Daniel Ausbun
  • Home
  • About

3 Non-confrontational Church Promotion Tips

6/28/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
First Baptist Moreland using a banner for their inaugural Upward Soccer season in March 2008
God wants His house filled every Sunday for worship (Luke 14:23). One of the best things a Christian can do is promote his church. Here are three non-confrontational inexpensive tips to invite people to church or an upcoming event:

1). Write a Google or Facebook review. A new resident in Moreland, Georgia looking for a church to attend, would Google on their phone, "Churches in Moreland, GA." Seven churches will come up. Below the church names are the Google reviews. Visitors will read the reviews and make a decision whether to visit. The best thing you can do for your church is write a Google review. You'll need a Google+ account.

You should also write a Facebook review on your church's Facebook page. Visitors will frequent a church's Facebook page to see pictures and posts - on mobile Facebook pages, the reviews will appear before any pictures or posts. Important - a first-time visitor to your church's Facebook page will see the reviews well before anything else! Next time you check Facebook, do your church a favor a write a five-star review. Your church's online presence matters.

Facebook check-ins are also an indirect way of letting your friends know you're at church. You can tell people you go to church, without actually saying a word.


2). Your church should use blank white banners. You can purchase 3x8 white vinyl blank banners for $11 each on eBay (which includes shipping). The picture above is our first Upward Soccer season with a handwritten message inviting children to register. You can purchase Sharpie Magnum markers on eBay for $4 each (which includes shipping - four colors: black, red, green and blue). Every event at your church, for less than $12 you can have a huge colorful banner inviting motorists to attend. Banners work. I spoke to a lady last week who saw our VBS banner and brought her children.

3). Your church should mail postcards to new homeowners. For $45 a year, First Baptist Moreland receives a weekly email of all the new homeowners within a seven mile radius of our church. We buy this list from Melissa Data. For $88 (which includes shipping) we buy 1,000 postcards for new homeowners we mail each week, inviting them to worship with us. These front and back, full color postcards come from Overnightprints. You also need to purchase a roll of postcard stamps for $34 (100 stamps per roll). Every week, new homeowners will receive a professional qualify postcard from FBC Moreland welcoming them to the community and inviting them to church on Sunday - all for less than fifty cents per home! It would cost me more to drive to their house than mail a nice card. Families have visited our church because they received a postcard. Each week we mail two to twelve postcards (there's always more during the summer months). Make sure you include the church's website, a picture of the church and Facebook page on the postcard.
0 Comments

Travel Date (from Sherri)

6/16/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Esther's two year old birthday party in Dongguan, China
Time to think, early morning gives us plenty of uninterrupted time. "Quiet time" with Jesus is exactly that, time spent with God in stillness. Jesus could often be found in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to His Father, showing us the importance of prayer as our communication to God (Matthew 26:36-56). If Jesus felt it was necessary to go to God for answers we should certainly follow His example.

I struggle to find time that is not bombarded with activities. Quality time with our children, church time and associated activities, work, cleaning the house, cooking and the list continues. All of these activities are good, but as Jesus told Martha they are not the best choice. Luke 10:42 tells us that despite life's responsibilities, Jesus should always be our number one priority and we should take time to sit at His feet. Often I don't feel peace or rest because I haven't taken the time to search the One who gives us peace. One of my favorite Bible verses is "Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). What a comfort to know that Jesus wants us to come to Him. He loves us so dearly, as little children.

The most popular question I have been asked the past few weeks has been "When are we going to China?" It reminds me of when I was pregnant and everyone wanted to know my status. "So....how are you feeling?" "What did the doctor say?" How grateful I am that we have wonderful friends and family that want to know our adoption status and have been so supportive of us throughout the process.

We are SO ready to pick up Esther, yet we are still waiting to travel. We feel confident that God will provide for our financial needs. Waiting can be difficult and discouraging, very much the opposite of peace. Yet God often shows us His wonderful mercy and glory while waiting. God is drawing us to sit at His feet and pray for His provisions. We are still very hopeful we will travel in July. Two final grants are reviewing our applications. Please be in prayer that God will move their hearts towards our adoption so that we can travel to China at the soonest possible date. Our family knows that God's timing is always perfect. We see a limited snapshot, yet God sees the entire frame.

0 Comments

What Happened to Ties at Church?

6/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today's Father's Day. I received a tie. I wore my new orange tie to church this morning. In Daniel, Jr. & Elizabeth's Sunday School class, they made and colored me a tie as well. But most men weren't like me. Between both our services, I counted four other men wearing ties. This leads me to believe either most men didn't receive a tie for Father's Day or men aren't wearing ties anymore to church.

I remember learning about your "Sunday Best." Your "Sunday Best" were the best clothes you wore to church on Sundays. The closest Bible verse I've found to support wearing your "Sunday Best" is 1 Timothy 2:9a, "Also the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense."

Jeans and t-shirts could be considered, "modest clothing." Here are three trends I've noticed with how people dress at church.

