The Sidekick Podcast

Churches have been doing student ministry for decades. Over that time, what student ministry "looks like" has changed and evolved. After all, if you are still trying to do student ministry the same way as they were back in the 1960s, you probably wouldn't be as successful as you could be.

Enter Taylor Terpstra. He is the Online Youth Lead at Sandals Church in California. He was hired in December 2020 to be, to my knowledge, the first ever Online ONLY Student Minister. That's right, he is trying to reach students online and lead them to Christ. How is he doing that and what is he doing? That is what we talk about today.

ACTION STEPS:

Why is Google Search so important for your Church? What does it do and how does it help you reach more people for Christ?

Today Mark MacDonald is joining me on the podcast to talk about it. He will share tips and tools you can utilize so that Google Search can work best for you and your Church.

Mark is a Church Branding Strategist for BeKnownForSomething.com, a national Church Communication and branding agency, coaching Pastors and 1000s of Churches to become relevant in their community. He is also a best selling Author and has written over 800 magazine articles.

ACTION STEPS:

No ministry can be done by a single person. You need a team of people around you to help you be as effective as possible in reaching as many people as possible. And this applies to Online MInistry as well.

Many people started doing Online Ministry during the pandemic and they were a one person team. Now, as we are growing in our online ministry capabilities, it is vital to the health of the ministry to create a team. How do you do that? That is why I have Christopher Wesley back on the podcast.

Chris has been on numerous podcast before and today we talk about what it looks like to form a team . Then, how we can take those principles and apply it as we create an Online Ministry Team.

ACTION STEPS:

In every business, organization or Church strategy is important. But, in order for the strategy to be effective, research is necessary. Research is important for a variety of reasons, but most importantly it is because without doing the right research and asking the right questions, your Church may not be effective in creating a great strategy to reach your community.

To talk to me about doing the research is Tammy Burdick. She is the co-founder of Firm Foundations Marketing and is all about helping church leaders improve connection with people and minister to the true needs of their community.

ACTION STEPS:

Strategy is so important in anything we do. Over the last 2 years a lot of online ministry has been throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. After all, a lot of online ministry has started over the last 2 years. But ultimately, strategy needs to take precedent in order to be truly effective in online ministry.

To talk to me about this is Sly King. Sly is a friend of mine who has been doing Online Ministry for a long time (long before COVID hit). We relate the shift to strategy for effectiveness to one of our favorite topics: college football!  Discover how we can all be more effective with our online ministry with an effective strategy.

ACTION STEPS:

Emails are a part of everyday life. You send and receive tons of them. But how can your Church send an email that will be effective in reaching your Church with a greater open rate? 

To talk about this with me is Jeanette Yates. She is the Communications Manager for Text in Church. Before she went on staff with Text in Church she had years of experience in Church Communications so she has sent her fare share of emails. We discuss some tips that Churches can implement to have a greater open rate and get the necessary information your Church members need.

Also, learn more about the Engage Conference happening on February 8-10th, by clicking this link.

ACTION STEPS:

A new year is upon us and with the new year it is great to evaluate where we are in ministry as well as what lies ahead. What has been working well and what new tech trends are out there that we should be monitoring.

To discuss what is happening with online ministry is Marcus Cylar. Marcus is an Online Ministry veteran and has been on the front line of helping people discover God online. In today's podcast we focus on 3 main areas:

If you are looking for some Digital Ministry training this year (including Metaverse, Phygital or Online Ministry), check out the Equip Page at the Church Digital.

Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Android | Spotify | RSS

ACTION STEPS:

Since 2016 I have been highlighting 6 people you, as ministers, should follow on Social media. They are people/groups I've learned a lot from. You can find the previous years here: 2016, 2017 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

While 2021 was challenging, the reality is, if you were following any of the digital ministers I have shared about in the past, you would have gotten a lot of great encouragement and help. Now that we are into 2022 and now I have 6 new ones to follow. As in years past, the criteria that I have is that they are involved in Church Communications, Social Media, Student or Family Ministry or Online Ministry. They also need to be producing great content on a consistent basis. And that's it. It's pretty simple but those are the two important aspects of my criteria.

So, in NO particular order, here are the top 6 to seek out in 2021:

Tyler Volkers. Tyler is the Online Campus Pastor at The Ridge Community Church. I met him through Jeff Reed at the beginning of the pandemic. I've had him on the podcast before and he provides great encouragement and ministry insights.

Angela Craig. Angela started Pursuit Church Live, the first social media church in the Assemblies of God fellowship years before the pandemic hit. She was on the forefront of online ministry. She blogs regularly at AngelalCraig.com, leads a great Facebook Group.

Church Juice. This is a great resource for Church Communicators. They offer blogs, resources and a great podcast with Bryan Haley and Jeannette Yates. The two have many years experience and offer great ideas in a short amount of time for your Church.

Altar Live. Founded during the Pandemic, Altar Live helps faith communities engage people in authentic relationship. I like to think of them as a combination of Zoom and the Church Online Platform. Check them out here.

Robert Carnes. Robert has been on my podcast numerous times and has great marketing insights. He also has a fantastic book called The Original Storyteller.

VR Leaders. VR, Meta, Augmented Reality are going to be big in 2022. This is going to be the year of virtual reality and the metaverse. So, start following people like Jason Poling, PastorBrock, Theo Davis, Pastor Souzy, DJ Soto, Jate Earhart, and others to start and what they are doing.

Christmas is just 2 days away and for some of you Christmas services may have already started at your Church. With all that is happening it can be a very stressful time of year. So, what can you do to be encouraged as a minister and how can you, as a minister, encourage and support your team?

To talk about is with me is Cory Sullivan. Cory has been on the podcast numerous times (the most of any guest) and together we talk about what are some last minute Christmas encouragement for you and for your team this year.

Make sure you take time this Christmas, and right after, to settle down, be encouraged and encourage and support your team. Everyone needs a break and time to recharge. The more you can enable this to happen, the stronger you and your team will be for the new year.

ACTION STEPS:

Creating guest pathways in ministry is so important to keeping guests at your Church engaged and coming back. It's important for you to have a pathway from being a guest to a regular attender and member of your "in person" Church AND for your online ministry. The reality is that people will likely come to your Church first online before they come in person to your Church. So, how do you create an effective digital guest pathway for your Church?

To talk about this is Jake McNamara, Online Pastor at The Compass Church in Illinois. Jake shares his insights on how to fully engage someone new to their Church Online and how your Church can do something similar.

ACTION STEPS: