Tag Archives: twitter

Ways Our Church Uses Twitter #1

April 10, 2009   Russell Martin   2 Comments

twitter28
Yes, just last week I put up a post entitled Why Not to Use Twitter, The truth is I think twitter can be a great tool to use for your church. Here is the first of several examples of how we are using twitter.
Our youth director recently set up a twitter account for the youth group. We then embedded the feed into our website using the badges twitter provides. When our group took a trip to St. Louis recently our youth director posted updates and pictures during the trip. Our members were then able to go to the website and follow the youth on their journey.

This had several benefits:
1. Church members could feel like they were connected to the trip.
2. Several members began using twitter and now follow the youth group and the church, and other members, expanding our connections
3. We embedded the twitter feed into our website. This exposed new people to our website, not only to the twitter updates, but to the rest of the site.

Follow us
Williams Memorial UMC
Williams Youth
Russ Bowlin-Youth Director
Russell Martin- Me

What are some of the ways you are using or could use twitter?

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Why Not to Use Twitter

April 08, 2009   Russell Martin   8 Comments

For the past week I have heard all the advantages of using twitter and facebook in your church. Here is an interesting post from the folks at Church Marketing Sucks with some warnings about this. I agree with them. Here is an excerpt from the closing.
“Your church will never be great because you figure out how to use Facebook and Evites. Your church will be great because you commit yourself to living the gospel in a radical way,”
Thoughts? Comments?

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Appreciating Your Worship Team: Social Media

March 15, 2009   Russell Martin   2 Comments

There are many ways to let your worship team know you appreciate them. Some of these include sharing a meal together, or even giving a CD as a gift. One more I way I thought of today is to use social media.

The beauty, and sometimes curse, of social media is that whatever you put up, most anyone can see. Services like twitter and facebook are a great way to get a message out to alot of people at one time. Why not use this means to show your appreciation to your worship team. This morning our youth band led worship and did a great job. As I was getting in my car I just posted a short twitter that said “Couldn’t be more proud of the youth band, they did a great job.” My goal was that when this posted to my facebook account that some of the youth band members would see it. What happened was that other church members who were there also chimed in and left comments like “Yeah they were great.” So my simple twitter/facebook update actually prompted others to show their appreciation too.

Is this the only way to show appreciation… no. But here are some of the benifits I have seen:

1. It is immediate- A handwritten card may be more personal, but by the time you write it, mail it, and they receive it, 3 days could pass by. I was able to send out this message immediately.

2. It is global- Write a note to one person showing your appreciation and that one person will see it. Write it on something public like twitter or facebook and many people can see it, and chime in too.

3. It encourages others- When you share your appreciation on a public site like facebook then it prompts others to share their appreciation too.

4. It’s easy- No pens, envelopes, stationary, or desk was involved.

5. It gets to the point- When I write a letter alot of times I end up rambling not knowing what to say. Using a text or twitter makes me say what I want to quickly and concisely.

If you like this article then consider subscribing to Fork In the Road music by email or using your rss reader. Visit my contact page for more ways to stay in touch. Follow me on twitter.

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Sunday Setlist 1/11/09

January 11, 2009   Russell Martin   8 Comments

When we started rehearsing today, my thoughts were that this was not going to be a good morning. If you follow me on twitter or facebook you know what I am talking about.  On Wednesday we had installed four brand new wireless Sure microphones and when installed there were a few cracks and buzzes but I thought we had worked them out. Sunday morning, as we began rehearsal, the gremlins reared their ugly head and the microphones again were cracking. Luckily we had the old microphones, reinstalled them and we were good to go. 

When things don’t work well I start worrying. I know I shouldn’t but we also had a guest singing with us this morning and I wanted everything to work well, you know, so she didn’t think that this is how it always was. So I really spent my morning worrying about pleasing people and not God. I think there is a verse about that. Thankfully God worked even inspite of me and the morning was great. The band sounded awesome, and the vocals did a great job. And yes.. the microphones worked great.  It turned out to be one of the best Sundays that we have had so far.

So with all of that here was our Songlist

Wade in the Water- (Based on Eva Cassidy Version) Our service this week was on the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  Having the voices of Shelly and Kerri this song was a natural choice for us to use to kick off the service.

Cover us- (The Sonflowerz) We heard this on the Song Discovery 72 CD. We actually will be working 6 or so songs from this CD in the next few weeks.

Stir In Me (Todd Proctor) They were doing this song even before I got here and it has made it through the years. I think it’s because it’s easy to sing and the band loves to play it.

Did You Know? and Thank You For Loving Me- (Shelly Wilson) The band loved playing this song off of Shelly’s latest CD and the best part was that she was here to sing them live with us. 

You Never Let Go-(Matt and Beth Redman)- Our pastor ended his sermon talking about the fact that no matter how we feel God is always there no matter what. I didn’t know really how his sermon was going to end but this song fit perfectly.

To view what other churches did this week visit Fred McKinnon‘s Sunday Setlist.

 

 

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A Wednesday Funny

January 08, 2009   Russell Martin   1 Comment

Working at any job I used to think the worst days were Mondays. But I have learned that Wednesdays are the days I tend to dread more. Yesterday my friend Russ Bowlin sent the entire staff this video. Apparently his goal was to inspire, and encourage us all this tough point of the week. I can tell you, I was inspired.

