As I was lying in bed at 5 this morning half-conscious trying to decide whether to sleep for a few more minutes or get up and start my day an idea hit me. My mind drifted to a conversation I had with my pastor a couple weeks ago about the general trend of church websites. I told him I see church websites fulfilling three general purposes: to help people looking for a church home, to assist people already attending the church to know what ministries and activities are available for them, and to help people grow spiritually by providing additional resources that complement the services and ministries. I expressed how great I thought it would be to put audio of his messages online along with additional resources for people who wanted to go deeper on the topic.
That’s when it hit me and I got up and started writing…
A blog is the perfect format for helping people go deeper and apply sermon messages to their lives!
Imagine a sermons blog that would be updated each Sunday shortly after the services. It would include…
- A brief sermon outline.
- An audio “podcast” of the message.
- A “Going Deeper” or “Additional Resources” section that would recommend books, websites or other resources on the topic.
- An “Action Steps” section that would list possible action steps depending on circumstances, including a link to an online presentation of the Gospel on those Sundays when the Gospel is presented.
- A section where people could leave comments (anonymously if they like) about the service and how it impacted them.
- A “Contact Us” section where people could send a private message to the church if they wanted help or prayer, or wanted to let the church know how the service impacted them but not publicly on the website.
What struck me is how perfectly a blog lends itself to this purpose. A blog is easy to update weekly, it facilitates the posting of comments, it automatically archives messages by date, topic, and sermon series, and it’s searchable. Awesome!
So, I thought to myself… this makes way too much sense to be an original idea, and I went off to see if I could find a church that is already doing this. I went to BloggingChurch.com because it has a list of about a dozen churches that have blogs. I checked every one of them. Many of them have audio or video of sermon messags, but as far as I could tell the only church in their links that comes close to using its blog in this format is Watermark Community Church in Dallas. It includes a sermon outline and audio podcast, but no resources for going deeper or action steps.
I tried googling “church sermon blog” and after going through about a page and a half of results I heard, “Daddy! Daddy! Juuuuuuuuiiiiice!” It was 6:45 AM and that’s my two-year old son’s way of letting me know he’s ready to get up.
As of now I haven’t found a church that is using a blog in this way. If you know of one, post a comment with a link. This would be a very powerful way to use a blog to help people grow spiritually. What do you think?
In His Service,
Paul Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
35 Comments
This is a great idea.
We may even set this up on our website in the near future.
http://ltmm.centennialchurch.org/
http://christianblog.lovethatmatters.org/
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When I first read your post about supercharging a podcast with a blog, it moved me into asking the LORD. He said to me concerning this “do that
whichsoever seemeth good in thy sight”.
This got me to thinking, instead of just podcast, why not produce a webcast?
The very same month HE lead me to join a video broadcasting service in which
it is not only very cost efficient, but since HE has gifted me and my wife (Joyce)
greatly in musical ability, singing songwriting, 40 years plus, playing fingerstyle
guitar. In the last ten years HE has given us over 75 Gospel songs which
“rightly divide His word of truth”
The cost of webcasting? ONLY $8.00 a month for unlimited audio and video.
Thee sound quality is quite acceptable and the picture is good enough that most whom have watched have had only good things to say.
Who is the Producer, you may ask? YOU ARE! As I said the LORD lead me to
bliptv.com
Here you sign up for a free service that limits the amount of (MB) to around
100MB a month or so, so I asked why limit the amount, when for just $8.00
a month Yes $8.00 a month gives you unlimited access. From 3 min. videos to
a hour and a half (or more).
How is this possible? Through a minor purchase of webcam equipment of
around $100.00 and the $8.00 dollars a month (bliptv.com) Pro service, YOU
can produce your own webcasts of Sermons, Praise and Worship music, ect!
I must also note that OCC hosting package must be upgraded to at least a
BRONZE account, so that you can have multimedia, mp3 bandwidth!
Bliptv.com allows you to automatically feed every webcast directly to your
multimedia page. You simply “name your show”, use your webcam for audio
and video to “tape” the webcast, then “upload” the avi. file to bliptv and they
will RSS (feed) the file to your (showplayer) which is the same as a windows
media player would allow you to produce and watch video! You can also add
the feed directly to your blog page or your website!
It has been a blessing for the LORD to show me how to do this, and you can do
it as well. Under the “showplayer” there you can give sermon guidelines, or
blog about the epipisode content, therefore making it easy to webcast and
affordble as well to spread the glory of His Gospel. May this bless you as it has
blessed me, for as HE is in control of all things, ALL things were made to
and for, the “express intent of HIS heart”. Glory be unto Jesus forever, for
ALL THINGS are truly “under His feet”!!
I believe every Christian organization should set up a blog! The Word declares that it will not return void — so post away and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how the Lord will place people in your path!
I think it is important that every Christian Church develops a blog or website. These blogs or websites should give an invitation to all who visit the site to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Of course, it would be great also to have material to help the saints grow in the Lord.
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Paul I think you're on to something. I've always thought it to be a great idea but I let distractions get into my way. I've decided that perhaps this method can truly be one of many evangelism ideas to reach out to people and share more of what the Holy Spirit shared with you. That idea that hit you was the Holy Spirit getting your attention.
How about a live video broadcast.
From a church members viewpoint the most important part of the blog would be the 'digging deeper' part. Resources, additional scripture and a reading list would be great. However, this is a lot of work for the busy pastor. Perhaps just a few paragraphs of additional thoughts and comments would be good.
Yes, this is a VERY good idea and has all kinds of potential benefits for the church.