Minister's Toolbox

Social Media is a must for any church leader hoping to connect with new people. The vast majority of people will never darken the door of any church until they have checked out a church website, listened to a sermon or two and investigated the church Facebook page.

Today, we talk about basics for leaders to get and stay connected on the web.

We also talk protocol. Many pastors ruin their presence on the Internet by not understanding these fundamental "rules."

Here is a free download mentioned, called the Social Media Roadmap

Bluehost is what I recommend to pastors and leaders who want to take the next step and own their own real estate on the web. Click here to get started.

Transcript of Today's Show

Do you ever get frustrated with the fact that your sermons require so much labor to produce, but often don’t have much life after they are done?

I mean, the typical leader will spend somewhere between 6 and 15 hours each week working on a sermon. Even if you don’t spend concentrated time at your desk, you are collecting thoughts and ideas and formulating what to say each Sunday, doing your best to be certain your message expresses what is on God’s heart.

That is a huge responsibility. When Jesus told Peter In John’s gospel, feed my sheep, he created billions of hours for church leaders throughout the centuries to prepare sermons. A responsible pastor is praying, thinking, meditating, researching, and reading all the time.

Even if your sermon hits the ball out of the park and everyone thanks you for helping them in some way, you go home for a nap and realize that the next sermon is due in seven days and it is time to start over.

Now I don’t know about you, but I write out my sermons on Microsoft Word in an outline form. Typically, I use a template to get started that triggers the things I need to include or pay attention to each Sunday. Once that sermons has been completed, I save it on my computer.

Over time, that is a lot of sermons and a lot of files. I look at all those sermons and the hours spent; the prayers to God for guidance, the investment of time in reading, studying and researching and realize that unless I re-preach them somehow, they are lost.

In many ways, preachers are like moms, who prepare great meals. After everyone enjoys the hours of preparation and care, the food is consumed and forgotten in just a few hours.

We experience many of the same dynamics. People hear what we preach, but pig out in front of a ball game or go shopping or do some other Sunday activity. If you ask most church members what the pastor preached come Sunday night, most have already forgotten.

Now we can talk about Jesus parable of the birds of the air coming and taking the seed out of the minds of hearers to prevent sermons from having lasting impact, but that sermon will probably get forgotten as well.

Some of you have taken steps to record your sermons and post them on your church website. That is one way to make sermons last longer. It is also extremely important because one of the main ways people choose churches is by examining your church website. Before they darken your door, they want to hear a sample of your preaching.

Make no mistake. The first thing they look at on your website, is the length of your sermons. If they see an hour each week, most people move on unless the subjects are so compelling that they want to push the play button.

Visitors to your site will listen to your voice, your humor and then judge whether you are a good fit for them. They will also respond or react to the sound quality. If it sounds like it was recorded in the church bathroom through a tin can, it will communicate that your church is not up to speed. All this happens without ever meeting you.

So, one way to make your sermons last longer is to get them recorded and up on your church website. If you are not recording…get started on that right away. If you do record but are offering sermons on CD’s, it is time to enter the 21st century. CD’s are long gone. Make your sermons available for free via an mp3 player, which is also free for your church computer.

There are great free resources designed to post your sermons in audio form on your website that require little or no financial investment. I will share a service we use in the show notes at the end of the podcast.

Recording sermons is a good strategy for reaching new people via your church website, but realistically, do you really think that church members go back and listen to your sermons once they are done?

I am willing to bet that your church members seldom if ever visit your church website unless you are posting and tagging photos of them. Perhaps that is a strategy, but I digress.

Another way to make your sermons last longer and perhaps a better way is to publish them in book form.

Before you switch off this podcast thinking that you could never do that, think again.

The publishing world has been turned completely on its head through Amazon Kindle and other International companies.

I am not exaggerating when I say that you can preach a sermon today and have it up on Kindle for free by nightfall. In the show notes today, I will give you a link to a book I just published on Kindle entitled, Who’s Your Master?

These are five sermons I preached in January of this year that I formed into a small book. How much did it cost to publish? Zero dollars. How much did cost me to create the book cover. Zero dollars.  How much time did it take me to create the book? About 12 hours, but that is because it was my first time. The next one will be about 6 hours and less as time goes on.

Let me toss something your way if you want your sermons to have greater impact going forward.

Preach in themes. In other words, avoid shotgun preaching kicking out different sermon titles every week. It has the effect of whipsawing your congregation. They listen to a sermon one week about holiness, the next week about tithing, the next week about spiritual gifts and it turns them into Christians with ADHD.

Get established with themes.