Hopefully Wednesday videos will become a weekly tradition.  To read some of Russ’s slightly more serious thoughts you can follow his blog at http://russbowlin.blogspot.com/ or catch him on twitter @russbo

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Iphone Apps for Musicians- Part 3

January 03, 2009   Russell Martin   1 Comment

This post is third in a series where I have highlighed some of the most useful apps for the iphone and ipod touch that I have found for my ministry leading worship. Here are the final 4.

Evernote-Their website says “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.”  I have just begun using this software and haven’t started using it to it’s full potential but it looks promising. The ability to sync online and iphone is good. I could definately see it useful when purchasing equipment and making comparisons.

Twittelator- If you are a twitter user this is a great app to have. It is my primary form of interacting on twitter. I can send photos, direct messages, and replies. It also supports the location feature so everyone can know exactly where you are. It does from time to time get overwhelmed if you are following a large number of people who update very often but all in all it does well. There is a free version and then Twittelator Pro which costs a few dollars.

Pandora- I wrote about this a few months ago for the desktop version. The Pandora program for the iphone works just the same. Enter a song or artist and it will create a station based around the sound characteristics of that artist or song. The result is a play list that is similar in style that you can listen to all day long. I have used this both on the edge and 3G networks as well as Wifi. As long as you have a signal you can listen. The downside is you cannot listen to it and do anything else on your phone. Until apple lets us run two programs simultaneously.

BONUS APPLICATION FOR MUSICIANS

Gigbaby- A four track recorder with drum machine and metronome? Yeah and all for under a buck. I wouldn’t produce any records with it but great for recording song ideas. This was not in my original list but I ran across it the other day and have loved it since.

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Which Books Would You Recommend?

December 04, 2008   Russell Martin   4 Comments

Our church is starting a bookstore and we are in the process of finding which books we should include. I thought I would ask my twitter and my facebook friends for their suggestions so I posted this. “If you were to recommend a book for a church bookstore what would it be?” Here were the responses so far. (The links are to Amazon.com)

Traveling Mercies- Ann Lamott
Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot- Max Lucado
Couples Who Pray- Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World- Joanna Weaver
Velvit Elvis- Rob Bell
Free Of Charge-Miroslav Volf
Celebration of Discipline- Richard Foster
Challenge of Jesus- NT Wright
Anything by NT Wright or Henri Nouwen
Charting a Bold Course- Andrew Seidel
The Shack- William P. Young
Anything by Ted Dekker
Anything by Rob Bell

So what books do you recommend?

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It’s Time For Worship, Please Turn ON Your Cell Phone

November 26, 2008   Russell Martin   5 Comments

bluecellphoneIt seems that whenever we are constantly being reminded to turn off our cell phones when we go to public places like movie theaters, schools, and church. This weekend at National Youth Workers Convention at one of our general sessions we were asked to do exactly the opposite. There were several times that we were specifically asked to turn our phones on.

The first time was one of the coolest prayer experiences I have ever been a part of. The speaker would say something like, “Maybe you feel like you need to be filled up this week” and then asked those that agreed with the statement to turn their phone display on. What happened is that in the darkness we were able to see that there were others with the same struggles, while it still gave some sense of ambiguity. Each time a statement was made, thousands of lights appeared across the stadium.

The second was during a general session where we had three speakers. Each one was given 15 minutes to talk, and then we took 5 minutes to discuss what they spoke about. During that 5 minutes we were encouraged to text message questions to a number on the screen. At the end of the 5 minutes they used those questions for a Q&A session.

The final use of the phone was ongoing through twitter. Through monitoring twitter comments and sending my own I was able to interact with people sitting in various areas of the worship service, get their thoughts and respond. I was even able to follow one of the services we did not attend, getting photos, comments, sermon notes and more. (follow me on twitter @rgmmusic)

These all worked great in a large conference setting. What I am wondering though is how they could work in a smaller church setting of 100-500 people. Or would I be asking for trouble by encouraging people to turn their phones on during worship.

What ways have you used cell phones during your worship service?

What would concern you most about encouraging your congregation to turn ON their phone?

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National Youth Workers Convention- Part 1

November 22, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

This weekend I am attending the National Youth Workers Convention in Nashville TN. I have attended many of these events in the past years, especially when I was the youth director, but now since I have moved into a different role, (I am a volunteer and work with the youth band) I am viewing this conference differently. I used to come with my seminars already chosen about being a youth director, or setting up a youth group, or the best games for youth groups. Now I am looking at things like the course I took yesterday on how to be a transformational leader, or spiritual disciplines, and things like that.

The thing that always awesome are the general sessions and times of worship and teaching that occur there. Yesterday they started off with Mercy Me, David Crowder, Joe Castillo (The sand art guy) and Frances Chan.

Well… we are about to head off to lunch and a super seminar. I hope to share some of the lessons learned with you in future posts. Oh.. and for all you twitter folk you can follow what’s going on by searching the tag #nywc.

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Contact Me

October 17, 2008   Russell Martin

Looking to contact me? Here are the best ways.

Facebook.com/rgmmusic
Twitter
Email

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