Design Inspiration features none other than...Powerpoints! I've already mentioned it earlier this week: There are plenty of different ways to use Powerpoint in your church services. This post features a variety of those different options including some freebies for download and use in your church this Sunday. Update: Thanks to a reader, I was made aware of some really great resources available at West Coast Baptist College's website Ministry 127. Check it out for more great free slides.

This first one should look a little familiar if you saw my post yesterday afternoon. I'm not trying to be proud, but I am trying to advertise. I'll be putting out a lot of great free material for your use and I want you to know that it exists. Below is a collage of my first Powerpoint set. The set includes a Welcome, a sermon title and slide, announcements, events, trivia, and Scripture reading. Click on the image and you'll be directed to my Downloads page, from there choose either PSD or JPG download.

The next couple of images are from CreationSwap. Click on the image and you'll be directed to a page where you can download these free files.

Father's Day is coming up. Here's a great slide.

These next two can be included in your queue as just spiritual reminders to encourage your church folk. They also break up your announcements and give folks something to look at.

If you click on this link you'll be treated with the option of downloading over 10 different plain backgrounds like this for your use.

These four are more like optional announcement type slides that you could have playing.

I'm not sure where this one came from, but it looks like a good Twitter slide. You would just have to add your church name or address.

This next set is from Graceway Media and is only available if you purchase their membership. The pictures posted below are preview images available on their own website. They are for your inspiration only.

Here are some sermon titles and their corresponding open slides for your sermon points.

 

The following are some more of the random slides that might give you some ideas of what you can include in your Powerpoint slides.

Read more »