-5 Common Grammatical Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb!

Here’s a helpful guide to some common mistakes that I make every once in a while and you probably do to. Written by Brian Clark of Copyblogger: “Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb”

He lists five mistakes to avoid when blogging and writing web copy:

1. Your vs. You’re

2. It’s vs. Its

3. There vs. Their

4. Affect vs. Effect

5. The Dangling Participle

Read what he has to say about these common errors. I have broken them all at one time or another. Very helpful!            *Top

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-Facebook as an Outreach Tool

There are over 350 million folks on Facebook and it is still growing exponentially. It has incredible potential as a vehicle for outreach.

Here’s an excellent article from Digital Evangelism Issues on using Facebook in ministry. It addresses various current issues and has links to helpful training:

“Facebook outreach and training”

*Top

-Podcasting and Audio Sermons -Differences?

I’ve been reading up on podcasting lately since I am exploring an idea along with a friend of mine for starting a new Bible Q & A/apologetics podcasting program.

For a long time I didn’t really know the differences between audio sermons or audio teaching and podcasting. They seemed the same to me since the production tech is similar and both could be downloaded in a MP3 format or into an iPod off of a website.

Lot’s of churches and ministries have ‘audio sermons’ and ‘audio studies’ but the best podcasting programs are really a different animal and more like a regular radio program in format. Good podcasting programs usually include bumper music, an introduction, and a closing with contact info along with the main content.  Also regular podcasting programs have RSS for subscription to future programming and their own site to boot.

The rise of podcasting on the Internet has also brought with it greater expectations for more professional sounding productions. Churches and ministries should consider polishing their audio products and making them more appealing. Actually some churches and ministries already attach some sort of generic intro, some even with music, to their audio files. It shouldn’t really take all that much more time and effort to make church and ministry productions even more professional.

I am suggesting that it is time for representatives of the Creator to be even more creative.               *Top

-Some Helpful Internet Stats for the Year 2009

Wow! 350 million people now on Facebook.  I had no idea–unbelievable!

Here’s a link to a bunch of different Internet stats collected for the year 2009.

The following I have lifted out as potentially important for evaluation in Internet ministry:

Websites
* 234 million – The number of websites as of December 2009.
* 47 million – Added websites in 2009.

Note—Internet is still on the increase with no signs of slowing down!

Internet users
* 1.73 billion – Internet users worldwide (September 2009).
* 18% – Increase in Internet users since the previous year.
* 738,257,230 – Internet users in Asia.
* 418,029,796 – Internet users in Europe.
* 252,908,000 – Internet users in North America.
* 179,031,479 – Internet users in Latin America / Caribbean.
* 67,371,700 – Internet users in Africa.
* 57,425,046 – Internet users in the Middle East.
* 20,970,490 – Internet users in Oceania / Australia.

Note– Wow! 18% increase in users in one year! Closing in on 2 billion users from every country in the World? What a huge audience to reach out to with the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ!

Social media
* 126 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse).
* 84% – Percent of social network sites with more women than men.
* 27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
* 57% – Percentage of Twitter’s user base located in the United States.
* 350 million – People on Facebook.
* 50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
* 500,000 – The number of active Facebook applications.

Note—126 million blogs and 350 million people on Facebook plus more on the way? —Wow! Facebook is obviously still a high growth site with potential for even greater expansion.

…CONTINUE READING =>

-Podcasting Options for WordPress

Vin Thomas at Church Crunch evaluates 3 podcasting options for ministries using the WordPress platform in the following post:

“3 Ministry Podcasting Options with Wordpress”

He looks at and rates the PowerPress and Sermon Browser plugins and then presents a ‘no’ plugin WordPress option. Also deems the PodPress plugin as dated.

Some good info here for WordPress folks wanting to get into podcasting.            *Top 

-Statistics You Can Use in Internet Ministry

Here’s a statistical reference I found on Church Forward blog:

• 76% of Americans drive to work alone.  Only 10% carpool, and 5% use public transportation, while 3% percent walk to work. On average, Americans spend 25 minutes commuting each way.

Statistics can actually a gold mine for planning outreach ministries.

For example- if 76% of Americans drive alone for an average of 50 minutes a day (25 minutes each way). Then 76% of the nation will be seeking something to listen to on the way there and back. Radio has always filled that void along with CDs.

Now iPods and MP3s are made to tie into the auto speaker system. This opens up an opportunity for ministry through podcasting. Churches and Internet ministries could fill that commuting void with sermons, Bible studies, podcasting radio programs and etc.

The market is already there to be tapped into.

Interestingly enough I am already in the process of planning a new podcasting program along with a friend of mine. Stats like this actually help in the planning. We are in the process of determining the program length. Now I am inclined to keep it under 30 minutes.          *Top

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-Any uses for the New Apple iPad for Ministry?

 

John Saddington has an ‘open thread’ going on at his Church Crunch blog calling for ideas on how the new iPad might be used for ministry—check it out:

Open Thread: Apple iPad for Ministry?

-Sec. Clinton: “Three Internet Freedoms”

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared in a speech that unrestricted Internet access was a top priority of the Administration. In the process she took on China and a number of other countries around the world including Egypt for the recent cases of Internet censorship.

In her speech Secretary Clinton built stressed the importance of “Three Internet Freedoms”:

1. The right of all peoples to have access to an uncensored Internet.
2. The right of individuals to exercise free speech on the Internet
3. The right of businesses and other organizations to have access to uncensored information on the Internet in order to compete fairly.

Response: Wow, this is way more understanding and wisdom than I would have ever expected from Washington. Especially since some rumors had the Obama Administration looking for way to take control of the Internet using security as an excuse.            *Top

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