1). People don't frown upon casual clothes anymore at church. Back in the good ol' days if a man wore jeans to church, he might have received a second look or sarcastic comment. Today, people are just glad you came.

2). Our culture has become more casual. My favorite clothing label is Brooks Brothers (the oldest men's clothier in the U.S. while outfitting 39 of the 44 U.S. presidents, including Barack Obama), but I don't know how they stay in business. They were founded in 1818, and their clothes reflect it (see picture above). Now, you only hear about, "Dress for Success" for a job interview. Comfortable clothes is the new norm.

3).
Many men don't own a suit. They might have bought one for a formal or wedding years ago - but can't seem justifying spending the money for a suit they'll only wear once or twice. Many men have told me the reason they don't wear a suit and tie to church is because they don't have one (at least one that fits).

The attitude today about dressing up for church is nonchalant - if you want to dress up, then wear your Father's Day tie. If you don't want to dress up, then come as you are.
0 Comments

Five VBS Takeaways

6/11/2014

1 Comment

 
Cortney, Beth & Wendy
First Baptist Moreland's VBS Leadership Team!
Last week we concluded our Agency D3 VBS. Over 250 children and over 100 leaders participated in the most exciting week of the year. We budget and plan more for VBS than any other event of the year. VBS has also grown into one of our biggest outreaches to children and parents in the community. Most children who attend our VBS do not attend FBCM. My first VBS at FBCM (in 2005) we were so excited - 56 children attended one evening (an all-time record)! I remember the excitement of many of our older church members - excited to see young faces flood the building.

Here are five takeaways I've learned from 10 VBS' at FBCM:

1). Your pastor must be involved. I walk around and encourage leaders, pass out Air Heads to children, and take pictures. If your pastor doesn't attend, his absence is saying, "I've got more important things."

2). Your leadership team must be top-notch. John Maxwell says, "Everything rises or falls on leadership." FBCM is blessed to have Wendy Moore as our VBS director. Wendy also serves as the Western Baptist Association's VBS director and every January travels to LifeWay in Nashville for National VBS Training. She begins planning our VBS in November. She has surrounded herself with the best two assistants (Beth Johnson and Cortney Rogers) whom are good enough to easily direct any VBS in our area. These three ladies are prepared and excited every night of VBS and it shows.

3). Prayer cannot be overlooked. The Saturday before VBS we hold a prayerwalk through every room - praying for the teachers and children to respond to the Gospel. Every night we met at 5 p.m. to pray for that evening. God answers prayer and your VBS should be dependent upon Him.

4). Promotion begins two months before. We began promoting VBS at our Easter Egg Hunt on April 19. We registered children who came for candy - and they came back for VBS 6 weeks later. We also bought Facebook ads, mailed postcards and included a VBS postcard when we visited every home in our zip code for FBCM's 185th birthday celebration. Lack of promotion is a lack of planning.

5). Hold a VBS family night. The Sunday evening after VBS is when the children and their parents come to the church's sanctuary and perform their music routines. Our praise band plays worship songs, we had a drawing for a new bicycle, awarded "best picture" of VBS (a young lady won a Bible), and had an ice cream sundae party afterwards. This is a positive, high-energy event that ends VBS on a positive note. We also celebrate the 32 children who got saved during VBS.
1 Comment

Mission: World Cup

6/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
The U.S. Soccer Team plays Ghana on Monday June 16 at 6 p.m. ET
Today the Southern Baptist Convention is concluding in Baltimore - but something even bigger begins tomorrow.

On Thursday June 12 at 4 p.m. ET Brazil opens the World Cup against Croatia. The World Cup occurs every 4 years and is the world's premier soccer tournament. It's followed more than the Super Bowl and the Olympics. 32 countries have national teams in the tournament. All 64 matches will be aired on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. The championship match will be Sunday July 13. Brazil and Spain are two of the favorites - Spain won the Cup in 2010. The matches will be played in 12 different cities throughout Brazil. Russia will host the World Cup in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

Our International Mission Board (IMB) has missionaries and World Cup mission teams across the country sharing the Gospel with soccer fans. How can you help? You can pray for a World Cup revival. 600,000 people are expected to travel to Brazil and nearly 1 billion are expected to watch it on TV (the final matches are the most-watched sporting events in the world).
  • Pray for the workers sharing the Gospel.
  • Pray for opposition to be removed.
  • Pray for language barriers to fall.
  • Pray for soccer fans to place their hope in Christ.
Follow the IMB's World Cup prayer updates:

IMB American Peoples Prayer Facebook Page
IMB American Peoples Prayer Twitter Account
Brazil is in the American Peoples Affinity Group

0 Comments

    A resource for Christian ministry, leadership & life issues!

    Archives

    November 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    Addictions
    Adoption
    Alcohol
    Bible
    Calvinism
    Children
    Church Membership
    Culture
    Discipleship
    Divorce
    End Times
    Evangelism
    Leadership
    Marriage
    Ministry
    Missions
    Money
    Parenting
    Pornography
    Prayer
    Preteen
    Seminary
    Sin
    Social Media
    Students
    Sunday School
    Women

    RSS Feed