Now, with apologies to my reformed friends, I am not a fan of expository preaching for myself, but I know ministers who swear by it. All right, why not put all your notes about the book of James together into a book form? Over time, you would create your own book series on the New Testament.

Once your book is published on Kindle, you are then given a URL link that you can include in emails, texts and of course on your website. And by the way, it can be an additional source of income.

Well now I have your attention.

Here’s the deal. Kindle will pay you 70% royalties on whatever anyone buys. You get them to your book via a link, and whenever they purchase your book, 70% of the purchase price goes into your bank account.

Now I realize that most church leaders are not up on the whole idea of publishing, but that is the whole point of Kindle. They lead and guide you every step of the way. You can submit a Microsoft word document, and they will format it to fit tablets, smartphones and every conceivable electronic device. How cool is that?

You can become a published author without an agent; without money, and without leaving your job. There has never been a better time in history to publish. By the way, I don’t get a commission for recommending Amazon, so I am not winding up for a sales pitch. Everything I am talking about is flat out free.

Why not take a few of your best sermons, turn them into short book chapters and create something that lasts longer than Sunday afternoon. If you have a few messages that got the best responses from people at your church, why not put them in book form. Your worst case scenario is that you become a published author. Your best case scenario is that you create a new source of income.

Another really cool feature of Kindle is that you can also create a hardcover edition of your work. That is something I am working on right now. You upload a cover and they walk you through everything needed. You never visit a warehouse or sell boxes of books out of your church cellar. No inventory and no upfront cost.

Is this just nonsense? What’s the catch?

There is no catch. Just go to google and type in Kindle Publishing to get started.

You can create a cover using Canva.com. They have some images there that are free, others you can buy for a dollar and they even have a Kindle-ready book size to make your cover the way you want it. Whatever image you use, make sure you have permission. You can even snap a photo on your smartphone and use that. The sky is the limit.

Canva.com is…sorry to keep saying this: free.

What about figuring out what to charge for your book? Don’t worry about that either. I will give you a link in the show notes today to see the book I created. You will notice that it is in the preorder stage. That means that people can get it for free for a limited time. After that, it will cost 2.99.

Why 2.99? Kindle analyzed the size of my book and the content and suggested that is the best price. The book is relatively small, so 2.99 is best. I am working on a full-fledged book that we will be coming out with in a few weeks, Lord willing that will be closer to 9.99 which is usually the sweet spot for online books.

So, if you or someone else buys my book in a week or so, I will make about $2 every time it is downloaded. That will get me a medium coffee at Dunkin Donuts, but what if 100 or 1000 download it. I am not a mathematician, but I think that adds up to an income. Keep in mind that the book stays on Kindle permanently 24/7, so you can receive income for years to come from your work.

Like a physical recording, the link to your book can be published in emails, texts, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google +, Instagram or wherever you would like. Don’t make it your only posts, but these are free resources for letting people know where to get you book or books.

The thing that makes this whole thing extraordinary for ministers, is that we already spend massive amounts of time reading, writing and speaking. We are natural born authors for the most part. Doesn’t it make sense to take the work you are already doing and publish it for the world to enjoy?

Another residual effect of publishing is the pride your congregation will take in you. It becomes a whole lot easier to invite people to your church, when your members can refer people to your books online. It gives you and your ministry more street cred.

Frankly, I cannot see one reason for church leaders not to publish. Unless you just preach without preparation or notes, but even then, you can record your sermons and then make transcripts afterword, fashioning them into a book.

I have a friend of mine that spoke a few years back that did a seminar on spiritual gifts. I thought it was so impressive, that I just wrote the transcript for it and make it available in hard copy on a Microsoft word document. It is over 80 pages long. I cannot tell you how many people begged me for a copy, and that wasn’t even a book.

My point in all this of course is to light a fire under you so that the time you spend in your study has larger and longer impact than a brief Sunday morning. Not to end on a downer by any means, but each of us has a funeral to attend that we don’t want to go to. It is our own.

I’ve been to a few clergy funerals. It is a joy to hear people describe their pastor or leader as someone who changed their lives and praise God, each of these servants entered into their heavenly reward.

Don’t you think it would be greater however, if your sermons outlasted you? If God has given you insight or a burden to help people at a specific stage in life; wouldn’t it be great if you could continue to impact people long after you leave tis planet?

Think about it. People are still quoting Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Spurgeon, and many others because someone took the time to preserve their work. Through Kindle, you now have that same ability with far less the hassle and none of the cost. This is one of those too good to be true ideas that are actually legitimate.

To you my fellow leaders and future leaders: I appreciate your work. As always, we end the show with a quote. This one is straight out of scripture. Psalm 68:11 from the good old KJV:

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.”

I should probably add, “Go and do likewise.”